Area Breaking News
Web of Influence: Ethical Risks Surface as Financial Power Overlaps with County Governance – Conflicts of Interest Part 17
By Carol A. Gasser Moore, Publisher | LANIER COUNTY NEWS SPECIAL REPORT EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an ongoing series examining ethics and governance in Lanier County. The series spotlights potential and actual conflicts of interest involving elected officials and their employees. By Carol A. Gasser Moore | LAKELAND, Lanier County, Georgia – In the tight-knit…
Read MoreCommunity Gears Up for Annual Backpack Giveaway Ahead of School Year
By Carol A. Gasser Moore | LAKELAND, Georgia — As the start of the new school year draws near, Lanier County is preparing to support its students through the annual Community Day Backpack to School event, set for Saturday, August 2, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Lanier County Elementary School gym, 92…
Read MoreLANIER COUNTY NEWS – EDITORIAL REPORT on Lanier County Potential and Real Conflicts of Interest – Part 16
Conflicts of Interest in Public Office: Why Lanier County Must Pay Attention By Carol A. Gasser Moore, Publisher | LANIER COUNTY NEWS SPECIAL REPORT EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an ongoing series examining ethics and governance in Lanier County. The series spotlights potential and actual conflicts of interest involving elected officials and their employees LANIER COUNTY,…
Read MoreBerrien, Lakeland score success with FEMA payments
By T.S. Carter | LAKELAND, Lanier County, Georgia – Signed, sealed and soon to be delivered. That’s the word from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on reimbursements for Hurricane Helene cleanups for Berrien County and Lakeland – but not for Lanier County. Lanier County’s shoddy record keeping, deficient documentation and failure to competitively bid…
Read MoreSheriff Norton: ‘Criticize Our Patrols—But What If We Missed Real Threats?’
By Carol A. Gasser Moore | LANIER COUNTY, Georgia – Sheriff Nick Norton of Lanier County is defending his department’s increased patrols amid criticism from the county Board of Commissioners that his deputies are “patrolling too much” and making “too many stops.” Norton points to national security concerns tied to suspicious activity near critical infrastructure…
Read MoreAnother fire truck, another Lanier County mystery…
By T.S. Carter | LANIER COUNTY, Georgia – Lanier County just had a more than quarter-century old firetruck delivered after buying it from a small North Carolina volunteer fire department. But just as county commissioners refused to give any information about the ill-fated purchase of a wildfire fighting fire truck for around $200,000 in 2023,…
Read MorePaperwork Breakdown: Why Lanier County’s Hurricane Relief Funds Are in Limbo
By Carol A. Moore | LANIER COUNTY, Georgia – Despite responding swiftly to the devastation of Hurricane Helene, Lanier County officials now find themselves battling a different kind of storm: a bureaucratic one with more than $1 million at stake. After submitting a request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Georgia Emergency Management…
Read MoreBlaze Sparks Urgent Warning After Early-Morning Candle Fire Displaces Two in Valdosta
By Carol A. Gasser Moore VALDOSTA, Lowndes County, Georgia — A house fire early Saturday morning, July 19, left one firefighter injured and two residents displaced before Valdosta crews extinguished flames that engulfed a home on North Toombs Street. Firefighters with Valdosta Fire Department responded at 4:10 a.m. to heavy fire visible through multiple windows…
Read MoreGeorgia Man Sentenced to Life Without Parole for 2021 Bat Killing, Attacks on Family
By Carol A. Gasser Moore | NASHVILLE, Berrien County, Georgia – A Berrien County man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 25 years, after being convicted of murdering his uncle and brutally attacking his mother and brother with a baseball bat in a 2021 assault that shocked the…
Read MoreLatest Valdosta sewage spill turns Sugar Creek ‘filthy’ with fecal contamination, Riverkeeper says
By T.S. Carter | VALDOSTA, Lowndes County, Georgia – A July 13 spill of raw sewage into Valdosta’s Sugar Creek did not discharge the full 10,000 gallons of sewage that typically denotes a major spill. But the approximately 6,750 gallons that flowed into Sugar Creek after a by-pass pump failed left a major amount of…
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