2015 midstate year in review - January through March

9: Dennis Eason, 25, Jeremy Quillan Jackson, 24, Antonio Garvin, 20, Kristian Jamal Wipfel, 21, and Tevin Sams, 21, were all charged with murder in connection with a Tuesday shooting that killed an 8-year-old boy at a Fort Valley apartment. De'Jad Williams, the boy's caretaker at the time of the shooting, was charged with murder in the second degree as well as cruelty to children in the second degree.

10: An exploding bus on the set of "The 5th Wave," a movie being filmed in downtown Macon, damaged buildings on Cotton Avenue. The businesses and apartments that were damaged were later cleaned and repaired.

13: Andrew Howard Brannan was put to death for the 1998 killing of Laurens County sheriff's Deputy Kyle Dinkheller. Brannen killed the deputy during a traffic stop.

27: Ronnie "Jay" Towns, 28, was charged with killing Bud and June Runion, a Marietta couple who were found dead in some woods in Telfair County.

27: Tyson Foods announced plans to add 500 new jobs and double the size of its Dooly County poultry plant in a $110 million expansion.

February

9: Macon's Bowden Golf Course was selected for the Georgia Register of Historic Places.

11: Macon-Bibb County firefighter Lt. Randy Parker died from injuries sustained while battling a house fire in south Bibb County. Five other firefighters were injured during the blaze.

20: The midstate was gripped by cold weather with Macon recording a low temperature of 18 degrees, which broke a record for that date.

23: The Bibb County school board voted to cut about 60 jobs, including principals, teachers, secretaries, custodians and counselors. The reasons for the cuts were school consolidations and the ending of grant programs.

26: The Bibb County school system ended its two-year search for a superintendent, hiring Curtis L. Jones, who had been superintendent of Griffin-Spalding County schools.

March

12: Mercer University's Townsend School of Music announced that it had received a multimillion-dollar commitment from Macon resident Jo Phelps Fabian. The donation was the biggest sum ever given to support arts at the school.

13: The iconic Nu-Way Weiners restaurant on Cotton Avenue was destroyed by a fire. The owners of the nearly century-old business vowed to rebuild.

18: The state Board of Regents approved a change in name, mission and course offerings for Middle Georgia State College, which led to it becoming Middle Georgia State University in July.

-- Compiled by Beth Gadd

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misspelled the last name of Andrew Howard Brannan.

This story was originally published December 27, 2015 at 5:16 PM with the headline "2015 midstate year in review - January through March ."