IMMIGRATION ACTIVISTS-NEW POLICY

ATLANTA — Viridiana Martinez has been on the front lines in the debate over immigration reform, organizing protests and getting arrested in acts of civil disobedience. But when the president announced a policy allowing young people like her to temporarily avoid deportation, she was anything but elated. “It’s all political theater,” said the 26-year-old who came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico when she was 6 and grew up in North Carolina. “For me, at this point, applying for deferred action would be like accepting that theater, and I can’t do that.” The lukewarm responses of Martinez and other leaders of the so-called DREAMers movement come after they have spent months or even years traveling the country while openly declaring themselves “undocumented and unafraid.” They have gotten themselves arrested, boldly given interviews to the press and allowed their pictures to be taken, and many are known to immigration authorities, who have taken no steps to deport them. By Kate Brumback

PORT EXPANSION

SAVANNAH — The federal government said Saturday it has given final approval to a $652 million project to deepen the river channel to the Port of Savannah to make room for supersized cargo ships. The project has been a priority for Georgia for 16 years, but it also still faces a court challenge in neighboring South Carolina. The project has been a priority for Georgia for 16 years, but it also still faces a court challenge in neighboring South Carolina. And budget cuts have made it difficult in recent years to get federal funding approved by Congress. “This is a major milestone,” said Gov. Nathan Deal, “but we’re not popping corks just yet.” By Russ Bynum

DUNE REMOVAL FINE

TYBEE ISLAND — A beachfront hotel owner accused of having workers remove part of a sand dune will pay $10,000 to fund environmental education programs as part of a settlement with the state Department of Natural Resources. Harry Spirides, owner of the Ocean Plaza Beach Resort on Tybee Island, signed a consent order with the state Friday. In July he admitted to hiring laborers to shovel sand in the middle of the night from a dune behind his hotel over three weeks in February and March.

ALSO:

—EARLY VOTING — Georgians are taking advantage of their first chance to vote early on a Saturday, with long lines reported at polling locations.

—VOTER COMPLAINT — Election officials in Muscogee County are investigating a Columbus voter’s complaint that another person was allowed to cast a ballot in his place during early voting.

—CROSS-DRESSER SHOT — A southwest Georgia prosecutor says he suspects a jury acquitted a suspect charged in a shooting because the victim was a man who testified wearing women’s clothes.

—TROPICAL WEATHER-GEORGIA — Emergency officials on the Georgia coast are keeping an eye on Hurricane Sandy, but they say the storm is having little impact here as it passes far away at sea.

—CANDIDATE DISQUALIFIED — A Georgia Superior Court judge says a 40-year-old felony record is enough to keep a candidate for Peach County coroner off the November ballot.

—TEENAGER SHOT — Police say a metro Atlanta teenager is expected to recover after being shot while leaving a high school football game.

—SUSTAINABLE AIRPORT SEMINAR — Aviation, government and business leaders from France and Atlanta plan to meet to talk about ways to make airports more environmentally friendly.

AP MEMBER EXCHANGE:

FOREIGN TEACHERS

SAVANNAH, Ga. — They heeded the call when the Savannah-Chatham public school system was searching the world over for qualified teachers willing to take math, science and special education jobs that had been vacant for years. For six years a group of foreign teachers worked the jobs no one else would. They worked to motivate struggling math and science students at inner-city middle and high schools and saw to the needs of wheelchair bound adolescents with severe developmental disabilities. In 2011, after four years of service, Savannah-Chatham public school officials agreed to spend $185,600 to sponsor permanent residency for them but abruptly ended the process after deciding there are now probably enough qualified, American teachers who might want those jobs. As the foreign teachers’ temporary work visas begin to expire at the end of the school year, they will have to leave their jobs — and the country. By Jenel Few, The Savannah Morning News.

Eds: An AP Member Exchange.

AROUND THE SOUTH:

SUPER STORM

SHIP BOTTOM, N.J. (AP) — With much of the Eastern Seaboard in the path of a rare behemoth storm, residents of the nation’s most densely populated corridor contemplated whether to heed dire warnings of torrential rain, high winds and up to 2 feet of snow. Hurricane Sandy — upgraded again Saturday just hours after forecasters said it had weakened to a tropical storm — was barreling north from the Caribbean and was expected to make landfall early Tuesday near the Delaware coast, then hit two winter weather systems as it moves inland, creating a hybrid monster storm. Even if Sandy loses strength and makes landfall as something less than a hurricane, the combined storm was expected to bring misery to a huge section of the East. An 800-mile wide swath of the country could see 50 mph winds regardless of Sandy’s strength. By Wayne Parry and Emery P. Dalesio

SPORTS:

FBC–T25-FLORIDA-GEORGIA

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — No. 3 Florida and No. 12 Georgia add a new chapter to their storied rivalry when they play Saturday — essentially for the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern Division title. By Mark Long. Begins 3:30 p.m. EDT

The AP