Judge halts building of coal power plant

ATLANTA --- The construction of a coal-fired power plant was halted Monday when a judge ruled that the plant's builders must first obtain a permit from state regulators that limits the amount of carbon dioxide emissions.

Fulton County Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore's decision overturned a ruling that allowed the construction of the $2 billion Longleaf Energy Plant, which would become Georgia's first new coal-fired plant in more than two decades.

Environmentalists said it is the first time a judge has applied a U.S. Supreme Court finding that carbon dioxide is a pollutant to emissions from an industrial source.

The court's April 2007 decision said the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which are blamed for global warming.

The plant's developers, LS Power and Dynegy Inc., said they planned to appeal.

ATLANTA --- A man who divorced his wife in Chatham County in 1970 has a right to half the rental income from a home she won in the divorce and began renting out in 2004, the Georgia Supreme Court decided in a 6-1 ruling released Monday.

Writing for the majority, Justice Robert Benham said James Allen Harvey never gave up his right to seek "partition," a legal proceeding in which a trial court can require jointly owned property to be divided.

The final divorce decree gave Mr. Harvey's ex-wife, Linda Sessoms, permanent possession of the home. She paid the mortgage as she continued to live there; however, the title to the residence remained in both of their names.

She moved out in 2004 to care for her elderly mother and began renting the house.

-- Edited from wire reports