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Georgia Today: Ibarra found guilty on all charges; Former Georgia poll worker indicted
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LISTEN: On the Wednesday, Nov. 20 edition of Georgia Today: The Venezuelan man accused of murdering nursing student Laken Riley is found guilty on all charges; a former Georgia poll worker is indicted for allegedly making a bomb threat; and Sen. Warnock calls on his fellow lawmakers to approve additional hurricane relief aid.
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Wednesday, Nov. 20. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, the Venezuelan man accused of murdering nursing student Laken Riley is found guilty on all charges. A former Georgia poll worker is indicted for allegedly making a bomb threat. And Sen. Raphael Warnock calls on his fellow lawmakers to approve additional hurricane relief aid. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.
Story 1:
Peter Biello: Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan man who was accused of murdering nursing student Laken Riley, has been found guilty on all charges. GPB's Chase McGee reports.
Chase McGee: After a short bench trial, Judge H. Patrick Haggard found Ibarra guilty of multiple charges, including malice murder, and sentenced him to life without parole. In February, Ibarra encountered Laken Riley while she was jogging on campus at the University of Georgia and killed her during what prosecutors described as a struggle. Riley was a local nursing student at Athens' Augusta University College of Nursing Campus. Her murder sparked a nationwide debate around illegal immigration after federal authorities revealed Ibarra illegally entered the country in 2022. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee in Athens.
Story 2:
Peter Biello: A Georgia man who stormed the U.S. Capitol with fellow members of the anti-government Oath Keepers extremist group has been sentenced to three years probation and six months of home detention instead of prison. Brian Ulrich's lenient sentence as a reward for helping prosecutors in one of the most consequential cases arising from the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Ulrich pleaded guilty in 2022 to seditious conspiracy, which is the most serious criminal charge stemming from the attack on the Capitol by a mob of Donald Trump supporters. Ulrich tearfully apologized to his family, the court and the people of D.C. before the judge announced his sentence.
Story 3:
Peter Biello: Sen. Raphael Warnock called on his colleagues on the Senate floor today to quickly approve additional federal disaster assistance to Georgians in need after Hurricane Helene. The White House submitted a request to Congress Monday for an additional $100 billion in federal disaster assistance funding. Georgia was one of several states hit hard by Helene when it passed through the southeastern U.S. late September. The state's pecan, timber and poultry industries sustained significant damage. Warnock says he's proud of the federal response so far, but more needs to be done.
Raphael Warnock: The only question is what are we waiting for? There is no time for games. No time for delay. No time for partisanship or politics. We must center the human beings.
Peter Biello: The largest share of the money, about $40 billion, would go to the main disaster relief fund at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. An additional $24 billion would help farmers, and $12 billion would go toward community development block grants.
Story 4:
Peter Biello: A new study published today finds that human-caused climate change intensified the vast majority of hurricanes during a recent five year period. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports on the findings.
Benjamin Payne: Of all the Atlantic hurricanes from 2019 to 2023, 84% topped out at higher max wind speeds fueled by warmer waters due to human-caused climate change. How much higher? About 20 mph. That means 30 hurricanes became one category stronger than they otherwise would have without climate change, including Hurricane Ian, which hit South Georgia hard in 2022. Daniel Gilford is a climate scientist who coauthored the study.
Daniel Gilford: Because we know the sea surface temperatures are increasing, we know that the speed limit at which a hurricane can spin is going up and hurricane intensities in the real world are responding.
Benjamin Payne: As for this year's hurricane season, a separate analysis by Gilford's team found that all 11 Atlantic hurricanes so far were stronger than they would have been 100 years ago. For GPB's News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.
Story 5:
Peter Biello: After almost a year of testimony, prosecutors in Atlanta have rested their case against the two remaining defendants in the Young Thug trial. Both Deamonte Kendrick, also known as Yak Gotti, and Shannon Stillwell, told the judge they would not testify in their own defense. Both rejected plea offers after over a week of negotiations. Defense lawyers indicated that they would ask Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker to direct the jury to issue a verdict of not guilty against the men today. That would require the lawyers to argue that no reasonable person could find them guilty. The sweeping gang and racketeering indictment led to the longest trial in Georgia's history. Rapper Young Thug himself has pleaded guilty.
Story 6:
Peter Biello: A former Georgia poll worker was indicted yesterday for allegedly mailing a bomb threat to a polling place. 25-year-old Nicholas Wimbish of Milledgeville was also indicted for lying to the FBI during the investigation launched by that letter. According to the indictment, Wimbish was serving as a poll worker at the Jones County Elections office on Oct. 16 when he had a verbal altercation with a voter. Later, Wimbish allegedly mailed a letter to the Jones County election superintendent, purportedly from a Jones County voter complaining about Wimbish. The letter contained several threats closing with a reference to a, quote, "boom toy." The indictment alleges that Wimbish falsely told the FBI that he believed the Jones County voter he interacted with sent the letter, which was later found on Wimbish's computer. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the mailing a bomb threat count and more for the various other counts. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence.
Story 7:
Peter Biello: The Georgia Supreme Court has suspended former state Court of Appeals judge Christian Coomer's law license for two years. The Republican and former state legislator had been charged with violating the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct. He'd been accused of transferring campaign funds to his law firm's account and failing to list the transfers on campaign disclosure reports. He's also accused of taking a personal vacation to Hawaii that he claimed was for legislative purposes. Coomer reimbursed his campaign account for expenses from the trip, after the state government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission began investigating him. The State Bar of Georgia agreed that the two-year suspension handed down yesterday was appropriate and sufficient. Coomer had agreed to the suspension by entering a petition for voluntary discipline. The suspension will expire in August of next year.
Story 8:
Peter Biello: The Atlanta City Council voted Monday to approve spending $1.7 million for more security at the controversial public safety training center site that opponents have dubbed "Cop City." The approval came after the council first voted against the legislation. The training center is set to open next month. The $90 million budget for the training center has ballooned to 115 million since the council approved funding for the project last year. City officials have blamed vandals for much of the increase. Atlanta Police Department officials say the funding is needed due to the continued threats of violence.
Story 9:
Peter Biello: A new data center has been proposed for the city of Social Circle, 45 minutes east of Atlanta. According to filings with the State Department of Community Affairs. The data center proposed by developer Sailfish Investors acquisitions would total nearly 1.8 million square feet. Facebook's parent company, Meta, already owns a data center in Social Circle. Georgia is rapidly becoming home to data centers serving major U.S. companies, including Google, Synovus and UPS. This new data center in Social Circle is expected to be completed in January 2027.
Story 10:
Peter Biello: Home Depot says it's now offering the official 2024 White House Christmas ornament in stores across Georgia. This year's ornament honors former President Jimmy Carter. It features an anchor shape to symbolize President Carter's service in the Navy. The ornament also will be available through Home Depot's website and select stores in the Washington, D.C., area.
And that's all we've got for this edition of Georgia Today. Thanks so much for tuning in. We hope you'll come back tomorrow. The best way to do that is to subscribe. That way, we will pop up automatically in your podcast feed tomorrow afternoon. And if you want to check out the latest news or read more about the stories you heard today, visit GPB.org/News. And if you've got feedback, we would love to hear from you. Send us an email. The address is GeorgiaToday @GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
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For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news
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