Across Georgia

Retired Ga. teachers to get back benefits

ATLANTA - An agreement has been reached in a class action lawsuit that will provide lump sum payments for thousands of retired Georgia teachers and their beneficiaries.

The agreement between the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia and lead plaintiffs Larrie Grant Plymel and Connie D. Monroe brought the lawsuit to a close on Monday following a hearing in Fulton County Superior Court.

The plaintiffs claimed that the retirement system did not correctly calculate retirement benefits and that as a result, some retirees were underpaid for years.

The back payments cover the period from April 1998 to April 2004, before the filing of the lawsuit.

2 plead not guilty in Macon on fraud charges

MACON, Ga. - A man and a woman accused of defrauding more than four dozen investors out of $2.11 million have pleaded not guilty in federal court in Macon.

The two, 56-year-old Gary Sheldon Hutcheson and 52-year-old Saundra McKinney Pyles, both of Macon, were indicted April 22 on five counts of mail fraud and five counts of money laundering. A week later, the two were arrested in Colorado. Hutcheson operated a hedge fund called Georgia Ionics.

They were placed in custody on Monday and will be held until a detention hearing, set for Wednesday.

Authorities allege that Hutcheson invested only about a third of the $2 million investors deposited into the fund and pocketed the rest.

Investors include numerous Macon business and professional leaders.

Georgia State U cutting 300 staff positions

ATLANTA - Georgia State University is cutting 300 staff positions to deal with reductions in state funding.

University spokeswoman Andrea Jones said Monday that just 30 of the jobs are filled. She said no full-time faculty will be cut.

Jones said the Atlanta university hopes to save $9 million by cutting the positions. The university already has restricted travel for faculty and staff and frozen hiring.

The 27,000-student university has lost $37 million in state funding for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The university has 3,400 employees.

Record May temp chills Savannah

SAVANNAH, Ga. - An unseasonably chilly day in Savannah has broken a 134-year-old record for the lowest maximum temperature on May 18.

Steady rain and cloudy skies in Savannah helped hold the high temperature Monday to just 66 degrees. The National Weather Service said that broke the previous record of 71 degrees set in 1875.

While coastal Georgia has seen highs soar past 90 degrees for much of May, temperatures hovered in the high 50s for much of the day Monday.

The Weather Service predicts Savannah will warm up a little Tuesday, with a high of 70 degrees.

Clayton County school board hires superintendent

JONESBORO, Ga. - The Clayton County school board, by a 5-4 vote, has chosen a new superintendent for the district and awarded him a three-year contract.

The board named Edmond Heatley the leader of the 48,000-student district in Atlanta's southern suburbs during a specially called meeting, and gave him a $250,000-a-year contract.

Heatley was named the only finalist from a pool of 60 candidates two weeks ago, but state law requires that the board wait 14 days to vote on his appointment. Heatley is a retired Marine master sergeant and superintendent of the Chino Valley Unified School District in California.

The Clayton district just won back accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools after nine months without it.