President Barack Obama will travel to two Southern states after his State of the Union address on Tuesday. It's a tradition for presidents to launch a post-speech tour to pitch their proposals to the public. A stop in Asheville, N.C., on Wednesday will be followed by a visit Thursday to Atlanta.

A Democrat state Senator has introduced a bill allowing local school boards to decide whether to let elementary school employees carry guns on campus The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Sen. Ronald B. Ramsey of Decatur — who is also chief legal officer for the DeKalb County School District — filed the Elementary School Protection Act Friday.

The state House passed an amended budget Friday for the current fiscal year. It reconciles projections from last year with the economic realities of today. State officials had to lower the budget’s revenue estimate because the economy hasn’t recovered as quickly as they had predicted.

The national Republican Party chairman is looking to Georgia to help expand the party's reach among African-Americans. Reince Priebus met Thursday afternoon in downtown Atlanta with about two dozen African-American business and civic leaders. Many of them are already active Republicans.

Gov. Nathan Deal and state lawmakers have reached an agreement to lower the grade requirements to qualify for HOPE grants at Georgia technical schools.