Across Georgia

Hostage will collect $62,500 for reward

ATLANTA - The FBI said Thursday that it plans to give Augusta native Ashley Smith, the woman who led police to Bryan Nichols, its $20,000 reward for his capture.

Mr. Nichols is charged with murder in the Atlanta courthouse shootings of a 64-year-old judge who had been presiding over Mr. Nichols' rape trial, a court reporter, a deputy who tried to stop the gunman outside the courthouse, and a federal customs agent, who was killed later that day.

Mr. Nichols took Mrs. Smith hostage, but let her go and she called police.

That brings the total amount of rewards that Mrs. Smith is set to collect to at least $62,500.

Private clubs to get extra legal protection

ATLANTA - Private clubs that ban gays from membership would get extra legal protection under a bill approved Thursday by the state Senate.

The plan, which already passed in the House, is aimed at a fight in Atlanta between the city government and Druid Hills Golf Club.

Druid Hills Golf Club does not extend the same benefits to the partners of gay members as it does to the spouses of married members. Two members of the club appealed to the city, and Mayor Shirley Franklin said the club should be fined $500 a day for the policy, although that fine has not been collected.

The golf club is private, but its facility is regularly used for public events such as weddings and parties.

The club, in turn, is suing the city.

The case caught the attention of some Republican lawmakers in the Legislature, who drew up the bill saying such private clubs can't be fined by governments.

Sparkler ban remains after House rejection

ATLANTA - A bill to legalize sparklers in Georgia was rejected in the state House Thursday, a rare defeat for the powerful Republican who sponsored the idea.

The Senate had already voted overwhelmingly to tweak Georgia's longtime firework prohibition to allow sparklers. The bill was cleared to breeze through the House, too, but Democrats and Republican women banded together against the idea, citing child safety.

Student will serve probation in poisoning

CARROLLTON - A University of West Georgia student has received probation after pleading no contest to accusations she tried to poison her roommates by pouring bleach into their food.

April Renee Welch, of College Park, Ga., was charged with terroristic acts after one of her roommates, Brittany Lloyd, became ill from drinking fruit punch that was tainted with bleach last November.