The Georgia Senate passed legislation Tuesday aimed at shielding businesses and health-care providers from lawsuits filed by people who have contracted coronavirus since March.

Like many of you, I have worked from home for the past three months, and it has given me a chance to familiarize myself with my new surroundings. It turns out that this place I’ve slept and watched ballgames on weekends for thirty years needed a few repairs. My wife says she has informed me about these problems in the past, but I was apparently distracted by the Braves and SEC football.

We all have them, tucked away in our memory bank. The songs that make us smile, often many decades after we first heard them. In many cases, we heard them when we were growing up. They were blaring from the car radio, or our older sibling’s transistor radio, hidden and tucked under the pillow. We didn’t have a care in the world. We had our health, our cherished family members were alive, and we did everything together. We sang during family road trips, or living room dance sessions. Sometimes we didn’t even know the words, and we definitely didn’t know the meanings. It didn’t matter.

ATLANTA — Georgia is lagging in its count of the 2020 U.S. Census as outreach workers struggle reaching communities in isolated areas for counting amid the coronavirus pandemic.

MCDONOUGH — From late summer into fall, Southerners start looking for muscadines — a popular grape native to the Southeastern U.S. Selections run from the dark purple, thick-skinned traditional muscadine to a light golden-green variety. Soon, growers and consumers can add a new red variety t…

McDONOUGH — LifeSouth Community Blood Centers are now testing all eligible blood donors for COVID-19 antibodies.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to postpone the June 9 primary election in Georgia until the end of June and require state election officials to boost sanitizing procedures.

LOCUST GROVE — When Pastor Terrell Hopkins woke up on March 25, he had a slight fever and what he described as a “heavy chest feeling.”

Well, here we go again. Congress recently passed and President Donald Trump signed a measure allocating an additional $310 billion in loans for the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program after the first $349 billion dried up like a prune — only quicker.

McDONOUGH — Henry County police are looking for a man wanted in connection with the April 8 murder of a Stockbridge resident.

MCDONOUGH — When David Wu was in high school his first choice college was picked based on a go kart program the school offered.

ATLANTA—Gov. Brian Kemp has deputized Georgia's sheriffs to shut down businesses that fail to comply with his April 1 emergency order.

ATLANTA—Help is on the way for public safety agencies in Georgia in the form of a Department of Justice grant to fight COVID-19.

ATLANTA — The Press Club of Atlanta is conveying an urgent message from Gov. Brian Kemp:

JONESBORO—If you feel like the COVID-19 emergency is messing with your mind, you’re not the only one. Nicole Albert, a licensed psychotherapist with Jewish Family and Career Services of Atlanta, says that feelings of shock, worry or stress right now are perfectly normal. The News asked Alber…

ATHENS — On March 30, the University of Georgia will transition to online instruction for the remainder of the spring semester.

ATLANTA – Following an announcement from the U.S. Department of Education Friday inviting states to request waivers from federal assessment requirements, State School Superintendent Richard Woods affirmed that the Georgia Department of Education will immediately apply for a waiver from asses…

COLLEGE PARK – The city of College Park has declared a state of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

STOCKBRIDGE – Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Piedmont Henry Hospital is not allowing visitors for the time being. Patients in Women’s Services and the Emergency Department, and special needs, disabled, or hearing-impaired patients are allowed one visitor. Other exceptions need to be approved …

The Georgia Power Foundation Inc. is investing $1 million in 2020 to support the state of Georgia in addressing the unprecedented impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

McDONOUGH — Henry County has two reported cases of COVID-19 as of noon on Tuesday.

McDONOUGH—Don't flip your wig, but Henry County Police are on the hunt for two women suspected of snatching $500 worth of fake hair.

McDONOUGH—Henry County Police say people should stay away from a property on Kings Mill Road where Henry County Animal Control found "approximately 22 malnourished and mistreated horses" on Feb. 24.

ELLENWOOD — Commuters may want to avoid I-675 South near Anvil Block Road until after 7 a.m., according to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Every year as Thanksgiving approaches, it isn’t food that dominates my thoughts. It’s cleaning the house.

LOCUST GROVE — Henry County Police are looking for a suspect in a public indecency incident.

LOCUST GROVE — The Henry County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a medical emergency at Locust Grove High School in which four female students apparently ingested a combination of chemicals and/or drugs.

Should casino gaming be legalized in 2020, the Atlanta Motor Speedway could potentially house such an operation in the future.

FOREST PARK—I-75 South is open again just past I-675 and Georgia Hwy. 138 in Henry County after a big rig flipped  this morning. GDOT said one truck and one bus were involved. The scene cleared around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Henry County EMS checked over the juveniles, ages 8, 6 and 4, after they were removed from the Tahoe.

FOREST PARK—One man is in custody following a standoff in the Holiday Hills subdivision in unincorporated Forest Park that shut down traffic on I-75 South for several hours Tuesday afternoon and forced residents from their homes.

JONESBORO—Pamela Winn, like other Clayton County prisoners, was shackled hand and foot as she left the privately-run Robert A. Deyton Detention Center in Lovejoy for her court date in 2008. Unlike most others, she was pregnant.

FOREST PARK — A Forest Park man is dead after an officer-involved taser incident in Henry County Sept. 20 near Atlanta Motor Speedway during the Imagine Festival concert.

JONESBORO — A Henry County man is dead after police say he killed two others, then led officers on a dangerous high-speed chase with gunfire through Jonesboro Monday afternoon.

FOREST PARK — If you’ve ever been arrested by the Forest Park Police Department, Clayton County Police Department or Clayton County Sheriff’s Office for a misdemeanor, here’s your chance to get those records restricted.

JONESBORO — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says multiple agencies were involved in the Aug. 30 arrest of three alleged members of the “59 Brim Bloods” gang.

Kenneth Thomas Bowman III, 24, has been charged with seven counts of rape and one count of sexual battery. He was arrested on Aug. 27 at his place of employment.

JONESBORO — The Clayton County Police Department say they have in custody a man they believe is responsible for a series of sexual assaults and rapes over the last four years.

McDONOUGH—Henry County Police say to stay away from I-75 Exit 218 dueto an active situation. The News is enroute and will update soon. 

REX — A Rex homeowner's Ring doorbell captured a scene out of the Allstate "Mayhem" commercial when a woman threw a brick through the window, then walked off.

MCDONOUGH, GA—Tory Leroy Jones, Sr. will spend the rest of his life in prison for the 2016 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Elimisha Maryetta Gates, at a Stockbridge motel.