The man who confessed to killing eight people in shootings at two Atlanta spas and another in Cherokee County has been indicted on murder charges. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she will seek hate crime charges and the death penalty after a grand jury indicted Robert Aaron Long, 22. He was also indicted on murder and related charges in Cherokee. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent.
Don’t panic! That’s the word from state and local officials as a gasoline shortage began to grip metro Atlanta on Wednesday. Many gas stations around the city were either out of gas or only had diesel or regular unleaded, which was also becoming scarce. A cyber attack that shut down the Colonial Pipeline that supplies gas to the East Coast is behind the shortage. U.S. officials and Colonial Pipeline say they hope to get fuel flowing fully again later this week and implored motorists not to panic buy or hoard gasoline. Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order Tuesday to temporarily suspend the gas tax in Georgia and announced that the state is increasing the weight limits for trucks transporting fuel, providing more supply for stations as they receive deliveries. The order also prohibits price gouging at the pumps. Meanwhile, gas prices have jumped 11 cents since the shortage began. GasBuddy has launched a track to show which stations still have fuel in Atlanta. You can access it at tracker.gasbuddy.com.
A series of events to remember late Atlanta City Councilman C.T. Martin will begin Thursday, May 13, from 6 to 7 p.m. with a candlelight ceremony honoring his life at C.T. Martin Plaza at Doctors’ Memorial Park, 500 Fairburn Road SW. A public viewing will be held Friday, May 14, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Hoosier Memorial United Methodist Church, 2545 Benjamin E. Mays Drive SW. A celebration of life service will be held Saturday, May 15, at 11 a.m. at the C.T. Martin Natatorium and Recreation Center, 3201 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW. He will be interred at Lincoln Cemetery, 2275 Joseph E. Boone Boulevard NW. Martin, who died May 8 at age 84, served on the city council for 30 years.