Macon State College will confer its 3,000th bachelor's degree at the 2011 commencement, scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, May 6, at the Macon Coliseum.

Since becoming a four-year institution in 1997, the college - founded in 1968 - has conferred a total of 2,807 bachelor's degrees. Another 525 candidates for graduation are set to receive their bachelor's degrees on May 6. Some 317 candidates are set to receive associate's degrees, a Macon State news release says.

This year's graduation speaker will be Dr. David A. Bell, Macon State's fifth and longest serving president, who is ending his tenure on June 30. Since he became president in 1997 -- first as interim president -- enrollment has nearly doubled from about 3,600 to more than 6,200 today; bachelor’s degrees have increased from 3 to 18; and the Board of Regents has invested more than $90 million in construction at the Macon and Warner Robins campuses.

Come out and watch our 6 local Men's Baseball teams on May 14th starting at 4pm @ the Ed Defore Sports Complex " WESTSIDE HIGH"

Now here is a great local Baseball Story

  Kevin Franchi of the Giants once pitched for our 1985 MACON PIRATES, after 26 years later and still in great shape and the love of the game Franchi is now back doing what he loves best.. BASEBALL. Kevin is also the General Sales Manager at Youmans Chevrolet here in Macon. Now at the young age of 46 Kevin will be starting against his x-teammate Chris Pierce's  20 year old son Ryan Pierce, also from the 1985 Macon Pirates 

The city of Macon once again is demolishing blighted homes as part of their ongoing cleanup plan.

They started a new round of demolitions on Wednesday.

City crews destroyed this house at 2292 Belmont Avenue as firefighters washed away the lingering dust.

Mayor Robert Reichert says the process to seize the homes and tear them down is slow, but he hopes to bring a sense of hope to the community.

Some neighbors told us they're pleased.

"I feel good about it, it's something they should have did because the houses have been just sitting and not doing nothing with them."

Reichert says they've demolished hundreds of homes since he took office, but are still working their way through the city's list.

They plan to tear down one hundred homes this year and one hundred twenty houses next year.