Cox awards schools with AP exam honors

State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox named more than 80 Advanced Placement Honor Schools in three categories Thursday.

John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School was one of only two schools statewide to be recognized in all three categories. The other was DeKalb School of the Arts.

AP Challenge Schools are Davidson, Lincoln County High School and A.R. Johnson Health Science and Engineering Magnet High School. These are schools with fewer than 900 students that are offering AP classes in all four academic areas.

AP Access & Support Schools are the Academy of Richmond County, Burke County High School, Davidson and Johnson. This recognition went to schools where 30 percent of AP test-takers are black or Hispanic and at least 30 percent of all AP exams score 3 or higher.

Lakeside High School and Davidson were named AP Merit Schools, schools with at least 20 percent of students taking AP exams and at least half of the AP exams scoring a 3 or higher.

AP classes offer rigorous college-level learning options to students in high school. Students who get a 3, 4 or 5 on AP exams may receive college credit.

Jazzmin Smoot was named the Richmond County school system's 2008-09 Spelling Bee champion Thursday.

Jazzmin, a Langford Middle School seventh-grader, outlasted her competitors to win in the third round by spelling the world "delved." Thirty-nine elementary schoolchildren competed.

The winner among those went up against 11 middle-schoolers, including Jazzmin.

She now advances to compete in the regional competition March 7 at The Augusta Chronicle .

Site plan changes to the Marshall Square development were tabled Thursday by the Columbia County Planning Commission after nearly an hour-and-a-half of discussion.

Revisions to the 47-acre planned unit development on Evans Town Center Boulevard will be tabled until the April 16 meeting so commissioners can get additional information, including a more detailed footprint of the development and the seven four-story residential buildings proposed for the property.

The revision cuts the idea of a residential tower on the site and calls for all residential units in a first phase to be separate from retail establishments, with their own parking lots.

NORWOOD, GA. --- Local and state authorities are investigating a fight between a Norwood man and a Warren County commissioner that ended in gunfire.

Sheriff Joe Peebles said no one was injured and there have been no arrests stemming from an argument about noon Thursday between Warren County Commissioner Richard Burley Jr. and Dennis Cobbs.

The sheriff said he sought Georgia Bureau of Investigation involvement because an elected official was involved.

At least one shot was fired into a car door after a reported argument between Mr. Burley and Mr. Cobbs, authorities said.

Toy gun prompts probe at Sego

An incident involving a toy pellet gun is under investigation at Sego Middle School.

Director of Public Information Louis Svehla said a child complained of being hit in the head by a projectile Wednesday, and an investigation is being conducted to determine if the object was shot from a toy pellet gun.

A student admitted to having the pellet gun but said he was throwing plastic pellets in class, not shooting them, Mr. Svehla said. The student has been suspended and could be sent to a disciplinary tribunal pending the outcome of the investigation.