Atlanta Police Hold Sick-Out to Protest Officer’s Murder Charge
By VOA News Atlanta police officers called out sick or refused to answer calls Thursday to protest murder charges against a white officer in last Friday’s deadly shooting of an African American man in a fast-food restaurant’s parking lot. It is unclear how many officers declined to report for work Wednesday night and Thursday, but Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms assured city residents that they have nothing to fear. “We do have enough officers to cover us through the night. Our streets won’t be any less safe because of the number of officers who called out,” she told CNN. The district attorney’s…
Today in History: February 11 1776
On this day in 1776, Georgia’s royal governor, Sir James Wright, escapes from his residence in Savannah to the safety of a waiting British warship, the HMS Scarborough and returns to London. Governor Wright had been taken into custody and placed under house arrest nearly a month earlier on January 18, 1776, by Patriots under the command of Major Joseph Habersham of the Provincial Congress. Wright was the only colonial governor and Georgia the only colony to successfully implement the Stamp Act in 1765. As revolutionary fervor grew elsewhere in the colonies, Georgia remained the most loyal colony, declining to send delegates…
Critics of Immigrant Detention Center Meet Detainees
LUMPKIN, GEORGIA—In the concrete block-walled visiting room of the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia - one of the biggest immigrant holding facilities in the country - Salvadoran-born Nilson Flores says he’s seen many detainees sent back to countries where their lives are in danger. “They should call this place the 'jail of broken dreams',” he said. Beatriz Henao, a Spanish-speaking volunteer from a faith-based group, speaks to him through an intercom, separated by a bullet-proof glass window. She smiles and tries to lift his spirits a little, urging him to have faith. “Dios nunca llega tarde,” she says. “God never arrives…
Today In History: April 13 1997
On April 13, 1997 , the American golfer Tiger Woods , 21 , becomes the youngest champion of the prestigious Masters Tournament at Augusta, Georgia. Woods won his first professional tournament golf in 12 strokes, the largest margin of victory of the twentieth century, and only with respect to the second within 13 strokes of the Old Tom Morris at the British Open in 1862. Their score of 18 under pair broke the record of 270 Masters of 17 under par 271, Jack Nicklaus 32 years. Woods was the youngest man to win the Masters Tournament for two years and…