(WXIA) -- Metro Atlanta's unemployment rate went unchanged last month. The rate was 6.4 in December 2014, the same as it was in November 2014. It was 6.8 percent in December 2013.

Newton County's December unemployment rate was 7.8 percent.

While the unemployment rate didn't budge, the Atlanta area gained 64,700 jobs last year, the largest December-to-December job growth in nearly 10 years. Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said many of the new positions were in trade and transportation; business services; leisure and hospitality; financial services; manufacturing; education and health care; government; and construction.

Butler said Georgia has been in the top 10 states for job creation every month since October 2012.

Metro Athens had Georgia's lowest December unemployment rate, at 4.9 percent. The Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest, at 8.8 percent.

NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. -- The Supreme Court of Georgia has upheld the murder conviction and life prison sentence given to a Newton County woman who smothered her infant daughter.

Quanitta Yvette Turner appealed to the state's high court, saying her original jury was not show enough evidence to send her to prison. She also argued that a police officer who interviewed her after her daughter's death coerced her into admitting she beat the baby, which "grossly misrepresented (her) Fifth Amendment right to remain silent."

But a Supreme Court of Georgia justice wrote in Tuesday's decision that Turner had been read her Miranda rights, and the statements she made during her police interview "were voluntary and admissible," and not made under fear of injury or punishment.

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. -- When the weather report calls for freezing temperatures overnight, you do not want to be rushing outside in the dark to cover cold-sensitive plants.

According to University of Georgia experts, protect plants in containers either by placing them inside a protective structure (house, garage, greenhouse or shed) or by placing a protective covering over them.

“People put a lot of time and expense in caring for their plants,” states Menia Chester, Director of Fulton County Cooperative Extension. “It is important for them to know how to protect their investments to nurture them for growth when the weather is cold.”

Container plants are especially susceptible to cold temperatures; their roots are more exposed because they are above ground. Plants with roots that are damaged by cold temperatures may not show immediate signs of damage; these plants will show signs of stress when temperatures rise and the demand for water from the roots are greater.