Bryan Pirkle

The South's oldest balloon event and the country's only long distance hot air balloon race is 40 years old this year.

Today

United Way of Hall County is increasing the number of agencies it supports to 23 this year, covering 37 total programs in three "core" areas: education, health and income.

Even with Republicans holding unprecedented political power across the South, Democrats remain mostly in charge of urban centers in otherwise conservative states. Yet increasingly that control is threatened, not at the ballot box, but by Republican-led legislatures reaching into local governing decisions, often over objections.

The water dispute between Alabama, Florida and Georgia is provoking hardball politics in Congress, where Georgia lawmakers derailed a proposal that could restrict metro Atlanta's water supply.

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is seeking input from Forsyth and Cherokee county citizens on plans to improve busy State Route 20 between Cumming and Canton.

From Israel's perspective, its airstrikes near Damascus were more about Iran than Syria: Tehran's shipment of guided missiles destroyed in the weekend attacks would have posed a potent threat had the weapons reached Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Archaeologists say they've pinpointed the location of a lost fort in northeastern Georgia after a search with metal detectors covering more than 4 square miles turned up musket balls and rifle parts as well as horse shoes and old frying pans.

If you have an old cell phone collecting dust in a drawer, the Senior Life Center in Gainesville can use it.

The Senate is expected to pass a bill Monday making it easier for states to collect sales taxes for online purchases. Some of the nation's largest retailers are rejoicing. But small-business owners who make their living selling products on the Internet worry they will be swamped by new requirements from faraway states.