Cheating scandal — In another embarrassing blow to Atlanta public schools, nearly three dozen former educators, including the ex-superintendent, were indicted Friday in one of the nation’s largest test cheating scandals. Former Superintendent Beverly Hall faced charges including racketeering, false statements and theft because prosecutors said some of the bonuses she received were tied to falsified scores. Hall retired just days before a state probe was released in 2011. She has long denied knowing about the cheating or ordering it.

Obama in Miami — President Barack Obama on Friday visited a tunnel project at the major port in Miami to promote a new plan to rebuild the nation’s roads, bridges and points of commerce — a series of measures that White House officials argue could appeal to business-minded Republicans. In a brief visit, Obama said hiring construction workers for “infrastructure” projects would help lower the nation’s high unemployment rate — no industry has been harder hit than construction — and make the country more competitive in the long run. The proposals range from $4 billion to invest in rebuilding roads and bridges to tax breaks designed to attract investors, at home and abroad, to construction projects.

Nevada lawmaker arrested — Hours after he became the first person in Nevada history to be kicked out of the state Legislature, an embattled former lawmaker led police on a chase on a freeway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles that ended with a violent struggle with uniformed officers. Steven Brooks was subdued with punches and a Taser, arrested at gunpoint and jailed in California’s San Bernardino County after police say he attacked a police dog with a wrench. “I think he feels the world is against him. But I’m just piecing together bits of information,” said Mitchell Posin, Brooks’ attorney. Brooks’ arrest came just hours after colleagues in the Legislature deemed the Democrat too dangerous and unpredictable to serve his elected term. Lawmakers wept Thursday as they cited concerns about their own safety and evidence collected about an increasingly bizarre series of public incidents.

Tanzania building collapse — A Tanzanian police official says two people have died after a building under construction collapsed in the country’s largest city and economic center. Suleiman Kova, the police commander in charge of Dar es Salaam, said Friday 17 people have been pulled out of the debris, with three seriously injured. Kova says the building was in the final stages of its construction and it did not have tenants. Most of the people caught up in the collapse of the 12-story building were passing by.

Syria conflict — Syrian anti-government activists reported the rebel seizure of a strategically important town in southern Syria on Friday only a few miles from the Jordanian border, which if confirmed would represent a new setback for government forces, who have already ceded territory to the insurgency in the north and east. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-government group in Britain with contacts throughout Syria, said rebel fighters secured the town, Dael, after more than a day of clashes in which three military checkpoints were destroyed and more than 24 combatants and at least nine civilians were killed.

Mandela illness — After a second night in a hospital being treated for a recurrent lung infection, former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa was in good spirits on Friday, enjoying breakfast and making steady progress, according to the office of President Jacob Zuma, who had earlier urged his compatriots not to panic. Mandela, 94, was admitted to the hospital late Wednesday night for the third time in four months.

Subway rescue — A recovering drug addict with a long rap sheet was hailed as a hero for jumping onto subway tracks to rescue a man who walked off a platform. Christopher Knafelc, 32, was waiting for a train in north Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon when he saw a man fall on the tracks. He jumped down to help, knowing that a train would be arriving in a few minutes. “I had a plan if a train came I was going to roll him underneath,” Knafelc told WPVI-TV, “or if I couldn’t, I was going to ask someone to jump down and help me roll him.”

China pollution — The cost of environmental degradation in China in 2010 was about $230 billion, or 3.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, an official Chinese news report said this week. The statistic came from a study by the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, which is part of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. So far, only partial results of the study are available. The 2010 figure was reported Monday by a newspaper associated with the ministry.