Area Breaking News
WWALS Event to Celebrate the Withlacoochee – And Assess Its Health
By T.S. Carter | SOUTH GEORGIA – Strides have been made in recent years to lessen raw sewage discharges into the Withlacoochee River from Valdosta and other sources, river advocates say. Yet worries persist over accidental discharges sending liquid effluent down the Withlacoochee to Florida, where it flows into the Suwanee River and ultimately the…
Read MoreCar thief leads Lanier, Clinch deputies on high-speed chase before crash
By T.S. Carter | HOMERVILLE, Clinch County, Georgia – A Homerville, Georgia, woman discovered Sunday morning that car keys left in the ignition are an invitation to a bad day. And that’s what her day was afterward – with her car crashing into a tree and its engine catching fire, having been forced by a…
Read MoreDeadly End on I-75: Homicide Suspect Dies by Suicide During Cook County Pursuit
By Carol A. Gasser Moore | ADEL, Cook County, Georgia – A dramatic police chase on Interstate 75 ended in tragedy Tuesday morning when a man wanted for murder took his own life in Cook County, just miles from the Lanier County line. The incident unfolded around 7:20 a.m. on July 1 when Georgia State…
Read MoreElection Oversight Stable Under James Barnes After Brief Tenures of Previous Appointees – Conflicts of Interest Part 14
LANIER COUNTY NEWS SPECIAL REPORT EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourteenth in a 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 — The appointment of James Barnes as Lanier…
Read More‘She Would Never Just Disappear’ – Search Intensifies for Missing 19-Year-Old Nyeasha Pickens: POLICE URGE TIPS
By Carol A. Gasser Moore | CORDELE, Crisp, Georgia – Law enforcement officials and family members are continuing their search for Nyeasha Pickens, a 19-year-old woman who has been missing since the early morning hours of Sunday, July 6. Pickens was last seen around 2 a.m. at the Enmarket gas station located at 402 S.…
Read MoreRelief in the Round: Double Roundabouts Coming to Valdosta’s Five Points
By Carol A. Gasser Moore VALDOSTA, Lowndes County, Georgia – After years of frustration navigating the congested intersections at Five Points, drivers in Valdosta are on the verge of a major transformation that promises to ease traffic headaches and boost safety. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has awarded a $16 million contract to Reames…
Read MoreWith lure of ‘sounder’ traps, DNR enlisting Georgians to help curb wild hog population
By T.S. Carter | GEORGIA – The wreckage that rooting feral hogs leave behind on farmland and other property around the state has long made Georgia landowners allies in the State’s war of attrition against the prolific wild animals. Now there’s a reward for contributing. It’s not in money but instead $3,500 “sounder” traps capable…
Read MoreLanier sheriff set to use legal card in a budget challenge
By T.S. Carter LANIER COUNTY, Georgia – New rooftops and the people they bring to a county like Lanier put a load of stress on public safety. Dealing with it costs money that Lanier County commissioners are unwilling to spend, a frustrated Sheriff Nick Norton says, explaining why he might take the county to…
Read More“One Pole at a Time”: West Main Street Pole Restoration Captures Spirit of Post-Storm Recovery in Lakeland
By Carol A. Gasser Moore | LAKELAND, Lanier County, Georgia – It didn’t look like much at first. A single utility pole standing not quite straight near West Main Street and North Miller Street is getting an entire crew’s attention. The completely broken, partially broken and weakened utility poles have been a common sight in…
Read MoreTerror by Gunpoint Ends: Waynesboro Man Sentenced to 26 Years for Violent Robbery Spree Across South Georgia
By Carol A. Moore | SOUTH GEORGIA – The Southern District of Georgia saw justice served this week as a violent chapter in its recent history was brought to a close. Cordell Cobb, a 24-year-old resident of Waynesboro, has been sentenced to more than 26 years in federal prison for a brutal wave of armed…
Read More