Starting tomorrow, Georgia will begin enforcing a new law intended to compel Amazon and other e-tailers to collect sales tax on purchase in that state. But it looks like Amazon may have a pretty easy work-around. [More]
georgia
New Law Will Try (And Probably Fail) To Make Amazon Collect Sales Tax In Georgia
By 12.31.12 — Updated: 1.23.13
Botched Foreclosure Shines Spotlight On Banks’ Ignorance Of The Rules
By 12.3.12
In Georgia, there is a program called HomeSafe, intended to prevent homeowners who have just lost their jobs and are only a little behind on their mortgage from losing their homes. When someone is accepted into the program, lenders are required to pause foreclosure actions, but that didn’t stop Citi and Freddie Mac from trying to evict one woman. [More]
Kroger Manager Fired For Allegedly Attacking Man Who Handed Out Food In Parking Lot
By 8.27.12 — Updated: 4.12.13
After you buy food at the grocery store, it’s pretty much yours to do with as you wish, right? But a Kroger manager in Georgia didn’t believe that an elderly customer would just want to hand out food to hungry people, and allegedly attacked the man, losing his job in the process. [More]
Convenience Store Owner Calls Cops On Unruly Customer, Ends Up Getting Arrested
By 8.2.12
The owner of a Chevron gas station and convenience store in Georgia says that when she called the cops to handle an allegedly rude and unruly customer, things got turned around on her and she ended up being the one in cuffs — all because she couldn’t figure out how to operate the security camera system. [More]
1,600 Turtles Break Out Of Farm, Slowly Crawl To Freedom
By 7.20.12
It’s like a real-life version of the movie “Chicken Run,” only without Mel Gibson and much, much slower. Near Summerville, Georgia, there is a turtle farm. Thousands of adult turtles, all native species to the southern United States, live in ponds on the property. Thanks to vandals or scrap metal thieves, breaks in the fence have allowed the turtles to wander off the property, taking up residence in surrounding waterways. The operation is something like a hatchery, and about 1,600 of the 2,200 turtles that form its breeding stock have run away. [More]
If A Stranger Wants To Suck Your Toe At Walmart, He Probably Isn’t Really A TV Producer
By 7.13.12
Just a bit of advice to the shoppers of the world: If a man approaches you at Walmart — or really any retailer — and says he works for America’s Funniest Home Videos and that the show will pay for your stuff if you let him kiss your foot, he’s almost certainly lying. And yet, a teenager in Georgia says she was a sucker for a toe-sucker in disguise. [More]
1994 Tax Billing Error Forces Woman Into 5-Year Legal Battle To Save Her House
By 7.2.12
Back in 1994, a Georgia woman received two county tax bills in the mail — one addressed to her, and a second addressed to a man with the same, incredibly common last name, but whom she’d never heard of and whose address was invalid. She paid off the former immediately and ignored the latter. Little did she know that, 13 years later, this goof by the county would land her in court trying to save her house from being taken away from her. [More]
Speak Farsi At The Apple Store And They Might Say You Can’t Buy An iPad
By 6.19.12
While no one in Iran can order a computer from a U.S. Apple store — and there are limitations on these electronics being brought into Iran — there is no legal reason a U.S. citizen should be barred from buying an iPad just because she speaks Farsi. And yet customers at Apple stores in Georgia are being told they can’t shop there because the government won’t allow it. [More]
Report: Georgia To Deny KKK Application To Adopt Highway
By 6.12.12
Yesterday, we told you about how the state of Georgia was trying to decide whether to accept an “adopt-a-highway” application from a local Ku Klux Klan group or risk facing a lengthy legal battle by denying it. Now It looks like the state’s Dept. of Transportation has opted for the latter. [More]
KKK Applies To Adopt Stretch Of Georgia Highway
By 6.11.12
When you see a stretch of road that has been “adopted” by a group or business that helps to remove litter from the highway in return for recognition from the state, the sponsor is often some civic group, union or social club. Occasionally, you get something like the stretch of I-95 near the Pennsylvania/Delaware border sponsored by a gentlemen’s club. But legislators in Georgia now find themselves in a bit of a pickle, having to pick between allowing the Ku Klux Klan to adopt a highway or facing a potentially lengthy and pricey legal battle. [More]
Popeyes Apologizes To Customer With Service Dog
By 5.22.12
Yesterday we brought you the story of a Georgia man who said he was wrongly kicked out of a Popeyes restaurant because of his service dog. And while the restaurant chain is sticking by its side of the story, it has released an official apology to the customer. [More]
Report: Judges Collect More Than $1 Million In Traffic Fines By Calling Them 'Court Costs'
By 5.18.12
Imagine you’re caught speeding — or driving recklessly, or driving without a license — and you appear in traffic court all set to pay the fine. But then the judge tells you that he’s not only knocking your offense down to a warning, but also discounting your penalty and collecting the lesser amount as “court costs.” You’d probably be very happy. Only problem is, it’s probably illegal and it keeps bad drivers on the road. [More]
Georgia Woman Arrested For Removing Illegal Roadside Sign
By 4.30.12
While two cities in Florida are using robocalls to go after the people who litter their roadsides with illegal “snipe” or “bandit” signs advertising everything from home-flippers to roofers to tax assistance, their neighbors to the north arrested a woman who took the law into her own hands. [More]
Georgia Welfare Recipients Will Have To Pass Drug Test
By 4.16.12
Almost six months after a federal judge halted similar legislation in Florida, the governor of Georgia has signed off on a new regulation that will require certain welfare recipients to pay for and pass a drug test. [More]
Hard-Up College Students Turning To Food Stamps
By 2.3.12
Being in college and having an empty wallet tend to go hand-in-hand. A full course load can make it difficult for students to find steady work, and in many college towns the work that’s available isn’t going to pay for very much. But while my fellow students were undergoing (legal) drug trials and donating whatever bodily fluid they could get a few cents for, some in the current generation of cash-strapped collegians are turning to food stamps. [More]
Judge Rips Into U.S. Bank For Taking Bailout Money But Denying Mortgage Modifications
By 11.16.11
A judge in Georgia is quickly becoming an internet folk hero after he publicly slammed U.S. Bank for taking billions in government bailout money and all the while refusing mortgage modifications for homeowners in need of help. [More]
If You're Going To Rob 85 Storage Units, Don't Leave Behind A Pizza Box With Your Address On It
By 10.13.11
We know — or rather, we assume — that breaking open and stealing items from more than 80 storage units is exhausting work that can leave even the stoutest criminal with a deep hunger. But you can’t let your rumbling stomach trick you into forgetting that the key to being a successful robber is to not get caught. [More]
Saggy Pants Fines Bring City $3,916.49
By 9.28.11
Albany, Georgia is raking in the dough by fining people who violate the city’s saggy pants ban. [More]
