A bitterly divided Savannah City Council Thursday rejected two compromises that would have delayed hiring a permanent chief executive for the coastal city. The city government is currently being run by an interim city manager and the search for a permanent chief has sparked what some here have described as Savannah's worst race relations since the 1960's.

Some lawmakers want to change the Public Health bureaucracy in Georgia. Lawmakers say The Department of Community Health has a different mission than it's division of Public Health. Two years ago the Public Health Department was merged into the Department of Community Health. Community health is the agency responsible for Medicaid and Peach Care in Georgia.

The state house passed an $18 billion budget for the rest of the year. Money for meals on wheels and the respite program that helps family members provide home care for the elderly was put back in the 2011 budget. Republican Terry England chairs the House Appropriations Committee.

The House has approved an $18 billion budget that funnels additional money to hospitals that care for large numbers of poor patients. Lawmakers adopted the spending plan 136-29 on Thursday. It moves $14 million to so-called disproportionate share hospitals, many of them in rural areas around the state.

Alabama officials have expressed concern over Georgia’s push for reservoirs and its regulation of water transfers. The Department of Natural Resources board recently adopted rules regulating the transfer of water from one river to the next. The state of Alabama wasn’t only watching the vote, but it also encouraged the board to strengthen the rules.