ATLANTA
DUI deaths drop in 2011
A federal study shows Georgia ranked below the national average and below southeastern states in alcohol-related fatalities in 2011.
The Governor's Officer of Highway Safety announced data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed the state experienced 22 fewer alcohol-impaired driving deaths between 2010 and 2011.
Officials say the state's decline in alcohol-related deaths is part of a national drop, with 258 fewer alcohol-related driving fatalities being recorded nationally during the same time period.
Officials say there were 632 fewer traffic fatalities nationwide between 2010 and 2011 overall.
ATHENS, Ga.
UGA president field narrowed
A committee searching for the University of Georgia's next president has narrowed the field of candidates to nine.
The committee's chairman, Regent and former state legislator Larry Walker, announced the shortened list on Monday.
The Athens Banner-Herald reports Walker didn't reveal names of the nine candidates, but he said all are now in the academic world.
Officials said several have experience at large land-grant universities like UGA, and five are current college presidents. They said three are provosts, and one is the dean of a large school in a public university.
KNOXVILLE
Officer cleared in shooting
A Knoxville police officer has been cleared of criminal misconduct in a shooting that wounded a man at West Town Mall.
WATE-TV reported Officer Christopher Edmonds was cleared after the district attorney general's office review of the Nov. 1 incident.
Investigators said Edmonds confronted Abraham Dudley in a parking lot during a domestic dispute between Dudley and his girlfriend. When Dudley said he had a weapon and was going to use it, Edmonds shot him. Dudley was taken to a hospital and later released.