Across Georgia

Two men deny guilt in farmhouse slayings

CUMMING --- Two men accused in an attack that left four at a Forsyth County farmhouse dead have pleaded not guilty.

Marcin Sosniak, 23, and Jason McGhee, 27, appeared in Forsyth County Superior Court on Thursday on 20 felony charges. The charges, including four counts of malice murder and four counts of felony murder, stem from the attack on March 16, 2006, that killed four and injured three others. The attack happened at a rundown farmhouse that had become a hangout for teens.

Forsyth County District Attorney Penny Penn has announced plans to seek the death penalty against Mr. Sosniak, Mr. McGhee and a third suspect, Frank Ortegon Jr.

Airport will collect more fingerprints

ATLANTA --- International visitors who fly into the U.S. through Atlanta are going to have to give more fingerprints than they used to.

Federal officials on Friday unveiled a new fingerprint collection program at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport -- the second U.S. airport now using the system. The initiative, called US-VISIT, will collect all fingerprints of each visitor for increased security. In the previous system, screeners took only two fingerprints.

Robert C. Gomez, the director of field operations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the 10-print system will actually give feedback faster than the old system did.

Ex-lawmaker to teach at Kennesaw State

ATLANTA --- Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr has joined the faculty at Kennesaw State University, where he is teaching a joint class on privacy policy.

The class called Privacy and Public Policy in 21st Century Business and Society is being offered to students in the Coles College of Business and the College of Humanities and Social Science. Mr. Barr, a former Republican, represented Georgia in the House for eight years. He is now on the national Board of the Libertarian Party.

Drought keeps race, events out of park

ATLANTA --- City officials announced Friday that Piedmont Park will not be the site of the Peachtree Road Race and three other events this year because of the drought that has gripped the state.

The chief of staff for Mayor Shirley Franklin, Greg Pridgeon, says the race will not end in the park as it usually does. The parched park also will not be the site of the Atlanta Pride Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival and the Dogwood Festival.

Mr. Pridgeon says the events would be disruptive to the park's turf.

-- Edited from wire reports