A panel of academic economists and business leaders Wednesday launched five months of work that could lead to an overhaul of Georgia's tax laws.

While accurate numbers are hard to find, most estimates put the number of foreign-born residents in Georgia at nearly 1 million — the ninth-largest immigrant segment in the United States.

State Sen. Preston Smith, a Republican candidate for attorney general, had an extramarital affair with a woman whom he hired to work in his Senate office in 2003 and 2004, according to transcripts of Smith's testimony in his 2009 divorce.

A federal judge has butchered Arizona's controversial illegal-immigration law, but South Carolina Republicans pushing a similar effort are vowing to press ahead.

Georgians have been voting in primary elections since about 1964.

A political blogger has filed an ethics complaint against Republican gubernatorial hopeful Karen Handel, alleging she illegally paid staffers from her old secretary of state campaign fund.

Once again, the state is facing a significant budget shortfall, and once again, state lawmakers have the political luxury of letting a lame-duck governor take the heat for trimming state government services and personnel rather than convening a special legislative session and doing what they were elected to do.

As one voracious non-native fish bears down on the Great Lakes, notorious mussels are spreading across the West. Frustrated state officials say it’s time for the federal government to play a bigger role in stopping the spread of invasive species.

Utah is not the only state where lawmakers are attempting to address illegal immigration — which is traditionally a federal issue handled by Congress.