Piedmont Healthcare, including Piedmont Hospital, Piedmont Fayette Hospital, and the 492-member Piedmont Clinic which includes the Piedmont Physicians Group, has signed an agreement with CIGNA HealthCare of Georgia to continue their participation in the CIGNA HealthCare provider network.

World Airways, a wholly owned subsidiary of World Air Holdings, Inc., (OTC: WLDA.PK) has been selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars for a third consecutive year to provide air transportation for the 2006 National Football League season. World, a leading domestic and international charter airline, will utilize its MD-11 wide-body aircraft for two pre-season and eight regular season games for the team, carrying the players and staff to all of their road games.

Southern Conservation Trust invites farm and forest property owners to learn how they can maintain their land in a natural state and receive significant tax benefits. The free program “Conservation Easements and Land Donations- What’s in it for me?” is August 17 at the Wendell Coffee Golf Center on Ga.Highway 74 in Tyrone. The program is sponsored by Brent Scarbrough & Company and Scarbrough-Rolader Development.

The following arrests were reported by local law enforcement agencies for the past week. All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty.

By this morning, more than 2,100 votes had already been cast in tomorrow's election, local officials said.

That figure includes persons who voted absentee and those who voted during the early voting period all last week, when any Fayette voter could cast their ballot at the county's elections office in downtown Fayetteville.

Police are hoping a witness will come forward to assist in identifying the suspect in the armed robbery of the Herb Shop at Hudson Plaza in Fayetteville Tuesday just before 6 p.m.

The onion-like smell of pesticide component Propyl mercaptan coming from the Philip Services Corporation waste treatment plant on Ga. Highway 92 just inside Fulton County does not seem to be dissipating.

Fayette County Commission candidate Eric Maxwell has denied a charge from opponent Greg Dunn that Maxwell is a developer.

The following list is a detail of the funds raised as reported by each candidate on their campaign disclosure reports filed with the Fayette County Board of Elections. Candidates are required to identify donors who give $101 or more to their campaigns, and those listings are printed below, along with a tally of how much the candidate has raised year to date, including any additional funds carried over from last year in the case of the incumbents.

The attorney for a Sharpsburg teen accused of murdering his friend at an unsupervised teen party in Peachtree City June 20 confirmed Tuesday that the case may come to a resolution before a trial.

All of Fayette’s 27 schools made Adequate Yearly Progress in the federal No Child Left Behind program, according to data released Tuesday by the Department of Education.

Several Peachtree City streets will be repaved this year thanks to funds from the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Computers replace paper voter lists at polls

Any voter wanting to avoid lines on “election day” Tuesday can vote early today through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Fayette County Board of Elections Office, located in the county’s Stonewall government complex in Fayetteville.

Recalled as tireless worker; staff ‘heartbroken’

Fayette County Elections Superintendent Margaret Malone died unexpectedly Sunday morning, on the eve of the 8 a.m. start to the early voting period for the July primary election.

Early next year drivers should see improvements to the intersection of Ga. Highway 54 East and McElroy Road. The Board of Commissioners recently finalized an agreement with DOT to install turn lanes and a traffic signal at the intersection. Turn lanes will be placed on Hwy. 54 for drivers from both directions who wish to turn onto McElroy Road. Also, for drivers exiting McElroy Road onto Hwy. 54, both right and left turn lanes will be added. The addition of a traffic signal will complete the project.

An active adult oasis of unbelievable size and scope is emerging from the metro Atlanta landscape. Pulte Homes, the nation’s leading builder of active adult communities with its Del Webb brand, broke ground Monday on Sun City Peachtree in Spalding County, a community designed to treat active adults like royalty.

Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that Georgia teachers will be able to use their $100 gift cards during the state’s tax free holiday. The 2006 tax-free holiday begins at 12:01 a.m. August 3 and continues until midnight August 6. It combines last year’s two tax-free shopping periods into one four-day period.

Scholarships are now available for students interested in attending the University of Georgia Griffin Campus this fall semester and majoring in agribusiness.

Five men were arrested July 5 in two separate busts on crack cocaine and methamphetamine “ice” charges.

Kelley Lamont, 27, of Augusta, Jarquay Hillsman, 17, of College Park and Mazo Jones, 28, listed as homeless, were charged in the first bust with sale of cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, according to Fayette Sheriff’s Drug Suppression Task Force Commander Mike Pruitt. Seized in the bust was one-quarter ounce of suspected crack cocaine.

The following arrests were reported by local law enforcement agencies for the past week. All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty:

Fayette County Elections Superintendent Margaret Malone died unexpectedly Sunday morning, on the eve of the 8 a.m. start to the early voting period.

Voting for next Tuesday’s primary election began today and runs through Friday at 5 p.m. at the Fayette County Board of Elections Office, located in the county’s Stonewall government complex in Fayetteville.

The second participant in a foiled plot to steal an ATM from a Fayetteville gas station has been identified, police said.

Other suspect still at large

Two enterprising criminals nearly got away with an ATM from a Fayetteville gas station early Thursday morning, police said.

No one was injured when a Fayetteville home was heavily damaged by fire this afternoon, according to city Fire Chief Alan Jones.

County’s legal firm collects over $400,000 a year for past 3 years

Fayette taxpayers are paying dearly for the legal disputes between the Fayette County Board of Commissioners and Fayette County Sheriff Randall Johnson, and that has also made the county’s legal bills swell over the last three years, according to an analysis conducted by The Citizen.

Gathering draws scant crowd

Judging by the lack of attendance at a candidate forum last week, voter turnout in Fayette’s July 18 primary election may be light.

The NAACP Fayette Candidates Forum for Fayette County will take place Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Stonewall Administrative Complex in Fayetteville.

Fayette County will get its second Muslim worship center after all. Renewed plans to locate the center on a five-acre site at Flat Creek Trail and Ga. Highway 54 east of Peachtree City have been filed under a conditional use of the current zoning designation. Construction is expected to begin in mid-August.

For the first time in 20 years, the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services has added an ambulance to its fleet.