The Georgia man accused of killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage businesses pleaded guilty in a Cherokee Court room on Tuesday. Robert Aaron Long signed a plea deal hoping for life without parole in the first four shooting deaths.
Thursday on Political Rewind: Speaker of the House David Ralston has unveiled a sweeping $75 million proposal to confront escalating crime, especially in metro Atlanta. The plan includes bonuses for local law enforcement officers and an increase in funding for law enforcement agencies — as well as for an expansion of mental health services. Democratic House members said they’ll work with Ralston on his plan even as they recognize it’s part of a GOP effort to use crime-fighting as a wedge issue in the 2022 election cycle.
Meanwhile, the guessing game over the possibility of a big-name Republican emerging to challenge U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock continues this week, and the effect of COVID on U.S. life expectancy is discussed.
Monday on Political Rewind: Sen. Amy Klobuchar is in Atlanta today to hold a field hearing on the impact of Georgia’s new election law on voters of color. It’s unlikely that any Republicans on the committee will attend the hearing, which Klobuchar hopes will shine a spotlight on the need to pass a federal voting rights act.
Meanwhile, Georgia Republicans are doing a bit of counterprogramming today. At the same time of the Klobuchar event, GOP House leaders are holding a committee hearing to look at rising violent crime in Atlanta. And Gov. Brian Kemp has scheduled a conference call with reporters to defend the new election law.
Mental health counselor Gloria Cissé facilitated the first Macon forum on solutions to violence. She has advice for those attending the second: "Come not looking to win, but to look for solutions that benefit all of us."
Thursday on Political Rewind: President Joe Biden laid out a strategy for combatting spiraling gun violence in cities across the country, calling for cities to tailor their own plans for using $350 billion from the federal COVID Relief Fund to fight violent crime. The proposal marks a change from calls by liberals to shift funding from police departments in the wake of last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests.
Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court is addressing cases that deal with impactful subjects such as Obamacare and voting laws and procedures. What are the potential implications and repercussions here in Georgia?
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms grabbed headlines with her announcement she won’t seek reelection. Her first term has seen a host of crises, including a cyberattack, the coronavirus pandemic, weeks of racial unrest and a sharp rise in crime. Georgia Today host Steve Fennessy and guest Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Bill Torpy explore what led to Bottoms' decision, and how the city has changed on her watch.
Federal prosecutors charged three Army soldiers of lawfully purchasing 91 guns from licensed dealers in Tennessee and Kentucky, and then transferring them to Chicago.
Police responded to an armed robbery attempt at Town Center at Cobb, commonly known as Town Center Mall, in Kennesaw on Thursday afternoon — a tense scene that sent shoppers scrambling after gunshots rang out.
Atlanta could face intervention from state police authorities to help crack down on crime in Georgia’s capital city amid a spate of violent and property crimes over the past year.
Across the country, people are remembering the eight victims who died in a series of shootings at massage businesses this week in the Atlanta area. Six of those killed were women of Asian descent. In Cherokee County Thursday night -— the site of the first shootings — the community held a vigil to honor those who died.
A political group in Cherokee County is hosting a candlelight vigil to honor the lives of Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan and Daoyou Feng, who were shot and killed Tuesday at Young's Asian Massage in Acworth.
Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock told officials he had "a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate," Capt. Jay Baker with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday.
As Cherokee County residents reacted to the unusual crime — the sheriff’s office investigated only one homicide in both 2020 and 2019 — some insisted the solution is more guns.
