Two Georgia Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

The Department of Defense says two members of the Georgia National Guard's 48th Infantry Brigade have been killed in action in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon says the two were killed on Monday. They are identified as 25-year-old Sgt. Brock Henry Chavers Sr. of Statesboro, who was assigned to Americus' Company D, 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry, and 24-year-old Spc. Isaac Lee Johnson Jr. of Columbus, assigned to Rome's Troop A, 1st Battalion, 108th Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadron.

Defense officials say they died July 6 of wounds from an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near Kunduz.

Marietta's Emily Cook is New Miss Georgia

A new Miss Georgia was crowned Sunday to replace the one who relinquished the title the day after the June pageant. Emily Cook was formally crowned at the Cunningham Center in Columbus. Cook, of Marietta, was first runner-up to the winner, Miss Capital City Kristina Higgins, who said she could not fulfill the time commitment to be Miss Georgia on June 27, the day afterthe pageant. Higgins said she stepped down because her responsibilities as a school teacher would not leave her time she would need to serve as Miss Georgia.

(AP)

Zoo Executive Dies Suddenly

The head of the Columbus Zoo has died. Zoo officials told WBNS television station that Executive Director Jeff Swanagan apparently had a heart attack Sunday night at his home. Swanagan was 51 and became zoo director last year after heading the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta since it opened in 2005. Anthony Godfrey, president and CEO of the Georgia Aquarium, called Swanagan "a dedicated educator whose passion for making a difference for wild things in wild places was evident through all of his work and leadership." Swanagan was an Ohio native and graduate of Ohio State University. He started his career at the Columbus Zoo in 1979 before leaving for Zoo Atlanta in the 1980s. He also worked at Florida Aquarium.

(Associated Press)

Meet Miss Georgia, Again

A second Miss Georgia has been crowned in two days. One day after winning the title Saturday night at the annual pageant in Columbus, Gwinnett County school teacher Kristina Higgins relinquished the post, now filled by the runnerup, Emily Cook, a Marietta law student. Higgins said she stepped down because her responsibilities as a middle school would not leave her time she would need to serve as Miss Georgia. Cook was informed Sunday that she was the winner after Higgins turned down the prize. The 22-year-old Cook is a recent graduate of the University of Miami and had been accepted into University of Georgia's Law School. Instead shell be competing for the Miss America crown in January in Las Vegas.

(Associated Press)

Museum Could Bring Jobs and Millions

A study projects that Columbus might get an annual $26.3 million economic boost with the opening of the new National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning. The Columbus State University study projects between 380,000 and 400,000 museum visitors a year, 95 percent of them from out of town. The study concludes that 520 jobs will be created through employment at the museum and other new businesses in the city that hire staff, and existing businesses that add employees to take advantage of the increase in tourism. The $91 million museum, which will be opened Friday with a visit by retired Gen. Colin Powell, is expected to benefit the south Columbus area, which for years has been a center for nightclubs and cheap motels.

(Associated Press)

State High Court Favors Columbus In Hotel Tax Suit

Georgia’s Supreme Court ruled Monday the city of Columbus has the right to impose occupancy taxes on the amount online travel companies charge customers for hotel rooms. The 4-3 decision upholds an earlier ruling by Muscogee County court against Expedia Inc.

The Columbus government sued Expedia in 2006. It said the company must pay the city occupancy taxes based on the room rate collected from customers, not on the lower wholesale price it pays to hotels. Columbus charges a seven-percent occupancy tax on hotel and motel rooms.

This lawsuit is similar to ones filed by dozens of other municipalities. Many have been dismissed by federal or state judges.

Big Turnout For 50+ NCR Jobs in W GA

A job fair in Columbus over the weekend drew more than 1,600 people applying for an initial 53 jobs. The openings are for NCR Corporation, which recently announced its move to Georgia from Dayton,Ohio. The maker of ATM’s and other automated technology equipment is moving headquarters to Duluth, while establishing a manufacturing plant in Columbus. Salaries for positions at the Columbus-plant would average around $40,000 dollars.

Autopsy: Dead Detainee Had Heart Problem

An autopsy shows a detainee at a federal immigration detention center in south Georgia died of natural causes. Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said Thursday 39-year-old Roberto Martinez Medina died of myocarditis, an inflammatory heart disease. Martinez, a Mexican national, was being held at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin. He died March 11 at St. Francis Hospital in Columbus. A coalition of immigrant rights and civil rights groups planned to hold a vigil Thursday in front of the Atlanta headquarters of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The groups are demanding accountability and transparency from the agency. Martinez's death was one of the issues they wanted information about.

(Associated Press)

Middle Georgia U.S. Attorney Resigns

U.S. Attorney Maxwell Wood of the Middle District of Georgia is resigning after almost eight years in office. Wood announced Thursday that he will step down midnight July 31, paving the way for a new lead prosecutor in the district to be nominated by President Obama. The 49-year-old Wood was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate on Nov. 7, 2001. The Middle District includes 70 Georgia counties, with offices in Macon, Athens, Albany, Columbus and Valdosta. Wood is a graduate of LaGrange College and the University of Georgia School of Law.

(Associated Press)

Applications Open for Columbus Jobs

ATM manufacturer NCR is already hiring for its new Columbus plant. The corporation eventually expects to hire 870 people for the facility. The Department of Labor has an online referral request form for 26 professional positions. You can link to that site here. There is a hiring event for the production jobs on June 13th at the labor department’s Columbus Career Center.

State Uses Tax Credit Bill To Land NCR

A new state law heavy with tax breaks helped lure technology equipment-maker NCR to Georgia.

NCR, the company that makes equipment including ATM’s and cash registers, is relocating its headquarters from Ohio to metro Atlanta. With it come 1,250 jobs to Duluth, along with another 870 to Columbus for a new production plant.

The deal was sealed with a more than $60-million incentive package--most of which used the so-called Mega Tax Credit bill signed by Governor Perdue last month. Georgia’s offer doubled that on the table from Dayton-Ohio officials.

Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, says yes--the state’s investment outlay is large, but two lawmakers who sponsored the bill ensure its viability:

"Senator Ron Stephens and Representative Larry O’Neal scrutinized the numbers from a payback point-of-view to make sure that this was more than justified even in an economic downturn."

The process to lobby NCR reportedly began in February, around the time the legislation was introduced to state House lawmakers.

Officials with the Department of Economic Development say NCR is eligible for up to $56.9 million over five years. But that amount will be offset by a net gain of $49 million from items like income and sales taxes, to be felt over 10 years. Officials say added value to the deal for NCR includes global access through the airport, consistent population and workforce growth, and access to multiple university resources.

NCR To Relocate, Bring 2-K Jobs To Georgia

Official word has come this morning that a Fortune 500 company is moving to Georgia, bringing with it more than 2,000 jobs. The automated equipment firm NCR will move its corporate headquarters from Ohio to metro Atlanta’s Duluth. In addition, the company will also build a manufacturing plant in Columbus. The move will spur 1,250 jobs to the metro Atlanta area, and bring 870 fresh jobs to west Georgia. NCR has strong ties to Georgia already, with hundreds of workers in the metro Atlanta region currently, and another 900 jobs to be created with a facility in Peachtree City. NCR makes cash registers and bank ATM’s among various produced equipment.

Confederate Soldier Honored Despite Missing Grave

A Southern soldier whose body was stolen from his grave has been honored in a Memorial Day ceremony at a Confederate cemetery in Ohio. Ann Hartman of Griffin, Ga., says her great-great-grandfather, Hiram Bland, was captured during battle in July 1864 and taken to Camp Chase prison camp in Columbus, where he died months later. Hartman says his body, which was never found, was stolen by a team of grave robbers just hours after it was buried. The bodies of more than 2,000 Confederate prisoners of war are buried in Camp Chase Cemetery. A chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans gave Hartman a memorial stone in Bland's honor on Monday. They also sang "Dixie" and sprinkled Southern soil on the ground.

(Associted Press/The Columbus Dispatch)

Extradition For Suspected Killer

The Supreme Court of the Netherlands has ruled that a man accused of fatally shooting two men in Columbus can be returned from the Caribbean island of St. Maarten. But the attorney for 26-year-old Michael Registe said Tuesday he will ask the governor of St. Maarteen to block the extradition. As a requirement for extradition, prosecutors had to agree not to pursue the death penalty. Registe is accused of the July 20, 2007 execution-style killings of 21-year-old Randy Newton Jr. and 20-year-old Bryan Kilgore.

(Associated Press)

Snack Co. Adding Jobs at Columbus Plant

Snack maker Lance Incorporated is adding 70 more jobs to its payroll. Lance will have a new cracker line and will make more candy bars at its west Georgia plant. The $10.5 million expansion will require more machine operators and supervisors. Its completion is expected by late Fall. Lance already employs 525 people in Columbus.

(Associated Press)

Columbus Man Gets Life For Hospital Shootings

A man who killed three people at a Columbus hospital in March of 2008 has been sentenced to life in prison. 64-year-old Charles Johnston pleaded guilty Thursday in Superior Court--he was then sentenced to three consecutive life terms. Johnston had been accused of entering the hospital March 27, 2008 and fatally shooting an administrative assistant, a nurse and a patient. Police say Johnston held a grudge against a nurse he believed was responsible for the death of his mother five years ago. But the person he killed, 44-year-old Pete Wright, was not that nurse.

Accused Columbus Shooter To Plead Guilty

A man accused of killing three people in a shooting rampage at a Columbus hospital in March 2008 is expected to plead guilty. Charles Johnston is on today’s guilty plea docket in Superior Court.

The 64-year-old Johnston was accused of entering the hospital on March 27, 2008 and killing three people, including an administrative assistant, nurse Pete Wright, and a 76-year-old patient.

Police say Johnston had a grudge against a nurse he believed was responsible for the 2004 death of his mother and mistakenly thought Wright was that nurse.

GA Judge Dies in Plane Crash

A Georgia judge is one of two people killed in the crash of a single-engine plane in a pasture in east Alabama. Two others were injured.

Lee County Sheriff's Captain Van Jackson said deputies responded to a call on Friday regarding a downed plane near the Beauregard community. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Officials at the Fulton County Juvenile Court confirmed that Judge Sanford Jones was one of the dead.

Television station WTVM in Columbus reported that the pilot and front seat passenger were killed in the crash of the Beechcraft Bonanza. Lee County sheriff's officers said two backseat passengers on the six-seater aircraft survived.

(Associated Press)

Muscogee Cty Chief Deputy in Contempt of Court

The chief deputy of the Muscogee County Sheriff's Office has been held in contempt of court and recieved a $50 fine. Sheriff John Darr said Chief Deputy John Fitzpatrick was cited by Muscogee County Superior Court Judge Doug Pullen after a courtroom dispute. Darr said Pullen became upset over the inconvenience caused by the county's practice of sending inmates to the state system once they're sentenced and bringing them back months later on various charges. An order must be sent to the Department of Corrections to get the inmates back to Columbus. Darr said an inmate whose name was on the docket Thursday wasn't in court because the request order wasn't received. He said the practice saves Columbus money on feeding, housing and medical costs and no changes are planned.

(Associated Press)

Delta Adds Jobs

More jobs are on their way to Georgia. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines will add up to 500 positions in the Atlanta area as a result of its merger with Northwest Airlines. And a call center is setting up shop in Columbus instead of moving overseas. Prosperity America says it will hire 300 employees over the next three years to staff the call center.