Chattahoochee County, GA

Mark Rice is a staff writer at the Ledger-Enquirer newspaper in Columbus, Georgia. He covers education stories in the Chattahoochee Valley.

Former Chattahoochee County High School football coach Jody Allen has died. Allen, who was an assistant coach for 10 years at Florida State, died at 60 Thursday while receiving hospice care in his Columbus home after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Allen coached defensive...

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - According to Battalion Chief Bryan Watson with Columbus Fire and EMS, two brothers were swimming in the Chattahoochee River Sunday night when things took an unexpected turn for the worse. Watson says the two men were between J.R. Allen Parkway and a Georgia Power dam when...

The body of a drowning victim was recovered from the Chattahoochee River Tuesday morning, officials with Columbus Fire and EMS said. The body was recovered near North Highland Dam, just below the old Bibb Mill, at 7:30 a.m., about two days after the drowning was reported, Battalion Chief Daniel Macon with Columbus Fire and EMS said.

Chattahoochee Elementary School Principal Jeff Lee told his staff that, if they were going to do anything to commemorate his retirement, they should just do something “low-key.”. He didn’t want a long ceremony where people sat around watching one speaker after another get up to make speeches. So, naturally the...

I'm a Crawford Long baby who grew up in Marietta and eventually wandered to the University of Southern Mississippi for college. Earned a BA in journalism (double minor in political science and history). Previously worked in Florida and Clayton County.

FT. BENNING, Ga. (WTVM) - Did you know some of the world’s top Olympians train in the Chattahoochee Valley?. Olympic trials for small-bore shooting are being held at Fort Benning to see who can hit the mark and earn a trip to Tokyo. “This is probably one of the most...

First responders are searching for the body of a missing kayaker in the Chattahoochee river. Recovery efforts have been going on since 8:30 a.m.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - According to the Georgia Department of Health, counties in the Chattahoochee Valley saw 22 people hospitalized from an overdose last week. Cheryl Kolb with the Columbus Health Department tells News Leader 9 that is the highest weekly count since the start of last year. According to Kolb, 15 of the hospitalizations were seen in Muscogee County. The remaining hospitalizations came from nine neighboring areas with zip codes 31820, 31903, 31904, 31906, 31907. Rural counties include Crisp, Harris, Randolph and Schley.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - The Georgia Department of Health is putting the Chattahoochee Valley on notice. There’s tainted drugs on the street in our area, and they’re killing people. Health department officials tell News Leader 9 that counterfeit Percocet and Xanax pills are circulating the streets of counties in our...

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - It’s Mother’s Day weekend in the Chattahoochee Valley and a few businesses want to show their appreciation to all of the moms!. This weekend, let’s celebrate the moms and other mother-like figures in our lives. Below is a list of restaurants offering Mother’s Day specials:. Bonefish...

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - After some booming thunderstorms overnight, Tuesday brings another chance of strong to severe storms across the Chattahoochee Valley especially during the afternoon and evening hours as the atmosphere becomes more “unstable” again. Our area remains under a Level 2 & 3 out of 5 risk for seeing storms that could bring mainly a damaging wind, heavy rain, and intense lightning threat, though we can’t rule out hail or brief tornadoes either (the threat is much lower in comparison to the others). Storms will likely be more robust as they approach the I-85 corridor from the northwest before possibly weakening somewhat while moving southeastward. Unfortunately, there is still uncertainty on how many rounds of storms we will see and the exact timing of each batch; our high resolution computer models that we use to illustrate the coverage and timing of storms to you do not have a good handle on the set-up. So, just prepare for the possibility of individual storms firing up as early as 12-1 PM EDT, but any other widespread clusters of storms to follow are pegged to arrive during the late afternoon and evening hours.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - A man fleeing police in Phenix City Friday afternoon jumped into the Chattahoochee River. According to police, the suspect is wanted on a probation violation. The suspect did not drown. Columbus Fire & EMS rescued him from the river. The suspect’s identity has not been given.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - A local non-profit organization is using its CARES funding from the state of Georgia to house more individuals in the community who are experiencing homelessness. Home 4 Good is working to put 20 people in houses across the Chattahoochee Valley soon. The organization is asking the...

A select group of Chattahoochee Tech students are better prepared to serve as effective workforce leaders upon graduating from the college’s 2021 Student Leadership Academy. The college honored these students in a ceremony held April 16 at the North Metro campus. The Student Leadership Academy is an annual, semester-long program...

Chattahoochee County now has a growing new program with area youth, as a pair of local residents are operating the Karate Center of Cusseta. Gary Horner and his wife, Bobbie Cooper Horner, moved to Cusseta around a year ago and actually had no intention of opening a karate school. However, after about six months they missed interacting with students, so they decided to see if there was any interest.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - Enrichment Services is now making appointments for energy assistance for seniors in the Chattahoochee Valley. Those 65 and older can make appointments through the Cooling Program in April. The program will open to the general public in May. To qualify, everyone in the household must be...

The Georgia Forestry Commission recently announced its County Unit of the Year for the North and South Zones. The Chattahoochee-Marion Unit received the honor of being named Fiscal Year 2020 North Zone County Unit of the Year. The Georgia Forestry Commission's fiscal year 2020 ran from July 1-June 30. This...

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - We will see a line of showers and storms move through the Chattahoochee Valley today with the potential for some pockets of strong winds, frequent lightning, and small hail. The severe risk overall is low, and while we cannot complete rule out a brief tornado, that risk is extremely low. That being said, we could see some severe thunderstorm warnings come out with some strong winds being the main concern, so have a way to get watches and warnings! Timing-wise we are looking at early afternoon hours for our most northwestern counties, mid-afternoon for our middle counties, and late afternoon/early evening for our most southeastern counties.

CHATTAHOOCHEE COUNTY, Ga. (WTVM) - Educators in Chattahoochee County were vaccinated for COVID-19 Tuesday. A vaccination clinic was held at the Chattahoochee County Education Center gym until 1 p.m. Vaccinations are not mandatory for teachers and school staff at this time, but the ones who showed up to be vaccinated...