4 dead as Georgia officials investigate if cocaine use is common link

Multiple law enforcement agencies have begun a joint investigation in Camden County after four people died, and drug usage may be the reason, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. As the agencies investigate the four separate deaths, a 39-year-old Kingsland man is in custody as part of that case, the GBI said. Alonzo Deshawn Davis was arrested Thursday night on outstanding warrants and remains behind bars without bail on unspecified charges as the investigation continues, according to the Camden County Sheriff's Office.

The bureau had announced earlier Friday that one person had died and others were hospitalized after they used a powder believed to be cocaine, according to District Attorney Jackie Johnson. The investigation had begun into the possibility that the substance contained "a more toxic or lethal drug" that may have been the cause of that and "other unexplained deaths," according to a warning issued Friday morning. "There is evidence that the potentially lethal substance was purchased by additional persons in Camden County," Johnson warned. "Consumers of illegally purchased substances of this nature should be aware of the extreme danger."

Now the St. Marys and Kingsland police departments, Sheriff's Office and Naval Criminal Investigative Services are involved in an investigation to determine the cause of the deaths and if there is a connection between them, the GBI said. Autopsies and other laboratory examinations are being done at the Savannah Crime Lab, with the preliminary investigation revealing drug usage might have played a role in the deaths. The bureau states that the public should be aware of the continued dangers of consuming illegal drugs and ask that anyone with information concerning the investigation contact the Sheriff's Office Tip line at (912) 510-5163.

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20181109/4-dead-as-georgia-officials-investigate-if-cocaine-use-is-common-link?template=ampart

Georgia governor's race roiled by election security charges

ATLANTA – The bruising race for governor of Georgia has been roiled by unsupported, eleventh-hour allegations from Republican candidate Brian Kemp, who also is the state’s chief election official, that Democrats sought to hack the voter registration system. His Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, said he is making a baseless accusation to deflect attention from an apparently severe security flaw in the system Kemp is responsible for overseeing.

Here’s a look at the dispute, how it unfolded and what’s at stake.

The allegation

Kemp asked the FBI on Sunday to investigate the Democratic Party, accusing it of trying to hack the system he controls as secretary of state. He offered no evidence in support of his request for a probe of the opposition. The FBI declined to comment. Kemp leveled the allegation after an attorney for election-security advocates notified the FBI and Kemp’s office on Saturday that a private citizen alerted him to what appeared to be a major flaw in the database used to check in voters at the polls. Independent computer scientists told The Associated Press that the flaw would enable anyone with access to an individual voter’s personal information to log on to Georgia’s MyVoter registration portal and alter or delete any voter’s record, potentially causing havoc.

The Democrats’ response

Abrams on Monday called him a “bald-faced liar” who cooked up the allegation to deflect attention from his record of incompetence as secretary of state presiding over an antiquated, vulnerability-laced elections system. “There was never a hack,” she told a gathering at a Savannah union hall. “What was wrong is that he failed to do his job. He is abusing his power.”

The background

The finger-pointing is the latest turn in a campaign whose final weeks have been dominated by charges of voter suppression and countercharges of attempted voter fraud. Polls suggest Kemp and Abrams are locked in a tight race in a contest that has taken on historic significance because Abrams could become the nation’s first black female governor. She has accused Kemp of using his post as secretary of state to make it harder for certain voters to cast ballots. Kemp has countered that he is following the law and that Abrams and advocacy groups are trying to help noncitizens and others cast ballots illegally. Last month, a federal judge endorsed plaintiffs’ arguments that Kemp has been derelict in his management of the state election system and that the setup is lacking in reliability. The atmosphere has left partisans and good-government advocates alike worrying that the losing side will not accept Tuesday’s results.

Latest allegation unfolds

According to AP interviews and records released by the Georgia Democratic Party, a lawyer for election-security advocates, David Cross, notified both the FBI and Kemp’s counsel Saturday that a citizen had alerted him to the flaw. The citizen also separately informed the Georgia Democratic Party, whose voter protection director then sent an email to two Georgia Tech computer security experts, one of whom sits on a commission created by Kemp. “If this report is accurate, it is a massive vulnerability,” wrote the director, Sara Tindall Ghazal. The online news outlet WhoWhatWhy obtained copies of some of the correspondence and published a story about the system flaw on Sunday – just as Kemp’s office issued the first of two statements accusing Democrats of a “failed cyberattack.” That statement – bereft of specifics – remained prominent on his office’s main web page Monday afternoon

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The flaw & Past Problems above

https://www.theherald-news.com/2018/11/05/georgia-governors-race-roiled-by-election-security-charges/arfpeaa/