CANTON, Ga. -- The City of Canton Fire Department recently purchased their first hybrid vehicle.

The car is a Toyota Prius C, and will be used by Fire inspector Ben Lohman to perform fire inspections throughout the city.

According to the City of Canton Fire Department, using the hybrid Prius will result in lower fuel costs to the tax payers. It will also be eco-friendly to the environment.

CANTON, Ga. -- The Canton campus of Chattahoochee Technical College is less than a year old, but it's already earned some big honors.

Last week, the U.S. Green Building Council announced the campus has been designated LEED Gold certified.

"This designation puts this campus in the upper echelon of construction projects in the state and in the county," said David Simmons, CTC vice president of facilities. "The LEED Gold certification proves that the facilities leadership is committeed to helping preserve the global environment for generations to come."

The Canton project initially aimed for Silver certification, according to Matt Walsh with BRPH, the construction firm that built the school.

ATLANTA -- Georgia's state climatologist says extreme drought conditions have now spread into North Georgia and cover most of the state south of the mountains.

Climatologist David Stooksbury says all of Georgia's counties are now classified as being in moderate, severe or extreme drought.

In his most recent reports on the drought, Stooksbury said the outlook for relief in the short-term is not promising. Unless Georgia sees some tropical weather over the next few months, the state can expect below-normal rainfall and above-normal temperatures.

Without tropical rain, Georgia's soil is expected to continue to dry out. Stream flows, groundwater levels and reservoir levels are expected to continue to drop, and wildfire potentials are expected to remain high to extreme.