Augusta, Chatham County | featured news

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A high school teacher says she forgives the teenager who took her cellphone, found a nude picture and shared it on social media, even though she lost her job and was harassed as a result.

WASHINGTON — Not so tricky. More straightforward. Guessing allowed. The newly redesigned SAT college entrance exam that debuts nationally Saturday is getting good reviews from some of the students who took it early this week.

Following a parking consultant’s presentation Thursday morning, Savannah City Council members’ comments centered on improving garage accommodations.
Mayor Eddie DeLoach said he wanted to know whether the consultant recommended the construction of a new garage since the facility would be a significant investment.
Ralph Denisco, with Atlanta-based Nelson/Nygaard, said garages should be built to support development.
“You don’t need them yet,” Denisco said. “You will need them as part of the development.”

Effingham County commissioners have granted conditional uses for two more solar farms, which would bring to four the number of solar farms in the county.

ATLANTA — A judge in Atlanta has granted a news media request to unseal the autopsy report for Bobbi Kristina Brown.Fulton County Superior Court Judge Henry Newkirk on Thursday granted a motion filed by media organizations.

A man dressed in a clown suit was arrested at the downtown Waffle House early Tuesday morning after an employee called to complain he smoked methamphetamine at the restaurant's counter, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report.

ALBANY, N.Y. — The operator of a nuclear power plant outside New York City says bird poop was the likely cause of a December shutdown.The Indian Point reactor safely shut down for three days starting Dec. 14 following an electrical disturbance on outdoor high voltage transmission lines.

From incident reports at the Springfield Police Department:Feb. 14: An officer stopped a car on Ga. 21 for no working brake lights. A passenger was arrested for possession of marijuana, cocaine and a drug-related object. The driver was warned about the brake lights.

WASHINGTON — Debris that washed up in Mozambique has been tentatively identified as a part from the same type of aircraft as the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
Photos of the debris discovered over the weekend appear to show the fixed leading edge of the right-hand tail section of a Boeing 777, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. Flight 370, which disappeared two years ago with 239 people aboard, is the only known missing 777.

Syrian villagers hope for calm as Russia keeps eye on truce

MAARZAF, Syria — Just days into a U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire, many residents in a pro-government Syrian village long engulfed in fierce fighting in a central province expressed hope Wednesday that the truce will prevail and that a sense of normalcy could soon return.