Hundreds laid off in Middle Georgia

Two Middle Georgia companies are laying off hundreds of workers this week. The Rheem Air Conditioning plant in Milledgeville is cutting around 400 positions. The company blames the slowdown in the economy. However, local labor officials believe the layoff's have something to do with Rheem's new, 400-thousand square foot plant set to open in Mexico in November.
Meanwhile in Macon, the city's largest employers is cutting its entire workforce by 4-percent. The Medical Center of Central Georgia told more than 200 employees from Vice-presidents to clerical workers that they no longer have jobs. The hospital says shrinking revenues, fewer patients, and government cuts have forced them to slash 33-million dollars from their budget. The Medical Center is one of just four level one trauma centers in the state.

Middle Georgia prison to close

The Georgia Department of Corrections is closing Rivers State Prison in Milledgeville. The 11-hundred bed facility will shut down by October. Inmates will be sent to prisons across the state. Most of the 260 employees will be offered jobs at other facilities nearby. The prison, built in 1937, was originally part of Central State Hospital. Meanwhile, prison officials say they plan to add 3,000 beds this year across the state to accommodate Georgia’s growing prison population. Nearly 60,000 inmates are incarcerated in Georgia.

Teacher charged with sexual assault

A middle Georgia teacher has turned herself in on charges she had sex with a student. Police say 28-year-old Alison Ivey had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old Baldwin High School student. The Milledgeville school has placed Ivey on administrative leave. Ivey is the daughter of Judy Ivey, chairwoman of Baldwin County Board of Education.

Restaurant owner defends against strip-search case

In the case of a northeast Georgia restaurant facing a lawsuit over allegations managers strip-searched black employees … the parent company says it’s done nothing wrong. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued New Capital Dimensions of Millegeville, which owns the Krystal restaurant in Winder near Athens. The suit claims that in 2005 white managers forced three black employees to submit to strip searches to prove they hadn't stolen money from a cash register. The lawsuit says one employee never returned to work and that others were fired for complaining about racial profiling.