Bomb Threats Near Georgia State Capitol Prompt Evacuations At Judicial Building (UPDATE)

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Several state government buildings near the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta were evacuated after a pair of bomb threats this morning.

The Judicial Building, home to the state attorney general and Supreme Court, was cleared as authorities urged those in the area to avoid using cell phones or radios, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Shortly before 11 a.m., employees were allowed to return to the buildings and the scene was cleared, 11Alive reports. Bomb-sniffing dogs searched the area and didn't find any explosives.

The threats also emptied the Coverdell Legislative Office Building at Capitol Square, which houses offices for most of the state's lawmakers and several news outlets, including the Journal-Constitution.

The bomb scares happened on a day with several peculiar security incidents in the region: An explosion at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at about 9 a.m. and a "serious" bomb threat at the Richmond, Va. International Airport, which was later cleared and reopened. And in New Jersey, a bomb threat was reported at the Princeton University campus, prompting the evacuation of several buildings, according to Business Insider.

The explosion occurred in a maintenance shed at the airpot. There were no reported injuries.

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Obama Judicial Nominees Include Patricia Ann Millett, Cornelia Pillard, Robert Leon Wilkins

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President Barack Obama nominated Patricia Ann Millett, Cornelia Pillard and Robert Leon Wilkins to the understaffed federal appeals court in Washington on Tuesday during an announcement in the White House Rose Garden.

The nominations set up an aggressive push against Senate Republicans who are trying to keep him from naming any more judges to the influential circuit.

According to the AP, it's the first time Obama has ever held an event to announce nominees to the federal bench other than the Supreme Court, an indication of the pressure the president is trying to put on the Senate to approve his picks.

The AP reports:

President Barack Obama is calling on Senate Republicans to allow prompt votes on three lawyers he's nominating to an understaffed federal appeals court in Washington.

In the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday, Obama criticized delays in votes on his prior judicial nominees as political and said that "for the good of the American people it has to stop." He says too much of the people's business is at stake.

Obama says his three nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit are highly qualified to serve.

The nominees are Cornelia Pillard, a Georgetown University law professor; Patricia Ann Millet, an appeals lawyer in Washington and Robert Leon Wilkins, a judge on the U.S. District Court in Washington.

This post is developing and has been updated.

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