Category Archives: Georgia

Weather tracker: Nor’easter drenches US south-east coast

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Up to 127mm of rain falls on Florida and gusty winds and flash flooding hit parts of Georgia and South Carolina

Last weekend, a low-pressure system that had developed over the Gulf of Mexico tracked north-east across the Florida peninsula. Lashings of heavy rain and strong winds were brought to Florida during the early hours of Sunday morning, dumping up to 127mm (5in) of rain on the state in its passing.

The low-pressure system, termed a “nor’easter”, continued to track north-east, strengthening and bringing gusty winds and flash flooding to the coastal parts of the south-east US, including Georgia and South Carolina.

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Multimillion-dollar ruling against Giuliani shows cost of spreading election lies

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As the 2024 election approaches, the $148m judgment against a key Trump ally sends a message that falsehoods have consequences

The judge had already decided Rudy Giuliani defamed the two former Georgia election workers, the question was just how much that cycle of lies and ensuing harassment should cost him.

A jury declared on Friday that it was worth an eye-popping $148m, far beyond expectations and a major blow to the former New York mayor and key Donald Trump ally.

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Rudy Giuliani ordered to pay $148.1m in damages for lies about election workers

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Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, from Atlanta, received threats after Trump ally falsely accused them of trying to steal election

A Washington DC jury has ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay $148.1m to two Atlanta election workers after he spread lies about them, one of the most significant verdicts to date seeking accountability for those who attempted to overturn the 2020 election.

The verdict follows a four-day trial in which Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, her daughter, gave haunting details about the harassment and threats they faced after Giuliani falsely accused them of trying to steal the election in Georgia. The women, who are Black, described how they fled, are afraid to give their names in public, and still suffer severe emotional distress today. Their lawyers asked the jury to award them each at least $24m in damages. Giuliani’s attorney said earlier this week that awarding the plaintiffs their sought damages would be a “death penalty” and would be "the end of Mr Giuliani”.

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Georgia teacher accused of threatening to kill student over Israeli flag, police say

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Teacher arrested after allegedly saying he would ‘cut’ student’s ‘head off’ after she told him she was offended by his Israeli flag

A school teacher in the US state of Georgia was arrested after allegedly threatening to behead a student who expressed taking offense over his Israeli flag, according to authorities.

Benjamin Reese’s arrest at the middle school named after the town of Warner Robins occurred on after a student approached and told him she was offended by the Israeli flag hanging in his classroom, the local news station WMAZ reported, citing a police account of the case.

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EU sidesteps Viktor Orbán to open membership talks with Ukraine

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Decision after hours of tense negotiations in Brussels is critical boost to Volodymyr Zelenskiy

The EU has decided to open membership negotiations with Ukraine, in an unexpected move that will be a critical boost to Volodymyr Zelenskiy and deal a blow to Vladimir Putin.

The announcement, made on Thursday after eight hours of tense negotiations in Brussels, came despite the opposition of Hungary, whose prime minister, Viktor Orbán, had for weeks said it would veto any opening of accession talks.

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‘I was terrorized’: 2020 election worker testifies at Giuliani defamation trial

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Ruby Freeman’s testimony is at center of trial to determine how much in damages Giuliani will have to pay to her and her daughter

Ruby Freeman sobbed on the witness stand. The former election worker said she is afraid to tell anyone her name, has been driven from her home and was terrorized with threatening phone calls and letters after Rudy Giuliani, a key Trump ally and the former New York mayor, spread lies about her in 2020.

Freeman began her testimony in federal court on Wednesday by introducing herself to the jury as “Lady Ruby”, saying the name was “special, unique and classy”. But, she says, she’s stopped using the name because she fears what would happen if someone were to recognize her. When she goes out, she wears sunglasses and a mask.

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Judge asks if Giuliani is mentally fit as ex-mayor defends his poll worker lies

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Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are seeking up to $43m in damages after Giuliani falsely accused them of trying to steal 2020 election

A federal judge probed Rudy Giuliani’s state of mind on Tuesday after he told reporters he intended to prove false claims he made about two Atlanta election were true.

The federal jury trial entered its second day on Tuesday, seeking to determine the extent of damages Giuliani should have to pay to two Atlanta election workers after spreading lies about them.

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Giuliani caused ‘perpetual nightmare’ for 2020 election workers, jury told

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Georgians are seeking $15.5m-$43m in damages from former New York City mayor for his false statements about ballot counts

Rudy Giuliani “disgraced” the names of two Atlanta election workers as part of a call to action, causing them to suffer a “perpetual nightmare” since December 2020, attorneys representing the two women said during opening statements in a closely watched defamation trial.

“It was vicious,” Von DuBose, a lawyer representing Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, two Black election workers from Georgia, told an eight-person jury seated on Monday. “He used their names as a cornerstone of a call to action.”

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Local elections officials inundated with records requests by rightwing activists

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Counties in swing states like Georgia overwhelmed with requests at the same time as they scramble to prepare for 2024

Deb Cox has been elections director of Lowndes county in southern Georgia for more than a decade – and has never before received so many time-consuming demands for public information.

Like many elections officials across the country, Cox has been inundated with Freedom of Information Act and open records requests from rightwing activists who believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. That’s forced her and other local officials to spend an unusual amount of time and money providing polling documents to partisan groups – an additional burden as they scramble to prepare for the fraught 2024 presidential election.

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Georgia prosecutors predict jail sentences in Trump 2020 election case

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Exclusive: Fulton county prosecutors say in emails their legal careers will continue long after defendants go to jail

Fulton county prosecutors have signaled they want prison sentences in the Georgia criminal case against Donald Trump and his top allies for allegedly violating the racketeering statute as part of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to exchanges in private emails.

“We have a long road ahead,” the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, wrote in one email. “Long after these folks are in jail, we will still be practicing law.”

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Georgia county to use program linked to election denier to flag ineligible voters

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Controversial EagleAI program connected to Trump supporter uses public records to flag people who shouldn’t be on the rolls

A Georgia county on Friday agreed to use a controversial program to identify ineligible people on its voter rolls that is connected to one of the most prominent election deniers and a key figure in Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Columbia county, which is just outside Augusta, is believed to be the first place in the US to use the program, which is called EagleAI, the New York Times reported. The software matches voting data with publicly available information like post office and death records to flag people who should no longer be on the rolls.

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Pro-Palestine protester self-immolates outside Atlanta’s Israeli consulate

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The person, who is as yet not been identified, is in critical condition and a guard who attempted to intervene was injured

A protester with a Palestinian flag self-immolated on Friday outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, injuring a security guard who attempted to intervene, authorities said.

The person, whom officials did not identify, is in critical condition, the Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum said at a news conference. The guard’s condition was not immediately clear.

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Georgia prosecutors oppose plea deals for Trump, Meadows and Giuliani

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Exclusive: sources say Fulton county prosecutors unwilling to offer deals to key trio, preferring instead to force them to trial

Fulton county prosecutors do not intend to offer plea deals to Donald Trump and at least two high-level co-defendants charged in connection with their efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, according to two people familiar with the matter, preferring instead to force them to trial.

The individuals seen as ineligible include Trump, his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

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Hundreds more US United Methodist congregations disaffiliate amid LGBTQ+ tensions

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Over 7,000 congregations have been approved to break away since 2019, when church strengthened bans on same-sex marriage

Another 250-plus United Methodist congregations have broken with the denomination in north Georgia amid a schism over theology and the role of LGBTQ+ people in the church.

The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church voted Saturday to allow 261 congregations to break away, or disaffiliate, after theological tensions over bans on same-sex marriages and the ordination of clergy who are openly LGBTQ+.

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Rosalynn Carter, wife of Jimmy Carter and former first lady, dies aged 96

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Carter, who was diagnosed with dementia in May, was fiercely loyal ally throughout husband’s long political career

Rosalynn Carter, wife of the 39th president Jimmy Carter, has died at the couple’s Georgia home aged 96.

Carter, who became one of the nation’s leading mental health advocates during and after her husband’s time in the White House, was diagnosed with dementia in May.

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Georgia judge in Trump case rules to block release of ‘sensitive’ material

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Fulton county’s Scott McAfee issues order after outlets published details of videotaped statements from former Trump lawyers

The Fulton county judge overseeing the 2020 election subversion case against Donald Trump and his top allies in Georgia issued on Thursday a protective order against the release of certain discovery materials, ruling that further leaks of evidence could taint the jury pool before trial.

The order entered by the Fulton county superior court judge Scott McAfee came after media outlets published details of videotaped statements that the former Trump lawyers Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro gave as part of their plea deals.

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Trump’s Georgia election trial could stretch into 2025, says prosecutor

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In interview, Fani Willis said trial against the ex-president and 19 defendants would probably extend past election day

The trial in the Georgia racketeering case against Donald Trump and 14 other defendants relating to an alleged conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election could stretch into early 2025, the Fulton county prosecutor, Fani Willis, has said.

In an interview at a global women’s summit held on Tuesday by the Washington Post, Willis said that though she expected the case be on appeal “for years”, the trial itself would probably take “many months”. She envisioned it ending in “the winter or the very early part of 2025”.

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Federal agency says it stopped measuring water pollution near ‘Cop City’

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Move is bad news for local environmental groups, whose motion to halt construction will be heard on 15 November

A federal agency that monitors water quality says it stopped measuring sediment pollution levels in a creek that runs alongside the controversial police and fire department training center known as “Cop City” months ago due to safety concerns.

The issue is particularly important as a local environmental group’s motion to stop construction of the project will get its day in federal court on 15 November.

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Moldova and Ukraine’s accelerated path to EU marks Russia’s waning influence

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Invasion of Ukraine has fast-tracked timetable for the countries to join bloc after years of ‘economic warfare’

Long before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow had already been accused of launching an economic war against its neighbours. With bullying, cajoling and outright threats, the Kremlin’s campaign to warn its former Soviet subjects away from the EU involved telling them they would be blocked from the Russian market and its own customs union, and face cutoffs of crucial supplies of natural gas.

Wednesday’s recommendation by the European Commission to open EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova marks the latest casualty of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine: its own war for economic domination, or at least competitiveness, in eastern Europe.

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Georgia homeowner finds 3ft tegu lizard hiding under porch

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Officials remind residents of rules and say non-native Argentine black and white tegus can pose threat to wildlife and people

An oblivious Georgia homeowner was unaware a huge 3ft tegu lizard had taken up residence under her porch until eagle-eyed children in the neighborhood spotted it and told her, state wildlife officials said.

The reptile was a non-native Argentine black and white tegu, the largest of its species that can grow up to 5ft and pose a threat to wildlife and people, the officials reported.

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