Category Archives: Georgia

Revealed: states’ restrictive voter ID laws have cost taxpayers $36m

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The Guardian has found that millions have been spent to implement and defend laws widely regarded to be ineffective and discriminatory

Restrictive ‘voter identification’ laws pushed by Republicans, and widely regarded to be ineffective and discriminatory, have cost taxpayers at least $36m in just a few states, the Guardian can reveal.

It’s well documented that restrictive voter ID laws are ineffective and discriminatory. The type of voter fraud they claim to prevent is a myth, and the burden of showing an ID disproportionately lands on students, low-income voters, and African Americans.

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Ahmaud Arbery: grand jury indicts three men in murder case

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The killing of a young black man who was jogging in a Georgia town when he was shot dead has become a part of national debate

A grand jury has returned indictments on the three suspects in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a young black man who was accosted and shot dead as he went for a jog in a Georgia town, US media has reported.

The killing sparked widespread outrage and has since become a key part of an intense national debate around police killings and racism.

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Half of US states see coronavirus surge as officials warn first wave far from over

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29 states reported a jump in cases, while Trump says increased testing is a problem: ‘It makes us look like we have more cases’

More than half of all US states have reported a rise in new coronavirus cases, with some breaking daily records. Amid fears of a second wave of Covid-19 infections and deaths, public health officials have warned that the first is far from over.

Related: ‘New York always comes back’: workers return as city enters phase two of reopening

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Secret services thwarted plot to kill TV host who attacked Putin, Georgia says

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Chechen leader and Moscow deny sending hitman after journalist’s expletive-laden TV tirade

Georgia has thwarted a plot to assassinate a journalist who made an expletive-laden attack on Vladimir Putin on live television last year, the Georgian prime minister said.

“Georgian secret services have foiled a very serious crime,” Giorgi Gakharia told journalists on Tuesday.

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‘Trust with the police is broken’: Rayshard Brooks’s family tell of devastation – video

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The family of Rayshard Brooks, who was shot and killed by a white police officer, have paid tribute to him and told of their devastation. During a press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, Brooks’s cousin said the trust between the Atlanta community and its police department had been broken and called for the officer involved to be charged and convicted.

The press conference comes a day after a medical examiner concluded that Brooks, 27, died by homicide caused by gunshot wounds to the back

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Beyoncé demands justice for Breonna Taylor in letter to Kentucky attorney general – live

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Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been defaced yet again during Sunday afternoon’s Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles, although these days it might qualify as bigger news if the former reality TV host’s terrazzo-and-brass totem went longer than a week unmolested.

Trump’s star was defaced during today’s Hollywood protest march. #blm #hollywoodprotest #JusticeForGeorgeFlyod #hollywoodboulevard #hollywoodblvd #protests pic.twitter.com/UI3SOIZSiV

Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered at the Montana State Capitol building in Helena in protest of the killing of George Floyd and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Helena Independent Record reports Sunday’s protest is the largest of a number of demonstrations that have been held in Montana’s capital city in recent weeks amid the nationwide backlash to police-related violence against black and brown people.

The protest for George Floyd in Helena, MT is... huge. pic.twitter.com/LLwdiHMwxZ

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Rayshard Brooks: police body-cam footage shows buildup to fatal shooting – video

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Footage from Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan shows the officers approaching Rayshard Brooks in his car, which was parked in a Wendy’s drive-in lane, and asking him to move it. They question him and make him take a breathalyser test. The officers then attempt to arrest and handcuff Brooks, leading to a scuffle, which culminates in his shooting. The interaction lasted about 45 minutes. The footage in this video has been edited for length

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Rayshard Brooks: protesters set fire to Wendy’s after black man shot dead by police – video report

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Demonstrators set fire to a fast food restaurant in Atlanta on Saturday where Rayshard Brooks, 27, was shot dead by a police officer the previous night. Police were called to the restaurant over reports that he had fallen asleep in the drive-through line.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the shooting, said Brooks failed a field sobriety test and then resisted officers' attempts to arrest him.

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George Floyd: large procession of mourners expected to follow private Texas funeral – live

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The Guardian’s Vivan Ho reports from Houston, Texas:

Supporters of George Floyd stood outside the church in the punishing Houston humidity, waiting for the procession to Floyd’s final resting place.

Joe Biden expressed support for the Buffalo protester who was shoved to the ground by police officers, after Trump suggested the 75-year-old man might be an Antifa plant.

My Dad used to say there's no greater sin than the abuse of power.

Whether it's an officer bloodying a peaceful protester or a President defending him with a conspiracy theory he saw on TV.

I'm a Catholic – just like Martin. Our faith says that we can't accept either.

Related: Trump makes baseless claim about man, 75, shoved by police: ‘Could be a set-up?’

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Georgia primary blighted by long lines and broken voting machines

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Equipment malfunctions and long waits to vote despite the state having encouraged people to vote by mail

Georgia voters immediately encountered hours-long lines and equipment malfunctions as they showed up to vote in person in the state’s primary races on Tuesday. Today is the latest high-stakes test of whether a state can hold an election during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Tuesday also marked the first time Georgia was using new voting equipment, and voters reported malfunctions on Tuesday morning. The Atlanta mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, tweeted that at some precincts no machines were working.

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Ahmaud Arbery attacker used racial slur after shooting jogger, court hears

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  • Georgia state investigator makes claim in murder case
  • Travis and Greg McMichael and William ‘Roddie’ Bryan charged

A state investigator in Georgia on Thursday alleged that the white man accused of killing jogger Ahmaud Arbery was heard saying a racial slur as he stood over the mortally wounded man, moments after hitting him with three shots from a pump-action shotgun.

Related: FBI investigating Ahmaud Arbery shooting as possible hate crime, lawyer says

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George Floyd: protesters and police clash in cities across US – live

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The Guardian’s Ankita Rao, reporting from New York, on the mayor’s controversial late-night statements:

Mayor Bill de Blasio took to the podium on Saturday night to tell protestors across the city that they were “heard, loud and clear”.

I’m in Brooklyn to talk about tonight’s protests. https://t.co/oBVXGh7JWo

US prosecutors have filed federal charges against three people in New York, accusing them of using “molotov cocktails” on New York police vehicles during the Friday protests:

BREAKING: Three people charged with federal crimes in connection with Molotov cocktail attacks on the NYPD during #GeorgeFloyd protests in NYC Friday night. pic.twitter.com/dyaDJByMit

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Police fail in attempt to tase Ahmaud Arbery during 2017 incident – video

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Police attempted to use a Taser on Ahmaud Arbery, the slain Georgia jogger, after questioning why he was sitting alone in his car in a park one morning in November 2017, according to records and a police video obtained by the Guardian.

The video comes to light as law enforcement in the area faces scrutiny after Arbery was shot dead by two white men while out for a run in February. Police did not initially arrest Gregory and Travis McMichael, who chased down and killed the unarmed Arbery, and a prosecutor assigned to the case wrote a lengthy memo explaining why the killing was legally justified.

In a joint statement to the Guardian, lawyers working for the Arbery family described the video as a clear depiction of 'a situation where Ahmaud was harassed by Glynn county police officers'. 

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Police tried to tase Ahmaud Arbery in 2017 incident, video shows

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  • Officers questioned why Arbery was sitting alone in his car in a park one morning in November 2017
  • Family lawyers say video shows Ahmaud ‘harassed by police’

Police attempted to use a Taser on Ahmaud Arbery, the slain Georgia jogger, after questioning why he was sitting alone in his car in a park one morning in November 2017, according to records and a police video obtained by the Guardian.

Related: Ahmaud Arbery: new focus on district attorney’s flawed prosecutions of black women

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Ahmaud Arbery: new focus on district attorney’s flawed prosecutions of black women

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  • George Barnhill eventually recused himself from Arbery case
  • Prosecutions include woman wrongfully imprisoned for murder

The local prosecutor who argued two white men were legally justified in chasing down and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man, has been at the center of aggressive and flawed prosecutions of at least two black women in recent years.

One of the women was wrongfully imprisoned for over a decade on a murder conviction secured by later discredited forensic evidence, and another woman was unsuccessfully tried twice for helping people vote.

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‘A great embarrassment’: records offer insight into Ahmaud Arbery suspect

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Gregory McMichael lost his power of arrest in 2006 after failing to complete sufficient basic law enforcement training

Gregory McMichael, the white retired law enforcement officer who helped chase down and kill Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old African American man, failed to complete sufficient basic law enforcement training for years, a deficiency that led to him losing his power of arrest.

McMichael, who worked as an investigator in the Brunswick judicial circuit district attorney’s office from 1995 to 2019, lost his power of arrest in January 2006 for failing to complete the required 20 hours of training the previous year, according to personnel records obtained by the Guardian.

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Ahmaud Arbery: former police officer and son charged in shooting of black man

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Gregory and Travis McMichael confronted Arbery with two firearms as the 25 year old was jogging in Brunswick, Georgia

A white father and son have been arrested over the death of Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old black man who was shot while jogging in a Georgia neighborhood and whose case has sparked a national outcry.

In a statement released Thursday evening, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said that Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, had been arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault.

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Georgia to consider charges in killing of unarmed black jogger as video emerges

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Prosecutors were reluctant to charge former police officer and son in shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery

A prosecutor in Georgia said on Tuesday he would ask a grand jury to decide if charges should be filed against a white former law enforcement officer and his son in the fatal shooting of an unarmed young black man as he ran through a small town.

The shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery outside Brunswick, Georgia, in February was captured on videotape and posted on social media on Tuesday, stirring outrage over the reluctance of prosecutors to file charges against Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis.

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Storms tear through US south, leaving at least 19 people dead

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Storms caused flooding, mudslides and power outages, killing 11 people in Mississippi and six people in Georgia

Severe weather has swept across the southern US, killing at least 19 people and damaging hundreds of homes from Louisiana into the Appalachian mountains.

Many spent part of the night sheltering in basements, closets and bathtubs as sirens wailed to warn of possible tornadoes.

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