MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A week after two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon, people from all over the United States and middle Georgia are finding ways to support the people affected. “That was really hard to even get the messages that anything like that could happen,” says Sherry Castles. “Even at the Boston Marathon–not just to any of us…
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Abandoned buildings covered in graffiti serve as a daily reminder of the gangs that run the streets in East Macon. Members of the Crips, Bloods and Macon Mafia have all marked territory along Forsyth Avenue and on Sunday, residents say the brewing turf wars between the gangs came to a violent end. Shortly after midnight, John…
MACON, Georgia (41 NBC/WMGT) – Community activists had no problem voicing their issues with Macon’s major officials on Monday. Activists Irving Martinez and Anthony Harris stood in front of city hall calling for Macon Mayor Robert Reichert, Macon Police Chief Mike Burns, Macon Police Officer Clayton Sutton, and Deputy Chief Mike Carswell to be fired. Harris began the news conference…
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A 5-year-old girl is dead after she was hit by a Bibb County School bus while crossing the street. Shonetta Jackson was on her way to pick up her sons when she saw Tamiya Watson lying in the street. Jackson leaped out of her car and ran over to Watson and held the little girl’s hand…
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Monday marks the first day for candidates to qualify for the July special nonpartisan election for the new Macon-Bibb County government. “We are enthusiastic about this, we’re fired up, we’re ready to go, so why wait?” mayoral candidate C. Jack Ellis said. That’s why dozens of hopeful candidates running for office under the new consolidated government…
COCHRAN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The Bleckley County Sheriff’s Office is looking for two suspects who burglarized a church, and then set it on fire early Sunday morning. As she walked the grounds near Saint James AME Church on Monday, life-long member, Sarah Dennard said she felt a sense of peace and hurt. “Just looking back and the history that this…
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The city of Macon, Bibb County, and several other community partners are celebrating Earth Day all week long! The celebrations begin on Monday April 22nd. An Earth Day Kickoff Luncheon is starting at noon at the Ocmulgee National Monument. Elected officials and other invited guests will be in attendance. To RSVP email midgacleanair@gmail.com. Monday evening, middle…
WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The City of Warner Robins wants the man behind bringing a minor league baseball team to town to know they fully support his effort. At the council meeting Monday, local businessman John Hughes asked the mayor and council to back his efforts, explaining that the city wouldn’t have to pay for it. After getting more…
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – According to 2011 census data, more than one in five people in Bibb County are below the poverty level, but a group of local and state leaders want to do something about that. State representative James Beverly, who’s working to bring down Bibb County’s poverty rate, says the first step is identifying where to start. “We…
MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – In light of the recent emergency in the Boston area that has forced college campuses to shut down, Georgia College implemented a new safety program that can save lives during any kind of emergency. One push of a button and you are instantly connected to the Georgia College Police Department. “We had a disruption in the…
MACON, Georgia (41 NBC/WMGT) – Friday caps National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week across the country. And it couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. When answering and responding to emergency calls, timing is everything. The quicker…the better.The Macon Police Department celebrated this week by inviting media into it’s newly renovated E 911 center to show how new technology is…
BONAIRE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – It’s state of the art technology originally developed by NASA, and now the only one like it is in middle Georgia. It looks and acts like a treadmill, but the Alter-G is really much more than that. Originally designed to help astronauts in space keep active and running, the Alter-G was designed to create gravity and…
DUDLEY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — With Lifefest 2013 right around the corner, the Taylor family in Dudley wanted to share their personal experience with adoption. The event is a Christian music festival that supports adoption, while featuring adoptive families and seminars. If you ask Ron and Marcy Taylor about their two daughters Hadley and Lindy, they’d say “They’re both ours.” “God…
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Tatnall Square park is set to get some serious sprucing up and Thursday night, community members learned a little more about the plans. Friends of Tatnall Square Park held a public meeting tonight at Centenary Church Fellowship Hall, right next to Mercer University. The group outlined plans for the area, including pillars at the Lawton Gateway…
MACON, Georgia (41 NBC/WMGT) – The University System of Georgia Board of Regents announced on Tuesday that tuition is set to go up for 27 out of 31 colleges and universities in the University System Georgia. The other four universities will see larger increases than the other universities but the same rate that students have seen last year. The 2.5% tuition…
MACON, Georgia (41 NBC/WMGT) – After the gun control bill went down in defeat on Wednesday, local gun owners reacted to the news, and also provided their opinion on background checks. President Barack Obama and other supporters of the gun control bill voiced their frustration with Congress after the bill didn’t pass Wednesday. One of the proposals in the bill…
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – In wake of the Texas explosion, officials in Bibb County are ready in case something like that happens here. Trains and trucks carry chemicals through our area every day. The Macon-Bibb County Emergency Management Agency, along with local law enforcement and the fire department, is prepared to handle incidents involving hazardous materials. If something were to…
FORSYTH, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT)– The Monroe County Reporter caught people on camera taking extra papers, and printed a picture of one thief on the front page. “As we say it’s so good some can’t take just one,” said publisher Will Davis. That headline is making headlines all over the county. Since the pictures went to press, Davis says they’ve been the…
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Pan African Festival is back again and full of events to keep you busy throughout the weekend in downtown Macon. The festival will have food, music, vendors, and events for the kids just to name a few things! Nicole Thurston from the Tubman African American Museum stopped in our Daybreak studio to go over some…
WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – National Broadway tours, vocal chops, and the backing of one of Whitney Houston’s former producers–Warner Robins native LaTonya Holmes feels lucky. She’s in L.A. now, but she started her career by accident. “I played basketball, I was starting point guard..and someone told Mr. Gerald Ray Horne that I could sing, and he asked me to…
MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A church sign condemning homosexuality is stirring up controversy in Milledgeville. The sign off of U.S. 441 outside of the Society for the Ten Commandments church reads, “Homosexuality is a death worthy crime.” The strong statement is turning heads in the community. “It upsets me because it gives Christianity a bad name and Christianity is not…
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – With consolidation just more than eight months away, big changes are on the way for law enforcement in Macon and Bibb County. The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office laid out its plans to the consolidation transition task force on Wednesday. By this time next year, the sheriff’s office will have split Macon and Bibb County into five…
KATHLEEN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) -18-year-old David Presley wheels his motorchair across Veterans High School’s gymnasium floor, ready to catch the football. He’s a very skilled wheelchair football player, and he and his team, The Houston County Sharks, are circling the proverbial waters, hungry to eat, or beat their rivals the Guppies. The team name says it all–the Guppies are not confined…
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A shooting review board met Wednesday morning to discuss the Macon police officer involved shooting at the Kroger on Pio Nono Avenue last December. The review board consists of Macon police command staff, two members from an outside CALEA accredited law enforcement agency, and two civilians, former Bibb County solicitor Otis Scarbury and former Board of…