Water rides OK'd despite drought

Drought is not stopping Six Flags Over Georgia from operating water rides this summer. The amusement park in Austell has reached an unusual deal with Cobb County. It can operate water rides in exchange for installing low-flow toilets and faucets. The park says more than half of its water use is in restrooms.

Report: Atlanta suburb taking too much water

A suburban Atlanta water provider may be drawing too much water out of a federal reservoir. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers warned the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority today that it has taken too much water from Lake Allatoona. The water authority has 10 days to respond. The analysis comes days after the governors of Georgia, Alabama and Florida gathered in Washington over water-sharing problems that have festered for the better part of two decades.

State failed to enforce gas chamber law

The Georgia Department of Agriculture has been found in contempt of court for failing to enforce a law banning using gas chambers at animal shelters. The 1990 Georgia Humane Euthanasia Act calls for lethal injection to be used in the vast majority of cases when euthanizing dogs and cats. The law allows counties that were using carbon monoxide gas in 1990 to continue using their gas chambers, but not to replace them. Cobb County’s animal shelter installed a gas chamber in 1995. State inspectors admit they knew about the chamber when they checked the facility earlier this year.