Bryan Pirkle

The Defense Department is releasing the name of the fifth American soldier who died last Monday in what's been described as a friendly fire airstrike in Afghanistan.

Hall County firefighters battled a house fire in Gainesville Thursday evening that was apparently ignited by a lightning strike.

A conservative underdog's swift dispatch of Majority Leader Eric Cantor is feeding tea party dreams in Mississippi and beyond in the 2014 midterm elections.

Repudiated at the polls, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced Wednesday that he will resign his leadership post at the end of next month, clearing the way for a potentially disruptive Republican shake-up just before midterm elections with control of Congress at stake.

A House bill that would allow some schools to opt out of healthier meal standards drew a veto threat Tuesday from the White House.

Getting African-Americans and other minority voters on board is a priority for the GOP in part because birth rates among whites are shrinking in the U.S.; racial and ethnic minorities are expected to make up a majority of Americans within about 30 years. The number of African-American voters has increased steadily: 12.9 million in 2000, 14 million in 2004, 16 million in 2008 and 17.8 million in 2012.

Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday his office will consult with tribes across the country to develop ways to increase voting access for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

The House Armed Services Committee will investigate the Obama administration's swap of an American prisoner held for five years for five Taliban leaders that caused a political firestorm over the lack of congressional notification and fears the high-level Taliban could return to the Afghanistan battlefield.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's decision on seeking the White House again could stretch into 2015, and she's making no commitments about testifying before a select congressional committee investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Public input meetings begin Tuesday in Hall County on what project categories should be included in the next countywide proposed Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST VII). Officials with Hall County and the cities of Gainesville, Oakwood, Flowery Branch, Lula, Clermont, Gillsville, Buford and Braselton will host the meetings, which will be held at various venues across the county.