Hall County school board to mull $600,000 in air-conditioning projects

At Monday's meeting, The Hall County school board is set to consider some $600,000 in air-conditioning upgrades this summer.

Red Cross volunteers help storm victims in Tennessee

Gainesville Red Cross volunteer Gene Farley rolled into hard-hit Lafayette, Tenn., on Thursday to the sight of arbitrary devastation. "Trees knocked over, trees destroyed, laid flat," Farley said, describing what he saw after a devastating tornado touched down there 48 hours earlier. "Barns, basically nothing but kindling. Some houses damaged big-time, and right next to them homes that are not damaged at all." Farley and fellow volunteer Ward ...

Council asked to give Gainesville schools water bill break

YOUNG HARRIS - Sammy Smith, recently elected to the Gainesville City Board of Education, appealed to Gainesville City Council members Friday to help the city schools out with their weighty water bills.

Water restrictions are costing Gainesville

YOUNG HARRIS - There is no doubt water restrictions have resulted in a loss of revenues for Gainesville's Public Utilities department, but utilities officials told the City Council on Friday that they have a plan to keep their heads above water.

Gainesville City Council's to-do list

As Gainesville officials spent the past three days at a planning retreat, several issues came to the front of the agenda. Here is a look at some of the items city officials have put on the top of their to-do lists this year:

Second teen pleads guilty in Laurelwood molestation case

The second of two teen defendants in a molestation that occurred at the Laurelwood mental health treatment facility pleaded guilty Friday.

Photo in newspaper helps police nab bank robbery suspect

After allegedly robbing three Forsyth County banks in two weeks without any effort to disguise his face, David Ryan Stone might not have been surprised to see a surveillance camera image of himself when he picked up a local newspaper Thursday.

Pie & politics: Wauka Mountain supper a community tradition

Before he entered politics, Nathan Deal held the post of ticket salesman at the Wauka Mountain Chicken Pie Supper. While Deal doesn't list the job on his extensive resume, he doesn't miss the annual event, which has been held for 83 years.

Truck driver arrested in fatal wreck

A tractor-trailer driver from Butler has been charged with vehicular homicide after a fatal wreck Friday afternoon in Forsyth County.

Local hiker had scary brush with Hilton

Nancy Linkesh will never know how close she came to being Gary Hilton's victim.

Gainesville, Buford school leaders earn top pay

GAINESVILLE -- School administrators in Georgia looking for top pay need only look to North Georgia.

Hall County deputies hurt in pursuit

Two Hall County deputies sustained some bad bumps and bruises, but no broken bones, after they tumbled down a 35-foot ravine while chasing a fleeing suspect late Tuesday. Hall County emergency medical service workers spent about an hour hoisting wounded Hall County Sheriff's Deputy Corey Gilleland out of the ravine in a wooded area near Oliver Road in South Hall after the 11 p.m. incident, using a stretcher and basket ...

Gang members get sentenced to total of 76 years for involvement in drive-by shootings

Ernesto Reyes said he got the wrong house when he fired three shotgun blasts at a home in the Silverwood subdivision off Candler Road last August. Reyes, an acknowledged member of the BOE street gang, will have up to 24 years behind bars to contemplate the mistake.

Gov. Perdue eases water restrictions to give homeowners — and the landscaping industry — a reprieve

ATLANTA - Gov. Sonny Perdue threw a much-needed lifeline to Georgia's nursery and landscaping industries on Wednesday by easing watering restrictions on new landscape plants. Also on Wednesday, Perdue announced that the current moratorium on the filling of swimming pools, banned under the outdoor watering restrictions, will be eased. The state will allow limited filling of pools. The news on pools was welcomed by Melvin Cooper, director ...

Man arrested in ‘grow house’ case

One man has been charged and his son is being sought in connection with the Tuesday discovery of more than 800 marijuana plants growing in the basement of a North Hall home.

Man sentenced to life in prison in home invasions

A man was sentenced to life in prison without parole Tuesday after a jury convicted him on Monday of several violent felonies and property crimes, the Northeastern Judicial Circuit's district attorney's office said.

Alleged election violations won't be referred to attorney general

The Georgia State Election Board declined to send alleged election violations by Hall County to the state Attorney General's Office Tuesday.

3 students suspected in Gainesville High graffiti incident

Gainesville school officials said Tuesday that three students are responsible for overnight vandalism at Gainesville High School.

11-year-old hurt in four-wheeler accident identified

The Georgia State Patrol has identified the 11-year-old boy who was injured Sunday afternoon in a four-wheeler accident in West Hall as Lanny Charles Dunagan.

Historic Clermont library renovation on track

Volunteers at the Historic Clermont DIP Library opened its one-room library in the town's gym last year, but soon there will be more room to spread out.

Olympic venue group gets update

The Gainesville/Hall '96 Foundation's next life was started Monday, 17 years after playing a large role in creating the 1996 Lake Lanier Olympic Center and maintaining the site's legacy.

Corps hopes to keep dock permit process going

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hopes to forge ahead this spring and summer with issuing dock permits, and not resort to moving employees assigned to that task to covering parks, as it had to do last year.

The Local Agenda: Gainesville to hold focus group meeting on Wednesday

A 10-member focus group giving input to Gainesville's transportation master plan is set to meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Fair Street Neighborhood Center, 715 Fair St.

Barn destroyed, horse killed at Coker Road fire

A horse barn was destroyed and one horse killed in a fire Monday afternoon in East Hall County.

Hall school board discusses maintaining morale with tight budget

The Hall County Board of Education discussed ways to maintain employee morale while working within next year's tight budget.

Oakwood looking at sewer project at apartments

Oakwood City Council voted Monday night to apply for a grant to help pay for a sewer system that would serve an apartment complex where a septic drain field has been failing for years.

Ga. 369 closed in Forsyth after striping truck overturns

Organizations looking for volunteers to make sandwiches

Making a sandwich is easy: two slices of bread, some meat and cheese, and voila.

Hall native studying oyster population

A Hall County native is at the forefront of research into oyster populations, a touchy subject for some Lake Lanier advocates who fret over water releases to protect endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico.

Glades funding application places project cost at $130M

Hall County expects to learn the results of its application to the Governor's Water Supply Program for funding the Glades Reservoir later this year.