Georgia

PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. (AP) — Growth and urbanization, along with President Donald Trump’s struggles among previously GOP-leaning white college graduates, have put Georgia on the cusp of presidential battleground status.

The question is how close.

Republicans acknowledge demographic change but are skeptical the state will swing to Democrats.

As with any competitive electorate, Georgia’s direction will turn on a combination of variables within an electorate that now exceeds 7 million registered voters.

FORT STEWART, Ga. (AP) — U.S. Army officials say three soldiers were killed and three others were injured when the armored vehicle they were riding in rolled over into water during training at Fort Stewart in Georgia.

Officials with the Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield’s 3rd Infantry Division said in a news release that the crash occurred around 3:20 a.m. Sunday. The release had few additional details and did not identify the soldiers.

The soldiers were with the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team and were in a Bradley fighting vehicle.

WOODBINE, Ga. (AP) — A former Georgia police officer who fatally shot a fleeing, unarmed black man was acquitted Saturday of voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

The jury, however, found Zechariah Presley guilty of violating his oath of office in the 2018 shooting of Tony Green, 33, in coastal Camden County near the Georgia-Florida state line.

Presley was ordered to be jailed pending sentencing Oct. 18. He faces a prison term of one to five years.

TBILISI, October 4. /TASS/: Tbilisi calls for boosting humanitarian and tourism cooperation with Moscow, as well as for easing tensions, the Georgian Prime Minister’s Envoy for Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze told TASS on Friday.

TBILISI, September 29. /TASS/: Georgian Airways welcomes the statement made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov regarding possible lifting of a ban on direct flights between the two countries and supports resumption of flights with consideration of Georgia’s interests, CEO of the Georgian air carrier Roman Bokeriya said in a statement released on Saturday.

TBILISI, September 11. /TASS/: Georgia will find itself in the epicenter of a clash between the United States and Russia if the country joins NATO, which will affect the future of the republic, former Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, leader of the Democratic Movement - United Georgia political party Nino Burjanadze said on the national TV on Wednesday.

JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — The Latest on The Latest on an overturned cargo ship off the coast of Georgia (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

A Coast Guard officer says it could take “weeks, if not months” to remove a cargo ship that overturned while heading to sea from a port on the Georgia coast.

JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Coast Guard rescuers pulled four trapped men alive from a capsized cargo ship Monday, drilling into the hull’s steel plates to extract the crew members more than a day after their vessel overturned while leaving a Georgia port.

All four were described as alert and in relatively good condition and were taken to a hospital for further evaluation.

“Best day of my 16-year career,” Lt. Lloyd Heflin, who was coordinating the effort, wrote in a text message to The Associated Press.

SUKHUM, September 9. /TASS/: Incumbent Abkhaz President Raul Khajimba has won the presidential runoff, according to preliminary data, garnering 47.38% of the vote, head of Abkhazia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) Tamaz Gogia told TASS in the early hours of Monday.

"According to preliminary data, Raul Khajimba is deemed elected in accordance with Article 19 of Abkhazia’s constitutional law on electing the president of the Republic of Abkhazia. Alkhas Kvitsiniya has garnered 46.19% [of the vote], while Raul Khajimba has secured 47.38% in the presidential runoff," he said.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — The Latest on a cargo ship overturned off Georgia coast (all times local):

2 p.m.

The U.S. Coast Guard says rescuers have been stymied in their search for the remaining four crew members of a cargo ship overturned near a Georgia port by a fire onboard the vessel.

Coast Guard Capt. John Reed said Sunday afternoon that rescue teams safely evacuated 20 people from the ship in St. Simons Sound, but then determined the situation was too risky to go further inside the vessel.