Russ Bynum/Associated Press

A U.S. agency is agreeing to participate in an in-depth study on whether dredging a Georgia shipping channel in the spring and summer would pose threats to rare sea turtles. The Army Corps of Engineers' announcement prompted a conservation group to dismiss a federal lawsuit that asked a judge to order such a study.

A conservation group is suing in federal court over a U.S. agency's timeline for dredging a Georgia shipping channel, saying dredging in the summertime would threaten rare sea turtles. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Savannah targets the Army Corps of Engineers. Georgia environmental group One Hundred Miles says the agency plans to conduct harbor dredging off the port city of Brunswick next summer during the nesting season for rare loggerhead sea turtles. The Army Corps has avoided maintenance dredging outside the winter months in Georgia and the Carolinas for three decades to help protect sea turtles. An Army Corps spokeswoman declined to comment on pending litigation.

Leaders of Georgia's oldest city have voted to strip the name of a former vice president who advocated for slavery from a public square named in his honor more than 170 years ago. Calhoun Square in Savannah's downtown historic district was named in 1851 for John C. Calhoun, a South Carolina politician who served in Congress, in presidents' cabinets and as vice president over four decades. The Savannah City Council voted Thursday to remove Calhoun's name, noting that his outspoken support of slavery helped steer the South toward secession and the Civil War. The decision comes two years after honors to Calhoun were rescinded in his home state of South Carolina, including the removal of his statue from a square in Charleston.

The once-powerful and now disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he murdered his wife and son 13 months ago, with one of his defense attorneys calling for a speedy trial to clear his name and prod authorities to “go for the real killers.”

The Georgia Ports Authority is accelerating a $150 million expansion at the Port of Savannah amid surging cargo volumes that have kept ships waiting at sea. The state agency's board approved plans Monday to boost port capacity for cargo containers by 25% within six months. Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch said more than a third of that new space should be available by January to help alleviate backlogs.

Tropical Storm Elsa is carving a destructive and soaking path up the East Coast after killing at least one person in Florida and spinning up a tornado at a Georgia Navy base that flipped recreational vehicles and threw one of them into a lake. One person was killed in Jacksonville, Florida, when a tree fell onto a car. Elsa was expected to pass near the eastern mid-Atlantic states by Thursday night and move near or over the northeastern United States on Friday. Tropical storm warnings were in effect along the coast from North Carolina to Connecticut.