ATLANTA -- Jud Turner has been appointed director of the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

The DNR board made the appointment official this week after Gov. Nathan Deal nominated Turner for the post.

Turner replaces F. Allen Barnes, who is leaving to work in the private sector.

Turner is a founding partner in the law firm Turner, Bachman & Garrett LLC and public affairs firm Georgia360 LLC. He was former Gov. Sonny Perdue's lead attorney and represented the governor during negotiations with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service during the state's severe drought.

Turner has also served as general counsel to the Georgia Department of Education.

ATLANTA -- Presidential candidate Herman Cain says he never changed his story about sexual harassment allegations against him in the 1990s.

In a Tuesday interview, Cain told Headline News that he didn't contradict himself when he said a day earlier that he was unaware of a settlement between a woman and his former employer, the National Restaurant Association, over allegations against Cain. He said he was aware of an agreement, but not a settlement.

Cain said, "So it looked like I had changed my story. I didn't change my story."

(Atlanta) Through a resolution authored by Fulton County Chairman John Eaves and Commissioner Liz Hausmann, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners voted today in their recess meeting to support the E-SPLOST referendum for Fulton and Atlanta Public Schools.

The School systems have called for a referendum for citizens to consider the continuation of a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST IV). SPLOST has funded capital needs in the Fulton County School System since 1997. Previous SPLOST programs have funded 37 new schools, 28 school additions and multiple projects such as roof replacement, HVAC renovations, floor covering replacements, surveillance camera installations and playfield enhancements.