The Idaho man accused of slapping a 19-month-old toddler on a Delta flight last month, telling the boy's mom to "Shut that N-word baby up," pleaded not guilty to assault Wednesday in federal court. Sixty-year-old Joe Hundley didn't speak to reporters after court, but his attorney Marcia Shein said he was upset and grieving on that February flight to Atlanta--coming here to take his only child off life support after his son had overdosed on insulin. A conviction could land Hundley behind bars for a year. He's due back in court April 9.

Georgia's unemployment rate drops to its lowest level in 4 years in February. The statewide jobless rate's down a tenth to 8.6%. Year over year, Georgia's added 77,000 jobs since last February.

Coca-Cola is cutting back. The soda giant says 750 employees around the country face layoffs over the next few months. About 180 will be in Atlanta. The company says an effort to streamline operations three years after absorbing thousands of employees from the purchase of its largest bottler.

Don't call this puppy love. A 16-year-old boy upset over a breakup is facing criminal charges of terroristic threats and disrupting a public school. His ex-girlfriend at Osborne High School alerted Cobb County Police after the boy sent her a text saying he was coming to kill her, her new boyfriend, and then himself.

Cherokee County deputies arrest the suspect in Tuesday's hit-and-run of a school crossing guard outside Liberty Elementary School. The guard got a broken ankle. When cops caught up with 20-year-old Victor Baruchman, he'd scraped that telltale Tennessee Vols "T" off the back window and removed the Honda's front bumper. Baruchman had reportedly been running late for his drug court graduation.

In its first meeting Wednesday night, the new version of the DeKalb County School Board votes unanimously to take itself out of that lawsuit challenging the governor's right to oust elected members from the board. The decision means the district will no longer fund the suit, although a version of it remains alive with plaintiff Eugene Walker, the former board chair. Six new members were appointed to the board last week. An accrediting agency chastised DeKalb's school district in December, citing a dysfunctional, meddling school board.

A former Atlanta school principal resigns, accused of pressuring teachers to change grades and pass failing students at the all-boys Best Academy. Boris Hurst denies wrongdoing. He was removed as principal last year, but remained within the system. The district filed charges against him in January. He resigned last month, but his lawyer claims that's because he took a job in Florida.

With a bipartisan 73-26 vote, the Senate has passed a huge spending bill which keeps the government open through the end of September. But the measure leaves in place spending cuts that will mean job furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal workers. The House is expected to approve the measure Thursday.

In KISS news about your health: comfort food doesn't always live up to its rep. Comfort foods are often rich and fattening, and we eat them when stressed to make us feel better. But they could actually make us feel worse--emotionally. Researchers at Penn State found eating unhealthy foods can give us a short-term mood boost. But then, once digested, our mood drops--in part due to guilt that sets in because of our long-term concerns over health and body image.

If you can scrape it up, you can eat it. That's the gist of a new bill moving through the Montana legislature that would let residents salvage roadkill for food. One state senator says, "It really is a sin to waste a good meat." One critic is concerned, though--wondering if people will just start running over deer just to turn them into venison. And a cattle rancher wonders how it's fair that people can harvest roadkill for a meal while his industry has to follow strict federal health guidelines.

The KISS 104 weather forecast: mostly sunny, high of 51.