Latest news with #FultonCountySuperiorCourt
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Dem candidate for Georgia Public Service Commission challenges disqualification
A Fulton County Superior Court hearing is scheduled for June 10 on Georgia Public Service Commission candidate Daniel Blackman's appealing a ruling disqualifying him from the Democratic Primary of June 17. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder (file) A Georgia Public Service Commission candidate will remain on the Democratic primary ballot after appealing a decision this week disqualifying him from the race for failing to meet residency requirements. A Fulton County Superior Court hearing is scheduled for June 10 when Chief Judge Ural Glanville will hear arguments on PSC candidate Daniel Blackman's appeal. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had affirmed a state court judge's ruling that Blackman was unable to provide evidence that a Fulton County property is his primary domicile. Blackman is a candidate for District 3, which includes Clayton, DeKalb, and Fulton counties. Commissioners are elected statewide but must be residents of a given district for at least 12 months. Blackman served as the Environmental Protection Agency's Southeast regional administrator under the Biden administration, and he's a former PSC candidate who came close to winning a seat on the commission back in 2020. Blackman's lawyer, Matthew Wilson, said Blackman's name will remain on ballots after Glanville granted an injunction Thursday. 'Once we're given the opportunity for a fair hearing, I'm confident that Daniel will prevail because all of the facts and all of the law are on his side,' Wilson said Friday. The complaint against Blackman was filed by Atlanta resident Rodney Stephens, who currently resides in a home previously owned by another Democratic candidate, Keisha Waites, according to online county property records. Stephens and Waites declined to comment about the residency challenge. The residency dispute involves a one-bedroom dwelling in Atlanta that Blackman leased on Oct. 4, 2024. Blackman testified that he purchased the property to live closer to work while his wife and children continued to reside in their Forsyth County home north of Atlanta, according to the 12-page ruling. The state court judge wrote that Blackman failed to provide evidence that he actually lived in the home, such as utility bills or mail being delivered to the Atlanta address. Early voting for two PSC seats began Tuesday with Blackman's name on ballots statewide. If Blackman's ban is permanent, notices will be placed in polling places advising voters of his disqualification and votes cast for him will not be counted, Raffensperger's office said. Election Day is June 17. Three other Democrats appear on the District 3 PSC ballot: Waites, a former Atlanta City Council member and ex-state representative; Peter Hubbard, founder of the clean nonprofit Center for Energy Solutions, and Robert Jones, a former utility executive. The winner will face GOP incumbent Fitz Johnson in the Nov. 4 general election. Johnson was appointed to the seat by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2021. Jones said Friday he would like to see an expedited final decision in the Blackman case so candidates can focus solely on their own campaigns without having to deal with the distraction. 'The appeal filed Wednesday was another surprise in a race that has had too many,' Jones said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Georgia PSC candidate will remain on ballot while appealing disqualification
The Brief Georgia Public Service Commission candidate Daniel Blackman will remain on the ballot as he appeals his disqualification. Earlier this week, a judge ruled Blackman didn't prove he met the qualifications to run in part because he moved to Fulton County in October but voted in Forsyth County on Nov. 5. Blackman's lawyer said Chief Judge Ural Glanville of the Fulton County Superior Court approved a request to keep him on the ballot until the appeal is ruled on. FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - A Democratic candidate running for the Georgia Public Service Commission will remain on the ballot a day after he was disqualified by Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Daniel Blackman appealed the ruling and will remain in the race while the appeal goes through the court system, Blackman's lawyer says. The backstory Earlier this week, an administrative law judge recommended Raffensperger disqualify Blackman, a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator, from the District 3 seat because he did not show he lived there long enough. Voters statewide elect commission members, but they must live in one of five districts for at least 12 months before an election. District 3 includes the core metro Atlanta counties of Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton. All five commissioners are currently Republicans. Administrative Court Judge Dominic Capraro said in his ruling Blackman didn't prove he met the qualifications to run in part because he moved to Fulton County in October but voted in Forsyth County on Nov. 5. He switched his registration to his Fulton County address in April, right before signing up to run for the District 3 seat. Blackman said he moved to Fulton County for work in October while his wife and kids temporarily remained in Forsyth County where they could finish the school year. After that, they plan to live together in Fulton County. Blackman said he waited to register to vote at his new address in order to comply with Georgia's rules that require address changes to be registered at least 30 days before an election. What they're saying Blackman's lawyer, Matthew Wilson, said Chief Judge Ural Glanville of the Fulton County Superior Court approved a request to keep him on the ballot until the appeal is ruled on. "We are very confident that at the end of this process Daniel will be deemed a qualified candidate for PSC because all of the facts and all of the law are on his side," Wilson said. The Democratic primary is June 17. Early voting is underway now. Dig deeper Three other Democrats are set to run in the primary. Keisha Sean Waites, a former state House member and former Atlanta City Council member, most recently lost a bid to become Fulton County clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts. Peter Hubbard has worked for the Georgia Center for Clean Energy Solutions. Robert Jones has worked on energy for both the government and private companies. The Source Information for this story came from the Associated Press and previous FOX 5 reporting.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
After Fani Willis Drops YSL Murder Charge, Defendant Is Sentenced to 5 Years
One of three remaining YSL trial defendants was sentenced to five years in prison by a Fulton County Superior Court judge Wednesday afternoon. Damekion Garlington was originally facing life in prison if convicted on all charges — including murder and attempted murder — but he entered into an Alford plea with the district attorney's office earlier this week. An Alford plea allows a defendant to maintain their innocence while admitting the prosecution likely has enough evidence to secure a conviction. In exchange for prosecutors agreeing to downgrade the murder charge to aggravated assault and drop the attempted murder charge, the 29-year-old pleaded guilty. Garlington had been Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis' last hope to hold one of the four people charged with the 2022 murder of Shymel Drinks accountable. Drinks was central to the prosecution's argument that Atlanta rapper Young Thug and 27 others were members of a criminal street gang called YSL. Last year, Willis' team dropped murder charges against Miles Farley and Quamarvious Nichols, two of the three other defendants charged with Drinks' murder, in exchange for guilty pleas on lesser charges. The third, Shannon Stillwell, was found not guilty in early December. The district attorney's office did not respond to Capital B Atlanta's request for comment. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker sentenced Garlington to 20 years in jail — five years to serve incarcerated, and 15 years on probation. She suspended a five-year sentence for possession of a firearm during a felony that will be voided as long as he successfully completes probation. Garlington will also receive credit for the nearly three years he's spent in jail since his arrest in September 2022. 'I hope that … this has been an opportunity for you to realize that the direction that your life was going is not a good direction, and that you are determined at this point to turn your life around and make good decisions from here on out,' Whitaker said after the sentencing hearing. She reminded Garlington that he must stay out of Fulton County throughout his probation and will be required to serve the five-year suspended firearms sentence if he violates the terms, which include: no contact with the victims, their relatives, or any gang members; no drugs; no gang paraphernalia; and no guns or replicas of guns. Other conditions stipulate that he must also complete a GED program within the first year of probation, which the judge noted he had already begun working on, and secure full-time employment within the first six months of his release. Garlington will also have to sign a Fourth Amendment waiver as a condition of his release, which means that for the entirety of his probation he, his car, his home, and his social media accounts will be subject to search by law enforcement at any time with or without probable cause. Garlington was one of the 28 people indicted on racketeering charges in May 2022 by the Fulton County DAs office for their alleged involvement in YSL — what prosecutor's classified as a criminal street gang that operated in the Cleveland Avenue neighborhood. Like many of Young Thug's co-defendants, Garlington wasn't able to find a defense attorney by the time the main trial began so his case was severed and scheduled to be tried separately. Jury selection in the trial for the two remaining YSL racketeering defendants, Christian Eppinger and Demise McMullen, is scheduled to begin June 9. The post After Fani Willis Drops YSL Murder Charge, Defendant Is Sentenced to 5 Years appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Announces Run for Governor
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms officially entered the race for governor on Tuesday, joining what's expected to be a crowded field of candidates vying to replace Brian Kemp as Georgia's next top executive. Bottoms is a Democrat who would become just the second Black woman in state history to run for governor on a major party ticket if she wins her party's nomination next year. Stacey Abrams became the first in 2018 when she launched her first of two historic bids. Abrams has expressed interest in a third try next year, but so far hasn't made it official. Bottoms originally filed paperwork in late April declaring her intention to run for governor. Fellow Democrat Jason Esteves, a state senator representing Atlanta, and Republican Attorney General Chris Carr are the only other officially declared candidates in the 2026 gubernatorial race so far. Carr threw his hat in the race in late November. Esteves entered the contest on April 21. Other prominent Georgians who have expressed an interest in running for governor, but have not made an official declaration, include Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, both Republicans, and former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond and state Rep. Derrick Jackson, from Tyrone, who are both Democrats. Bottoms, 55, is a former prosecutor who served as mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022 after previously spending eight years on the Atlanta City Council and two years working as a Fulton County Superior Court judge. She was the first Atlanta mayor to have served in all three branches of government. Her most-recent political job was working in the White House as director of the Office of Public Engagement and as a senior adviser to former President Joe Biden from 2022 to 2023. Bottoms is the daughter of 1960s blues singer Major Lance and Christine Boular Lance. She's a Frederick Douglass High School graduate who received her undergraduate degree from Florida A&M University and earned her law degree from Georgia State University. Bottoms has four children with her husband, Derek Bottoms. The post Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Announces Run for Governor appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta.
Daily Maverick
20-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Delta can sue CrowdStrike over computer outage that caused 7,000 canceled flights
Judge allows gross negligence, fraud claims Software update went 'horribly wrong' CrowdStrike eyes eventual dismissal or limited damages By Jonathan Stempel In a decision on Friday, Judge Kelly Lee Ellerbe of the Fulton County Superior Court said Delta can try to prove CrowdStrike was grossly negligent in pushing a defective update of its Falcon software to customers, crashing more than 8 million Microsoft MSFT.O Windows-based computers worldwide. 'Delta has specifically pled that if CrowdStrike had tested the July update on one computer before its deployment, the programming error would have been detected,' the judge wrote. 'As CrowdStrike has acknowledged, its own president publicly stated CrowdStrike did something 'horribly wrong.'' The Atlanta-based judge also let Delta pursue a computer trespass claim, and a narrowed claim that CrowdStrike fraudulently promised not to introduce an 'unauthorized back door' into the carrier's computers. In a statement on Monday, CrowdStrike's lawyer Michael Carlinsky said he was confident the judge will find Delta's case has no merit, or will limit damages to the 'single-digit millions of dollars' under Georgia law. Delta, based in Atlanta, said it was pleased with the decision and remained confident in the merits of its case. The carrier sued Austin, Texas-based CrowdStrike three months after the July 19, 2024 outage disrupted travel for 1.4 million Delta passengers. Delta has said the outage cost $550 million in lost revenue and added expenses, offset by $50 million of fuel savings. On May 6, a federal judge in Atlanta said Delta must face a proposed class action by passengers whose said it unlawfully refused full refunds after the outage upended their travel. The outage also disrupted other airlines, but those disruptions eased faster. The case is Delta Air Lines Inc v CrowdStrike Inc, Georgia Superior Court, Fulton County, No. 24CV013621.
