A bill that state lawmakers say will create a "culture of conservation" and potentially help douse Georgia's water war with Florida and Alabama is all but a done deal.

House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, rushed a bill to committee Wednesday to deny Hustler magazine's request of crime-scene photos of a hiker killed in 2008 on a North Georgia trail.

The tension is between suburban Republicans and their rural counterparts. And the topic is jobs.

For many California areas, unemployment rates moved persistently higher in January, indicating that the national economic recovery hasn't yet translated into jobs for the Golden State.

The push to make sure there are no repeats of a scandal in the Bibb County Tax Assessor's Office moved forward Wednesday at the state Capitol.

A bill that would criminalize race-based abortions narrowly cleared committee Wednesday at the Georgia Capitol, drawing the Georgia General Assembly closer to a full-blown abortion debate.

Current and former Georgia legislators packed the state House chambers early Wednesday for what House Speaker David Ralston said was a "long overdue" tribute to the legendary Tom Murphy.

The House Agriculture Committee voted 10 to 3 late Wednesday to send to the full House a controversial bill that environmentalists argue would set back the state's conservation efforts by allowing some landfills to take in yard trimmings, with local government approval.

Some barnyard animals could be moving into backyards under a bill that cleared a House committee Wednesday. The bill would allow homeowners to have chickens, milk goats and rabbits -- as well as sizable fruit and vegetable gardens -- so long as the goal would be to feed their families.

In Michigan, where many enterprises are struggling to survive, the renowned University of Michigan is in the midst of a construction boom and hiring spree. Michigan State University, on the other hand, plans to lay off faculty and cut programs, blaming state funding that is lower than it was a decade ago. Flagship universities in other states are also prospering, while their lesser-known counterparts suffer from vanishing state appropriations. 

So, why not change the arrangement and require big-name universities to take responsibility for their own financing, leaving more state money to support the other state schools? As legislatures face their toughest budget year since the recession began, the idea of giving a few universities autonomy to control their own finances has some appeal.