'Jeopardy' ace Ken Jennings to get his own game show

My grandmother heard a snippet of this story on TV and asked for details. So here are more, from the Associated Press.

Sparklers legal in Georgia

Don't try to touch 'em while they're burning, kids. They're REALLY hot. Otherwise, fireworks aren't legal in Georgia.

Eddie Albert of 'Green Acres' is dead

Fresh air! Times Square! He was 99.

You might have to dial 10 numbers on every call soon ...

The state is considering the change.

GA-Pacific one of state's top political donors

GP, one of Warren County's largest employers, gave $160K to political parties in the '03-'04 election cycle, according to a new national study out today from the Center for Public Integrity. The breakdown was 63% to the GOP and 37% to the Democrats.

Print out a complete Braves schedule for the entire year

A must-have in my family: A complete season schedule. Link takes you to an Adobe Acrobat document (a PDF).

A Rolling Stone in Middle Georgia

New York Times piece talks about Rolling Stones sideman Chuck Leavell's tree farm in Twiggs County outside Macon.

'Ernest T. Bass' actor dead at age 85

How do you do, Mrs. Wiley? Howard Morris died of natural causes. There's a tribute to him on the official Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers' Club site.

Chamber head named to state board

O.B. McCorkle, executive director of the Warren County Chamber of Commerce, named to the Southern Growth Policies Board of Trustees by Gov. Perdue.

It's not often you hear banjo on 'Saturday Night Live'

But they're using it in the now-recurring "Appalachian Emergency Room" sketch, another installment of which appeared this past weekend (during the episode with guest host Lindsay Lohan). The first song, the up-tempo one, is "Devil's Dream," a song probably named because it's hard as Hades to play. E-mail us if you can recognize the slower one.

Old Methodist church ledger for sale on e-Bay

Someone's selling an old 1920s-era ledger book from the "Camak charge."

Greensboro locals dis old Boswell Hospital

Now that Greene County is a golf resort for rich Atlantans, no one wants to go the old Minnie G. Boswell Hospital where my uncle was born.

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The state wants your ticks

Yes, those little insects that bite and suck your blood. And who knew that the Smithsonian's National Tick Collection was in Statesboro?

Warrenton's Bernice Butler named to state commission on children

Bernice Butler is studying psychology at Georgia State, where she's on the dean's list. She was named to the post by Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Old Swainsboro Coke bottle for sale on e-Bay right now

I always wished I could see the bottling plant there in action. e-Bay also sometimes has photo postcards for sale of the old plant.

What? My drivers' license could be cancelled?

It happened to my grandmother -- the state is apparently trying to match drivers' license records with Social Security records, and if there was a typo that causes a mismatch, you get a letter saying your drivers' license is at risk of getting cancelled. AJC story today says they're sending out 1,000 letters a week. The mayor of Atlanta got one, too.

Sandersville police have Wi-Fi on the job

They must really be living high on the techno-hog in the Chalk Capital of the Universe. It wasn't that long ago that the Warren County Sheriff's Department finally got its own fax machine.

Kid from Crawfordville wins scholarship from Bill Gates

Young Carlos Harper plans to go to Emory and study pre-med. The scholarship is $10,000 per year. You, too, can apply through the Gates Millennium Scholars program.

In search of stories about Blind Willie

If anyone out there personally remembers bluesman Blind Willie McTell, who was from Thomson and died in 1959, writer Michael Gray is looking for you. He's the same guy who wrote Song and Dance Man 3: The Art of Bob Dylan a few years ago. And of course, Dylan once recorded a song about Blind Willie, who wrote Statesboro Blues long before anyone had ever heard of the Allman Brothers.

Take a look at Blind Willie's original lyrics to that song, which were not quite the same as the ones the Allmans recorded in the '60s. Sister, tell your brother ...

Thomson, of course, has an annual blues festival now days in honor of Blind Willie -- it's going on this weekend. Twenty years ago I didn't know anyone there who'd ever heard of Blind Willie there or gave much of a hoot about old-time blues music. This year's festival is bringing in John Hammond tonight, and tomorrow night, Maria Muldaur (the "Midnight at the Oasis" lady) and Pat Donohue from Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion radio show.

Chris Tucker pleads guilty to speeding in Warren County

Think to yourself: How many Bentleys have you seen in Warrenton lately? Not that many. And no, Jackie Chan was not with him at the time.