ATLANTA — Bills meant to reduce paper use in state government and to expand a state Web site already loaded with information about government spending and employee salaries will be a priority for top Senate leaders, they announced Monday.

The 2009 Georgia General Assembly session ended with a deafening thud as far as two threatened museums were concerned. The Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame were counting on a locally sponsored measure to devote an extra penny from the hotel-motel to help the museums make ends meet. It didn’t happen. Our local delegation couldn’t get itself together enough to get the job done.

President Barack Obama is calling on lawmakers to stop blocking the confirmation of government appointees in the Senate by raising objections not related to their qualifications.

Gov. David Paterson's chief of staff is seeking an internal inquiry into how The New York Times' reporting of a story led to unproven rumors of wild, personal misconduct by Paterson.

University of Miami doctors working in Haiti are treating a man who, according to two other Haitians, had been trapped by debris since the Jan. 12 earthquake - but he may have been provided food and water during his reported ordeal.

An 11-year-old boy faces assault and weapon charges for trying to stab a classmate with a pencil over a math problem. Police in New Hartford, 80 miles west of Albany, said the boy was mad because a classmate kept trying to help him in math class on Monday. When the would-be helper wouldn't back off, police said the boy lashed out with a sharp pencil and inflicted a scratch treated by the school nurse.