Fresh Loaf

“BOOMLET”: Demographers say the high number of U.S. births in 2007, the highest in 50 years, could signal a mini baby boom.

LONG TIME NO SEA: Dylan the sea turtle is finally in the open ocean.

RAIN CHECK: July downpours have barely made a dent in the drought after a hot, dry June. Lake Lanier levels have dropped so much that nighttime tournament fishing is no longer allowed.

A SHOT AT THE DARK: The Jekyll Island Authority is considering an ordinance to restrict outdoor lighting on the island.

HARTSFIELD-JACKSON: Named the most efficient U.S. airport for the third straight year.

DON’T BUILD IT; THEY WON’T COME: Home construction is the slowest it’s been in 17 years.

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HOMELESSNESS: New study quantifies homelessness in Georgia, finding that 20,000 people were homeless statewide one night in January and 75,000 went without a home at some point during the year.

NICHOLS TRIAL MOVED: To Atlanta City Court.

NOT THE LAST STRAW: The Athens Banner-Herald sees the silver lining in Gwinnett voters’ straw-poll rejection of MARTA.

IN TRANSIT: CNN reports on Americans weaning off driving and the rise of public transit; as usual, Atlanta is used as the example of the city lagging behind.

IN-THE-RED STATE: Gov. Perdue announces that the state budget is $600 million short. Maybe Atlanta and Georgia aren’t so different after all.

GOING AGAINST THE GROIN: Mike Hampton comes out of another minor league game after “tweaking” something, this time his groin, after just 29 pitches.

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RUNSOFF: Jim Martin and Vernon Jones will face off in a runoff Aug. 5 to determine who faces Saxby Chambliss in November; Burrell Ellis and Stan Watson will also have a runoff in the DeKalb CEO race; the Fulton County sheriff’s race will be running off to decide whether incumbent Myron Freeman or retired FBI agent Ted Jackson will face Republican Michael Rary in November.

INCUMBENTS: U.S Reps. John Lewis, John Barrow and Paul Broun all fended off their challengers to retain their seats in Congress.

CITI TREND: Dunwoody becomes the latest north Atlanta community to catch city fever.

GWINNETTIANS: Less opposed to MARTA than they used to be.

ALL-STAR GAME: American League wins its 12th straight in the longest All-Star Game in major-league history.

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Bernie Tekippe has been repairing clocks in Atlanta since the ’60s. He says he can fix any mechanical clock made in the last 300 years.

“One of the difficulties is trying to diagnose what’s wrong with it, especially if it almost works. You can spend a lot of time fixing the wrong thing.”

He builds clocks, too, usually a dozen at a time. He’s built about 200 in his life and occasionally gives clock-making workshops.

He doesn’t wear a watch, saying it would get in the way and isn’t necessary. “When I’m in here I have clocks all around me.”

He says he’s not punctual, but is aware of the irony.

On digital clocks: “They’re wonderful. They’re what we’ve been trying to make for 300 years. I think we should put them in nicer cases, though. We think they’re cheap, so we put them in cheap cases.”

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JEKYLL: The first new development in three decades on the island, a Hampton Inn, breaks ground Monday.

AERO HEADS: Jacoby Development’s large-scale “aerotropolis” redevelopment of the Hapeville Ford plant could be the southside city’s big break, but commercial real-estate experts say it’s also a big risk.

REVIVAL: State gives $10,000 to proposed new Allman Brothers museum in Macon.

CEASAR MITCHELL: Running for mayor.

TRIALS OF JOB: Mayor Franklin announces she’ll cut another 165 jobs to deal with the budget shortfall.

THE LONG RUN: USA Today profiles the Braves’ baffling inability to win one-run games.

CLASSICAL GAS: Norcross gas station took part in a $1.99/gallon marketing gimmick that had a line of cars waiting 30 minutes or more to fill up.

NICHOLS TRIAL: Judge says it needs to be moved.

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TESTY: Iran test-fires more missiles overnight, although maybe not as many as it claims.

TESTES: Jesse Jackson apologizes for his bizarre comments about Barack Obama caught by a Fox News microphone he didn’t know was on.

CONSERVATION PIECE: The Georgia DNR is working on buying 1,800 acres of land between Pigeon and Lookout mountains in North Georgia.

BRIAN NICHOLS TRIAL: Starts today.

DNA EVIDENCE: Clears JonBenet Ramsey’s parents in her 1996 killing, points to “unexplained third party.”

PEOPLE: Twenty thousand of them moved to Atlanta from 2006 to 2007, putting the city’s population at more than 500,000.

OUT OF THE BAG: A mysterious spotted wildcat was found and detained in Midtown early this morning. UPDATE: It’s an ocelot serval.

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U.S. CONSULATE: In Turkey attacked by gunmen; three attackers and three police officers are killed.

ATHEIST SOLDIER: Sues the U.S. military, not seeking compensation but seeking to end the religious discrimination in the military he says cost him his career.

MARSUPIAL DU JOUR: Dawsonville’s Kangaroo Conservation Center, the largest collection of kangaroos outside Australia, will be featured on NBC’s “Today” show Thursday morning.

FLIER, FLIER: Obama distances himself from Vernon Jones over Jones’ campaign flier that photoshopped the two of them together, giving the appearance that Obama has endorsed Jones, which he emphasized Tuesday that he has not.

FOREIGN AFFAIR: CBS News’ aptly titled chief foreign affairs correspondent, Lara Logan, tells the Washington Post she’s pregnant from a foreign affair she’s having with a married federal contractor she met while working in Iraq.

“HYPERMILING”: Not driving like a jackass can save gas, just don’t be a hypermiling jackass.

POT STICKLER: The lawyer for a man charged with possession of a garbage bag of pot in his trunk says that if the arresting officers — who originally pulled the man over for a broken tail light but then said they smelled pot — can’t recreate the feat in the courthouse parking lot, the charges should be thrown out for lack of probable cause.

TILTING AT WIND TURBINES: Offshore wind energy in Georgia has gained some steam after Navy and Georgia Tech research shows it may be practical, although it’s still a long way from reality.

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WILDFIRES: Cumberland Island fire is 90 percent contained; progress made against California wildfires could be undermined by hot, dry weather this week.

VICK: Files for bankruptcy.

PLANE DEALING: The malfunctioning jet that Obama had to make an unscheduled landing in yesterday wasn’t his usual plane; it was previously used by Hillary Clinton. He still made it to Atlanta, though, appearing at two fundraisers last night and at McEachern High in Powder Springs today.

THE BURLY GATES: Atlantic Station’s Millennium Gate is revealed, and the Christian Science Monitor reports that the 82-foot-tall, $20 million monument is “a serious statement that risks, against the topsy-turvy backdrop of modern mass development, to become a legacy to 21st-century kitsch.”

HOUSE DIVIDED: An Atlanta family is trying to sell its mansion so it can give half its worth, about $800,000, to fight hunger in Ghana.

SEX OFFENDER LAW: Homeless Gainesville sex offender challenges a Georgia law that doesn’t allow him to register with the state’s sex-offender list without including an address.

IRONY: Paulding County restaurateur/racist thinks free speech should allow him to call Obama a monkey on his restaurant’s marquee but shouldn’t allow others to call him a racist:

“I believe in your right and my right or anybody else’s right to say what they want without being criticized as being a racist,” said Lanzo.

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OBAMA: Will hold a town hall meeting at McEachern High School in Powder Springs Tuesday that’s open to the public, although no more tickets are available.

THIS BUD’S NOT FOR YOU: Anheuser-Busch continues to fend off the hostile takeover bid by Belgian beeremoth InBev, which wants to replace the American company’s board of directors.

BUZZ KILL: While Georgia has mostly avoided colony collapse disorder, the phenomenon continues in 24 other states and could spread here, scientists say. UGA will spend the next four years studying disappearing bees as part of a $4.1 million research grant.

BEAR MARKET: Bear populations are up in North Georgia.

SWAMPWISE: Clayton County’s 140-acre manmade wetlands water-treatment site, which treats 10 million gallons of water a day, has become a model for such facilities, drawing visitors from as far as Australia, Mexico and Newfoundland.

THAT’S SO RAVEN: Commerce man is training two ravens to be the official mascots for the Baltimore Ravens, the first task of which will be doing a season-opener stadium fly-through in front of 70,000 fans on Sept. 7.

WILY COYOTES: Berry College biologist is studying the behavior and ecological role of urban and suburban coyotes.

BRAVES: Beat the Astros on Teixeira’s 17th-inning, bases-loaded RBI single in the longest game in Turner Field history.

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WALK IN THE FARC: The Colombian military infiltrates FARC rebel leadership, tricking the guerillas into handing over hostages who had been held in the jungle for more than five years.

MCCAIN: Accused by fellow Republican of getting hot under the collar during a 1987 negotiation with Nicaraguan guerillas, then grabbing one by his collar, “like he was throwing him up out of the chair to tell him what he thought about him or whatever.”

OXENDINE: Bars a California insurance company from doing business in Georgia after concluding that it violated rules against selling misleading or unsuitable life insurance policies to military personnel.

BATTLE OF KETTLE CREEK: Archaeologists uncover evidence that changes the story of the 1779 Revolutionary War battle in Wilkes County between 350 Patriots and 700 Loyalists.

CUMBERLAND BLUES: The Cumberland Island wildfire is still going despite rains, but visitors continue to visit the island.

TERRAPIN STATIONARY: Dylan the sea turtle, who was recently released into the wild, hasn’t traveled far, now exploring the waters off Cumberland Island, according to an online tracking map.

DENIM CRISIS: Women’s Wear Daily reports on the toll the Blue Jean Bandits are taking on metro Atlanta’s premium denim dealers.

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WITHDRAWAL METHOD: Third of three candidates for president of Georgia State withdraws his name from consideration, leaving no active candidates.

STORK LIFT: South Georgia’s endangered wood stork is making a comeback, having doubled the number of nests found last year, according to the DNR’s Wildlife Resources Division.

DOT: Settles sexual harassment charges against two former board members for nearly $150,000.

PACK LIGHT, PACK HEAT: State Rep. Tim Bearden thinks better of bringing a gun to pick up his family, but Georgia Carry continues his crusade, suing the city, Mayor Shirley Franklin and Hartsfield-Jackson GM Ben DeCosta for the right to bear arms at the airport. Also, giddy gun carriers congregated Tuesday at a Cobb County restaurant to mark the first day they could do so.

STUDY: Finds Georgia needs to raise college graduation rates.

T.I.: Andrew Young is working to mold the rapper into a different kind of King.

VOTER REGISTRATION: Continues to grow in Georgia. But don’t take my word for it — this AccessNorthGa news graphic answers all your questions.

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A BRIDGE TOO FAR: Study shows that many Georgia bridges deemed “structurally deficient” by inspectors still go years before being repaired, often driving up the costs.

DYLAN: Popular sea turtle is released into the wild after nine years in captivity.

GINGREY DISCOVERS WATER: State Rep. Phil Gingrey took part in the Lake Allatoona Preservation Authority’s congressional cruise Monday, noting that the lake is “a real treasure” and has made him appreciate the importance of water: “After being in a level-four drought, you look at water the same way you look at gasoline.” True. The only difference is we couldn’t live without gasoline, silly.

TAKE YOUR GUNS TO TOWN: And on MARTA, to your business lunch and at the wildlife refuge, starting today. That’s still not enough for state Rep. Tim Bearden, though, who’s filing a federal lawsuit to prevent the city of Atlanta from banning guns at Hartsfield-Jackson, where he says he’ll be packing heat today when he goes to pick up his family.

NOT READY FOR MARTA: Clayton County Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell injures his hand firing a gun at a strip club owner’s family outing.

JOSHES: Hawks want and need to keep them, but they won’t come cheap.

OBAMA AND THE SOUTH: In a NYT op-ed today, Thomas Schaller writes that Obama can’t win Mississippi, Georgia or North Carolina, but maybe can win Virginia and Florida.

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