Georgia
Obama-appointed judge rejects extending Georgia voter registration
A federal judge in Georgia rejected arguments for the state to reopen voter registration ahead of November’s election due to disruptions caused by Hurricane Helene.
U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2013, said in a verbal ruling on Thursday that she would not extend Georgia’s voter registration deadline, which closed on Monday. Three groups had sued the state to reopen voter registration and extend it until October 14, arguing that devastation from Helene got in the way of people being able to register for the general election.
Ross said in her ruling that the groups did not sufficiently prove that residents were harmed by Helene’s impacts. She also said that there is no state law that grants Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who are both Republicans, the power to extend the voter registration deadline.
“I don’t think we had even one voter who had been harmed or would likely be harmed by failure to register to vote,” Ross said on Thursday, according to the Associated Press (AP) report on the matter.
The lawsuit was filed by the Georgia conference of the NAACP, the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda and the New Georgia Project. Kemp and Raffensperger, the defendants in the case, had argued that the state’s election process would be interrupted if the deadline for voter registration was extended. The state had pointed out that absentee ballots have already been mailed and early in-person voting was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, October 15.
Ross said that the “harm to the state’s interests outweighs the plaintiffs’ interests” in the case.
Megan Varner/Getty Images
The plaintiffs had argued that they had to cancel their voter registration activities last week after Helene ripped through the Southeast as a Category 4 storm. The hurricane brought widespread flooding and damage stretching from Florida’s Big Bend Region north to the Appalachian Mountains. At least 230 people have died due to the storm.
The groups behind the lawsuit said that voter registrations in Georgia usually spike just before the state’s deadline. Amir Badat, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told Ross that Helene caused “in many circumstances, complete disenfranchisement for prospective voters.”
State lawyers argued in court that there was a difference between an individual’s right to vote and the right of a nonprofit to run a voter registration drive.
The plaintiffs in the case told AP that they disagreed with Ross’ decision but that they are “still going to fight to make sure every voter’s rights are protected.”
“We believe voters were harmed, but this doesn’t deter us,” said Helen Butler, the executive director of the Coalition for the People’s Agenda.
This is a developing story that will be updated as information becomes available.
Georgia
Co-owner of Yurezz Home Center in Greeneville arrested in Georgia
APPLING COUNTY, Ga. (WCYB) — The co-owner of Yurezz Home Center in Greeneville has been arrested in Georgia, according to a report obtained by News 5.
Earlier this week, News 5 told you about the dealership in Greeneville that abruptly shut down last month.
This has left homeowners with partially built homes and employees without jobs.
It is not yet clear why Richard Altman was taken into custody.
This is a developing story.
Georgia
Georgia Supreme Court upholds convictions of men in deadly shooting during gas station carjacking
Two men found guilty of murdering a man while he was pumping air into his tires at a Georgia gas station will remain in prison, the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled.
Miles Chatezal Collins and Josiah Hughley, Jr. had appealed to the state’s highest court after they were found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, violating Georgia’s Street Gang, Terrorism and Prevention Act, and hijacking a motor vehicle, among other charges in 2025.
The men’s charges stem from a shooting on July 10, 2022, at a QuickTrip gas station in Peachtree Corners. According to the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office, 30-year-old Bradley Lamar Coleman had stopped at the gas station to fill up his tires when Collins, Hughley, and a third man pulled up beside him and tried to steal his Dodge Charger.
When Coleman tried to stop the men, officials say they shot him and fled the scene.
Authorities say the three men were members of the Blood gang and had tried to steal the car to increase their status.
While their first trial ended in a mistrial due to a comment by the prosecution, a jury found Collins, Hughley, and their co-defendant, David Jarrad Booker, guilty of more than a dozen charges in 2025. They were each sentenced to life plus 145 years in prison.
In Collins and Hughley’s appeal to the state Supreme Court, they argued that there was insufficient evidence to support some of the charges and that the judge in the case improperly admitted certain evidence and committed errors in instructing the jurors.
The justices’ rulings disagreed, finding that their attorneys failed to object to the supposed errors and that the two men’s claims were insufficient.
The judges also found that a claim by Hughley that his counsel failed him by not asserting that a statement made to law enforcement should have been suppressed. With those findings, the Supreme Court chose not to overrule the case, letting the convictions and sentences stand.
“We are grateful for this affirmation from the Georgia Supreme Court,” Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. “Thanks to the incredible work of our team of trial and appellate prosecutors, and all of the staff that assisted with defending these convictions, two dangerous criminals will remain in prison.”
Booker’s appeal remains pending.
Georgia
Trooper injured in chain-reaction crash on Georgia 400
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. – A Georgia State Patrol trooper sustained injuries Tuesday afternoon after striking the rear of a stopped vehicle on Georgia 400, triggering a three-vehicle chain-reaction crash.
What we know:
The collision happened around 3:43 p.m. on the northbound lanes just south of Abernathy Road.
A trooper was traveling north on Georgia 400 when traffic in front of the cruiser came to a sudden stop. The trooper was unable to halt in time and struck the rear of a second vehicle, which then slammed into a third vehicle.
All three vehicles sustained enough damage to be towed from the scene, according to the state patrol report. The trooper had visible injuries and received treatment onsite, while medics transported the second driver to a local hospital. The driver of the third car complained of injuries but refused medical treatment at the scene.
What we don’t know:
Officials have not yet confirmed the current medical conditions of the hospitalized driver or the injured trooper. It remains unclear what caused traffic to come to a sudden halt before the chain-reaction collision occurred.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from Lt. E. Starling of the Georgia State Patrol DPS Public Information Office, who provided the preliminary crash details in an official statement.
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