MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Bibb County is now Georgia’s crime capital, according to new research.

The study, completed by Bader Scott, a personal injury law firm, analyzed 2022 data from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) on ten different categories of crime, including burglary, arson and murder.

Each county that is part of a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was analyzed on its total number of crimes compared against its population to reveal a rate of crimes per 1,000 people.

Macon-Bibb, which has a population of 156,960, has a crime rate of nearly 52.6 crimes per 1,000 residents.

In 2022, there were a total of 8,266 crimes recorded in the county. The most common was theft, while the second was aggravated assault.

Macon-Bibb had the highest crime rate in 2022 for seven of the ten crime categories.

DeKalb, Clarke, Muscogee and Fulton counties round out the top five.

The county with the lowest crime rate per 1,000 residents is Talbot.

DUBLIN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) has announced the promotion of Dublin resident Michael Torbett to the position of Forest Health Coordinator.

According to a GFC news release, this position is integral to maintaining the health and sustainability of Georgia’s abundant forest resources.

“Michael’s education and career have fully prepared him for this important role,”  Georgia Forestry Commission Director Tim Lowrimore said. “We’re excited to bring his expertise to Georgia landowners and residents who are impacted directly by the health of our state’s forests.”

Torbett’s journey in forestry began with his Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from the University of Georgia in 2008. His career includes work in forest inventory and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) across the Northwest and Southeast United States. He joined the Georgia Forestry Commission in 2013 as a management forester and has since held several critical roles within the agency, including District Forest Health Coordinator and GIS Specialist.

Torbett has been a member of various committees, including the Southern Group of State Foresters GIS Committee, Storm Damage Assessment Committee and the Pine Beetle Prediction Trapping Working Group and has also served on the Statesboro City Tree Board.

For more information about the Georgia Forestry Commission and its services, click here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (41NBC/WMGT) — U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff have announced the awarding of $1.5 million in federal funding to explore the development of three new passenger rail corridors in Georgia.

The funding, part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is aimed at increasing connectivity across the state and with major Southeastern cities.

The grants, distributed by the Federal Rail Administration, will fund studies for proposed rail corridors linking Atlanta with Savannah, Charlotte and Chattanooga.

“When completed, these routes would provide additional public transit options between economic centers in the state like Savannah, Macon, Augusta, Athens and Atlanta, and provide Georgia residents with increased mobility options to reach some of the Southeast’s largest cities, including Nashville, TN; Memphis, TN; Chattanooga, TN; and Charlotte, NC,” a news release stated.

“Creating new transit options with routes connecting Atlanta to Savannah, Charlotte, Chattanooga, and cities in between would be a boon to our state and economy,” Senator Warnock said.

“Through the bipartisan infrastructure law, Senator Warnock and I are accelerating progress toward passenger rail networks to serve Georgia and the Southeast region,” Senator Ossoff added. “This is a long-term project that will require cooperation and strong execution at all levels of government, but it has the potential to unlock huge gains in mobility and quality of life for Georgians.”

Senator Warnock, a member of the Senate Commerce & Transportation committee, has been an advocate for improving rail access and safety in Georgia. His initiatives include supporting a potential passenger rail corridor connecting Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville and Memphis.

In June, Senator Warnock was joined by Senator Ossoff in announcing $3.2 million in federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for projects in Chatham, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties to improve mobility by eliminating railway-highway crossings and study construction alternatives to address safety, connectivity and environmental sustainability.

Senator Ossoff has also focused on expanding passenger rail across the state.

In March, Senator Ossoff delivered $8 million in Congressionally Directed Spending to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to begin the planning of a high-speed rail link between Atlanta and Savannah

The new funding will fuel the Phase 2 Study of the Atlanta-Savannah rail project.

Click here for a table showing more details on new passenger rail investments coming to Georgia.

The tribute service at Glenn Memorial Church in Atlanta falls on the second of a three-day schedule of public events celebrating the former first lady and global humanitarian who died Nov. 19 at home in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 96. Tributes began Monday in the Carters’ native Sumter County and continued in Atlanta as she lay in repose at The Jimmy Carter Presidential Center.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, longtime friends of the Carters, lead the list of dignitaries joining the widowed former president in Atlanta. Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, along with former first ladies Melania Trump, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush, will pay their respects, as will Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and his wife Marty Kemp. Former Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George W. Bush were invited but will not attend.

Jimmy Carter’s participation in the events has been a day-by-day question; he is 10 months into home hospice care. The Carter Center confirmed his plans to attend the Tuesday service. It will be his first public appearance since September, when he and Rosalynn Carter rode together in the Plains Peanut Festival parade, visible only through open windows in a Secret Service vehicle. Jimmy Carter, who was with his wife during her final hours, did not appear publicly during any part of a public motorcade through and wreath-laying ceremony Monday at Rosalynn Carter’s alma mater, Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus.

The Carters married in 1946, their 77-plus years together making them the longest-married presidential couple in U.S. history.

“My grandmother, in addition to being a partner to my grandfather, was a force on her own,” said Jason Carter, who will be among the speakers Tuesday.

Rosalynn Carter has been praised for a half-century of advocacy for better mental health care in America and reducing stigma attached to mental illness. She brought attention to the tens of millions of people who work as unpaid caregivers in U.S. households. And she’s gained new acclaim for how integral she was to her husband’s political rise and in his terms as Georgia’s governor and the 39th president.

Jason Carter, himself a former state senator and one-time Democratic nominee for governor, called her “the best politician in the family,” a distinction Jimmy Carter never disputed.

“My wife is much more political,” the former president told The Associated Press in 2021.

Indeed, the Carters, perhaps much more because of him than her, never settled comfortably into Washington power circles, even after winning the White House. They were later on the periphery of the unofficial “Presidents Club” that has made friends out of former White House occupants who once operated as rivals and reconvenes publicly — in whole or in part — for inaugurations and funerals.

Biden, who plans to eulogize Jimmy Carter at his state funeral when the time comes, is indisputably the friendliest ally Carter has had in the Oval Office since he left Washington in 1981. But Carter, who lost reelection in a landslide to Ronald Reagan, got a cool reception from his earlier Democratic successors, Clinton and Barack Obama, as both men tried to steer clear of the perceived political failure. Rosalynn Carter, according to some people close to her, was not happy with that treatment.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter confirmed they voted in the 2016 Georgia Democratic presidential primary for Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton. Jimmy Carter also rankled some of his successors with criticism of their foreign and military policy, especially George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The Carters had perhaps the wildest relationship with Trump. Jimmy Carter aligned with Trump on his willingness to talk to isolationist and authoritarian North Korea. But he also suggested Trump’s election in 2016 was illegitimate. Trump answered by calling Carter “the worst” of all U.S. presidents. He’s modified the charge as he campaigns for the 2024 Republican nomination, telling audiences “Jimmy Carter is the happiest man alive” because Biden has usurped the dubious distinction. Trump offered the quip as recently as Nov. 18, the day after Jason Carter announced that his grandmother had entered end-of-life care at home.

Trump’s absence Tuesday will ensure no awkward encounters with the Carter family or with Biden as the two men appear to be on course for a rematch of the 2020 general election. For Melania Trump, it will mark a rare public appearance; she has remained largely absent in her husband’s bid for a comeback.

The Carters did grow close to their 1976 opponents, Gerald and Betty Ford, after that campaign. Jimmy Carter said he maintained a mostly strong relationship with President George H. W. Bush, another Republican. But the Carters outlived both Fords, the elder Bush and Barbara Bush.

Jimmy Carter is the longest-lived president; Rosalynn Carter was the second-longest lived first lady, trailing only Bess Truman, who died at 97.

The service Tuesday will feature music from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and country music legends Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, friends of the Carters through their work with Habitat for Humanity. Family members will read Bible passages. The Carters’ personal pastor, Tony Lowden; Kathryn Cade, a one-time White House adviser in the first lady’s office; and journalist Judy Woodruff will speak.

Rosalynn Carter’s funeral will take place Wednesday in Plains, with an invitation-only service at Maranatha Baptist Church, where the Carters have been members since returning to Georgia after his presidency. She will be buried after a private graveside service on a plot the couple will share, visible from the front porch of the home they built before Jimmy Carter’s first political campaign in 1962.

ATLANTA (AP) — A hearing began Monday in an eminent domain battle that involves one of rural Georgia’s poorest areas but could have implications for property law across the state and nation.

At stake is determining whether a railroad can legally condemn property to build a rail line 4.5 miles (7.3 kilometers) long that would serve a rock quarry and possibly other industries.

A hearing officer will take up to three days of testimony before making a recommendation to the Georgia Public Service Commission’s five elected members, who will ultimately decide.

The line would be built by the Sandersville Railroad, which is owned by an influential Georgia family. It would connect to the CSX railroad at Sparta, allowing products to be shipped widely. Sparta is about 85 miles (135 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta.

People in the rural neighborhood don’t want a train track passing through or near their property, in part because they think it would enable expansion at a quarry owned by Heidelberg Materials, a publicly traded German firm.

Some residents already dislike the quarry because it generates noise, dust and truck traffic. Supporters say if the railroad is built, the quarry will move its operation farther from houses, trains will reduce trucks on roads and the railroad will build berms to shield residents.

But owners say losing a 200-foot (60-meter) wide strip of property to the railroad would spoil land they treasure for its peace and quiet, hunting, fishing and family heritage.

“Sandersville Railroad does not care about the destruction of my family’s property or our way of life,” Donald Garret Sr., one of the owners, said in written testimony in August. “They just care about their own plans for my property, which won’t serve the public, but will just help them expand their business and the quarry’s business.”

Opponents have high-powered allies, including the Institute for Justice, which hopes to use the case to chip away at eminent domain, the government power to legally take private land while paying fair compensation.

The libertarian-leaning legal group was on the losing side of a landmark 2005 case allowing the city of New London, Connecticut, to take land from one private owner and transfer it to another private owner in the name of economic development. The decision set off a widespread reaction, including more than 20 states passing laws to restrict eminent domain.

Railroads have long had the power of eminent domain, but Georgia law says such land seizures must be for “public use.” Opponents targeted the project by saying it would only benefit the quarry.

“This is not a taking of necessity from private property owners to serve truly public interests and the public as a whole. Rather, this is a naked wealth transfer,” Daniel Kochan, a law professor at Virginia’s George Mason University, testified for opponents.

The Sandersville Railroad says there are other users, including a company co-located with the quarry that blends gravel and asphalt for paving. Several companies have said they would truck products from the Sandersville area and load them onto the short line, noting they want access to CSX, but opponents question whether that business will materialize.

The case matters because private entities need to condemn private land not only to build railroads, but also to build other facilities such as pipelines and electric transmission lines. There’s a particular need to build additional electric transmission lines in Georgia and other states to transmit electricity from new solar and wind generation.

“Railroads in America are private companies operating in the public interest,” Sandersville Railroad President Ben Tarbutton III testified Monday.

He said in earlier testimony that the Institute for Justice is engaged in “transparent efforts to change federal and state constitutional law regarding condemnation.”

Tarbutton is a past chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and University System of Georgia Board of Regents. His family has owned the railroad for more than a century.

Others who live nearby, organized as the No Railroad In Our Community Coalition, are represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Janet Paige Smith, a leader of the group, testified that the railroad would further burden a neighborhood with many Black retirees on fixed incomes.

“We already suffer from traffic, air pollution, noise, debris, trash, and more from the Heidelberg Quarry, but this project would make everything worse,” Smith testified.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Thanksgiving travel week is upon us! Whether you’re going over the river or through the woods, there are steps you can take to prepare for a safe trip before you hit the road.

With more than one million Georgians expected to travel during the week of Thanksgiving, according to the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, it’s important for drivers to know what steps they can take to arrive at their destination safely.

According to Lt. Scott Davis at the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office Traffic Division, safe driving is all about courtesy.

“Being courteous in the fact that you are allowing other people to travel the same roadway with you,” Lt. Davis said. “That has an expectation of being able to travel safely.”

He says 99% of car crashes could be prevented by taking basic safety precautions.

Things like obeying the posted speed limit, wearing a seat belt, avoiding distracted driving and planning your trip in advance can make the roadways safer not just for motorists but also for pedestrians and emergency responders.

The Director of Communications for the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), Gina Snider, says defensive driving and staying alert are also key to preventing an accident.

“You should always have your eyes on the road, because you could take them off for a few seconds and something happen,” Snider said.

It’s against state law for drivers to have a phone in their hand or touching any part of their body.

Snider advises drivers to be mindful of peak traffic times and road closures before they start their trip, and drive with caution through construction zones and in inclement weather.

If you see an emergency responder, move over to the next lane or be prepared to stop if traffic is too heavy to merge.

“I know during the holidays, everyone’s in a rush,” Snider said. “Everyone’s trying to get to where they need to go to family and friends. We want you to get there safely.”

GDOT is suspending its lane closures beginning Wednesday at 5 a.m. through Sunday at 10 p.m. to accommodate increased traffic.

You can find turn-by-turn navigation and real time travel updates by visiting 511ga.org  or by downloading the 511 app. Anyone in need of roadside assistance can call 511 to request free service anywhere in the state from GDOT’s CHAMP Program.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock and Congressman Sanford Bishop both paid tribute to former First Lady Rosalynn Carter on Monday in Macon.

“She was a champion for Georgia,” Warnock said, adding he last saw Mr. and Mrs. Carter when he visited their home in September. Warnock said he took the time to pray for both the former President and First Lady during his visit.

The Carters’ home is located in the 2nd Congressional District of Georgia, which Bishop represents.

“You cannot find better servants of God than the Carters,” Bishop said, adding he has known and worked with the Carters for nearly half a century.

Official tribute plans to honor the former First Lady are as follows:

MONDAY, NOV. 27: Wreath-Laying at Georgia Southwestern State University and Repose at Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum

• 10:25 a.m.: The Carter family motorcade will arrive at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus. Mrs. Carter’s remains will be transferred to a hearse, accompanied by past and present members of her U.S. Secret Service detail.
• 10:40 a.m.: The motorcade will depart the grounds of the medical center on a public route to nearby Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia. The public is invited to pay respects along the motorcade route, which will be shared later.
• 11 a.m.: Motorcade arrives at the Rosalynn Carter Health and Human Sciences Complex at Georgia Southwestern State University, where wreaths will be laid.
• 11:15 a.m.: Motorcade departs for The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta.
• 3:15 p.m.: Arrival ceremony at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.
• 3:30 p.m.: Repose service in lobby of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.
• 6-10 p.m.: The Carter family invites members of the public to pay their respects as Mrs. Carter lies in repose at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. Parking and a shuttle will be available at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 435 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta.

TUESDAY, NOV. 28: Carter Center Departure Ceremony and Tribute Service

• 11:30-11:45 a.m.: Carter Presidential Center departure ceremony. Motorcade proceeds to Glenn Memorial Church at Emory University.
• 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.: Tribute service at Glenn Memorial Church at Emory University with invited guests.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 29: Funeral Service and Interment

• 10:55 a.m.: The funeral procession arrives at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.
• 11 a.m.: A service for family and invited friends takes place at the church.
• 12:30 p.m.: The casket will be transferred to a hearse and depart for private interment at the Carter family residence.
• The public is welcome to line the family motorcade route as it proceeds from the church, down Bond Street, and along Hwy. 280 in downtown Plains. Viewing areas will be designated. Everyone is expected to respect private property and park only in designated areas.

The family’s official online condolence book, schedule updates, official biography and a tribute to Rosalynn Carter’s life and legacy can be found at www.rosalynncartertribute.org.

In lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, P.O. Box 647, Americus, GA 31709, or the Carter Center Mental Health Program, 453 John Lewis Freedom Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30307. Donations can be made online at www.rosalynncartertribute.org.

Condolence books will be available to sign at Georgia Southwestern State University, the Plains Welcome Center, Plains High School and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.

PLAINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT)- The Carter Center has announced plans to honor Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who died Sunday at 96.

MONDAY, NOV. 27
Wreath-Laying at Georgia Southwestern State University and Repose at Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum

10:25 a.m.: The Carter family motorcade will arrive at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus. Mrs. Carter’s remains will be transferred to a hearse, accompanied by past and present members of her U.S. Secret Service detail.

10:40 a.m.: The motorcade will depart the grounds of the medical center on a public route to nearby Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia. The public is invited to pay respects along the motorcade route, which will be shared later.

11 a.m.: Motorcade arrives at the Rosalynn Carter Health and Human Sciences Complex at Georgia Southwestern State University, where wreaths will be laid.

11:15 a.m.: Motorcade departs for The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta.

3:15 p.m.: Arrival ceremony at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.

3:30 p.m.: Repose service in lobby of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.

6-10 p.m.: The Carter family invites members of the public to pay their respects as Mrs. Carter lies in repose at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. Parking and a shuttle will be available at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 435 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta.

TUESDAY, NOV. 28
Carter Center Departure Ceremony and Tribute Service  

11:30-11:45 a.m.: Carter Presidential Center departure ceremony. Motorcade proceeds to Glenn Memorial Church at Emory University.

1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.: Tribute service at Glenn Memorial Church at Emory University with invited guests.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 29
Funeral Service and Interment

10:55 a.m.: The funeral procession arrives at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.

11 a.m.: A service for family and invited friends takes place at the church.

12:30 p.m.: The casket will be transferred to a hearse and depart for private interment at the Carter family residence.

The public is welcome to line the family motorcade route as it proceeds from the church, down Bond Street, and along Hwy. 280 in downtown Plains. Viewing areas will be designated. Everyone is expected to respect private property and park only in designated areas.

The family’s official online condolence book, schedule updates, official biography, and a tribute to Rosalynn Carter’s life and legacy can be found at www.rosalynncartertribute.org.

In lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, P.O. Box 647, Americus, GA 31709, or the Carter Center Mental Health Program, 453 John Lewis Freedom Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30307. Donations can be made online at www.rosalynncartertribute.org.

Condolence books will be available to sign at Georgia Southwestern State University, the Plains Welcome Center, Plains High School, and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.

A timeline of key moments from former first lady Rosalynn Carter’s 96 years

ATLANTA (AP) — Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, the closest adviser to Jimmy Carter during his one term as U.S. president and their four decades thereafter as global humanitarians, has died at the age of 96.

The Carter Center said she died Sunday after living with dementia and suffering many months of declining health. The statement announcing her death said she “died peacefully, with family by her side” at 2:10 p.m. at her rural Georgia home of Plains.

“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” Carter said in the statement. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”

The Carters were married for more than 77 years, forging what they both described as a “full partnership.” Unlike many previous first ladies, Rosalynn sat in on Cabinet meetings, spoke out on controversial issues and represented her husband on foreign trips. Aides to President Carter sometimes referred to her — privately — as “co-president.”

“Rosalynn is my best friend … the perfect extension of me, probably the most influential person in my life,” Jimmy Carter told aides during their White House years, which spanned from 1977-1981.

Fiercely loyal and compassionate as well as politically astute, Rosalynn Carter prided herself on being an activist first lady, and no one doubted her behind-the-scenes influence. When her role in a highly publicized Cabinet shakeup became known, she was forced to declare publicly, “I am not running the government.”

Many presidential aides insisted that her political instincts were better than her husband’s — they often enlisted her support for a project before they discussed it with the president. Her iron will, contrasted with her outwardly shy demeanor and a soft Southern accent, inspired Washington reporters to call her “the Steel Magnolia.”

Both Carters said in their later years that Rosalynn had always been the more political of the two. After Jimmy Carter’s landslide defeat in 1980, it was she, not the former president, who contemplated an implausible comeback, and years later she confessed to missing their life in Washington.

Jimmy Carter trusted her so much that in 1977, only months into his term, he sent her on a mission to Latin America to tell dictators he meant what he said about denying military aid and other support to violators of human rights.

She also had strong feelings about the style of the Carter White House. The Carters did not serve hard liquor at public functions, though Rosalynn did permit U.S. wine. There were fewer evenings of ballroom dancing and more square dancing and picnics.

Throughout her husband’s political career, she chose mental health and problems of the elderly as her signature policy emphasis. When the news media didn’t cover those efforts as much as she believed was warranted, she criticized reporters for writing only about “sexy subjects.”

As honorary chairwoman of the President’s Commission on Mental Health, she once testified before a Senate subcommittee, becoming the first first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt to address a congressional panel. She was back in Washington in 2007 to push Congress for improved mental health coverage, saying, “We’ve been working on this for so long, it finally seems to be in reach.”

She said she developed her interest in mental health during her husband’s campaigns for Georgia governor.

“I used to come home and say to Jimmy, ‘Why are people telling me their problems?’ And he said, ‘Because you may be the only person they’ll ever see who may be close to someone who can help them,’” she explained.

After Ronald Reagan won the 1980 election, Rosalynn Carter seemed more visibly devastated than her husband. She initially had little interest in returning to the small town of Plains, Georgia, where they both were born, married and spent most of their lives.

“I was hesitant, not at all sure that I could be happy here after the dazzle of the White House and the years of stimulating political battles,” she wrote in her 1984 autobiography, “First Lady from Plains.” But “we slowly rediscovered the satisfaction of a life we had left long before.”

After leaving Washington, Jimmy and Rosalynn co-founded The Carter Center in Atlanta to continue their work. She chaired the center’s annual symposium on mental health issues and raised funds for efforts to aid the mentally ill and homeless. She also wrote “Helping Yourself Help Others,” about the challenges of caring for elderly or ailing relatives, and a sequel, “Helping Someone With Mental Illness.”

Frequently, the Carters left home on humanitarian missions, building houses with Habitat for Humanity and promoting public health and democracy across the developing world.

“I get tired,” she said of her travels. “But something so wonderful always happens. To go to a village where they have Guinea worm and go back a year or two later and there’s no Guinea worm, I mean the people dance and sing — it’s so wonderful.”

In 2015, Jimmy Carter’s doctors discovered four small tumors on his brain. The Carters feared he had weeks to live. He was treated with a drug to boost his immune system, and later announced that doctors found no remaining signs of cancer. But when they first received the news, she said she didn’t know what she was going to do.

“I depend on him when I have questions, when I’m writing speeches, anything, I consult with him,” she said.

She helped Carter recover several years later when he had hip replacement surgery at age 94 and had to learn to walk again. And she was with him earlier this year when he decided after a series of hospital stays that he would forgo further medical interventions and begin end-of-life care.

Jimmy Carter is the longest-lived U.S. president. Rosalynn Carter was the second longest-lived of the nation’s first ladies, trailing only Bess Truman, who died at age 97.

Eleanor Rosalynn Smith was born in Plains on Aug. 18, 1927, the eldest of four children. Her father died when she was young, so she took on much of the responsibility of caring for her siblings when her mother went to work part time.

She also contributed to the family income by working after school in a beauty parlor. “We were very poor and worked hard,” she once said, but she kept up her studies, graduating from high school as class valedictorian.

She soon fell in love with the brother of one of her best friends. Jimmy and Rosalynn had known each other all their lives — it was Jimmy’s mother, nurse Lillian Carter, who delivered baby Rosalynn — but he left for the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, when she was still in high school.

After a blind date, Jimmy told his mother: “That’s the girl I want to marry.” They wed in 1946, shortly after his graduation from Annapolis and Rosalynn’s graduation from Georgia Southwestern College.

Their sons were born where Jimmy Carter was stationed: John William (Jack) in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1947; James Earl III (Chip) in Honolulu in 1950; and Donnel Jeffery (Jeff) in New London, Connecticut, in 1952. Amy was born in Plains in 1967. By then, Carter was a state senator.

Navy life had provided Rosalynn her first chance to see the world. When Carter’s father, James Earl Sr., died in 1953, Jimmy Carter decided, without consulting his wife, to move the family back to Plains, where he took over the family farm. She joined him there in the day-to-day operations, keeping the books and weighing fertilizer trucks.

“We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business,” Rosalynn Carter recalled with pride in a 2021 interview with The Associated Press. “I knew more on paper about the business than he did. He would take my advice about things.”

At the height of the Carters’ political power, Lillian Carter said of her daughter-in-law: “She can do anything in the world with Jimmy, and she’s the only one. He listens to her.”

(AP) Former first lady Rosalynn Carter is in hospice care at home in Plains, Georgia, the Carter Center announced Friday.

The center said the 96-year-old is at home with former President Jimmy Carter, now 99. The Carter family said through the statement that they are “grateful for the outpouring of love and support.”

The family announced earlier this year that the former first lady is suffering from dementia. The former president entered hospice care at home in February.

They have been married for more than 77 years, through his rise from their Georgia farm to his election to the presidency in 1976. After his 1980 defeat, the couple established The Carter Center in Atlanta as a global center to advocate human rights, democracy and public health.

“The best thing I ever had happen in my life was when she said she’d marry me,” Jimmy Carter said, long after leaving the Oval Office.

The couple’s grandson, Jason Carter, described his grandmother in a recent interview as the former president’s “partner No. 1, 2 and 3,” and the former first couple themselves both agreed that she has been the more aggressive political personality of their long pairing.

In Washington, the political press of the late 1970s dubbed Rosalynn Carter “the Steel Magnolia,” reflecting the quiet grace stereotypical of the era’s Southern political wives and a tough core that made her a force on her husband’s behalf and in her own right.

“She knew what she wanted to accomplish,” said Kathy Cade, a White House adviser to Rosalynn Carter.

Expanding the role of first lady, she worked in her own office in the East Wing, with her own staff, on her own initiatives. She also huddled with the president’s advisers and sat in on top-level meetings, raising eyebrows in Washington power circles.

“She didn’t say anything in Cabinet meetings, but she wanted to be fully informed so she could give her husband good advice,” said Carter biographer Jonathan Alter.

Alter considers Rosalynn Carter’s only peers as influential first ladies to be Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton, although he said the Carters’ partnership was more seamless, because it lacked the infidelity and personal drama of the Roosevelts and Clintons.

The bond also involved friendly rivalry and humor: “I never knew I’d be married to somebody that old,” he wisecracked when Rosalynn was 91.

They often raced to finish writing their next books or best the other in tennis, skiing or any other pursuit.

Rosalynn was at the center of Carter’s political campaigns, starting with his first state Senate race in 1962.

“In the beginning, I wrote letters to people. He would go out and then I would write letters to them,” she told The Associated Press. “But then it developed into a full-time job for me, working to help him get elected.”

She first campaigned solo during his 1966 bid for governor. She was initially nervous but warmed to the role and ultimately demonstrated what White House adviser Stuart Eizenstat called “uncanny political instincts.”

In the White House, it was Rosalynn who urged her husband to think more about the 1980 election as he set priorities, and talk through how decisions might play in the media.

When Jimmy Carter stayed in Washington to work every angle to free the American hostages in Iran, the first lady hit his reelection campaign trail.

“I had the best time,” she told the AP. “I campaigned solid every day the last time we ran.”

Rosalynn Carter’s signature policy issue – improving treatment and removing societal stigma about mental health – traced back to her husband’s Georgia campaigns.

Voters “would stand patiently” waiting to tell of their family struggles, she once wrote. After hearing one overnight mill worker’s story of caring for her afflicted child, Rosalynn decided to take the issue to the candidate. She showed up at her husband’s rally that day, unannounced, and stood in line to shake his hand like everyone else.

“I want to know what you are going to do about mental health when you are governor,” she asked him. She recounted his reply: “We’re going to have the best mental health system in the country, and I’m going to put you in charge of it.”

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Duck hunters are gearing up for the opening of the state’s duck hunting season starting on November 18, and youth, active military and veterans have an exclusive early hunting opportunity on November 11-12, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) announced Tuesday.

In a news release, WRD said Georgia’s waterfowl enthusiasts should note that the quota waterfowl hunts on Butler Island will not be available this season due to weather-related delays in scheduled repairs. The Champney waterfowl hunts will proceed as planned.

The upcoming season, divided into two segments, runs from November 18-26 and resumes December 9 until January 28.

During the special early hunt on November 11-12, eligible youth aged 16 or younger, along with active military or veterans, can hunt ducks, Canada geese and mergansers. Participating youth must be accompanied by an adult who is at least 18 years old, and only the youth are permitted to hunt.

To legally hunt waterfowl in Georgia, hunters must possess a Georgia hunting license, a Georgia migratory bird license and a federal duck stamp. These requirements can be bundled with the purchase of the Waterfowl Hunter Package available at GoOutdoorsGeorgia.com.

For more information on waterfowl hunting and to plan for the season, hunters should visit GeorgiaWildlife.com/migratory-bird-info.

ATLANTA (AP) – A federal judge ruled Thursday that some of Georgia’s congressional, state Senate and state House districts were drawn in a racially discriminatory manner, ordering the state to draw an additional Black-majority congressional district.

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones, in a 516-page order, also ordered the state to draw two new Black-majority districts in Georgia’s 56-member state Senate and five new Black-majority districts in its 180-member state House.

Jones ordered Georgia’s Republican majority General Assembly and governor to take action before Dec. 8, saying he wouldn’t permit 2024 elections to go forward under the current maps. That would require a special session, as lawmakers aren’t scheduled to meet again until January.

Jones’ ruling follows a September trial in which the plaintiffs argued that Black voters are still fighting opposition from white voters and need federal help to get a fair shot, while the state argued court intervention on behalf of Black voters wasn’t needed.

The move could shift one of Georgia’s 14 congressional seats from Republican to Democratic control. GOP lawmakers redrew the congressional map from an 8-6 Republican majority to a 9-5 Republican majority in 2021.

The Georgia case is part of a wave of litigation after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year stood behind its interpretation of the Voting Rights Act, rejecting a challenge to the law by Alabama.

Courts in Alabama and Florida ruled recently that Republican-led legislatures had unfairly diluted the voting power of Black residents. Legal challenges to congressional districts are also ongoing in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.

Orders to draw new legislative districts could narrow Republican majorities in the state House and Senate. But on their own, those changes are unlikely to lead to a Democratic takeover.

Jones wrote that he conducted a “thorough and sifting review” of the evidence in the case before concluding that Georgia violated the Voting Rights Act in enacting the current congressional and legislative maps.

He wrote that he “commends Georgia for the great strides that it has made to increase the political opportunities of Black voters in the 58 years” since that law was passed in 1965. But despite those gains, he determined that “in certain areas of the State, the political process is not equally open to Black voters.”

But Jones noted that despite the fact that all of the state’s population growth over the last decade was attributable to the minority population, the number of congressional and legislative districts with a Black majority remained the same.

That echoes a key contention of the plaintiffs, who argued repeatedly that the state added nearly 500,000 Black residents between 2010 and 2020 but drew no new Black-majority state Senate districts and only two additional Black-majority state House districts. They also said Georgia should have another Black majority congressional district.

ATHENS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Ahkil Nasir Crumpton, a Pennsylvania resident and former University of Georgia football player, was convicted on Wednesday of federal charges stemming from the 2021 shooting death of Oconee County store clerk Elijah Wood.

Crumpton, now 26, faces up to 30 years in prison and is also facing state charges for murder in Georgia, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.

The trial, which started on October 16, was presided over by U.S. District Judge Tilman “Tripp” Self. Crumpton was found guilty of one count of interference with commerce by attempted robbery and one count of false statement during the purchase of a firearm.

“No matter today’s outcome, there is no returning Elijah Wood to his family and friends, who have had to endure both the pain of his loss and many unanswered questions,” U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary said.

According to evidence presented at trial, Crumpton entered the RaceTrac gas station on Macon Highway in Watkinsville on March 19, 2021, where Wood was working. Surveillance footage showed Crumpton pointing a Glock 19 pistol at Wood and firing.

Wood’s girlfriend testified at trial that she was on a FaceTime call with Wood at the time. Crumpton ran out of the store without taking any money or merchandise. Wood died at the scene.

At the time of Wood’s murder, Crumpton lived in an apartment in Watkinsville, less than two miles from the RaceTrac, with his close friend and UGA football teammate, Juwan Taylor, who is now a player development assistant for the team. Taylor testified at trial that Crumpton came to their apartment after the shooting holding the pistol and that he was visibly upset saying, “I didn’t mean to do it – I just wanted the money, I just shot him at the store, at the store.” Crumpton explained further that when he lifted the gun up, it “just went off.” Taylor said he was frightened for his own safety and didn’t tell anyone.

In a separate incident on July 17, 2021, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Crumpton shot and killed Anthony Jones.

“Crumpton was seen exiting the South Street Diner at 140 South Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at 3:18 a.m. to retrieve a Glock 43 pistol from a vehicle and was approached by Anthony Jones,” the release stated. “Surveillance video from a nearby business captured the encounter between Jones and Crumpton. Jones brandished a silver handgun and pointed it at Crumpton, then appeared to grab the car keys out of Crumpton’s left hand. Jones forcefully removed the Glock 43 pistol from Crumpton’s right pocket while simultaneously holding him at gunpoint. When Jones turned around following the robbery and began to run away, Crumpton pulled a Glock 19 pistol from his waistband and fired 13 gunshots that ultimately struck and killed Jones.”

Both shootings were linked through ballistic evidence.

Crumpton was arrested on March 16, 2022 by FBI and ATF agents in Philadelphia.

Inside Crumpton’s bedroom, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia says agents located the Glock 19 pistol that was used in both shootings. The gun was found inside Crumpton’s official 2018 Rose Bowl Game backpack given to the players who competed in the football game.

Co-defendant James North Armstrong, who purchased the weapon for Crumpton, has also pleaded guilty to federal charges.

The case was investigated by multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mike Morrison and Daniel Peach.

JACKSON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) –A man is in jail, charged with Murder and Hit and Run after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation after a woman was found dead in her driveway on October 20.

According to the GBI, Butts County Sheriff’s Office deputies found 51-year-old Brooke Bedard Sides, dead in her driveway on Watkins Park and Pool Road in Jackson. They say 50-year-old Nathan Shane Upchurch ran her over as he was leaving, after they had been arguing

The GBI says the investigation is active and ongoing.

If you have any information, call the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office at 478-445-5102 or the GBI regional investigative office in Milledgeville at 478-445-4173.

Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.

ATLANTA (AP) – Lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to reduced charges Thursday over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia, becoming the second defendant in the sprawling case to reach a deal with prosecutors.

Powell, who was charged alongside Trump and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law, entered the plea just a day before jury selection was set to start in her trial. She pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors related to intentionally interfering with the performance of election duties.

As part of the deal, she will serve six years of probation, will be fined $6,000 and will have to write an apology letter to Georgia and its residents. She also agreed to testify truthfully against her co-defendants at future trials.

Powell, 68, was initially charged with racketeering and six other counts as part of a wide-ranging scheme to keep the Republican president in power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. Prosecutors say she also participated in an unauthorized breach of elections equipment in a rural Georgia county elections office.

The acceptance of a plea deal is a remarkable about-face for a lawyer who, perhaps more than anyone else, strenuously pushed baseless conspiracy theories about a stolen election in the face of extensive evidence to the contrary. If prosecutors compel her to testify, she could provide insight on a news conference she participated in on behalf of Trump and his campaign shortly after the election and on a White House meeting she attended in mid-December of that year during which strategies and theories to influence the outcome of the election were discussed.

Powell was scheduled to go on trial on Monday with lawyer Kenneth Chesebro after each filed a demand for a speedy trial. Jury selection was set to start Friday. The development means that Chesebro will go on trial by himself, though prosecutors said earlier that they also planned to look into the possibility of offering him a plea deal.

Barry Coburn, a Washington-based lawyer for Powell, declined to comment on Thursday.

A lower-profile defendant in the case, bail bondsman Scott Graham Hall, last month pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges. He was sentenced to five years of probation and agreed to testify in further proceedings.

Prosecutors allege that Powell conspired with Hall and others to access election equipment without authorization and hired computer forensics firm SullivanStrickler to send a team to Coffee County, in south Georgia, to copy software and data from voting machines and computers there. The indictment says a person who is not named sent an email to a top SullivanStrickler executive and instructed him to send all data copied from Dominion Voting Systems equipment in Coffee County to an unidentified lawyer associated with Powell and the Trump campaign.

UPDATE: – U.S. Representative Austin Scott did not win the nomination for Speaker of the House of Representative.  House GOP selected Ohio Representative Jim Jordan.

Representative Scott released a statement Friday afternoon in support of Rep. Jordan.

“I highly respect Jim Jordan. He is an asset to the Republican Party and our nominee for Speaker,” Scott said. “Our conference has spoken, and now we must unite behind Jordan so we can get Congress back to work.”

This doesn’t mean Jordan will be the next speaker, he still needs majority of the votes on the House floor.

That vote might not happen until next week.

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MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — U.S. Representative Austin Scott filed to run to be the new Speaker of the House of Representatives Friday morning.

Representative Scott, who represents Georgia’s 8th congressional district, is looking to be the new Speaker after the previous one, Kevin McCarthy of California, was ousted earlier in October.

Scott had this to say in reference to his bid for speaker:

“I have filed to be the Speaker of the House. We are in Washington to legislate, and I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people,”

Scott represents several counties in the 41NBC coverage area in Middle Georgia and parts of South Georgia.

HAMPTON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) is set to play a pivotal role in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series, hosting the opening race of the playoffs with the Quaker State 400 on Sunday, September 8 at 3 p.m. ET.

The race, which will be broadcast on USA Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM, promises to deliver high speeds and higher stakes across 400 miles of intense competition.

“No track in NASCAR has more momentum than Atlanta Motor Speedway, with more people experiencing the new-look AMS and incredible racing each year,” AMS Executive Vice President and General Manager Brandon Hutchison said. “Things just got even more exciting for our races in 2024, with AMS playing a key role in crowning next year’s NASCAR Cup Series champion!”

This marks the first time Atlanta will host the opening race in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. The last noteworthy race at AMS in a playoff context was in 2008, featuring a fierce title battle between Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson. Edwards won in Atlanta, while Johnson claimed the championship.

Before the playoffs, NASCAR will make its first 2024 visit to AMS for the Ambetter Health 400 on Sunday, February 25, also at 3 p.m. ET. That race will be broadcast on FOX, PRN Radio and SiriusXM.

Alongside its Cup Series events, AMS will also host two Xfinity Series races and a CRAFTSMAN Truck Series event. The speedway’s spring race weekend will feature a NASCAR doubleheader on Saturday, February 24, with the Fr8 208 and RAPTOR King of Tough 250. Tickets for both weekends are on sale now with special discounts available until October 31.

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season begins with the exhibition Clash event at L.A. Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, February 4. The Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway is set for Sunday, February 18.

Click here to see the full 2024 NASCAR schedule, which was released on Wednesday.

For more on the 2024 NASCAR events at Atlanta Motor Speedway, visit www.AtlantaMotorSpeedway.com.

AILEY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into an officer involved shooting that happened in Montgomery County Sunday night just before midnight. One man was shot and later died, no officers were injured.

Early investigation shows that the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office was called to the scene around 6 p.m., where they were told 45 year-old Donald Bonner Jr. was in his yard firing random shots. Deputies attempted to negotiate with Bonner, who made threats to kill law enforcement. Negotiations ended when Bonner went back into his house and didn’t continue any further conversations.

The Montgomery Sheriff’s Office as well as the Georgia State Patrol SWAT team created a perimeter and worked to try to safely serve arrest warrants on Bonner. GSP Aviation spotted a person behind the house with a gun– before negotiations began between Bonner and GSP SWAT, Bonner was shot once. He received medical aid on scene but later died at Memorial Health Meadows Hospital.

Bonner was wanted on outstanding warrants for 2 counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer from an incident in March earlier this year when Bonner fired shots in the presence of Montgomery Sheriff’s Office Deputies. At the time, law enforcement decided to wait to arrest Bonner when he was away from his house. Those arrest warrants weren’t served at that time.

This is the 73rd officer involved shooting the GBI has been requested to investigate in 2023.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Republican Senate Caucus is suspending a GOP state senator who attacked them for opposing his plan to impeach Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for indicting former President Donald Trump.

The caucus announced Thursday that it was indefinitely suspending state Sen. Colton Moore of Trenton, who represents a district in Georgia’s northwest corner.

“Sen. Moore has a right to his opinion,” the caucus said in a statement. “However, during his advocacy for his ill-conceived proposal, Sen. Moore has knowingly misled people across Georgia and our nation, causing unnecessary tension and hostility, while putting his caucus colleagues and their families at risk of personal harm,” said the group, which has 32 of the Georgia Senate’s 56 members.

Moore attacked his colleagues as “Republicans in name only,” or RINOs.

“The Georgia RINOs responded to my call to fight back against the Trump witch hunts by acting like children and throwing me out of the caucus,” Moore wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “But I’m not going anywhere.”

It’s the latest display of a divide between Gov. Brian Kemp and many elected Republicans, on the one hand, and grassroots Trump backers who have captured control of Georgia’s Republican Party organization.

Kemp refused to endorse Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election and help him try to overturn his narrow loss in the state. Willis has charged Trump and 18 others, including the former state Republican Party chair, with crimes related to the effort. All have pleaded not guilty.

Moore will still be a member of the Senate and will still be a Republican, but may find it hard to pass legislation without support of the majority caucus. But he already often functioned like a party of one in the body, voting against measures that all other Republicans or all other senators supported.

Moore was the most prominent backer of a special session to impeach and remove Willis or defund her office, winning Trump’s endorsement. Kemp denounced the call as “some grifter scam” to raise campaign contributions for Moore, in a news conference that was unusually impassioned for the buttoned-up Kemp.

Kemp called the push “political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment,” saying a special session “would ignore current Georgia law and directly interfere with the proceedings of a separate but equal branch of government.” Kemp said he didn’t think Willis had done anything to merit removal.

Moore launched a petition for lawmakers to call themselves into special session, requiring signatures by three-fifths of both houses. That would require some Democratic support because Republicans have a less than 60% majority in each chamber. And the Senate would have required a two-thirds vote to remove Willis after the House impeached her. Moore never got close to persuading fellow Republicans, much less Democrats, winning the signatures of one Republican House member and one other Republican senator.

However, Moore attacked some other state senators. After Republican state Sens. Bo Hatchett and Shelly Echols issued a joint statement criticizing Moore’s call, they said Moore targeted them for retaliation and they received threats.

The caucus claimed Moore violated internal rules and was suspended by Republican leaders after refusing to follow those rules. The caucus claimed Moore was not being retaliated against for “his wrongheaded policy position.”

Some other Georgia Republicans have freely attacked Willis, including U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“Fani Willis should be ashamed of herself and she’s going to lose her job. We’ll make sure of that,” Greene told reporters outside the Fulton County Jail, shortly before Trump arrived by motorcade to submit to booking and a mug shot.

Despite Moore getting the boot, some Republican state senators are backing a plan to seek Willis’ removal by a new state prosecutorial oversight commission. The Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission is supposed to begin work sometime after Oct. 1, when the state Supreme Court approves its rules. The body was created with the aim of disciplining or removing wayward prosecutors.

Some district attorneys, not including Willis, are already suing to overturn the law, saying it improperly infringes on their authority.

Kemp, while criticizing the timing of the Trump indictment, has said he hasn’t seen any evidence that the commission should discipline or remove Willis.