Ex-superintendent ordered to pay $47M to Bibb County schools
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A former Bibb County schools superintendent has been ordered to pay more than $47 million to the district he once led.
News outlets report U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell in Macon issued the ruling Tuesday against 50-year-old Romain Dallemand in a lawsuit brought by the school district. The figure includes $24.6 million in punitive damages.
Dallemand was Bibb’s school superintendent from 2011 to 2013. He ignited controversies when he announced plans to close schools, cut teacher staffs, teach Mandarin to all students and institute a year-round school calendar. He allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks.
Dallemand was sentenced in February to eight months in federal prison for tax fraud. He didn’t attend Tuesday’s hearing.
Jerry Lumley, an attorney for the schools, said Dallemand’s actions victimized the community.
MACON (AP) — ‘Chrisley Knows Best’ stars charged with federal tax evasion ATLANTA (AP) —
A federal grand jury in Atlanta on Tuesday indicted reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley on charges including tax evasion, alleging among other things that they tried to hide their income from “Chrisley Knows Best” from the IRS.
The 12-count indictment also accuses the pair of conspiracy, bank fraud and wire fraud.
“The allegations contained in the indictment are based on complete falsehoods. The Chrisleys are innocent of all charges,” Chrisley attorneys Bruce H. Morris and Stephen Friedberg said in an emailed statement.
Accountant Peter Tarantino, 56, was charged in the indictment with conspiracy to defraud the United States and aiding the filing of a false tax return. A woman who answered the phone at his office outside Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon said he was with a client and would have no comment.
“Chrisley Knows Best” follows the tightknit, boisterous family living in the Nashville area. Much of the series emphasizes Todd Chrisley’s obsessive yet comedic efforts to keep tabs on three of his kids, two of whom are in their 20s, and his mother.
Reports of intruder prompt school lockdown; students safe STONE MOUNTAIN (AP) —
School officials say reports of an intruder prompted a lockdown of a large high school just east of Atlanta.
Dekalb County Schools spokeswoman Portia Kirkland says all students and faculty members are safe after the Tuesday morning lockdown at Stephenson High School.
Dekalb County police Sgt. J.D. Spencer says his agency is assisting the school’s officers. The school system is Georgia’s thirdlargest and has its own police department.
Students have resumed their normal school day.
Police: Georgia attorney charged with road rage killing SANDY SPRINGS (AP) —
A Georgia attorney accused of hitting and killing a pedestrian with his Mercedes in an act of road rage is now charged with murder.
News outlets report 47-year-old Bryan Keith Schmitt was arrested Monday. He’s also charged with aggravated assault in the death of Hamid Jahangard.
A Sandy Springs Police statement says Jahangard was found lying on a sidewalk after being hit by Schmitt’s Mercedes sedan on July 30. He died days later due to blunt force head trauma.
Sgt. Sam Worsham told the Marietta Daily Journal that officers believe a confrontation between the men escalated, and Schmitt hit Jahangard with his car as the victim walked in the street.
Georgia teen wins Google competition, gets $30K for college STONECREST (AP) —
A Georgia high school graduate has won a $30,000 college scholarship through the “Doodle for Google” competition.
Citing a Google statement, the Atlanta Journal-constitution reports Arantza Pena Popo’s design was featured on the tech giant’s homepage Tuesday. The nationwide contest asked grade schoolers to redesign Google’s logo based on what they hoped for the future.
Popo’s doodle titled “Once you get it, give it back” shows a framed picture of Popo’s mother carrying her as an infant sitting above an adult Popo caring for her aging mother. In this July 27, 2018, file photo, the Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun in Glenrock, Wyo. A coalition of 22 Democratic-led states has sued the Trump administration over its decision to ease restrictions on coal-fired power plants. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, says the new rule violates the federal Clean Air Act because it does not meaningfully replace power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions.