Loans available for tornado victims   07/31/2008
Federal relief, although not as much as hoped for, finally is on its way to Cherokee County tornado and severe storm victims.

Leaders target commute costs   07/31/2008
More carpooling and extra bus routes are possible solutions being considered by Cherokee County leaders as the cost of commuting increases.

Vietnam-era MIA may be identified after 36 years   07/31/2008
DALTON, Ga. (AP) - Christine Jones was baking brownies for the National Guard when Air Force officials called to tell her they might have found her son nearly four decades after the flight surgeon went missing during the Vietnam War. Maj. Bobby M. Jones' F4 jet disappeared from radar near Danang in South Vietnam on Nov. 28, 1972. His sister, Jo Anne Shirley, got a phone call from Air Force officials who said a "blood chit," a military identification marker containing a number specific to her brother, had been found in June by a forensic anthropologist.

Airport master plan under development   07/30/2008
Cherokee leaders said they are creating a master plan for the area surrounding the county airport to avoid winging its future development.

More hires likely for school district   07/30/2008
Brent Williams is one of more than 200 educators joining the Cherokee County School District this school year, and like others polled at orientation Tuesday, the system's reputation attracted him.

Local sports bar could lose its alcohol license   07/30/2008
Canton officials are pushing to pull a restaurant's alcohol license after a sting operation netted 15 arrests for underage drinking and drug possession.

County water authority raises rates   07/30/2008
If you want to benefit from the Cherokee County Water and Sewerage Authority's new rates, be ready to conserve.

Cherokee County tornado and severe storm victims can begin applying Thursday for low-interest federal loans  07/30/2008
The U.S. Small Business Administration announced Wednesday that its staff will be at the county recreation center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning Thursday to help homeowners, renters, landlords and business owners affected by the May 20 storm apply for loans. The SBA disaster loan assistance office will remain open those same hours on Mondays through Fridays through the close of business Aug. 14. The office also will be open from 8 a.m. to noon this Saturday. The center is at the South Annex government complex at 7545 Main St. north of Woodstock. The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Sept. 26. The deadline to return economic injury applications is April 28. Interest rates are as low as 2.687 percent for homeowners and renters, and four percent for businesses, with terms up to 30 years. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based upon each applicant's financial condition.

3 wounded in Tenn. church shooting improving   07/29/2008
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Three people wounded in a fatal shotgun rampage at a Unitarian church were off the hospital's critical list Tuesday, a day after a candlelight vigil tried to comfort congregation members and others attempting to "make sense of the senseless." Jim D. Adkisson, 58, an out-of-work trucker, is accused of killing two people and wounding six others during a children's musical at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church church Sunday morning. Children on Monday ended the service by singing, "The sun will come out tomorrow," a line from the signature song from that musical, "Annie." A four-page letter found in Adkisson's SUV indicated he picked the church for the attack because, the police chief said, "he hated the liberal movement" of the congregation. Three people who were shot were upgraded from critical to serious condition and a fourth was stable at Tennessee Medical Center, nursing supervisor Susan Wilson said Tuesday. Killed were Greg McKendry, 60, and Linda Kraeger, 61.

Details missing from Obama's Social Security plan   07/28/2008
WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama's bid to place a new Social Security tax on very high incomes is ei-ther a bold or foolhardy plan, depending on who critiques it. But its potential impact is almost impossible to gauge because he is providing few details on basic questions such as what the tax rate might be, what types of income would be taxed and how the taxpayers' benefits would be affected. The Democratic presidential candidate says he would work with lawmakers from both parties to resolve such matters. Voters generally applaud bipartisan cooperation, but they apparently will go to the polls this fall with only a vague notion of what Obama has in mind. Obama made headlines June 13 when he called for a Social Security payroll tax on incomes above $250,000 a year. Currently, the tax is levied only on the first $102,000 of each worker's income. That covers the entire salary of most Americans.