B.J. Williams

The government reopened its doors Thursday after a battle-weary Congress approved a bipartisan measure to end a 16-day partial shutdown and avert the possibility of an economy-jarring default on U.S. obligations.

Two Republican state lawmakers and a retired Georgia Supreme Court chief justice will decide whether to suspend Sen. Don Balfour from office while he faces charges stemming from an investigation into his legislative pay and expenses.

The stock market surged in late morning trading as Washington closed in on a deal to avoid a default by the U.S. government.

Senate leaders reached agreement Wednesday to avert a threatened Treasury default and reopen the government after a partial, 16-day shutdown, according to a Republican senator who also said the House might vote first on the plan to speed its approval.

SunTrust Bank announced Wednesday that it will open a new branch in south Hall County in February 2014.

Consumer advocates say town halls are scheduled throughout the state as Georgia Power looks to raise rates for residential customers.

Ten women and six men were chosen Tuesday to fill the jury box during trial of a Georgia man charged with clubbing his father and seven family members to death inside the cramped mobile home they all shared.

Police in suburban Cincinnati are investigating why a hospital patient had a bag full of guns and other weapons.

A bomb in a mosque killed a provincial governor Tuesday in the highest profile assassination in recent months, part of an intensified campaign to intimidate Afghanistan's administration as it prepares for elections and the withdrawal of foreign troops after 12 years of war.

Three bears paid a lengthy visit to a northwest Hall County neighborhood Monday, but as of Tuesday morning, they had moved somewhere else, according to residents along Leach Circle.