Arris Group 2nd-quarter earnings rise as better product mix boosts gross margin

SUWANEE, Ga. — Arris Group Inc., a communications equipment company, on Thursday reported higher second-quarter earnings, helped by sales of more profitable products.

Butterfly buffs track species in sweltering Ga. refuge count; numbers may be environment gauge

HILLSBORO, Ga. — The rusty van creaks to a halt and two men jump out, binoculars in hand, heads pivoting. Quickly, questioningly, they call out evocative names: Is that a Pearl Crescent? A Carolina Satyr? A Sleepy Orange? A Swarthy Skipper?

2 Atlanta-area police officers accused of running criminal background check on Barack Obama

DECATUR, Ga. — Authorities are investigating two Atlanta-area police officers accused of using government computers to run a criminal background check on President Barack Obama.

Ga. police arrest woman they say was operating illegal strip club in her basement, garage

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Police investigating a noise complaint in arrested a 28-year-old woman they said was operating an illegal strip club in her basement and garage. Gwinnett County officers said they also found a sign at the home reading “1 Dollar Jello Shots” and minors drinking alcohol when they investigated on July 18.

Police: Georgia man kills wife, grandson and himself on couple’s 57th wedding anniversary

EAST POINT, Ga. — George Doby had been married to Edna 57 years on the day authorities say he shot her to death in the back yard. Police say he also killed their 12-year-old grandson before taking his own life.

Officer shoots mother, daughter to death in suburban Atlanta; police say daughter had gun

ATLANTA — An officer who fatally shot an elderly woman and her daughter at a suburban Atlanta home was not aware when she was sent to the scene that the younger woman had said she wanted police to kill her, authorities said Wednesday.

Judge sets March trial date for Army sergeant facing death penalty in slayings of 2 soldiers

FORT STEWART, Ga. — A military judge Tuesday set a March trial date for an Army sergeant charged with slaying his superior and another U.S. soldier last year at a patrol base in Iraq.

Judge sets March trial date for Army sgt. facing death penalty in slayings of 2 US soldiers

FORT STEWART, Ga. — A military judge at Fort Stewart has set a trial date for an Army sergeant charged with slaying his superior and another U.S. soldier last year in Iraq.

Army sergeant scheduled for arraignment on charges he killed 2 US soldiers in Iraq

FORT STEWART, Ga. — An Army sergeant charged with slaying his superior and another U.S. soldier in Iraq last year is due back in a military courtroom in Georgia.

Plan unveiled to create village of shops, eateries on Jekyll Island

JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. — A proposal to attract more tourists and meetings to Jekyll Island includes plans for a village of shops and restaurants.

Georgia inmates burned trying to light handmade cigarette with spark from electrical socket

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Two inmates at the Chatham County jail in coastal Georgia got burned by their own smoking habit when they started a fire trying to light a handmade cigarette with a spark from an electrical socket.

2 Savannah jail inmates burned trying to light cigarette with electrical socket

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Two inmates at the Chatham County jail in coastal Georgia got burned by their own smoking habit when they started a fire trying to light a handmade cigarette with a spark from an electrical socket.

Soldier to be tried in court martial over Iraq slayings at Ga. base; could face death penalty

SAVANNAH, Ga. — An Army sergeant accused of slaying his superior and another U.S. soldier in Iraq will face a court-martial and could be sentenced to death if convicted, the military said Tuesday.

Fans to open ‘Big House’ in Macon as Allman Brothers Band museum in December

MACON, Ga. — It’s the place where the Allman Brothers Band founded their Southern rock sound, the place where the song “Ramblin’ Man” was penned and the last place Duane Allman visited before dying in a motorcycle crash in 1971.

US soldiers among first in Iraq to get new assignment: security hand-off ahead of withdrawal

FORT STEWART, Ga. — It was just another day for the U.S. Army in war-weary northern Iraq: insurgents in Mosul, political turf battles in Kirkuk, an attack on the Bayji oil refinery in Salah ad Din.

17 cars from a coal train derail near Atlanta; tracks damaged but no injuries reported

UNION CITY, Ga. — Seventeen cars from a coal train have derailed and tipped over in Georgia.

Fate of US-born kid of illegal immigrant parents up in the air as Ga. officials weigh options

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — His mother isn’t in the picture. His illegal immigrant father was deported.

Rescuers continue search of collapsed Atlanta parking deck; no injured, missing people found

ATLANTA — Crews used cranes Tuesday to lift crushed cars from a collapsed parking garage as they continued to stabilize the structure and search debris, but it still wasn’t clear what caused the deck to collapse from the fourth floor to the ground level a day earlier.

Ga. death penalty case likely on hold until fall after US Supreme Court recesses for summer

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The U.S. Supreme Court has recessed for the summer without taking action on the appeal of a Georgia death row inmate whose case has drawn worldwide attention, likely delaying any developments until the fall.

The mayor has no clothes: Former Gainesville politician arrested for public nudity

CLAYTON, Ga. — Naked time got a little too public for a former Georgia mayor.

Georgia man wins big lottery prizes twice in a week, including $777,777 prize

AUGUSTA, Ga. — A 62-year-old man struck it big twice in the Georgia Lottery. Earl Fritz won the top prize of $777,777 in the instant game Super Lucky 7’s. That dwarfed the $1,000 he won a week earlier in a different game. The carpenter said he felt lucky a week ago and now feels a little bit luckier.

AP ENTERPRISE: Hundreds of Africans turn to US hoop teams in hopes of a better life

MARIETTA, Ga. — Growing up in Nigeria, Robert Ojeah fretted over the demands of everyday life, the sort of things that shouldn’t be a burden to a child.

Major fire burning at Athens landmark Georgia Theatre, venue for REM, Widespread Panic

ATHENS, Ga. — Police say a major fire has erupted at the landmark Georgia Theatre in Athens that has been a venue for Georgia bands including REM, Widespread Panic and the B-52s.

Police officer’s gifts of a cell phone and handgun save father’s life in knife attack

ROSWELL, Ga. — A Georgia liquor store clerk credits his police officer son with giving him two life-saving gifts — a cell phone and a gun.

Graphic Packaging International nets $238.4 million in private senior notes offering

MARIETTA, Ga. — Consumer products packaging maker Graphic Packaging International Inc. on Tuesday said it completed a private debt offering it will use to buy back other debt.

Ga. liquor store clerk shoots would-be robber after his cell phone defects knife

ROSWELL, Ga. — A liquor store clerk’s cell phone may have saved his life. Police said when a would-be robber tried to stab the clerk at Beverage Mart on Monday the knife dented the cell phone in the clerk’s pocket, but did not injure him. The clerk, 59-year-old Joseph Wescott, then pulled a gun and shot the man in the abdomen. The clerk was given the pistol by his son, a police officer.

Imperial Sugar restarts Ga. refinery damaged in 2008 explosion that killed 14

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. — Imperial Sugar has restarted its Georgia refinery to resume making crystal sugar for the first time since a deadly 2008 explosion devastated the plant near Savannah.

Low cabin pressure leads Southwest plane to make emergency landing in Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ga. — Officials say low cabin pressure forced a Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago to Fort Myers, Fla., to make and emergency landing in Columbus, Ga.

Husband gets $5,000 in drawing, and a week later wife gets scratch-off ticket worth $1 million

VILLA RICA, Ga. — One week after Chuck Hill won $5,000 in the Georgia Lottery’s Weekly WinFall drawing, his wife did even better. Karen Hill bought a World Class Millions scratch-off ticket on her way to work at City Chevron in Villa Rica. Her $20 ticket won $1 million.

Motorized tours OKd for Cumberland Island, Ga.

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Motorized tours are coming to Cumberland Island, where federal protections have long limited most visitors to hiking or biking.