City aims for $7.5M in wastewater improvements
THOMASVILLE — Officials in one south Georgia city are seeking $7.5 million to improve a wastewater treatment plant that’s been ordered to upgrade.
The Thomasville TimesEnterprise reports the facility needs structural work, plus upgrades to improve its capacity.
Officials say old concrete is at risk, meaning a heavy storm could create a failure. Plus, without any extra capacity, the city will have trouble accommodating new and expanding businesses.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division told the city on June 1 that it had three years to reach compliance. Plus, changes to environmental regulation of the Ochlockonee River could affect the plant’s operation.
The city is seeking a $5.7 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to pay for 80% of needed work. The city would be responsible for 20% of the cost, and is seeking to borrow that money from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority.
Thomasville has about 8,000 sewer customers, city utilities Director Chris White said, with about 3.5 million gallons of wastewater flowing daily to its plant. The plant would be able to treat 5 million gallons daily after improvements.
2 people are indicted in slaying of Atlanta college student
A man and a woman have been indicted on murder and other charges in the killing of a Clark Atlanta University student, prosecutors said.
The indictment against Barron Brantley, 21, and Jordyn Jones, 22, was announced Friday.
Alexis Crawford was strangled, placed in a plastic bin and dumped at a park, police said. Crawford and Jones were roommates, and had a fight inside their apartment and Jones’ boyfriend, Brantley, got involved, court records show. Brantley strangled Crawford, and then the couple put her body into the bin and left her in a park outside Atlanta, police said.
Lawyers for Brantley and Jones did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
Georgia man accused of threatening to shoot up workplace
BARNESVILLE — Authorities in Georgia have arrested a man they say made comments to a co-worker about bringing an assault rifle to work and “shooting up the place.”
Michael C. Hudgins, 24, was arrested Tuesday on a terroristic threats and acts charge, as well as gun and drug charges, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a news release Friday.
Hudgins was an employee of Continental Tire’s Aldora Mills facility in Barnesville. He told another employee that he planned to bring an AK 47 rifle to work and told that person not to come to work Saturday because that’s when he planned to carry out his attack, the release says.
GBI agents and Lamar County Sheriff’s Office investigators went to Hudgins’ home on Tuesday. They determined he was on first offender probation from a prior arrest and had seven guns that were prohibited under his probation conditions. They also found methamphetamine and marijuana in an outbuilding on the property, the release says.
BEIJING — China’s death toll from a new virus increased to 304 on Sunday amid warnings from the World Health Organization that other countries need to prepare in the event the disease spreads among their populations as more nations report local infections.
Meanwhile, six officials in the city of Huanggang, neighboring the epicenter of Wuhan in Hubei province, have been fired over “poor performance” in handling the outbreak, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
It cited the mayor as saying the city’s “capabilities to treat the patients remained inadequate and there is a severe shortage in medical supplies such as protective suits and medical masks.”
Figures from the National Health Commission showed an increase of 45 in the death toll and 2,590 in the number of cases for a total of 14,380, well above the number of those infected in in the 2002-03 outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which broke out in southern China before spreading worldwide.
With the outbreak showing little sign of abating, authorities in Hubei and elsewhere have extended the Lunar New Year holiday, due to end this week, well into February. The annual travel crunch of millions of people returning from their hometowns to the cities is thought to pose a major threat of secondary infection at a time when authorities are encouraging people to avoid public gatherings.
All Hubei schools will postpone the opening of the new semester until further notice and students from elsewhere who visited over the holiday will also be excused from classes.
Far away on China’s southeast coast, the manufacturing hub of Wenzhou put off the opening of government offices until Feb. 9, private businesses until Feb. 17 and schools until March 1.
RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Gunfire erupted after a funeral Saturday in Florida, killing a teenager and a man and leaving two other people wounded, police said.
Riviera Beach police said in a statement that the shooting happened near the Victory City Church shortly after 2:30 p.m. They said a 15-year-old boy and the man died at the scene.
A woman and a teenager were taken to the hospital. Their conditions were not released, nor the names of the victims.
No arrests have been made in the case.
Police said listening devices in the area that detect the sound of gunshots counted 13 rounds fired.
Pastor Tywuante D. Lupoe said in a video statement posted on Facebook that the church was “very aware” that violence was a possibility at the funeral because of a family dispute and that it had provided armed security.
A Riviera Beach police officer also was present, he said.
He said the security guards and police officer had left after the service when there were only a few stragglers remaining in the area. He said that’s when a fight broke out across the street from the church and the shooting erupted. He said none of the victims are church members and no one was injured on its property. He did not provide further details about the funeral.
“This is an isolated incident and it had nothing to do with Victory City Church,” Lupoe said.
Riviera Beach is a suburb of West Palm Beach.