Georgia

SAN DIEGO - In the ocean off Coronado, a Navy team has discovered a relic worthy of display in a military museum: a torpedo of the kind deployed in the late 19th century, considered a technological marvel in its day. But don't look for the primary discoverers to get a promotion or an invitation to meet the admirals at the Pentagon - although they might get an extra fish for dinner or maybe a pat on the snout. The so-called Howell torpedo was discovered by bottlenose dolphins being trained by the Navy to find undersea objects, including mines, that not even billion-dollar technology can detect.

Hollywood North is going south. That's the fear among many in the once-booming production community in Vancouver, Canada. Although Vancouver still attracts high-profile movies and television shows, including A&E's recently launched "Bates Motel," the city is rapidly losing its perch as one of the industry's busiest production hubs as it faces rising competition from cities in eastern Canada and south of the border. The city that pioneered the use of film incentives now finds itself struggling to compete with emerging rivals offering stronger tax credits and rebates.

Whether by necessity or choice, a quarter of Americans take at least one vacation by themselves each year. Some solo travelers are single. Some have partners who dislike travel or have different interests or can't get away. Some just crave freedom. But all face the same question: What's the best trip for the person traveling alone? "The key is to know yourself," said Beth Whitman, author of a guide for women traveling alone and founder of Wanderlustandlipstick.com , a website devoted to advice and tours for women on the go. "There are times when you just need to get away, to recuperate.

When UCLA's Vanessa Zamarripa flew around the uneven bars at Pauley Pavilion, soared almost to the ceiling, it seemed, and landed with a bit of a wobble but without a fall, it became certain. The Bruins had qualified for Saturday's six-team women's gymnastics NCAA finals. UCLA tied with Oklahoma in second place in Friday's evening semifinals and joined session winner Alabama, along with Friday's afternoon best threesome of Florida, LSU and Georgia as earning spots in Saturday's team final.

Keegan Bradley had no thoughts about a course record, or the possibility of a 59, after consecutive bogeys in the middle of his opening round in the Byron Nelson Championship at Irving, Texas. Until his 136-yard wedge shot on his final hole Thursday. "It was going right at it. [A 59] crossed my mind for a second, and it would be unbelievable if I buried this," Bradley said. "But I had three feet to shoot 60. I was actually very nervous, uncomfortable over it and thank God I made it. " Bradley shot 10-under-par 60, completed by that short birdie at the 428-yard ninth hole, to break the TPC Four Seasons course record and match the best round ever at the Nelson.

No sooner had the Greyfield Inn ferryboat chugged out of the Fernandina Beach, Fla., marina when somebody popped the question. "All right, let's get this over with," said Jerry, a brash, 40-ish businessman on vacation from Atlanta. With a cold Busch beer in one hand and a bag of boiled peanuts in the other, he looked at the young woman in the Greyfield Inn uniform, offered a charming, crooked smile and asked, "Did you see any of them from the wedding?"

A federal appeals court threw out an agreement that Georgia reached with the Army Corps of Engineers for water rights to a major federal reservoir outside Atlanta, handing Alabama and Florida a victory in the states' long-standing water wars. The ruling comes amid tense negotiations among the states' governors over water sharing during a record drought. The 2003 agreement with the corps would give Georgia about a quarter of Lake Lanier's capacity over the coming decades, primarily to serve Atlanta.

At the headquarters of Boston Medical Group in Costa Mesa, six salesmen were working the toll-free appointment line on a recent afternoon, fielding calls from men around the country enticed by newspaper and radio ads promising a "proven" solution to erectile dysfunction in "one office visit. " The results are visible "right there in the office," one sales representative told a caller. "It's amazing. " Following a script, he answered a few questions and offered to schedule a $195 consultation at one of the company's 21 U.S. clinics.

The cost of executions is soaring, especially in the state that conducts the most: Texas. The reason? The necessary drugs have become increasingly hard to get. A year ago it cost the Texas Department of Criminal Justice $83.55 for the drugs used to carry out an execution -- sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Then last March the state was forced to replace sodium thiopental with pentobarbital after the U.S. supplier of the former drug halted distribution amid international protests.

Authorities were on a nationwide manhunt Saturday for a University of Georgia professor in the shooting deaths of three people, including his ex-wife, at a community theater near campus. Athens-Clarke County Police Capt. Clarence Holeman said authorities were searching for a suspect, 57-year-old George Zinkhan, who has been a marketing professor at the university in Athens since the 1990s, and lived about seven miles from campus.

Like many high school seniors about this time of year, Mareshia Rucker and Stephanie Sinnott ooh and aah over gowns with heart-shaped bodices and jewel-encrusted necklines. Yet the ritual of picking a prom dress is little more than an afterthought for these teens, amid all the pressure of organizing their county's first integrated prom. Rucker is black and Sinnott is white. More than 40 years after the Supreme Court ordered school integration, the two classmates are pushing one of south-central Georgia's slowest-moving counties to overturn a long-standing tradition of segregated proms.

Five Atlanta-area firefighters were taken hostage after a medical call Wednesday, and a standoff with a gunman was ongoing. Four firefighters remained captive in the Suwanee home by evening. One had been released to move a truck that was outside the house, officials said. A SWAT team surrounded the house as negotiations continued. WSB-TV reported that the home was in foreclosure by Freddie Mac. The gunman had "multiple handguns, multiple rifles," according to emergency scanner audio captured from local officials and posted online . "We are in a situation where we have an armed person, and he is requesting certain utilities to be turned back on at his house, and he is armed, and we are in the room with him," said one speaker in the scanner audio -- apparently one of the firefighters in the home.

A man who took five Atlanta-area firefighters hostage Wednesday was dead hours later after trading fire with a SWAT team that entered the home where the firefighters were being held, officials said. One SWAT officer was shot in the arm or hand and was expected to survive, officials said. Four firefighters had superficial injuries from an unidentified SWAT explosive used to enter the home but were expected to go home Wednesday night after treatment, Gwinnett County police spokesman E.J. Ritter told reporters.  The fifth firefighter had been released earlier, unharmed.

As President Obama pushes for his gun control package, a small town in Georgia has made its feelings known -- for the other side. The City Council of Nelson has approved an ordinance that requires each head of household to own a gun. The legislation passed unanimously and goes into effect in 10 days. Nelson, population about 1,300, is about 40 miles north of Atlanta. The measure contains no penalties and exempts anyone who objects, as well as felons and people with mental or physical disabilities.

The family of a toddler who was mauled to death by the family's pit bulls could face charges in the girl's death, authorities said.   Monica Renee Laminack, 21 months, was mauled to death by seven pit pulls in the backyard of her family's home in Ellabell, Ga. on Wednesday, according to the Bryan County Sheriff's Office. In a news conference posted online by WSAV-TV, Sheriff Clyde Smith said the dogs lived with the family.   “At some point there they started attacking the child, mauled her, drug her all over the yard,” he said.

A city commissioner has been arrested on suspicion of trying to interfere with a witness in last week's shooting death of a Georgia toddler in a stroller. James H. Brooks is a commissioner and mayor pro tem in Brunswick, Ga., where two teenagers are accused of shooting to death 13-month-old Antonio Santiago and wounding his mother during an alleged robbery attempt. Authorities arrested Brooks on Thursday on charges of influencing a witness and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers.

"The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia" might win for most unwieldy title of the year, but there's little else to distinguish this movie, related to the 2009 film in name only, from the recent crop of supernatural horror thrillers supposedly based on true stories. Here, a family moves to a remote property picked up on the cheap, and the young daughter (Emily Alyn Lind) begins to share the same "gift" as her mother and aunt (Abigail Spencer, Katie Sackhoff), an ability to see and communicate with spirits.

USC next: Saturday at Georgia, 10:30 a.m. PST, Prime Ticket - Like USC, Georgia (3-7) has not been able to emulate the football team's success. The Bulldogs have lost to, among others, Youngstown State and Iona. They also fell to Indiana and UCLA at a tournament in Brooklyn. The Bulldogs are led by sophomore guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who is averaging 17.4 points and 7.2 rebounds.

Two teenagers have been indicted in Georgia on adult charges of shooting a 13-month-old child to death and wounding his mother during a robbery last week. Though the defendants are charged as adults, neither will face the death penalty because both were younger than 18 at the time of the incident, Dist. Atty. Jackie Johnson of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit said in a statement sent by email to reporters on Thursday. On Wednesday a Glynn County grand jury indicted De'Marquise Elkins, 17, on nine counts, including malice murder, in the slaying last week of Antonio Santiago, who was being pushed in a stroller a few blocks from his home in Brunswick, Ga. Also charged was Dominique Lang, 15, on seven counts including felony murder.