Free Republic

A seven-year legislative veteran is switching parties, giving Republicans a milestone 100 seats in the House of Representatives. State Rep. Greg Morris, a Vidalia Democrat and entrenched party insider, is set to appear before friends and supporters in his hometown today to announce his defection to the GOP. His decision bolsters the comfort level of the new Republican leadership in the 180-member House, which heads into the 2006 General Assembly session in control of 100 seats, nine more votes than they need to pass most legislation. His defection is significant for Democrats since Morris, 41, was part of former Democratic...

ALBANY, Ga. - Researchers are scrambling to identify a mystery disease that has emerged for the first time as a threat to Georgia's $75 million crop of Vidalia sweet onions. Tests are being conducted on lesions that have started appearing on the leaves of onion plants in seed beds. Scientists are trying to find out whether they have a unique cause or are related to tomato spotted wilt virus, which has plagued Georgia peanuts and tobacco, or iris yellow spot virus, which has damaged onion crops in South America and the northwestern United States. "This is the first year it's...

<p>VIDALIA - Parents in this Concordia Parish town are worried.</p> <p>"Until we know who did this and they are caught, it is terrifying," said Gayle Smith of the Vidalia area.</p> <p>The typically sleepy town that sits along the banks of Mississippi River has been rattled since the murder of a 5-year-old boy two weeks ago.</p>