WOODBINE, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia deputy fatally shot a Black man at point-blank range during a traffic stop after the man, who had been wrongfully imprisoned years ago, grabbed the officer by the neck and was forcing his head backward, according to video released by a sheriff Wednesday.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia now has $10.7 billion in surplus cash that its leaders can spend however they want after the state ran a huge surplus for the third straight year. The State Accounting Office, in a Monday report, said Georgia ran a $5.3 billion surplus in the 2022 budget year ended June 30, even after spending $32.6 billion.

KINGSLAND, Ga. (AP) — A man who spent more than 16 years imprisoned in Florida on a wrongful conviction was fatally shot Monday by a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia during a traffic stop, authorities said. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is reviewing the shooting, identified the man as Leonard Allen Cure, 53.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia man was left reeling after receiving a $1.4 million speeding ticket, but city officials say the figure was just a placeholder, not the actual fine. Connor Cato tells WSAV-TV in Savannah that he received the citation after getting pulled over in September for driving 90 mph in a 55 mph zone.

A customer opened fire at a Georgia Waffle House, wounding three people who were paying for their food, sheriff's officials said. The shooting occurred early Saturday in Bibb County about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Atlanta.

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge in Georgia has declined to block several provisions of a sweeping election law while legal challenges play out. Several voting advocacy and civil rights groups, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice, sued in 2021 after Republican state lawmakers passed the measure less than six months after former President Donald Trump narrowly lost the state.

ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp has instructed the state treasurer to buy $10 million in bonds from Israel to support its military response to last weekend’s brutal attack launched by Hamas militants. The $10 million was the highest amount available on the bond market and brings Georgia’s current investment in Israel via bonds to $25 million.

SMYRNA, Ga. (AP) — A person suspected of fatally shooting two people on Thursday near a dental office northwest of Atlanta died by suicide when officers tried to stop the individual's vehicle, police said. The Cobb County Police Department said in a Facebook post that their major crimes unit is investigating a double homicide that happened near a dentist's office in Smyrna.

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — A prisoner who ran away from a southwest Georgia hospital has been recaptured, and his mother and stepfather were charged with helping him get away. Dougherty County sheriff's deputies said they caught Carlton Bradford Gillis, 37, on Thursday. He's accused of escaping from an Albany hospital after overpowering a guard on Saturday.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Supersized cargo ships will need deeper water and a taller bridge to reach the Port of Savannah in the near future, the chief executive overseeing the major U.S. seaport said Thursday. Griff Lynch, president and CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority, said during his annual “State of the Ports” speech that the $1.9 billion his agency is investing to grow Savannah's cargo handling capacity will need to be met with taxpayer-funded infrastructure upgrades.

ATLANTA – Opening up privately held stretches of trout streams in North Georgia to public fishing would ruin a cottage industry vital to the region’s economy, a parade of waterfront property owners warned state lawmakers Thursday.

ATLANTA – A U.S. solar cell manufacturer that went bankrupt six years ago amid competition from a glut of cheap Asian solar panels announced Wednesday it is restarting its manufacturing plant in Norcross. Suniva, which began as a Georgia Tech spinoff, secured a $110 million commitment earlier this year from Orion Infrastructure Capital to finance the upgrading, expansion, and restarting of the Gwinnett County plant.

ATLANTA – Georgia’s Class of 2023 scored slightly lower on the ACT than last year’s cohort but exceeded the national average for the seventh year in a row. Georgia students recorded an average composite score of 21.3 on the ACT, down slightly from 21.6 in 2022 but above the national average of 19.6.

ATLANTA (AP) — A woman with a knife stabbed a taxi driver as he drove down an interstate and then slashed an airline employee and a police lieutenant at the Atlanta airport before she was tackled by another officer, according to a police report. The 44-year-old woman was arrested and charged with four counts of aggravated assault.

FORT VALLEY, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia sheriff's deputy shot and killed a man he was chasing when investigators say the man pulled out a gun, authorities said Wednesday. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said a Peach County sheriff's deputy tried to pull over Caleb Hooten on Tuesday afternoon in Fort Valley, but that Hooten didn't stop.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's highest court has reversed a lower court ruling that dismissed indictments against six former jail officers who had been charged in the death of a man held at the Fulton County Jail. Antonio May, 32, died on Sept. 11, 2018, after the officers beat and pepper-sprayed him and repeatedly used a stun gun on him, the unanimous Georgia Supreme Court opinion released Wednesday says. They were each indicted on charges including felony murder.

ATLANTA – The Okefenokee Swamp Park has landed $497,000 in federal funding for a research project aimed at telling the story of a group of young Black Americans who worked to develop the park during the Great Depression. The Civilian Conservation Corps was a nationwide New Deal program formed to provide employment and vocational training to young Americans ages 18 through 25.

ATLANTA – Walmart will build a food processing facility in Valdosta, a $350 million investment expected to create almost 400 jobs, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday. The Valdosta dairy plant will provide milk to more than 750 Walmart stores and Sam’s Clubs in South Georgia.

ROOPVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A driver traveling the wrong way on a four-lane Georgia highway crashed into two other cars, killing all three drivers, state troopers said. The wreck happened Monday night on U.S. 27 near Roopville, south of Carrollton.

WINTERVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Two Georgia children are recovering from injuries after separate attacks by what officials called an “aggressive bobcat.” The attacks happened on Friday near Winterville, a mostly rural community just east of Athens, according to Oglethorpe County Fire & Rescue. Mae Scoggins tells local news outlets that her 3-year-old niece, Crystal Yamasato, was playing outside around 6:30 p.m. on Friday when the bobcat ran up.

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta's police chief on Tuesday fired an officer who shocked a 62-year-old Black church deacon with a stun gun during a dispute over a traffic ticket, leading to the man's death. Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Officer Kiran Kimbrough didn't follow department procedures Aug. 10 when he didn't wait until a supervisor arrived to arrest Johnny Hollman Sr. The chief said he decided to fire Kimbrough after an internal investigation concluded Monday.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's rising public high school graduation rate hit a record in 2023, with the state Department of Education saying Tuesday that 84.4% of seniors graduated on time in the spring. That's up slightly from 84.1% last year, and a record high since Georgia began using calculations that require a student to graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma.

ATLANTA (AP) — An autopsy has found that the Aug. 10 death of a 62-year-old church deacon who was electrically shocked by an Atlanta police officer was a homicide, although the medical examiner …

CLEVELAND, Ga. (AP) — Officials say a north Georgia man loaded stolen goods onto a rented truck Saturday, torched a pickup and led officers on a chase with furniture spilling out of the truck before officers shot him in the arm and ran him off the road. Alan Paul Heinze, a 53-year-old Cleveland man, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault against a police officer, fleeing a police officer, reckless driving and possessing a weapon while committing a felony.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgians in 149 counties can soon apply for housing subsidies for the first time since 2021. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs announced last week that it would take online applications for its Housing Choice Voucher program beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 17 and continuing through 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 20.