Gov. Perdue Owes $21M Loan

Gov. Sonny Perdue is facing $21 million in personal debt after he took out a massive loan last year for his two agricultural businesses. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that public records reveal the governor got the loan from AgGeorgia Farm Credit in Perry on collateral worth just 19 percent of the loan's value. The loan is due by March 1.

Because he is not running for office again, Perdue is not required to disclose the details of the loan. The loan is worth almost three times his personal assets of $6.1 million, which he disclosed in his latest statement of his finances in 2006.

Unlike the most three recent Georgia governors, Perdue did not place his financial interest in a blind trust while in office. The governor has said his Bonaire grain businesses - Houston Fertilizer & Grain Co. and AGrowStar LLC - would have suffered if he had put them in a blind trust.

(Associated Press)

Obama post for Rep. Bishop?

There are reports the incoming Obama Administration is eyeing Georgia Representative Sanford Bishop to be the next Agriculture Secretary. The eight-term Democrat from Albany told the Associated Press he is honored his name has surfaced, but he has not been contacted about the job. Bishop is among the most conservative African-Americans in Congress and has long been involved in agriculture issues in Congress. He is a go-to lawmaker for Southern farmers because of his position as a senior member of the spending committee for agriculture. Bishop says he would be ready to serve.

(Associated Press)

Report: Nichols plotted second jail break

The Associated Press is reporting that accused courthouse shooter Brian Nichols is suspected of trying to break out of prison a second time. The AP says it has documents that Nichols may have enlisted his girlfriend, a paralegal and at least two sheriff's deputies in the scheme. Nichols allegedly plotted to cut his way through the cinderblock walls of the Fulton County Jail, jump into a waiting van and make his way to his girlfriend up north. Nichols first escaped from police custody in March 2005, and he faces the death penalty for allegedly killing four people during that escape.

Delta's legal bills coming due

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines racked up at least 168- million dollars in bills trying to get out of bankruptcy. That’s according to an Associated Press analysis. Over the past few weeks, federal bankruptcy court in New York has received 28 sets of papers seeking payment from Delta. The largest bill was for 40-point-six million by Davis Polk and Wardwell, the airline's chief bankruptcy firm. Delta emerged from 19-months of bankruptcy on April 30th.

Did former governor encourage lynchings?

Newly-released files from the lynching of two black couples more than 60 years ago contain a disturbing revelation: The FBI investigated suspicions that a three-term governor of Georgia sanctioned the murders to sway rural white voters during a tough election campaign. Nearly 4,000 pages obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act do not make conclusions about the still-unsolved killings at Moore's Ford Bridge. But they raise the possibility that Eugene Talmadge's politics may have been a factor when a white mob dragged the four victims from a car, tied them to a tree and opened fire.