Fresh Loaf

HAWKS’ WOODSON TO RE-SIGN: Damn that hyphen!

HAPE SPRINGS ETERNAL: Ford sells its Hapeville assembly plant to Jacoby Development, which is going to build an “aerotropolis” there.

TOMATOES: Salmonella wave spreads to Georgia; Mexico’s tomato industry, which supplies 80 percent of U.S. imports, is in limbo.

WEEDY SEA DRAGONS: Reproduce at the Georgia Aquarium, only the third time that’s ever happened in a U.S. aquarium.

STREET SMARTS: Google Maps adds Atlanta to its Street View feature, so Atlantans can finally experience driving around town without being stuck in gridlock.

FIRE RISK HIGH: Conditions are once again ripe for wildfires in South Georgia.

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MALIGNANT RUMORS: Obama goes against political tradition of ignoring unsubstantiated attacks, creates website to combat rumor-mongering e-mails.

I WANNA TAKE YOU DRIER: The drought is still getting worse.

CLASSICAL GAS: Gas is cheaper in South Carolina; maybe we should look into annexing it.

BLAIS UNDER PRESSURE: Richard Blais is still the top chef to us even though he “choked” and then choked up last night.

GSU: Hires former Ga. Tech coach Bill Curry to head its nascent football team, which will begin play in 2010 at the Georgia Dome.

DRIVIN’ THAT TRAIN: Casey Jones pulled over, charged with marijuana meth and Xanax possession.

HOOP SCHEMES: Disgraced former NBA ref with plenty of incentive to make up such a story nonetheless weaves an intriguing tale of playoff-rigging NBA execs and bought-out refs.

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LET’S ALL OWE TO THE LOBBY: Saxby Chambliss skips debate in which five Dems and a Lib argue over whether taking PAC money affects a candidate’s integrity.

OBAMA: Expected to make a trip to Georgia sometime this month, which could help some down-ticket Georgia Dems in July as well as November.

WRONG SIDE OF THE TAX: National average gas price reaches $4 a gallon for the first time in history. State gas taxes are often higher than the much-politicized federal tax, but many states depend heavily on them for infrastructure maintenance.

REST FOR THE WEARY: SCAD students design, build beds for the homeless in Savannah.

ROCK US LIKE A HURRICANE: State climatologist says low stream flows indicate a worsening drought; tropical storms may be our only relief.

WARMTH WAVE: Temperatures are nearing record highs. Still, AccessNorthGa.com avoids the temptation to sensationalize the story with this news graphic.

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OBAMA AND CLINTON: Meet in Washington.

PREZ DISPENSER: Georgia has six public universities, including Georgia Tech and Georgia State, that have recently lost their presidents and are searching for new ones before fall classes begin.

TRAINING DAY: Gwinnettians will vote in the July 15 primary whether to pay a penny sales tax for MARTA service in the county. Although the last such vote in 1990 failed, recent polling indicates many now think itsmarta, perhaps due to horrible traffic and gas prices. As a backup to rail, though, county leaders are hoping to at least introduce diesel-electric hybrid accordion buses to the historically train-trepid public.

DOWN AND DROUGHT: Lake Lanier is still 13 feet below normal despite winter rains, meaning the next best hope is for a hurricane to hang out in North Georgia for a while this summer.

CHIPPER JONES: Hits 400th career home run.

CARTERSVILLE ADVENTURE: Illinois man has a big morning in Cartersville.

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OBAMA: Clinches the Democratic nomination, gives rousing victory speech to thousands in St. Paul.

DRYEST BEFORE DAWN: State climatologist expects drought will get worse before it gets better.

HIGH ON THE SMOG: Atlanta’s under a code orange smog alert today.

FOR GOV OF COUNTRY: Sonny Perdue hosts a gaggle of GOP governors, many of whom are also VP candidates for John McCain, in Atlanta this week for the Republican Governor’s Association luncheon.

TRAFFIC DESIGNER: Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle tells the Cobb Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Club that he’ll unveil a new transportation plan within the next two months.

ANOTHER BEAR HIT: Again on I-75.

GROWING OUR OWN: USA Today profiles Georgia’s ascendant young baseball talent pool.

UMP IRE: High school pitcher and catcher are under investigation after the catcher ducked away from a pitch during a state championship game, allowing it to hit the home plate ump, who had called nine of their teammates out on strikes during the game.

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CAMPAIGN RELIEF: Clinton is expected to concede the delegate race to Obama today. * She’s saying she’ll “do whatever it takes” to put a Democrat in the White House, which was taken by Obama supporters as a hint she’d accept a VP offer.

* UPDATE: Now the Clinton campaign denies AP reports that she will concede the nomination tonight. Sigh.

WATER RETENTION: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approves plan to keep more water in Lake Lanier and other Georgia reservoirs.

CHAMBLISS: “Amazed” by public support for the U.S. Homeland Security Department’s National Bio- and Agro-defense Facility in Athens.

KSU PROF: Gets $201,000 grant, seen as boon to smallish university’s research cred.

SMOLTZ: Comes off DL, blows save.

BORDER TOWNS: Would lose their edge, literally, if that Georgia/Tennessee border change ever happened.

A TAX TO GRIND: Mayor Franklin proposes 4.8 percent shortfall-alleviating property-tax increase, which is palatable to some City Council members compared with her original estimate of 20 percent or more, but still too much to others.

WHAT ALES US: Beer prices are rising as ingredients cost more and production is down. Apparently, beer may not be recession-proof.

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CRITICS AT BAY: Florida Sen. Bill Nelson tours the Apalachicola Bay to survey the effects of retaining more water in Lake Lanier, and says he’ll push for a National Academy of Sciences study of how low flows affect the river ecosystem.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE FUNNEL: 2008 could be a record year for U.S. tornadoes, and while meteorologists aren’t sure why this year has been so tornadically prolific — including the twister that caused $40 million in damage in north metro Atlanta last week — the good news is that tornado season usually starts sputtering out in June.

BORDERS SKIRMISH: City Council President Lisa Borders writes a letter to her councilmates asking them to be nicer to the mayor.

HAWKS GM SEARCH: As is becoming typical of front-office searches in Atlanta pro sports, Cleveland’s Chris Grant withdraws himself from consideration after being offered the general manager job.

UGA EXPANDING IN GWINNETT: With the Brain Train struggling to gain traction, UGA just starts filling the gaps between Athens and Atlanta with itself.

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL: Piedmont Park may soon install wells for water independence, pending a decision by the state Environmental Protection Division.

CAUGHT LEAD-HANDED: Two studies link children’s lead exposure 25 years ago and increased impulsive and criminal behavior in adulthood.

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FEE FOR ALL: Atlanta City Councilman Jim Maddox proposes taxing $1 for tickets to pro sporting events and major concerts in the city to help soften the looming $140 million budget shortfall.

14TH STREET BRIDGE: Dead to us.

GET OUT OF MY CAR: Between March 2007 and March 2008, American driving dropped at the steepest rate since record keeping began in 1942.

ABATED BREATH: Beginning next year, asthma sufferers will have to switch to the more expensive CFC-free inhalers for environmental reasons, good for ozone but a blow to Atlantans who already live in an asthma-unfriendly city.

YOU GOT CONSERVED: As utilities start raising rates to make up for reduced usage, the dark side of conservation is rearing its head across the Southeast.

ONE FLU OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST: Study released Monday says strains of bird flu are getting closer to conditions that could lead to a human pandemic.

GETTING BROWSY: The “browser wars” of the mid-’90s are heating back up, as Mozilla readies Firefox 3.0 for release in June and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 is due later this year.

FRIGHTENING IN A BOTTLE: Orlando man sells bottles that he claims have ghosts in them.

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TEACHING TO THE TESTAMENT: Bible-as-literature classes clear legal hurdles in Tennessee and Georgia.

FLOCK ENROLL: Atlanta is the No. 1 major metropolitan area in the nation for college enrollment growth over the last 17 years and No. 2 in number of degrees awarded.

OVERRIDE: City Council takes Mayor Franklin down a notch by overriding three of her recent vetoes.

TESLER TRIAL: Jury deadlocked.

LANIER: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers takes heavy fire for its water-releasin’ ways at the Lake Lanier Association’s annual meeting Monday; the association is so fed up it’s funding its own scientific study on how much water the downstream mussels need to live.

GRADY CURVE: Grady Health System is officially taken over by Grady Memorial Hospital Corp. today, and also receives the first $50 million installment of the $200 million the Robert M. Woodruff Foundation pledged.

FOOT (AND MOUTH) IN THE DOOR: The U.S. farm bill includes a provision allowing the incurable foot-and-mouth disease to be studied in a mainland U.S. facility, clearing the way for the National Bio- and Agro-defense Facility, for which Athens is one of six candidates.

COMING TO BLOWS: Sustained wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph expected today.

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CLINTON: Wins West Virginia; Obama courts bluer collars.

LEAVE IT TO BEAZER: Atlanta-based Beazer Homes announces it lost more than $400 million in fiscal 2007. It’s also still the target of federal investigations over its mortgage lending practices.

MARRIOT MARQUIS: The 52-story downtown hotel was evacuated last night, with no reported injuries, after a fire created a cloud of chlorine gas in the parking garage basement. Here’s AccessNorthGa’s take on what happened.

LANDLINES: Lame.

COMMUTISM: High gas prices are fueling more carpooling, bussing and train riding in Gwinnett.

HOLDING WATER: Gov. Perdue visits the muddy shores of Lake Lanier to sign the Water Conservation and Drought Relief Act of 2008, which will expedite the creation of new reservoirs.

THE HOLE TRUTH: A large hole has appeared in a White County dam, and officials say the entire dam is in danger of failure.

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CHINA EARTHQUAKE: Death toll has passed 12,000 from Monday’s 7.9-magnitude quake, with more than 18,000 buried under rubble in just one city.

ATTRACTING RETENTION: Only 12 percent of embattled Clayton County’s teachers are leaving the school system, which is lower than some administrators had feared.

BATTLE OF ‘WITZ: Emory political scientist Alan Abramowitz writes a Washington Post op-ed on Obama, working-class whites and “symbolic racism.”

WEST VIRGINIA: Clinton campaigns, Obama campaigns.

PASSING THE BARR: Bob Barr announces he’s running for president as a Libertarian.

DREAM TEAM: A collection of rookies and role players, the new Atlanta Dream begins its season next weekend, hoping some residual basketball fever remains in the city from the Hawks’ playoff run.

HERE WE ARE NOW: Gov. Perdue signs a bill that will give up to a 30 percent entertainment tax credit to productions of films, TV shows, commercials, music videos and video games in the state.

HAVE YOUR LAKE AND DRINK IT, TOO: Lake Lanier Association doesn’t think all lakes are created equal.

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RAGING ELECTION: