Local & State

One Republican candidate for governor says he's making it his mission to fix Georgia's budget problems. Tuesday, candidate Eric Johnson announced the steps he wants to take to reform the state's budget process. He says if elected, state agencies will be more open, and only spend the amount of money they have through a zero-based budgeting system. He also wants to set up a Back to Basics Commission to make sure state agencies are staying on task with their budgets.

The first candidate for Bibb County's district attorney has entered the race.  David Cooke announced Wednesday he will go after the job as top prosecutor for the Macon Judicial circuit.

Cooke has worked as an Assistant District Attorney for Houston County the past three years, prosecuting mostly sex crimes and murder cases.

He said, "I believe, as our next district attorney, I will work as hard to protect the families of Bibb, Crawford and Peach counties as much as I do to protect my own."

Georgia sex offenders could soon be removed from popular online social networking sites.

State Rep. Rob Teilhet is introducing a measure Tuesday that would allow the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to send sex
offenders' information to Facebook, MySpace and other sites.

The sites could then remove their information, ban them from creating profiles and notify state authorities of any suspicious
activity.

Teilhet, a Smyrna Democrat running for attorney general, said the proposal will help clear the Internet of dangerous child
predators.

Search teams have found the second body of a fishermen who went missing at Lake Tobesokfee, Saturday. According to Head Ranger Doug Furney, Macon-Bibb Fire Department divers recovered the body of 52-year-old Willie Buckles. The body was found around 4 p.m., a few hundred yards from where the body of Frank Roquemore was recovered Sunday.

Dozens of people showed up at Macon City Hall, Tuesday to voice their opinions about a proposed millage rate increase. City leaders want to keep the same millage rate it's had for the past five years. Because of higher property values, it would mean a tax increase for property owners.