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FORT STEWART - 3rd Infantry Division soldiers are expected to return to Iraq sometime in the fall of 2009, outgoing commanding general Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch confirmed Friday.

T he Stacy Lynn died an ignoble death this week.

Savannah-Chatham police Friday were investigating the Thursday night robbery of a comic book store.

Light-emitting diodes were bright throughout the electronics lab at Georgia Tech Savannah campus on Friday as 28 area high school students converted classroom lessons into practical applications.

Three of five Savannah-Chatham school board seats up for grabs in the November general election will be contested.

A probation officer who took five days to alert investigators that a sexual predator was loose has been reprimanded and reassigned following an internal review of his work.

A former student of St. James Catholic School is accusing the Catholic Diocese of Savannah of ignoring signs that one of its priests was molesting children.

Joseph D. "Joe" Purvis defined what an FBI man should be, his longtime friend recalled Friday.

Despite less-than-expected growth in property tax revenue, the Chatham County Commission on Friday approved a $502 million budget containing extra money for specific programs and area nonprofits.

Windsor Forest High School Assistant Principal Dallas Pickett, 50, died Wednesday in Boston, Ga., after being struck by a falling tree.

Yard-waste change

ATLANTA - After the last chance for would-be legislators, judges and statewide candidates to qualify to run for office, one thing was clear: Not much had changed.

CHIEFLAND, Fla. - Max Rittgers is like a character from a folk tale.

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. - Search warrants unsealed Friday describe what may have been the final terrifying moments in the life of a promising college student: kidnapped after choosing to stay home and study, taken in her own vehicle to be robbed at an ATM, and shot multiple times.

While most mature nonprofits routinely undertake a CEO evaluation, for smaller or newer nonprofits it is all too easy to put off or avoid this important annual process. If your nonprofit board has not yet scheduled a CEO performance evaluation, take steps now to ensure this will be undertaken at least annually.

Drew Hardigan has been filling his BMW with premium gas for years, but this month's high prices have prompted a change.

After three years at the helm of Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Savannah, Cmdr. David Murk relinquished command to Cmdr. Lonnie Harrison in a Friday ceremony at the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center.

COMING SUNDAY: A report released this week about the impending demise of several regional airports is under fire.

WASHINGTON - Millions of economic stimulus payments sent after-tax incomes surging in May by the largest amount since a similar recession-fighting effort by Gerald Ford 33 years ago.

While change is a keyword in the ongoing presidential election, it's politics as usual for a Class A minor league team such as the Savannah Sand Gnats.

TORONTO - Bobby Cox has seen plenty of fine pitching performances as manager of the Atlanta Braves, but few as good as the one Jair Jurrjens delivered Friday night.

While it happened more than 70 years ago, the sight of Murtagh Aloysius (M.A.) Spellman running down the field at Grayson Stadium is still fresh in the mind of Harry Deal.

Former Savannah High basketball star Casey Mitchell, one of the area's top shooters and scorers in recent years, recently committed to play at Alabama-Birmingham, according to The Birmingham News.

LOUDON, N.H. - Rookie Patrick Carpentier got a lot of help during pole qualifying from an unlikely source Friday - Mother Nature.

FRIDAY'S SCORES: Game 1: Savannah Sand Gnats 3, Rome Braves 2 (7 innings); Game 2: Braves 2, Sand Gnats 0 (7).

ATHENS - Billy Humphrey knew that his second alcohol-related arrest in four months could end up costing him his spot on the Georgia basketball team. Turns out that he was right.

LOCAL

They work in professions like medicine, pest control, plumbing and telecommunications.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Southern Conference Commissioner John Iamarino sat next to Davidson athletics director Jim Murphy at Detroit's Ford Field last March, stunned as the league's Wildcats blitzed Big Ten champion Wisconsin in the NCAA's Sweet 16.

The sizzling city has you on the fritz. So, at the last minute you decide to get away. The girls are coming to get you in just one hour, so you scramble to get your escape essentials together.

Skidaway Island resident Earl Pauley is a self-described collector. Among other items, he is fascinated with stoneware - especially from his native West Virginia - as well as vintage postcards from Tybee Island where he and his wife, Ann, have a second home.

Contribute to Vox Populi by calling 652-0370 or e-mailing us at vox@savannahnow.com. Be sure to write Vox Populi in the subject field. Not all responses are used.

MARIETTA - The preacher stood in the doorway of the picturesque church and looked out at the parking lot as his congregation gathered for the early morning service.

TODAY

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LOS ANGELES - Anyone handy with a saw and a staple gun can build a simple version of an outdoor fun park for felines, devised by Susan and Dan Gottlieb of Beverly Hills.

The Rev. Bienvenido Perez Jr. assists at Mass every weekday at the chapel at St. Joseph's Hospital.

Mark Streeter

Georgia Power's argument against building a larger wind and solar energy inventory is the increased cost Georgians would pay to cover the new infrastructure.

THE DESTRUCTION of the cooling tower at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear plant is a step in the right direction.

WASHINGTON - When Barack Obama threw off the constraints on campaign spending that go with accepting public financing, he was rightly criticized for rigging the system in his own favor.

Well now, isn't that a relief.

Flipping through the pages of People magazine, I saw where a guy with whom I once spent a week in Hawaii had been named as one of sexiest men in America.

PEMBROKE - Annie Lee Bacon, 82, died June 20, 2008, at Camellia Health and Rehabilitation after an extended illness.

Ken Stoner, Effingham County Chamber of Commerce director, recently discussed some of the new marketing ideas and results of the Chamber membership survey at Effingham Sunrise Rotary.