Elementary school student found with weapon in Clayton County (Georgia)

An elementary school student appeared Friday in Clayton County Juvenile Court to answer charges of having a concealed weapon at school.

Clayton County Public Schools Police Chief Clarence Cox said the 9-year-old was found Thursday with a loaded .38 caliber derringer in his bookbag at Pointe South Elementary.

Cox said it is the first such incident of the 2015-16 school year.

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Immigrants with disputed status sue for Georgia driver’s licenses

A group of immigrants whose legal residency is disputed sued Georgia’s state government Monday for refusing to issue them driver’s licenses.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the federal lawsuit accuses the Georgia Department of Driver Services of violating the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs, who were not named in the court filings.

The immigrants had been ordered deported, but they are either seeking to have their removals suspended or come from countries that will not allow their return. Federal officials have issued them work permits and Social Security numbers. While the Department of Driver Services had previously issued driver’s licenses to such immigrants, the state started rejecting those applications this summer.

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Student arrested after alleged threat to stage school shooting

A Muscogee County high school student was arrested Tuesday morning for allegedly making a threat on social media to stage a school shooting.

The student was apprehended without incident after he arrived by bus at Shaw High School, said principal Michael Barden. Columbus police charged the student with disruption of a public school, said Muscogee County School District communications director Valerie Fuller. The Ledger-Enquirer didn’t obtain any other details about the student.

Barden and Fuller praised the students, staff, parents and other residents who relayed the threat to school officials and police.

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Georgia has its first recorded case of plague

More than 1,000 confirmed or probable human plague cases occurred in the U. S. between the disease’s arrival here in 1900 and 2012. This year, the state of Georgia had its first recorded case — an 18-year-old girl from Thomasville.

Hannah Lundquist, a sophomore at Valdosta State University, probably contracted the bubonic plague after she was bitten by a flea during a hiking trip in Yosemite National Park in California. According to Georgia Health News, she is recovering at home now, following a week in a Thomasville hospital and will be taking a semester off from school to continue her recovery.

Benjamin Haynes, public affairs official for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, says since April 1, a total of 11 cases of human plague have been reported in residents of six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, New Mexico and Oregon. The cases in Georgia and California residents have been linked to exposures at or near Yosemite National Park in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.

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Waters of US Rule Halted Temporarily in 13 States

Washington, D.C. - August 29, 2015 (The Stuff Gazette) -- U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, released the following statement regarding North Dakota District Court Judge Ralph Erickson’s decision to halt the Environmental Protection Agency’s damaging ‘Waters of the U.S.’ (WOTUS) rule from implementation in 13 states:

“Like many Americans, I have been against the EPA’s ridiculous Waters of the U.S. regulation since day one,” said Senator Perdue. “It is outrageous President Obama and his EPA regulators are trying to regulate runoff water and rain puddles. I’m glad a federal judge agrees that the Obama Administration is out of line, and I will keep doing everything I can on a federal level to protect Georgia farmers and our state’s agriculture community from egregious executive overreach.”

The WOTUS rule, which expands federal jurisdiction over land and waterways, has received considerable criticism from a variety of industries – including Georgia’s agriculture community. While Georgia was not listed in Judge Erickson’s ruling, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens joined with eight other state Attorneys General in filing a lawsuit challenging overturn the WOTUS ruling. Their complaint was ultimately rejected by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

Senator Perdue participated in a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the WOTUS rule in March and co-sponsored legislation in April to stop implementation of this unreasonable rule. This legislation was approved by the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee and is now pending full consideration on the U.S. Senate floor.

“The Obama EPA’s WOTUS rule is one of the largest federal land grabs in recent memory,” said Thune. “It will drive up compliance costs for farmers and ranchers and expose homeowners and property owners across the country to massive new fines. The recent ruling by a federal district court in North Dakota shows that the Obama EPA is not only defying common sense, but is also defying the original intent of the Clean Water Act. The EPA should immediately suspend the enforcement of this regulation across the country. The ruling is yet another reason we need to enact a permanent stop to EPA’s overreach,” said Senator John Thune - (R - SD).