Max Blau

• Joeff Davis/CL File

“This is real and the worst part of it — not unlike the Snowden incident, which I hope none of you have sympathy for him because we need to hang him on the courthouse square as soon as we get our hands on him — but just like we’re gonna lose American lives as a result of this breach."

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In a response to a question about the nation's largest federal data breach, former...

Jamie Hood, an Athens man who faced charges for killing two police officers, was found guilty in the death penalty trial. Hood had made the rare decision to defend himself in front of a jury of his peers.

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The Atlanta City Council has postponed the approval of a contract that would have equipped the bulk of Atlanta Police officers with body cameras. Concerns arose at the last minute over the...

• Clay Duda/CL File

There will be some new faces inside the Gold Dome in 2016 following yesterday's special elections. Retired educator Marie Robinson Metze will take over for longtime state Rep. Tyrone Brooks, D-Atlanta; conservative activist Sheri Gilligan will fill the seat of former state Rep. Mark Hamilton, R-Cumming; and former Roswell Councilwoman Betty Price (and wife of Congressman...

• Joeff Davis/CL File

Atlanta resident Bruce Todd will have his nearly 22-year drug sentence commuted after being found guilty of crack cocaine distribution in 2003. He is one of 46 non-violent offenders who received disproportionate sentences that are being cut short by President Barack Obama.

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Georgia's soon-to-be-released wildlife management plan will acknowledge climate change for the...

• Courtesy Mereda Davis Johnson, George Turner
• Either Mereda Davis Johnson and George Turner will be DeKalb County's next District 5 commissioner.

Before next week is over, DeKalb County residents who live in District 5 — the southeast part of the county that spans from around I-20 and I-285 past Lithonia — will have a new representative fighting for them at county commission meetings. For the...

• Joeff Davis/CL File
• PODIUM POET: Dave Walker raised the bar for City Hall rabble-rousing.

Dave Walker never shied away from speaking his mind. The 69-year-old activist, a longtime fixture of City Hall life, brought his fervent advocacy to public meetings for the past three decades.

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Earlier this week Walker died after growing ill over the past couple of years. In his absence, he leaves...

• Jim Stawniak/CL File

"I have never thought of it as a racist flag."

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Georgia U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Newnan, downplays the Confederate flag as a symbol of hatred, one day after South Carolina lawmakers voted to remove the symbol from its statehouse grounds. He also told reporters "the majority of the people who actually died in the Civil War on the Confederate side did not own...

• Joeff Davis/CL File
• The parents of Nicholas Thomas hold a photo for their son, Nicholas, and his infant daughter.

Smyrna Police Department Officer Sgt. Kenneth Owens will not face charges for fatally shooting 23-year-old tire shop employee Nicholas Thomas nearly four months ago.

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A Cobb County grand jury today deemed the shooting to be justified and recommended Cobb District Attorney Vic...

• Joeff Davis/CL File

"I believe Jesus would. I don’t have any verse in scripture…I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage, but that’s just my own personal belief. I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else, and I don’t see that gay marriage damages anyone else."

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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter talks about same-sex...