| January 1, 2008 |
Meredith Hope Emerson turns up missing after hiking the Appalachian Trail and the Freeman Trail through the Blood Mountains Wilderness. |
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Meredith Emerson |
| January 4, 2008 |
Gary Hilton dumps the body of Meridith Emerson less than a mile from the spot where Levi Frady's body had been dumped in 1997. |
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Levi Frady |
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Meredith Emerson |
| January 7, 2008 |
Gary Hilton shows police where they can locate the body of Meredith Emerson in Dawson Forest |
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Meredith Emerson |
| January 17, 2008 |
Two off-duty Dekalb County police officers, Ricky Bryant Jr. and Eric Barker, 33, are murdered parking lot at the Glenwood Gardens apartment complex |
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DeKalb County, Georgia |
| January 23, 2008 |
Mike Smith is appointed head coach of the Atlanta Falcons |
| January 31, 2008 |
Gary Hilton pleads guilty to murdering Meredith Emerson. |
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Meredith Emerson |
| February 1, 2008 |
Barbie Bandit Ashley Nicole Miller pleads guilty to theft by taking and possession of Ecstasy with intent to distribute. |
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Barbie Bandits |
| February 5, 2008 |
Georgians turn out in record numbers for an election, selecting Barrack Obama and Mike Huckabee as our choice for Democrat and Republican nominees for president. |
| February 5, 2008 |
A Washington D. C. court of appeals hands Georgia a major loss in its water wars with Florida and Alabama. The three-judge panel held that Georgia did not have a right to increase its draw of water from Lake Lanier |
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Lake Lanier |
| February 6, 2008 |
Emu snarls traffic on I-20 near Appling |
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Escaped Emu on I-20 |
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Columbia County, Georgia |
| February 7, 2008 |
Explosion at the Dixie Crystals sugar refinery owed by Imperial Sugar |
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Dixie Crystal Plant Explosion |
| February 11, 2008 |
Sixth death confirmed in Dixie Crystals plant explosion |
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Dixie Crystal Plant Explosion |
| March 5, 2008 |
Eve Carson of Athens, Georgia was killed during a "random act of violence." Carson, who attended Clark High School in Athens was serving as student body president for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill while majoring in biology and political science. |
| March 7, 2008 |
Castleberry Foods plant in Augusta loses its FDA-issued temporary operating license and closes for a month |
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Food recall at Castleberry in Augusta |
| March 12, 2008 |
Police arrest Demario Atwater in the murder of Athens native Eve Carson |
| March 13, 2008 |
Police in Chapel Hill arrest Lawrence Lovette Jr. in the murder of Eve Carson |
| March 13, 2008 |
Georgia Bulldogs (UGA basketball) defeat Mississippi (Ole Miss) in overtime, 97-95 |
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2008 Georgia Bulldogs Basketball |
| March 14, 2008 |
A strong tornado strikes the Georgia World Congress Center, Phillips Arena, The Equitable Building, and the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill (now upscale condos). Nearby, the Georgia Dome suffers damage while the Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournament is being held inside. Numerous minor injuries and one life-threatening injury are reported. |
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The Georgia Dome |
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2008 Georgia Bulldogs Basketball |
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2008 Georgia tornado outbreak |
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Cobb County, Georgia |
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Fulton County, Georgia |
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DeKalb County, Georgia |
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Georgia World Congress Center
|
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Georgia Tornadoes |
| March 15, 2008 |
Georgia Bulldogs (basketball) defeat the Kentucky Wildcats 60-56 in overtime at Alexander Memorial Stadium. Later the same day the Dogs hand Mississippi State a 64-60 loss in the SEC semifinal game |
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2008 Georgia Bulldogs Basketball |
| March 16, 2008 |
Georgia Bulldogs (basketball) easily defeat the Arkansas Razorbacks 66-57 to gain the number 14 seed in the NCAA tournament. |
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2008 Georgia Bulldogs Basketball |
| March 20, 2008 |
Georgia Bulldogs basketball team is eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in first-round play against Xavier College. They lost 73-61 |
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2008 Georgia Bulldogs Basketball |
| March 24, 2008 |
Barbie Bandits Ashley Nicole Miller and Heather Lyn Johnston are sentenced following earlier guilty pleas. Cobb County Judge Mary Staley handed down a 10-year sentence to Johnston to be served on probation for theft and misdemeanor marijuana possession charges. Johnston's co-defendant Miller was sentenced to two years for the bank theft and drug possession charges with eight years on probation. |
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Barbie Bandits |
| March 27, 2008 |
Charles Johnson enters Doctors Hospital in Columbus, Georgia. He stalks a male nurse whom he blames for his mother's death in 2004 and kills him. He kills two more people while making his escape before being shot by a Columbus police detective. |
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Gunman at Doctors Hospital |
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Columbus, Georgia |
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Muscogee County, Georgia |
| April 1, 2008 |
Police in Waycross uncover a plot to "hurt" a school teacher by nine of her third-grade students. |
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Plot against Waycross teacher |
| April 11, 2008 |
Georgia Tech baseball player Michael Hutts is found dead in his off-campus apartment. It is later determined he died of morphine toxicity. |
| April 15, 2008 |
Delta annouces its intention to merge with Northwest Airlines |
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Delta Air Lines
|
| April 15, 2008 |
Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and Sage Publications filed a copyright infringement suit against four Georgia State University officials alleging "systematic, widespread and unauthorized copying and distribution of a vast amount of copyrighted works." |
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Copyright Lawsuit against Georgia State University |
| May 11, 2008 |
11 tornadoes touch down in the state of Georgia. |
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Bibb County, Georgia |
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Laurens County, Georgia |
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Johnson County, Georgia |
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Fulton County, Georgia |
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Clayton County, Georgia |
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Carroll County, Georgia |
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Gwinnett County, Georgia |
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Georgia Tornadoes |
| May 12, 2008 |
Former Representative Bob Barr from Georgia's 7th District announces his candidacy for President on the Libertarian ticket. |
| May 20, 2008 |
Jimmy Carter's former chief-of-staff Hamilton Jordan dies in Atlanta |
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Hamilton Jordan |
| June 28, 2008 |
Owner "Sonny" Seiler announces the death of University of Georgia Athens mascot Uga IV |
| June 30, 2008 |
1200-megawatt coal-fired Plant Longleaf is blocked by Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore of the Fulton County Superior Court. |
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Early County, Georgia |
| July 6, 2008 |
General Electric/Universal, owner of NBC and other media properties announces an agreement with Landmark Communications to purchase Cobb County-based cable property The Weather Channel |
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Cobb County, Georgia |
| July 8, 2008 |
Barrack Obama visits McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Georgia |
| July 23, 2008 |
U. S. President George Bush visits Atlanta for a fund-raising event for Rick Goddard, running for the House of Representatives from Georgia's 8th congressional district |
| July 24, 2008 |
Georgia State University, appearing in U. S. District Court in Atlanta, asserted that its online distribution of course material is permitted under copyright law's fair-use exemption in this closely watched case |
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Copyright Lawsuit against Georgia State University |
| July 25, 2008 |
OSHA fines Imperial Sugar, owner of the Dixie Crystals plant that exploded near Savannah, 8.8 million dollars. |
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Dixie Crystal Plant Explosion |
| July 29, 2008 |
Natural Resources Defense Council rated Georgia's beaches highest in Water Quality and Safety of all Southeastern states. Several St. Simons and Jekyll Island beaches never exceeded federal guidelines for pollution. |
| August 21, 2008 |
As Tropical Storm Fay makes its third landfall near Flagler Beach, Florida, heavy rain begins to drench south Georgia |
| August 25, 2008 |
After touching most parts of the state of Georgia, tropical depression Fay leaves northeast Georgia |
| August 28, 2008 |
50,000-student Clayton County School System loses its accreditation |
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Clayton County, Georgia |
| August 29, 2008 |
Alpharetta-based Integrity Bank, with assets of 11.1 billion dollars is closed by the FDIC. All assets are purchased by Regions Financial over the weekend. |
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Bank Failures in Georgia |
| September 1, 2008 |
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta estimated start date for samonella outbreak later associated to the Peanut Corporation of America |
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Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella Outbreak |
| September 5, 2008 |
Georgia School Superintendent Kathy Cox wins 1.0 million dollars on "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?," hosted by Georgian Jeff Foxworthy |
| September 8, 2008 |
First reported case of salmonella eventually linked to peanuts |
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Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella Outbreak |
| September 13, 2008 |
Hurricane Ike strikes Galveston, Texas, cutting power to to 9 oil refineries that serve the Southeast United States. |
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Georgia Gas Shortage |
| September 16, 2008 |
Former state representative Ron Sailer sentenced to more than 5 years of supervised released following his conviction on a fraud charge |
| September 16, 2008 |
Jack Alderman is punished by death for the murder of his wife |
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Jack Alderman |
| September 16, 2008 |
With power out in Galveston refineries, gas shortages hit Georgia and other Southeastern U. S. states |
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Georgia Gas Shortage |
| September 17, 2008 |
Hanover Foods purchases Castleberry Brands and announces the closing of the Garden City (Augusta) plant |
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Food recall at Castleberry in Augusta |
| September 30, 2008 |
Gas begins to flow to stations in Georgia, relieving the crunch following Hurricane Ike |
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Georgia Gas Shortage |
| October 24, 2008 |
Alpharetta-based Alpha Bank and Trust is closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance and the FDIC is appointed receiver. |
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Bank Failures in Georgia |
| October 27, 2008 |
"Advanced Voting" begins for the November, 2008 general election |
| October 29, 2008 |
Delta completes its acquisition of Northwest Airlines, pending judicial review |
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Delta Air Lines
|
| November 4, 2008 |
In the general election, Republican John McCain receives 2,046,419 votes (52.3%) to Democrat Barrack Obama's 1,840,397 votes (47.0%). Libertarian Bob Barr received 28,771 (0.7). For the U. S. Senate, Republican Saxby Chambliss received 1,864,909 votes (49.8%), Democrat Jim Martin received 1840397 votes (46.8%) and Libertarian Allen Buckley received 127.785 votes (3.4%), forcing the election into a run-off. U. S. House elections sent Jack Kiingston, Sanford Bishop, Lynn Wesstmoreland, Hank Johnson, JR., John Lewis, Tom Price, John Linder, Jim Marshall, Nathan Deal, Paul Broun, Phil Gingrey, John Barrow, and David Scott to Washington |
| November 7, 2008 |
Brian Nichols is convicted for the murder of four people including a judge, a federal agent, an officer of the court, and a deputy sheriff as well as 50 other crimes. Although the jury deadlocked on the death sentence, Judge James Bodiford sentenced Nichols to the maximum time on each offense. |
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Atlanta courthouse attack |
| November 8, 2008 |
A group of hackers coordinates a series of ATM withdrawals at 2,100 ATMs located around the world, including in the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, and Canada. |
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RBS WorldPay Hacked |
| November 10, 2008 |
RBS WorldPay discovers a $9 million fraud perpetrated two days earlier. |
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RBS WorldPay Hacked |
| November 14, 2008 |
The Tour de Georgia, North Americas premier professional cycling event, is canceled |
| November 14, 2008 |
Castleberry Foods plant in Augusta closes after a botulism scare caused sales to fall. |
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Food recall at Castleberry in Augusta |
| November 14, 2008 |
Scientists identify the "DNA fingerprinting" for the strain of salmonella causing a recent outbreak. |
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Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella Outbreak |
| November 25, 2008 |
13 cases of salmonella are reported to the CDC in a single day, the maximum for this outbreak. Average rate for November is 8-10 cases per day. |
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Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella Outbreak |
| December 3, 2008 |
Incumbent U. S. Senator, Republican Saxby Chambliss defeats Georgia Democratic senator Jim Martin in a runoff election. Chambliss received 1,220,876 votes (57.4%) to Martin's 905,650 votes (42.6%). |
| December 5, 2008 |
The First Georgia Community Bank, Jackson, GA became the third Georgia bank to close this year. The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance named the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as Receiver. United Bank of Zebulon, GA immediately assumed all depository accounts and other bank assets. |
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Bank Failures in Georgia |
| December 12, 2008 |
Haven Trust Bank in Duluth, Georgia was closed Friday by the Georgia Department of Banking, which named the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC immediately transferred the deposits to Branch Banking & Trust (BB&T), headquartered in Winston-Salem. |
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Bank Failures in Georgia |
| December 12, 2008 |
Brian Nichols is sentenced to the maximum for each of the 54 crimes he committed in his May, 2005 rampage. |
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Atlanta courthouse attack |
| December 17, 2008 |
Cooper Tires announces the closure of its Albany, Georgia facility, slated for completion in December, 2009. Production will move to three other plants in the United States. |
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Albany, Georgia |
| December 19, 2008 |
Canopy Skywalk collapses at Atlanta Botanical Garden killing 1 and injuring 18 |
| December 23, 2008 |
RBS WorldPay announces it discovered "its computer system had been improperly accessed by an unauthorized party" on November 10. |
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RBS WorldPay Hacked |
| December 29, 2008 |
The Atlanta Falcons defeat the St. Louis Rams, 31-27, sending the Falcons to the divisional playoffs. |
