Powerful ex-speaker to lie in honor at Capitol on Friday

ATLANTA - Flags flew at half staff over the Georgia Capitol on Tuesday in honor of the cantankerous yet compassionate former speaker of the House whose reign under the gold dome lasted nearly three decades. Tom Murphy died late Monday of complications from a stroke he suffered more than three years ago. He will lie in repose at the state Capitol on Friday, Gov. Sonny Perdue said Tuesday. Perdue said Murphy's family had initially wanted ...

Flowery Branch: Adult businesses to get new rules

Flowery Branch City Council will convene this morning to discuss a new adult business ordinance and update the existing unsafe structure and nuisance ordinance. The council will hear the second reading of a proposed adult business ordinance and will determine whether the new ordinance is sufficient to allow the old ordinance to be repealed and replaced. Flowery Branch Planning Director James Riker said the adult business ordinance is ...

North Hall steps closer to development

The Hall County Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of a developer's rezoning request Monday that could allow 2,736 houses to be built in Lula. Property owners Ferdinand and Felix Mayr-Meinhof submitted a request to the planning commission to rezone a 1,507-acre tract of land in North Hall from agricultural residential and vacation cottage to planned residential and commercial development. Named after the creek flowing through the property, the ...

Gainesville: All four lanes of Ga. 53 open Wednesday

Weather permitting, the Georgia Department of Transportation on Wednesday plans to open all four lanes of Dawsonville Highway.

Don't fret; there's still time to mail some Christmas cheer

If you mailed your Christmas cards on Monday, you were not alone.

Ex-Gainesville Elementary teacher accused of fondling four students

A former Gainesville Elementary schoolteacher remains jailed without bond on charges of molesting four of his students in the classroom, Gainesville police said Monday.

Murphy will lie in honor at Capitol Friday

ATLANTA - Deceased Georgia House Speaker Tom Murphy will lie in honor at the state Capitol on Friday. Gov. Sonny Perdue said that Murphy's family had initially wanted only private services but was persuaded that the public would want to pay their respects.

Gainesville: Mother wins $50K in lottery

Wendy Roberson, of Gainesville, plans to buy a new house for her four children after winning thousands in the lottery earlier this month. Roberson, 33, won $50,000 playing the Georgia Lottery instant game Jumbo Bucks Classic.

Leads sought in Golden Pantry robbery

The Golden Pantry on Ga. 53 South at Tanners Mill Road was robbed shortly before 10 p.m. Monday.

Vigil planned to honor teen killed in Easter wreck

GAINESVILLE - Songs and spoken remembrances are planned as part of a candlelight vigil tonight for Charles Caston, a North Hall High School senior who died in an April 8 car wreck. The event is set for 7 p.m. in the gymnasium of the Georgia Mountains YMCA at 2455 Howard Road off Ga. 365. Caston worked for more than a year for the YMCA, but never saw ...

Donated vehicle to help fight fires

GAINESVILLE - In the past, Gainesville firefighters have had to hoof it to emergencies in the woods or on the shores of Lake Lanier. Only two months ago, a small brush fire continued to burn while firefighters walked a mile carrying shovels, rakes, hoses and extinguishers to a fire their trucks could not access. "That's a good little trek trying to drag all your equipment with you," ...

Demorest: College’s business school gets national accreditation

Piedmont College's Walker School of Business Administration has received national accreditation from the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs after a two-year review.

Gainesville schools seek charter status

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville city schools is one of several school districts statewide so far that is pursuing a status that would give them more freedom to reform without stiff state regulations.

Students give food for a cause

Courtney Cantrell, 4, loads canned food into the back of a truck on Monday afternoon. Cantrell and her classmates in Brittanie Holcombe's after-school class at Little House Academy in Murrayville collected the food to help the less fortunate at nearby Lanier Elementary School. Eventually, the idea spread from the after-school group of 15 kids, ages 5-12, to other classes at the day care facility. When school counselor Rochelle Edmonds came by to ...

Two cities plan ways to keep storm water clean

Flowery Branch and Oakwood are currently in the process of establishing a five-year storm water management plan to meet the requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Water Act. Since 2003, numerous cities with a population of less than 100,000 have been required to take painstaking measures to ensure that commercial and residential operations do not contaminate water resources by way of natural or man-made storm water. "It's ...

Hall County commissioners hear budget requests

Hall County commissioners heard two budget requests for 2014 at their meeting Wednesday afternoon from the Hall County Library System director and Superior Court clerk.

Ex-bank manager from Murrayville charged in theft

Class Notes: Uzbekistanis visit Lanier Tech

A group of 11 Uzbekistanis, including farmers, businessmen and a representative of the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Water Management recently visited Lanier Technical College to learn about its refrigeration program.

Local political group protests IRS focus

Area residents took to the sidewalk in front of the local Internal Revenue Service office, waving signs and encouraging people driving by to honk in protest of the agency and revelations that some conservative groups have been targeted by IRS agents.

Graduation rates up in local schools

Hall County graduation rates increased in 2012 from 2011.

Fire destroys home; one treated for smoke inhalation

Gene Jones was outside his Commander Drive home cutting his grass when he saw smoke pouring out to the road.

Gainesville awards bid for convention center study

Gainesville City Council approved awarding the bid for the convention center and hotel feasibility study to consulting firms Key Advisors Inc. and the Bleakly Advisory Group on Tuesday evening.

Flood damage costs start to emerge

Flowery Branch officials are estimating $1.4 million in expenses related to Sunday's historic rainfall, and so far it appears that most of the financial burden is falling on the beleaguered South Hall city.

Norfolk Southern says heavy rains overwhelmed Flowery Branch culverts

Norfolk Southern officials said Tuesday that culverts in Flowery Branch were overwhelmed Sunday by the heavy rains that fell overnight.

Local efforts gather help for Oklahoma tornado victims

Syfan Logistics is working to do its part to help victims of the tornadoes in Oklahoma.

Flood causes sewer spill into Flowery Branch Creek

Sunday's historic flood in Flowery Branch has produced another problem for the beleaguered South Hall city - a 200,000-gallon sewer spill into Flowery Branch Creek.

Ridgewood Avenue to close at 9 p.m.

Ridgewood Avenue will be closed at 9 tonight until 4 a.m. Wednesday while Georgia Power does work in the area.

The Local Agenda: Germans to come to Hall to study immigration

A group from Germany will be visiting Hall County on Wednesday, looking to learn about American cultural life and political issues but particularly immigration.

Longstreet Clinic moves into expanded office in Oakwood

The staff at The Longstreet Clinic Family Medicine practice in Oakwood hurried to move into its renovated site Monday, hoping to begin working from it today.

Hall County sheriff proposes buying 12-14 patrol cars

To update its aging fleet, the Hall County Sheriff's Office is looking at spending $550,000 to buy 12-14 new patrol cars and refurbish another four or five.