Atlanta

More than 1000 people from Georgia will travel to Washington this week to demand immigration reform. Latino groups say President Obama hasn't followed through on a promise to make it easier for immigrants to stay in the U.S., instead deporting more immigrants at a faster rate than the Bush administration did. "The community is pretty much fed up for immigration reform to happen," says Jerry Gonzalez, director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. "(Obama) promised during the campaign that that was going to happen the first year...and part of the reason that we're going to Washington, D.C., is to ensure that the president doesn't forget his promise." Gonzalez's organization and others from Georgia will join thousands of people from across the U.S. at a march on the National Mall on Sunday, the same day a major congressional vote on health care reform is scheduled.

Georgia Republicans continued their fight Thursday against the federal health care proposal. On Wednesday, Democrats prevented the two-thirds majority needed for an amendment to the state Constitution. It aimed at having Georgians opt out of any federal health care law. Thursday, Senate Republicans passed a bill that would do just that. It only needed a simple majority and passed easily. "While I would have preferred to let Georgians vote to have their rights protected in the state constitution, this legislation will protect Georgians in a similar way," says Republican Judson Hill, who sponsored the bill. But legal experts warn that state law cannot supersede federal law. Senate Democrats say the legislation is a waste of time and money and will likely end up in court. Georgia is one of 38 states trying to pass laws against federal health care.

The state house today passed water conservation legislation paving the way for Governor Perdue to sign it into law. Under the provision outdoor watering is limited to the hours of 4:00 pm and 10:00 am. Farms and gardens are exempt. The law requires high efficiency plumbing fixtures like toilets, shower heads, and faucets, in new construction. It also includes other voluntary water saving measures. Georgia wants to show neighboring Alabama and Florida that it is serious about water conservation. The move could send good will to the tri-state water talks. A federal judge has given Georgia 3 years to find a water sharing agreement with its neighbors or lose Lake Lanier as a water source for Metro Atlanta.

Today Georgia Democrats in the Senate defeated a Republican move to send a message to the Obama administration against healthcare. Georgia is one of 38 states where Republicans are pushing a constitutional amendment that would allow the state to opt out of any federal health care mandate. Republican Senator Judson Hill says Republicans in the Georgia Senate want freedom of choice. "We stand united at least within the Republican Caucus to say your health care and your health care freedoms of choice are critically important. " But the amendment was defeated because Democrats voted against it and prevented the needed two-thirds majority. Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown says the amendment was only meant to poke the eye of the federal government and would end up in court. He says Democrats stuck together. "It was a very clear message. Let's focus on the things that are important to the people of Georgia...and let's not get distracted by this frivolous kind of legislation. " But Republicans aren't giving up. They're pushing a bill with similar implications. And that bill would only need a simple majority.

Federal officials are trying to determine how much private information about veterans' medical records ended up on the personal laptop of a former physician's assistant. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Inspector General has opened a criminal investigation into the matter, which happened at a VA Medical Center clinic in Atlanta. A report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says the assistant allegedly told another VA employee she was using the information -- clinical data about the veterans -- for an unauthorized research project. "The results of the investigation and analysis will help determine whether to send notifications and offers of credit protection services to the affected veterans," says a written statement from the VA.

The heirs of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. have agreed to dismiss most of the remaining legal claims against each other months after the civil rights leader's children reached a settlement. A Fulton County judge's order Wednesday gives an interim custodian control over the King Center, which has been at the center of a legal feud. They reached the settlement in October. Martin Luther King III, Bernice King and Dexter King aired their grievances in open court for more than a year. Dexter King's brother and sister sued him in 2008, accusing him of acting improperly as head of their father's estate, which the three of them control as a private corporation. They claimed he shut them out of decisions involving King Inc. and refused to hold a shareholders meeting since 2004.

At least one state senator is prepared to cut jobs to save money in the shrinking state budget. Sentaor Mitch Seabaugh (R - Sharpsburg) wants to eliminate 19 Superior Court Judges in Georgia. The state currently has 205 Superior Court Judgeships. Seabaugh suggests that if the judges worked more efficiently they could handle more cases. With only 186 judges, he says, Georgia could save $14 million dollars. Along with the judges their staffs would also go. "It will effect secretary, assistant DA, assistant PD and their operating costs," he says. Melvin Westmoreland, is the President of the Georgia Council of Superior Court Judges. He calls the idea misguided. In tough economic times, he says, foreclosure and child support filings go up. "When times are tough, people go to the courts," said Westmoreland. According to the Judicial Council of Georgia, at current levels, the state is already short 70 superior court judges.

The Georgia Department of Human Services is facing more than $100 million in budget cuts the next two fiscal years, and a child advocacy group worries about how that will affect kids. The group, Voices for Georgia's Children, says employee furloughs and cuts in the number of caseworkers who monitor kids at risk for abuse and neglect would be serious and could have far-reaching consequences. "When there are less caseworkers or those caseworkers have bigger caseloads, there's a potential for crisis and the potential that children are going to fall through the cracks," says Mindy Binderman, the group's Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy. "We know that those kids are at much bigger risk for either juvenile delinquency, or being abusers themselves when they don’t receive the services that they need," she said. Plunging tax revenue is prompting cuts in the current budget. The state faces a $1 billion shortfall in revenue for the upcoming fiscal year.

15 Georgia high schools are being recognized for achieving marked improvement in graduating its students. But some on the front-lines of teaching say that success could be jeopardized by the state’s ailing budget. A study by the non-profit Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education found the schools graduated at least 85 percent of their students in the past two years. And over the course of the five-year study, the schools across north, middle and east Georgia raised rates by at least 10 percentage points. Officials point to strong faculty-student relationships and connection to curriculum being taught. Terri Duncan is a graduation coach at Greenbrier High in east Georgia - one of the schools recognized. She wants lawmakers to know schools could backslide if budget cuts go too deep. “I think they’ve got to tread very carefully and listen to the people and educators. We know. We are the ones who know what needs to be in these schools and I think our opinion and thoughts need to be valued.” Duncan says some of her grad coach colleagues have already fallen victim to the budget ax, especially on the middle school level.

Another wintry mix of precipitation is moving through parts of Georgia today. By midmorning, a couple inches of snow had fallen across north Georgia as a cold rain turned to snow in the Atlanta metro area. The National Weather Service on Tuesday morning was also reporting about 2 inches of snow in the north Georgia mountains, where more than a dozen school districts had already called for a day off. Forecasters have revised a winter storm warning to cover an area north of a line from Carrollton to Atlanta to Athens. The warning extends until midnight. Projections are for accumulations of between 2-5 inches for the Georgia mountains. Weather service meteorologist Brian Lynn said the Atlanta area was poised to get its fourth "measurable snowfall" of the winter. The metro area generally gets one to two measurable snowfalls per year. Before Tuesday's snow, Atlanta had gotten 4.2 inches of snow, nearly double its normal 2.4 inches. Hundreds of flights in and out of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport have been cancelled in response to the weather. Concerning Georgia roadways, state Department of Transportation crews are monitoring any trouble areas. A spokesman says in northwest Georgia, scattered icy patches have been reported along a stretch of I-75 north and southbound in Catoosa, Whitfield and Gordon counties. More than 75 GDOT workers with 35 trucks equipped with snow plows and hopper spreaders continue their work to keep the interstates and state routes open and safe for the traveling public. GDOT urges motorists to slow down and be aware of black ice, especially on bridges and overpasses. .