(GA. NEWS NETWORK)
*Profits are up for the parent company of Georgia Power. Southern Company reports that the $1.36 (B) billion in profit from this year’s first quarter is up more than one-and-a-half percent from last year. Increased revenue in utilities is a major factor in the profit jump, the report said.
*The massive wildfire in Clinch and Echols counties is not expected to be fully contained until late May at the earliest. The Georgia Forestry Commission reports the fire is now 38% contained after burning more than 32,000 acres. And over the next few days, rain is in the forecast, which will help some with containment efforts. But Don Thomas, spokesperson for the commission, tells Atlanta News First they need a lot of rain, equivalent to a tropical depression.
*The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act will change the political landscape by removing race from district map considerations, a move former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young calls dangerous. Other Democrats are also criticizing the move, but Republicans are calling for a special session of the Georgia legislature to redraw state congressional district maps. The original ruling was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 during the Civil Rights Movement.