State House tackles celebratory gunfire

ATLANTA — Citing disconcerting numbers about Georgia’s prison population, state leaders on Wednesday announced the 2011 Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform for Georgia. Georgia’s prison population, which has grown by 4.6 percent during the past two years, is the fourth largest in the country, according to state officials. “With this new commission in place, we hope to uncover new approaches to make Georgia communities safer while increasing offender accountability, improving rehabilitation efforts and lowering

ATLANTA – State Sen. Robert Brown, D-Macon, is looking at ways to strengthen the state’s animal abuse laws and wants to make sure authorities have the “best tools possible to prosecute the abuse of innocent animals.” Brown in 2000 sponsored the Animal Cruelty Act, which changed abuse from a misdemeanor to a felony. “Animal abuse is often an indicative trait of future acts of violence against humans, and prosecuting such behavior is our first line

ATLANTA — Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday named state Sen. Jim Butterworth, R-Clarkesville, as the next adjutant general of Georgia, a position responsible for more than 14,000 personnel in the Georgia Department of Defense. The state senator will resign his seat on Oct. 2, according to the governor’s office. That day, he will take command of the Georgia Army National Guard, the Georgia Air National Guard and the Georgia State Defense Force. Butterworth, who was first