It's not too complicated, really. We elect leaders who want to be re-elected, so they spend, spend, spend and spend to win our favor.

If you want the national debt to be reduced, you are going to have to vote out the incumbents.

Since we all pay more Social Security tax than we need to each year, why don't we get a Social Security tax refund each year? Why do you let your representatives in Congress take your Social Security tax refund away from you each year? Steve Smith, Grovetown

Just because Clyde Hooks is 73 and has an e-mail account didn't mean an Internet scammer could pull the wool over his eyes.

If Global Bonding is operating without a license in Georgia, then state insurance officials say the office project's bonds, which protect Augusta Neighborhood Improvement Corp.'s $1.7 million investment, would be invalid.

Richmond County sheriff's deputies have arrested a 63-year-old accused of inappropriately touching a minor, and offering to pay her for sex, police records show.

Robert Cooks is an anxious man. He is anxious to start his new job as executive director of the Augusta Neighborhood Improvement Corp., anxious to get to work and prove he's worth every penny of his $115,000 a year salary, anxious to make a difference.

The next time you cash a check at the bank, the money you receive may look different. The crisp bill in your hand could be one of the first brand-new $20 bills issued this week by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Thursday, the Treasury will start sending banks the newly redesigned 20s, which will eventually replace the ones currently in circulation. But the ones you've got in your wallet now are still good. The old bills will remain in circulation, and Treasury officials will remove them gradually as they become worn out.