State News
Jehovah’s Witnesses convene in Columbus
COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — About 4,900 Jehovah’s Witnesses from west Georgia, east Alabama and north Florida are meeting in Columbus this weekend.
The three-day convention at the Columbus Civic Center started Friday. The opening message by convention chairman William Adams was for Witnesses to be ready for Jesus’ return.
A second convention is scheduled next weekend. The gatherings are among 81 conventions taking place in 81 U.S. cities through September.
Jerry Bylsma of Columbus, an elder in a Cataula Kingdom Hall and volunteer in the sect’s news service, says this year’s theme is “Keep on the Watch.”
Elders are teachers in the congregations, but there are no clergy or paid staff among Jehovah’s Witnesses, headquartered in Brooklyn, N.Y.
- State News
-
-
House delays vote on anti-bullying proposal
Efforts to update Georgia’s anti-bullying statute stalled in the House as its supporters faced opposition from fellow representatives.
-
Zebra that sprinted through Atlanta euthanized
Lima, a 12-year-old circus zebra that caused a stir when he escaped from an animal compound and ran through downtown Atlanta last month has been euthanized.
-
Defendants cleared in Atlanta gay bar raid case
An Atlanta judge has found three defendants in a case spawned by a late-night raid on a crowded gay bar not guilty.defendants
-
Savannah revives square destroyed in 1950s
Savannah is celebrating the resurrection of one of its famous squares, a site that helped spark the city’s preservation movement after its demolition in the 1950s.
-
Perdue proposes deep health care cuts
Georgia’s hospitals and health-care providers were hammered as part of a new round of cuts proposed by Gov. Sonny Perdue on Thursday to deal with a gaping budget shortfall.
-
UGA campus busy during spring break
It’s spring break at the University of Georgia, and workers are taking advantage of the absence of students to plant trees, patch roads and paint lecture halls.
-
House, Senate OK water conservation bills
Identical water conservation bills cleared both chambers of the state Legislature on Wednesday, an overture designed to help the state in negotiating a deal with Florida and Alabama over water rights.
-
Attorney: Pa. officers with Roethlisberger at club
Two off-duty Pennsylvania law enforcement officers were with Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at the Georgia nightclub where a woman accused him of sexual assault, and the two men didn’t see anything inappropriate, an attorney for one of them said Wednesday.
-
System to defend the poor still reeling
Georgia’s public defender system is still trying to recover its financial footing five years after a courthouse gunman racked up a $3 million taxpayer-funded defense tab on the way to his conviction.
-
Rainy weather continues
Rain is continuing to fall across Georgia, and a few counties remain under a flood warning.
- More State News Headlines
-
House delays vote on anti-bullying proposal
