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COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. — A Columbia County sheriff’s deputy is dead and another hospitalized after a traffic stop turned into a shootout. According to ABC affiliate WJBF, the deputies were performing the traffic stop near Exit 194 on Interstate 20 around 6:30 p.m. WJBF reported that the driver, James Blake Montgomery, opened fire, hitting both deputies, then drove off in a camper or RV. Members of law enforcement told WJBF that the vehicle is currently surrounded and investigators are searching the nearby area for Montgomery. Columbia County investigators told WJBF that the officers had been trying to serve Montgomery with...

Members of Russian military intelligence unit 29155, who allegedly have access to microwave or ultrasound weapons, had been placed at the scene of reported attacks that resulted in US personnel suffering health problems, according to a year-long investigation by the Latvia-based Insider in collaboration with CBS’s “60 Minutes” and Germany’s Der Spiegel. Christo Grozev, the head of investigations with The Insider, told “60 Minutes” that he uncovered accounting records that show a 29155 officer received a bonus for work related to the development of “non-lethal acoustic weapons.” Unit 29155 has reportedly operated around the world since 2008, and is suspected...

A proposal to designate the tortilla as New Mexico’s official state bread had unanimous support from lawmakers. On Friday, though, it ended up falling flat. It wasn’t because Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham isn’t a fan of the round wraps that have long been a staple of Mexican, Central American and Southwestern U.S. cooking. It was because she believes lawmakers missed opportunities to debate bills that deal with weightier matters as the state faces extraordinary challenges. “Of course, I enjoy celebrating our unique culture,” she wrote in her veto message, ticking off numerous official state symbols and songs that New Mexico...

The lines go down the sidewalk before the doors even open - families, backyard farmers, and people fighting high egg prices are here to get a first look. These early birds get the chicks. Kathy Swint called it “our regular chick order day” at Swint’s Feed and Garden Supply in Jonesboro. They started the day with hundreds of tiny 2-day old chicks, and they were all snapped up in 40 minutes. Phyllis Gardner told Channel 2’s Linda Stouffer that she found exactly what she was looking for. “We have Lavender Orpingtons, these are Buff Orpingtons. They grow up to be...

ATLANTA (AP) — The pastor of a Georgia megachurch who led a nationwide 40-day “fast” boycott of Target stores over the retail chain's commitment to diversity initiatives is now calling for that effort to continue as a “full Target boycott.” The Rev. Jamal Bryant said this week that the Minneapolis-based retailer has not met all of the boycott effort's demands. Among them: Restoring its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion principles and pledging money to Black-owned banks and businesses. Target announced in January that it would phase out a handful of DEI initiatives, including a program designed to help Black...

A sheriff in Georgia is praising the actions of an armed homeowner who stopped a would-be intruder from gaining access to a child's bedroom, while also issuing a warning to other criminals in the county. Butts County Sheriff Gary Long says a man named Abdul Aquil is in custody in connection with the break-in, and is lucky to be alive after his encounter with the armed citizen. Aquil allegedly first tried to gain entry to the home through a bedroom window with a child on the other side, but the child's father heard the commotion and interrupted the burglar as...

Chaos unfolded on a small island in Georgia as Spring Breakers descended onto its once serene beaches to binge drink and leave mountains of trash in their wake. The long-standing Orange Crush festival on Tybee Island, just outside the city of Savannah, was just as rowdy as its always been, with college students from nearby HBCUs and other universities letting loose. The music started on Saturday around 3pm, four hours behind schedule, and by around 4pm, attendees were flowing in. The festival was in full swing, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted.

Newly released security camera footage has disproven a mother's claim that a man tried to snatch her two-year-old son while at a Walmart in Georgia, according to the accused's attorney. Caroline Miller was shopping with her son, Jude, and her four-year-old daughter inside the Walmart in Acworth last month when she alleged that 56-year-old Mahendra Patel tried to distract her by asking where to find Tylenol and used the moment to kidnap her son. He was arrested three days after the incident and has been held at Cobb County Jail for nearly a month, facing charges of attempted kidnapping, assault...

A Washington state man accused of making more than 20 swatting calls across the U.S. and in Canada, leading to law enforcement responses to his false reports of bombings, shootings and other crimes, pleaded guilty. Ashton Garcia, 21, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to two counts of extortion and two counts of threats and hoaxes regarding explosives, U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said in a news release. Garcia was initially charged with 10 felony counts. Garcia placed the calls to agencies in Washington state, California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado,...

Last month, President Trump singled out Georgia activist Stacey Abrams as someone who helped orchestrate a controversial $2 billion deal between left-wing nonprofit groups and the Environmental Protection Agency during the Biden administration. “We know she’s involved,” Trump told Congress. He was right. But after his statement, the Washington media went into overdrive to pooh-pooh her role in a frenzy of “fact-checking.” The Washington Post, for one, claimed Abrams’ role in the Biden massive green-energy initiative has been “vastly overblown” by President Trump and the “right-wing media.” The paper’s top fact-checker asserted it’s “a stretch” to suggest the Democratic politician...

By her own admission, Stacey Abrams has made a number of "personal financial missteps” in her career. Despite a history marked by bill collectors, tax liens, and ethics investigations, the Georgia politician and Democratic Party activist has managed to amass a small fortune – while working most of her career in the not-for-profit sector. Financial records show that when she first entered statewide politics in 2018, she reported a net worth of less than $109,000. By 2022, the last year she had to publicly file a financial report, it had grown to more than $3.2 million. Abrams is probably even...

ATLANTA - Nearly 200 years of legal precedent should not apply to a 20-year-old man who wants to carry a gun, his lawyer argued before the Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday. Thomas Stephens, who turns 21 next year, was denied a license to carry a handgun in public when he applied for one in Lumpkin County. He sued, and his case made it to the high court, which heard arguments by his lawyer and by the state attorney general's office. The state contends in a legal brief that the restrictions on adults under age 21 are "baked into the Georgia...

Police arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly sending threatening messages to director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and her husband. The DOJ announced the arrest of Aliakbar Mohammed Amin on Monday, saying he had sent threatening text messages to Gabbard between March 29 and April 1. The threats included Amin allegedly writing, "You and your family are going to die soon" and "I will personally do the job if necessary." "Death to America means death to America literally, Tulsi is living on borrowed time," another text read.

ATLANTA - As Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp approaches the end of his second and final term, speculation is mounting over his next political move — with growing talk of a potential U.S. Senate run in 2026.What we know:Kemp has not confirmed his plans, but he has also not ruled out the possibility of challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in the next election. When asked recently about his political future, the governor said he was keeping his options open.A Senate bid would keep Kemp on the national political radar and could set the stage for a high-profile contest in what...

The body of U.S. Army Air Force Sergeant Henry Allen Jr., a World War II soldier from Covington, Georgia, has been identified decades after his death.Allen was killed during the war when his plane was shot down over Germany.In June, his family was notified of the identification, which was made possible through anthropological and dental analysis.Sergeant Allen will be laid to rest in Covington at a future date.

A Walmart employee in Newton County, Georgia, shot and killed one person inside the store and another person at a residence early Friday morning. The Associated Press noted that the shooting inside the store occurred at 1:30 a.m., leaving an employee dead and another employee wounded. The gunman then went to a nearby residence and killed another person. FOX 5 Atlanta reported that the individual killed in the home was a Walmart employee, too. The violence started when one employee left the store, retrieved a gun from his vehicle and came back inside. He was captured just across the Georgia...

Homeland Security officials say about 1,500 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in Georgia since January 22, a reflection of the Trump administration’s hardline posture on illegal immigration. Many of those arrested have already been convicted of serious crimes, including second-degree sexual abuse, sexual assault of a child and drug trafficking. Officials say one immigrant is a Venezuelan gang member wanted for murder in Illinois. “If they are criminals, we are coming to get them,” said Steven Schrank, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Atlanta. “And if they’re not, and they’re illegally present in the United States, they...

On October 8, 2020, only one month before arguably the most hotly contested election in American history, Michigan State Police and the local Muskegon Police Department uncovered a massive, statewide voter registration fraud scheme by the Democrat-funded GBI Strategies. Muskegon- MI AG Inspector Stephen Morse interviews one of the key suspects in the GBI Strategies statewide voter registration fraud scheme On October 8, 2020, only one month before the 2020 general election, Muskegon, MI City Clerk Ann Meisch noticed a black female (whose name was redacted from the police report) dropping off between 8,000-10,000 completed voter registration applications at the...

That's right: He didn't leave the kids at the restaurant until THREE HOURS LATER, according to the cops and the witnesses who called the authorities. The oldest child, the 10-year-old daughter, told officers that her dad was going to deliver "a bag" to her mom. The police contacted the mom and the dad and asked them both to come to the McDonald's, where the police then arrested dad. Louis claimed that, while delivering the bag (which apparently never made it to mom?), he lost his ID and was out searching for it.

A man who was arrested after leaving his children in a McDonald's to attend a job interview has received an outpouring of support from the general public. Chris Louis, a 24-year-old father from Augusta, Georgia, took his 10-year old, 6-year old, and 1-year old children to a McDonald's with a playground close to where his job interview was on March 22, and left them for a short time so he could try to get employment, according to The Augusta Press. A customer called the police, and Louis was arrested and charged with "deprivation of a minor." Now, his story has...