Fresh Loaf

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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MYANMAR: More than 100,000 people may be dead, and the junta still won’t let in foreign aid.

THERE’S A BAN KI-MOON RISING: U.N. secretary-general visits Atlanta today.

EXIT STRATEGY: TIME magazine on why it’s hard to imagine Clinton bowing out of this race after more than 20 years of Clintonian dominance.

WILDFIRES: Could spread like themselves again this summer in South Georgia. Sprouting trees are sucking up what little water there is, and even sparks from passing trains have already started small fires.

BRAND SPANKING NEWS: Atlanta-based Spanx sues British company S.P.A.N.K., alleging trademark infringement that could lead to consumer confusion.

CASEY AT THE BAT: Cagle now says he’d allow a Senate vote on Sunday alcohol sales.

CLAYTON BOE: Denies “knowingly and willingly” breaking the law.

RADIOHEAD: Thunderstorms are expected tonight, and you can’t bring umbrellas into Lakewood.

POWERS THAT WILL BE: If new nuclear reactors are added to Vogtle, Georgia Power expects rates to go up $12 a month in 2018.

DIGGING UP DIRT ON MAYOR: Archaeologists are excavating Brunswick mayor’s back yard after ancient pottery shards were discovered, some more than 1,000 years old.

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RAGING ELECTION: Both candidates win a state and both claim momentum, but Obama gets more delegates. Remaining primaries are: W.Va. (May 13), Ky. (May 20), Ore. (May 20), Mont. (June 3), S.D. (June 3) and P.R. (June 7).

KNIGHT OUT: Hawks GM Billy Knight steps down.

BEE MINUS: Survey released Tuesday shows that more than a third of the nation’s honeybees have been lost since last year. As Thomas reported Monday, air pollution is one likely factor; UGA entomologists studying colony collapse disorder also point to shrinking food supply, parasitic mites and the recently identified Israeli acute paralysis virus.

DEATH PENALTY: Back in action, as William Early Lynd was killed last night.

CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN: First-ever Georgia Climate Change Summit, hosted by Georgia Tech Tuesday, brings together scientists and policy experts in the hope of starting an action plan to address global warming in the state. Georgia’s currently one of 12 states that not only doesn’t have such a plan, but isn’t even working on one.

‘FLAT LINE’: Apalachicola Riverkeeper hosts a two-day tour of the Chattahoochee Basin’s terminus to draw attention to what Florida officials contend is an Atlanta- and Georgia-first policy of water use and watershed management.

GIVING UP THE GHOST: Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, the musical by Stephen King and John Mellencamp scheduled for an April 2009 opening at the Alliance, has been postponed.

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CAMPAIGN IN THE NECK: Clinton wins Pennsylvania by 10 points, likely meaning we get to delight in this campaign all summer.

SPECIAL K: Smoltz gets 3,000th strikeout, Braves lose.

CHAMBLEE SIX: Sextet of Chinese immigrants who subdued and hogtied an international fugitive in February are now giving away their $10,000 in reward money.

CIVIL UNIONS: Delta and Northwest pilots unions to resume negotiations about merging their workforces.

DAVID POLLACK: Retires from the NFL at age 25 due to the neck injury he suffered two years ago.

DOUBTING THOMAS: UGA President Michael Adams defends his choice of Clarence Thomas as the 2008 commencement speaker amid faculty complaints that the university’s sexual harassment problems this year make Thomas a bad choice.

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PENNSYLVANIANS: Vote today to determine which candidate’s cable-news-fueled faux controversies have most distracted them.

COMIC RELEAF: Hagar the Horrible, Snuffy Smith and 43 other comic strips unite for Earth Day-themed strips today.

STUNNING: Byron, Ga.-based company indicted for allegedly relabeling and selling faulty stun grenades to the FBI.

TESLER TRIAL: Judge closes jury selection to media and public, sans explanation.

REVOLTING DEVELOPMENT: Hall County would like the drought to end so it can start sprawling again.

SMOLTZ: Four strikeouts away from No. 3,000; could get it tonight in Atlanta.

ANDRUW JONES: Flailing.

PANS: Being handled more often in Atlanta, according to ACVB study.

KEEP ON TRUCKIN’: Truck crashes into bank branch in Gainesville. And in case you can’t quite picture what this looked like from the driver’s point of view, AccessNorthGa has you covered.

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OBAMA: Getting snarkier, outspending Clinton 2-to-1 on TV ads in Pa. on Primary Eve.

GRACE UNDER FIRES: Okefenokee Swamp open, still recovering from last year’s forest fires; boat tours survey remaining damage.

A NICE METH YOU’VE GOTTEN ME INTO: CNN reporter arrested in Central Park with meth in his pocket while returning to his hotel room with friends.

THE TRIALS OF ABRAHAM: Smitten DOT commish to announce today whether she plans to stay in her post, will then be voted in or out by the board.

KATHRYN JOHNSTON SHOOTING: Jury selection for Arthur Tesler’s trial begins today.

THE NEGOTIATOR: Jimmy Carter gets Hamas to agree to hypothetical peace deal, gets snubbed by Israelis.

HAWKS: Lose Game 1 handily.

JUNK FEUD: NBA players LeBron James and DeShawn Stevenson hold proxy feud via rappers Jay-Z and Soulja Boy.

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OAKLAND CEMETERY: Still waiting on federal evaluation to begin cleaning up most tornado damage, including smashed Confederate monuments and uprooted 19th-century trees with roots tangled around coffins.

CHASE TATUM: Former WCW wrestler found dead in Buckhead home after apparent drug O.D.

CLINTON: It depends what your definitions of “ducking” and “sniper fire” are.

TYRA BANKS STALKER: All the way from Dublin, Ga.

BASKET CASE: Federal inmate Jonathan Lee Riches alone has filed 39 percent of all cases filed this month in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Among his March “defendants” are Eliot Spitzer, Tom Glavine, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Cyndi Lauper. Last August Riches filed a $63 quintillion suit against Michael Vick for selling his pit bulls on eBay to buy missiles from Iran.

UGA EARMARKS: Surprisingly, the recipients of earmarks like earmarks.

YELLOW JACKETEERING: Another Ga. Tech employee charged with racketeering for allegedly abusing state p-card. (According to AccessNorthGa.com’s news graphic, she is an elf and was arrested in miniature handcuffs much smaller than a dollar bill.)

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TORNADO: First Atlanta casualty unearthed from rubble.

CABBAGETOWN: CS Monitor reports on history, demographics and unity in tornado’s aftermath.

ROBO VS. HOBO: Owner of O’Terrill’s in Midtown uses remote-controlled, water-spraying robot to break up groups of ne’er-do-wells on the streets outside his bar. He blames nearby Peachtree and Pine homeless shelter for the problem.

CoCoRaHS: Worst acronym ever.

OBAMA, CLINTON: Exaggerate their political résumés.

MCCAIN: Exaggerates his conservative cred.

SENATE RACE: Rand Knight joins the scramble to run against Chambliss.

CLAYTON: Clayton News Daily profiles Santiago Wood and John W. Thompson, the two candidates for corrective superintendent. Also, Clayton school board meets tonight to discuss the nine SACS mandates.

“DELTALINA”: As they’re calling her. Or maybe “Norweltalina” if that Northwest merger ever happens.

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