2024's severe weather season worst since 2011 as an active start to the year leads to multiple tornado deaths.

The American consumer is feeling less confident this month, particularly about the future, as expectations persist that interest rates will remain elevated for an extended period.

Under Florida law, the homeowner has to remove the tree from his property, even though it’s someone else’s tree.

Georgia will be under the microscope for the midterms after being the center of attention during the 2020 presidential election.

In a story published May 19, 2022, The Associated Press reported that a House committee had questioned Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia about a tour of the Capitol complex before the Jan. 6 insurrection.

A pickup truck crashed Wednesday morning into a home in Jacksonville’s Marietta area, damaging the structure and sending the driver to a hospital.

A fire was sparked Thursday afternoon at a salvage yard on Jacksonville’ Westside in the Marietta neighborhood.

A sheriff’s deputy has been stabbed to death by an inmate who who took the lawman’s knife from him at a Georgia jail, officials said.

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)The Georgia Department of Public Health on Monday reported 752 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19. As of Monday, a total of 829,077 confirmed cases had been reported by the state Department of Public Health. The agency on Monday reported 43 additional confirmed deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 15,640 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic. According to the state Department of Public Health, 7,373,017 tests have been performed in the state, which had a 10.9% positivity rate, as of Monday. At times, cases and deaths are removed from the overall running total reported by the Department of Public Health.)

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)ATLANTA – A new study finds that teachers may be more important drivers of COVID-19 transmission in schools than students. Two clusters saw teachers infect each other during in-person meetings or lunches, with a teacher then infecting other students. Ad“Educators played an important role in the spread," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters in an online briefing Monday. In some American districts, schools have had to go all-virtual because so many teachers have been exposed to the virus. AdThe Marietta district has also continued extensive virus testing after the study ended, Rivera said.

Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock defeated Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. Loeffler has not yet conceded, but the Associated Press and major television networks declared Warnock the winner early Wednesday morning. At midday Wednesday, unofficial results showed Warnock was more than 44,000 votes ahead of Loeffler. Democrats will now have a majority in the Senate the first two years of Joe Biden’s presidency. It shatters the previous 2.1 million set in 2008 in the runoff between Republican Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin.

A defiant Sen. Kelly Loeffler has not yet conceded to her opponent Raphael Warnock, who has been declared the projected winner in the Georgia Senate runoff. Of the votes counted so far, the margin separating Warnock and Loeffler is 1.2%. In the other Senate runoff race, Democrat Ossoff was in the lead by more than 17,000 votes. That would also likely widen Warnock’s lead over Sen. Loeffler, keeping him even further out of recount territory. The Secretary of State’s deadline to certify state results is January 22.

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)The Georgia Department of Public Health on Friday reported 8,769 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19. As of Friday, a total of 575,395 confirmed cases had been reported by the state Department of Public Health. The agency on Friday reported 17 additional confirmed deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 9,889 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic. (Note: There are variations in the day-to-day data reported by the Georgia Department of Public Health. At times, cases and deaths are removed from the overall running total reported by the Department of Public Health.)

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)The Georgia Department of Public Health on Thursday reported 8,49 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19. As of Wednesday, a total of 566,676 confirmed cases had been reported by the state Department of Public Health. The agency on Wednesday reported 68 additional confirmed deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 9,872 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic. (Note: There are variations in the day-to-day data reported by the Georgia Department of Public Health. At times, cases and deaths are removed from the overall running total reported by the Department of Public Health.)

FILE - A person is given a test for COVID-19 at a drive-through testing location Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)The Georgia Department of Public Health on Tuesday reported 4,860 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19. As of Tuesday, a total of 484,152 confirmed cases had been reported by the state Department of Public Health. The agency on Tuesday reported 35 additional confirmed deaths related to COVID-19, including two in Glynn County, bringing the state’s total to 9,250 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic. (Note: There are variations in the day-to-day data reported by the Georgia Department of Public Health. At times, cases and deaths are removed from the overall running total reported by the Department of Public Health.)

ATLANTA – Sen. Kelly Loeffler repeatedly refused to acknowledge that President Donald Trump lost reelection in November, as she debated her Democratic opponent, Rev. Raphael Warnock, ahead of twin Georgia runoff elections that will determine which party controls the Senate. But Loeffler steered clear of any criticism of Trump, even as she tacitly acknowledged his defeat. The debate came a day after Trump campaigned in Georgia alongside the two senators. Loeffler blamed Democratic leaders for Congress' failure to pass a new round of assistance this fall.

MARIETTA, Ga. – Election officials are investigating the actions of a Florida lawyer who they say tried to register to vote in a high-stakes runoff in Georgia that will decide control of the U.S. Senate. Moving to Georgia just to vote — with no intention of staying in the state afterward — can amount to a felony, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement Thursday announcing the investigation. The lawyer went online and attempted to register to vote using the address of his brother in Hiram, Georgia, said Deidre Holden, the elections supervisor in Paulding County, Georgia. “This is not about Republican or Democrat — this is about doing what’s right,” Holden told The Associated Press on Thursday. But Holden said she’s interested in learning whether any other out-of-state residents tried to register in Georgia after being encouraged to do so at the Florida rally.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he chose the presidential race because of its significance and tight margin. Because of the close results, he said, a full hand recount would be needed to complete the audit. The actual number of rejected ballots was about 350% higher, but that matched the overall increase in absentee ballots, the release says. Two years ago, 454 absentee ballots were rejected out of 284,393. The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the presidential race in Georgia, where Biden led Trump by 0.3 percentage points.

Cobb County Election officials handle ballots during an audit, Monday, Nov. 16, 2020, in Marietta, Ga. A hand tally of the nearly 5 million votes cast in the presidential race in Georgia has entered its fourth day Monday. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)MARIETTA – With Election Day fast approaching, the sign ninjas have only a few nights left to take action. They work best after the sun sets, gathering to trade and assemble campaign signs and then venturing out in the dark to install them along main thoroughfares. Connie Di Cicco has been putting up election signs for three years in Cobb County, Georgia, first helping with Democrat Jon Ossoff’s campaign for Congress in the 2017 special election. Di Cicco, who’s running to represent Georgia’s 44th House District, says she likes the idea of residents waking up to see signs blanketing their neighborhoods. “It’s a great introduction to a candidate.”Knocking doors and meeting residents was what Di Cicco looked forward to most when she decided to challenge Republican state Rep. Don Parsons.