'The People v. Leo Frank' to Premier

Memorial plaque near the the site of the lynching. Click for larger image.

A television documentary about the lyching of a Jewish businessman after the death of a teenage girl will premiere in the county where he was hanged in 1915.

"The People v. Leo Frank" will premiere April 30 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, which is just a few miles from where Frank died.

The $100-a-ticket event will benefit the Anti-Defamation League, which is sponsoring the event.

Frank was convicted in the 1913 death of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, who worked in the pencil factory Frank managed in downtown Atlanta.

Gov. John Slaton commuted Frank's sentence from death to life in prison, but he was kidnapped from the state prison in Milledgeville in 1915, taken to Phagan's hometown of Marietta and hanged.

The documentary is scheduled to air on PBS late this year.

(AP)

Storms thunder through Atlanta, briefly closing airport

Airport officials Saturday night briefly stopped arrivals and departures at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport due to thunderstorms that swept through the area.

The National Weather Service says that 50 m.p.h. wind gusts blew across the tarmac, causing about 100 Delta and AirTran flights to be diverted to nearby airports, according to a report in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

Georgia Power told the newspaper that about 143,000 customers lost electricity at about 10:45 p.m. Officials say they hope to restore power to the majority of customers by 5 a.m. Sunday morning.

Downed trees and power lines were reported mainly in Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb and Cherokee counties.

The southbound lane of I-85 near Tuskeegee Airmen Parkway was closed from downed trees, and some damage and debris was reported downtown.