ATLANTA (AP) — A former executive for a longtime city of Atlanta vendor was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for paying bribes in exchange for millions of dollars in city contracts and for paying bribes to an official in a neighboring county in an attempt to get business there.

ATLANTA – Japanese probiotic beverages maker Yakult will build its second U.S. plant in Bartow County, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday. The facility represents an estimated investment of $305 million and will create more than 90 new jobs. Yakult U.S.A., which was formed in 1990, built its first U.S. plant in California.

ATLANTA – A federal court has dismissed the state of Georgia’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit challenging state House and Senate district lines the Republican-controlled General Assembly drew two years ago based on the 2020 census. The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU’s Georgia chapter are arguing the maps deny Black voters an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones has set a Sept. 5 hearing date in the case.

ATLANTA (AP) — Chris Hosey will lead the Georgia Bureau of Investigation beginning Aug. 1 after he was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp. Hosey's appointment was approved Saturday by the state Board of Public Safety. He is taking over for Mike Register, who's stepping down after less than a year on the job. Register is Cobb County's next public safety director.

ATLANTA (AP) — A Republican former state lawmaker is coming back to Georgia's capitol as House Speaker Jon Burns' chief of staff. Burns, a Republican from Newington, announced Monday that he was hiring Terry England to replace Spiro Amburn, who is leaving for a private job.

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia man has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and killing of his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend, a woman he also is accused of having kidnapped a year earlier. Police identified the suspect in the Sunday night abduction and shooting as Cameron Ja’Michael Hopkins, 20, of Albany.

ALTO, Ga. (AP) — Five people are dead after a wreck on a busy northeast Georgia highway. State troopers say Avonlea Holtzclaw of Dahlonega was trying to cross U.S. 23 in a Ford Explorer Sunday afternoon when a driver going northbound hit her. The wreck happened near Alto in Habersham County.

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Officers on Sunday shot and killed a man wanted in four weekend killings near Atlanta during an exchange of gunfire, with a sheriff's deputy and two police officers wounded while trying to take the suspect into custody, authorities said.

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Authorities in Georgia hunted Saturday for a man who remained at large hours after he was suspected of gunning down three men and a woman in a suburban neighborhood south of Atlanta.

ATLANTA (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into jail conditions in Georgia's most populous county, with officials citing violence, filthy conditions and the death last year of a man whose body was found covered in insects.

ATLANTA (AP) — The ex-wife of R&B singer Usher is calling to drain Georgia's largest lake, where her son was fatally injured 11 years ago. Fashion designer Tameka Foster has collected more than 2,500 signatures for her online petition imploring officials to “drain, clean, and restore” Lake Sidney Lanier, to allow for safety improvements and the removal of hazardous debris and other obstructions.

ATLANTA (AP) — Rex, an eager and energetic German shepherd, was languishing in a Georgia animal shelter last year when a friend spotted the dog and called Marty Kemp, the wife of Gov. Brian Kemp and an avid animal lover. Thursday, Marty Kemp was on hand at the governor's mansion as 3-year-old Rex and 11 other dogs got their badges as they joined the Georgia State Patrol and Georgia Capitol Police as K-9 officers.

COVINGTON, Ga. (AP) — A sheriff's deputy in suburban Atlanta has been arrested after being accused of raping a woman while on duty, Georgia officials say. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday that George Rahming, 38, was charged with rape, sexual assault and violating his oath of office.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A rabid beaver bit a young girl while she was swimming in a northeast Georgia lake, local news outlets reported. Kevin Beucker, field supervisor for Hall County Animal Control, told WDUN-AM that the beaver bit the girl on Saturday while she was swimming off private property in the northern end of Lake Lanier near Gainesville.

ATLANTA – Georgia tax collections fell slightly last month compared to June of last year, but the state closed out fiscal 2023 with a huge surplus for the third year in a row. The Georgia Department of Revenue brought in $2.84 billion in taxes in June, down 0.4% from the same month a year ago. However, the $33.13 billion in receipts into the state’s coffers for the full 12 months of the last fiscal year far exceeded the $28.4 billion revenue estimate Gov. Brian Kemp made in January, generating a surplus of nearly $4.8 billion.

ATLANTA (AP) — Kia Corp. will invest $200 million in its Georgia factory to begin producing an electric-powered SUV, the company announced Wednesday. The South Korean company said it would hire an additional 200 workers to begin producing its large EV9 vehicle in West Point by early 2024. The company said it would expand overall production at the plant near the Alabama state line southwest of Atlanta.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia health officials laid out efforts on Tuesday to stem the tide of increasing deaths among new mothers in the state as evidence shows that the rate of death from pregnancy has risen more steeply in Georgia than almost any other state. “This needle moves slowly, but we need to start working on things," Dr. Mitch Rodriguez, a member of the Board of Public Health and a neonatal specialist in Macon, said during a board meeting. "It’s going to take us a while to make those changes, but you have to start at some point.”

ATLANTA – A Democratic state representative who was criticized by fellow Democrats for voting with Republicans during this year’s General Assembly session has gone over to the GOP. Rep. Mesha Mainor of Atlanta announced Tuesday that she is turning Republican, adding to the GOP’s House majority.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — A northeast Georgia teenager has been arrested and charged as a juvenile after authorities say he shot at least 10 vehicles on an interstate highway with a pellet gun. One woman was injured Sunday when she was hit in the back of the head with a pellet. She is expected to recover.

FORT STEWART, Ga. (AFORT STEWART, Ga. (AP) — A former soldier who left the Army a decade ago has been charged with stealing a military Humvee and crashing it into an office building at Fort Stewart in southeast Georgia. On Monday, the armored vehicle plowed through the glass front doors of the Army post's headquarters building, which houses the offices of Fort Stewart's commanding general and other top leaders. No one was injured.

GRIFFIN, Ga. (AP) — Three people have been charged with murder in Georgia after one of them shot a man who confronted them about throwing eggs at his home, authorities said. The suspects — two 18-year-olds and a 19-year-old — wanted to vandalize Johnathan Gilbert’s home about 40 miles south of Atlanta as part of an “ongoing lovers’ quarrel,” Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix said in a news release Friday.

ATLANTA – Georgians have taken to early voting in a big way. The Peach State ranked second in the nation for early voting last November, according to a new study released by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The report found that 58% of Georgia voters cast their ballots before Election Day, up from 48% in 2018.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Police arrested a man Monday suspected of shooting and injuring an investigator with a metro Atlanta prosecutor's office while both were driving. The investigator with the Gwinnett County district attorney's office was not on duty when he was shot in the leg around 6 p.m. Friday by another driver, police said.

ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are marking their 77th wedding anniversary with a quiet Friday at their south Georgia home, extending their record as the longest-married first couple ever as both nonagenarians face significant health challenges.

ATLANTA — The Georgia State Patrol announced Thursday that 18 people died across the state in crashes over the July 4th holiday period. The period began on Friday evening, June 30, and ended Tuesday, July 4, at midnight. Across the state, troopers investigated nine fatal crashes, and local agencies investigated another nine.