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State employees to return to work as temperatures rise above freezing in Atlanta after storm
• ATLANTA (AP) -- Hundreds of drivers were reunited with their abandoned cars and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal ordered state employees back to work Friday as the metro Atlanta region rebounded from a winter storm that coated the area with snow and ice.
• Many school districts throughout the metro area -- including Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton County -- announced that they'd remain closed to students Friday, and Deal extended a state of emergency through to Sunday night.
• The declaration was extended to allow the state to continue using certain resources to help local governments clear roads and deal with other storm-related issues, Deal said in a statement.
• The governor and Director of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, Charley English, have taken responsibility for poor planning leading up to the storm.
• "We did not make preparations early enough," Deal said at a news conference. "I'm not going to look for a scapegoat. I am the governor. The buck stops with me."
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Russia plants "ring of steel" around Winter Games host Sochi but still fears suicide bombers
• SOCHI, Russia (AP) -- While Sochi's Olympic venues are now among the most tightly guarded facilities in the world, the rest of this sprawling Black Sea resort looks more vulnerable.
• With about 100,000 police, security agents and army troops flooding Sochi, Russia has pledged to ensure "the safest Olympics in history." But terror fears fueled by recent suicide bombings have left athletes, spectators and officials worldwide jittery about potential threats.
• Security experts warn that Islamic militants in the Caucasus, who have threatened to derail the Winter Games that run from Feb. 7-23, could achieve their goal by choosing soft targets away from the Olympic sites or even outside Sochi. Some have raised the possibility that jihadists could have infiltrated Sochi long before security was tightened and have noted the vulnerability of the city's transport systems.
• "The most daunting threat is suicide bombers," Grigory Shvedov, chief editor of the Caucasian Knot, an online news portal focusing on the Caucasus, told The As (Continued on page 37)
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