TALLULAH FALLS, Ga. — Tallulah Falls School has opened registration for its 2026 summer athletic camps, offering eight programs throughout June for student-athletes of varying ages and skill levels.
Registration began Feb. 9, and camps will run from June 1 through June 22, according to the school’s athletics department.
The camp season begins June 1 with baseball and swimming. Tennis camp starts June 8. Basketball, softball and soccer camps all open June 15, and speed camp begins June 22.
Camp offerings include baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, speed and agility training, swimming and tennis. Each program emphasizes fundamental skill development, while also incorporating games and competitions. Camps are directed by TFS coaches, with some sessions featuring additional instruction from local coaches and specialists.
Age ranges vary by sport, with some camps open to rising third-graders through high school students. Swim camp is open to children ages 6 and older.
Joanna Neely, now a fifth-grader, attended both the softball and basketball camps last summer.
“The camps were really fun,” Neely said. “There were a lot of challenges, new things I did not know about. With basketball, we worked on a lot of skills and played a lot of fun games like dribble tag. In the softball camp, it definitely improved my pitching.”
Olivia Newkirk, also a fifth-grader, said tennis camp helped build her confidence in a new sport.
“It was my first year playing tennis,” Newkirk said. “I learned how to do a forehand and a backhand. It was kind of hard for me, but through the coaching I was able to learn it very easily. It really encouraged me to get more tennis lessons and during summer I am going to play more tennis. The coaches were always there to help us with whatever we needed.”
Turner Lander, who attended tennis camp, said the experience prepared him for competitive play.
“Camp was great,” Lander said. “My friends were there which made it so much fun. I learned some new things, played some matches. It was a great experience. I loved it. I learned how to do a one-handed volley and a one-handed backhand. The camp helped prepare me for the season. It gave me new things to try in matches and prepared me well.”
Additional information about specific dates, age divisions and registration details is available through the school’s athletics website.
In Northeast Georgia, even Waffle House brings the romance. One local location sets the tables, takes reservations, and turns scattered hash browns into a Valentine’s Day dinner tradition—proof that love does not require linen tablecloths, just a booth for two and someone to share it with. (Carly McCurry / Now Georgia)
Love stories do not always begin with violins or vineyard sunsets. Sometimes they start in bowling alleys, on the dancefloor, in college hallways in Dahlonega, or across a table at a small-town café somewhere in Northeast Georgia. This list gathers a handful of those stories—the awkward beginnings, the missed texts, the slick footwork across a crowded dance floor, the second chances—that grew into marriages, families, and steady devotion. If you have a Northeast Georgia love story of your own, drop it in the comments or email me at carly@nowhabersham.com with a horizontal photo. On Monday the 17th, I’ll aim Cupid’s arrow and choose the three sweetest stories to receive our Cupid Award and a featured spot in the article.
Sheryl & Steven Webster – Clayton
Sheryl and Steven Webster, whose whirlwind romance proves that sometimes the best love stories start with a gentle nudge (and a good pair of dancing shoes).
Sheryl and Steven Webster share a quiet moment in the bleachers—blue and gold all around them, but eyes only for each other. Team colors may bring them to the game, but it’s clear they’ve been cheering one another on for years. (Photo by Sheryl Webster)
Sheryl had been through the unimaginable loss of her first husband to a sudden heart attack, leaving her focused on raising her teenage son and quietly grieving. For years, she stayed on the couch, wrapped in routine and memories. But a lifelong friend—25 years of honest, no-nonsense friendship—refused to let her stay there forever.
“You’re growing mold!” her friend teased, in that loving-but-blunt way only a bestie can. “You’re not getting any younger, and it’s time to think about yourself again.” Sheryl laughed it off at first, but her friend was relentless. She had the perfect guy in mind: Steven, a business associate and friend of her husband—kind, fun, and, crucially, he loved to dance.
Sheryl hesitated. “If he’s so wonderful, why is he still single?” she asked. Fair question! But then came the magic words: “He’ll just be your dance partner if there are no sparks. No pressure.”
That sealed the deal. Sheryl had taught ballroom dancing at Arthur Murray during her undergraduate college days and had missed the joy of gliding across a floor ever since the passing of her husband. The idea of dancing again—even just as friends—was too tempting to resist.
On Steven’s side, the mutual friends had been singing Sheryl’s praises for weeks, sharing photos of her and her son, painting a picture of a warm, wonderful woman ready for a new chapter.
Finally, they talked on the phone, clicked instantly, and agreed to meet for lunch… followed by dancing that very evening. From the first step on the dance floor, it was electric. Laughter, easy conversation, perfect rhythm—sparks didn’t just fly; they ignited.
What started as a casual “dance partner” arrangement turned into something undeniable. Their first date was February 25, 2015, and just a few short months later—on July 17, 2015—they said “I do.” Whirlwind? Absolutely. Meant to be? Even more so.
Sheryl and Steven’s story is a beautiful reminder that love can bloom again after heartbreak, often when a caring friend plays matchmaker and a shared passion like dancing lights the way.
Jeannie & Eric Allen – Clarkesville
Our love story is a little different. We met one night in a bowling alley in Conyers. He was intensely serious; I was a giant goofball. He was kind and talked with our group between sets—but still, so serious (he had bowled almost a perfect game). On his last frame, I yelled, “Don’t throw a gutter ball.” He threw a gutter ball. He was mad—but jocular about it. We became friends that night.
Jeannie and Eric Allen dressed for a friend’s wedding and somehow looked ready for one of their own. Sunlight, fresh blooms, and two smiles that say they still choose each other—every single time. (Photo by Jeannie Allen)
Many years later, after only a few months of dating, we got engaged in 2012. A year later, we were married. Since then, we’ve walked through everything—the typical hardships, the happiness, the sadness, seasons of poor health—but through it all, we have held onto one constant: love.
On February 9, 2026, we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. We spent the day in our new home, grateful, and excited to see what this next chapter holds.
If we could offer one solid piece of advice, it would be this: never stop dating each other—and never stop communicating.
Kristin & Dr. Nathan LaShoto – Cornelia
Our love story began with a blind date we now fondly refer to as “the coffee test.” Since this was neither mine nor Nathan’s first time being set up, it was basically a first date with an exit strategy. The plan was to meet for late-afternoon coffee on the Gainesville Square and if things went well, walk to a nearby restaurant for dinner. If not, we could part ways politely after a cup of joe, no harm done.
Kristen and Nathan LaShoto settle into the stone steps like they’ve settled into life together. (Photo provided by Kristen LaShoto)
But coffee turned into dinner, and dinner turned into hours of effortless conversation. Before long, we were inseparable. What started as cautious optimism grew into certainty as we dated over the next two years. Nathan became my best friend, my constant, and the person I couldn’t imagine doing life without.
In March 2018, during a trip to New York City, Nathan proposed at the top of the Empire State Building. I said yes while jumping up and down with excitement. Today, we’re happily married and recently celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary.
I think it’s safe to say we both passed “the coffee test.”
Carly & Alexander Camejo – Cornelia
My own love story reads like friends to enemies—but not in a Princess Diaries II way, with attractive, confident royals. But instead features two awkward, admittedly nerdy teenagers.
I sometimes bullied poor Alex—even on his first day at the Christian homeschool co-op. Then the teenage tides shifted. One week, we stood as unlikely friends and allies. The next as bitter enemies.
Years later, at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega, Alex helped me adjust to a new school. He coaxed me out of the corners the way a man with a biscuit coaxes a raccoon from a trash receptacle—slow movements, steady voice, no sudden gestures.
He introduced me to people and nudged me into conversations. He hovered nearby like a six-foot-four mother hen with a big bushy beard.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, I realized I enjoyed the company of my own kind.
Nearly a decade later, I confidently identify as an extrovert. Alex claims he merely spotted the evidence early, like a wildlife researcher documenting a rare species emerging from the underbrush.
He eventually gained enough confidence to ask me on a date. I declined with an exceedingly flimsy excuse. Reluctantly, he accepted my answer.
Three weeks later, I texted him: “How about that date?”
My phone, damaged by repeated misuse and careless handling, failed me. The message never sent.
That evening, during our usual weekly hike, he mentioned a girl from his internship. I grew taciturn and aloof while Alex tried to decode the sudden frost. Later, I discovered the text had never delivered. I explained the mishap, and he forgot the internship girl on the spot.
We have been married for seven years.
And to this day, he still claims to lure me from trash receptacles with biscuits.
My husband, Alex, and I walk the shoreline with our daughter Maple-Jean, chasing waves, swatting vicious sand flies, holding hands, and building the kind of love that leaves footprints long after the tide rolls in. (Photo provided by Carly Camejo)
Now it’s your turn
Don’t forget to drop your love story in the comment section with a horizontal photo. Keep it to one or two paragraphs, or email it to carly@nowhabersham.com. On Monday, the 17th, I’ll let Cupid’s arrow decide and select the three sweetest stories to receive our Cupid Award and be added to this article.
Ilia Malinin of the United States falls during the men's free skate program in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
MILAN (AP) — Ilia Malinin wound his way through the tunnels beneath the Milano Ice Skating Arena on Friday night, trying in vain to explain — or even just understand — exactly what went wrong in an Olympic free skate that could only be described as a disaster.
Out in the arena, Mikhail Shaidorov was taking a victory lap wearing the gold medal everyone expected the American to win.
And playing over the loudspeakers: Coldplay’s song “Viva La Vida,” and the lyrics that begin, “I used to rule the world …”
In one of the biggest upsets in figure skating history, Malinin fell twice and made several other glaring mistakes, sending the “Quad God” tumbling all the way off the podium and leaving a star-studded crowd in stunned silence. And that cleared the way for Shaidorov, the mercurial but talented jumping dynamo from Kazakhstan, to claim the first gold medal for his nation at these Winter Games.
“Honestly, I still haven’t been able to process what just happened,” Malinin said. “I mean, going into this competition, I felt really good this whole day. Feeling really solid. I just thought that all I needed to do was trust the process that I’ve always been doing.
“But it’s not like any other competition. It’s the Olympics,” he added, “and I think people (don’t) realize the pressure and the nerves that actually happen from the inside. So it was really just something that overwhelmed me and I just felt like just I had no control.”
Out of control is a good way to summarize the performance.
The 21-year-old Shaidorov finished with a career-best 291.58 points, while Yuma Kagiyama earned his second consecutive Olympic silver medal and Japanese teammate Shun Sato took bronze.
Then there was Malinin, also 21, who dropped all the way to eighth. The two-time world champion finished with 264.49 points, his worst total score in nearly four years, and one that ended a two-plus year unbeaten streak covering 14 full competitions.
“Honestly, yeah, I was not expecting that,” Malinin said. “I felt going into this competition I was so ready. I just felt ready going on that ice. I think maybe that might have been the reason, is I was too confident it was going to go well.”
Much of Malinin’ journey during the Milan Cortina Games had felt a little bit off.
He was beaten by Kagiyama in the short program of the team event, later acknowledging for the first time the pressure of winning at the Olympics was starting to get to him. And he still wasn’t quite his dominant self in the team free skate, even though a head-to-head win over Sato was enough to clinch the second consecutive gold medal for the American squad.
But by the time of his individual short program Tuesday night, Malinin’s fearless swagger and unrivaled spunk seemed to be back. He took a five-point lead over Kagiyama and Adam Siao Him Fa of France that seemed insurmountable going into Friday night.
“Going into the competition,” Malinin said, “I felt like this is what I wanted to do, this is what we planned, this is what I practiced, and really just needed to go out there and do what I always do. That did not happen, and I don’t know why. ”
Malinin had decided to practice early in the day at U.S. Figure Skating’s alternate training base in Bergamo, just outside of Milan, and that gave him a brief reprieve from the pressure of the Olympic bubble. And he was the essence of calm throughout his warmup, never once falling in all of his practice jumps while wearing his familiar glittering black-and-gold ensemble.
Then came the performance that might well haunt Malinin for the rest of his career.
As the atmospheric music with his own voice-over began, he opened with a quad flip, one of a record-tying seven quads in his planned program. Then he appeared to be going after the quad axel that only he has ever landed in competition and had to bail out of it.
Malinin recovered to land his quad lutz before his problems really began.
He only doubled a planned quad loop, throwing his timing off. He fell on a quad lutz, preventing him from doing the second half of the quad lutz-triple toe loop combination. And in his final jumping pass, which was supposed to be a high-scoring quad salchow-triple axel combination, Malinin only could muster a double salchow — and he fell on that.
“He never messes up,” Italy’s Daniel Grassl said, “so obviously we’re all a little surprised by how it went.”
By the time the music stopped, Malinin was left trying to mask his sorrow for a crowd that included Nathan Chen, the 2022 Olympic champion, along with seven-time Olympic gold medal gymnast Simone Biles, actor Jeff Goldblum and his wife, Emilie.
“I knew that I could not have necessarily a perfect program and still manage to have a good skate. But just really, something felt off,” Malinin said, “and I don’t know what it was, specifically. I’m still trying to understand what that was.”
Shaidorov seemed just as shocked as everyone as the realization hit that he had won the gold medal.
He was only in sixth after the short program and an afterthought as the night began. But the world silver medalist, known for high-flying jumps but maddening inconsistency, delivered the performance of his life, landing five quads in a technically flawless program.
“It was my goal,” Shaidorov said simply, when asked about the gold medal. “It’s why I wake up and go to training. That’s it.”
#8-ranked White County held a 33-18 halftime lead over rivals Lumpkin County in Cleveland on Friday, and it seemed all but over. Then Alayna Lindley kept coming up with shots from downtown, as the Lady Indians (17-8; 8-6 in 6-AAA) rallied back in the fourth for a 55-47 win.
The Lady Warriors (18-7; 9-5) used a 16-0 first quarter run to take a 16-5 lead after one. Lindley connected on her second and third shot from long range in the second, and Reagan Richardson’s bucket tied it briefly at 16.
However, White County went on another big stretch, a 15-0 run, and Josselyn Burke hit a crazy 3-pointer at the buzzer as the home team was up 33-18.
Lumpkin outscored the Lady Warriors 20-13 through the third period, making it a 46-38 game heading into the final quarter.
The first quarter was back-and-forth, as both teams combined for six shots from long range. Lumpkin led 20-17 going into the second.
Jordan Richerson put on a 3-point clinic in the second, and reached 21 points in the first half alone. That had the Indians up 46-31 at the half.
Blayne Gunter got the Warriors some life in the third, as he notched a quick six points with a 3-point play and a tri-fecta to get White County within 48-40.
It was an impressive third for White County, and the game was at 59-46 heading into the final frame.
Kolson Howell showed out in the fourth with 10 points, connecting on a pair of 3-pointers as Lumpkin pulled away to the final buzzer.
The Indians were paced by Richerson, who had 23 (21 in the first half). Jackson Pulley added 15, Landon Pierce added 12, and Howell 10. Keiwhan Gallagher recorded eight, Tyler Cortes had six, and Martin Hulsey finished with three.
For White County, Gunter had a team-high 21 points, followed by 11 from Carter Nguyen. Cooper Adam and Cohen Michaud recorded six apiece, Luke Golman had four, Owen Rogers three, and two each for John Jarrard and #25 (unlisted on roster).
Domestic dispute led to murder on Gardiner Drive (Robbie Watson/NowGeorgia.com)
Columbus police say a domestic dispute led to murder on Gardiner Drive Thursday morning. Probable cause was established to obtain warrants for Kevawn Davenport, 22, in connection with the death of Lexus Antrum. On February 12, 2026, detectives served the warrants on Davenport while he remains hospitalized and receiving treatment for his injuries.
Davenport and Antrum were involved in a domestic dispute that led to the shooting. Davenport is charged with murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. He will be transported to the Muscogee County Jail upon his release from the hospital.
On February 12, 2026 at 4:03 a.m., Columbus Police Officers responded to the 4500 block of Gardiner Drive in reference to a shooting. Responding officers discovered a Black female (later identified as Lexus Antrum, 28) who had been shot and was unresponsive. Kevawn Davenport was also found with a gunshot wound. EMS transported Davenport to Piedmont
Columbus Regional for treatment. Coroner Buddy Bryan responded to the scene and pronounced the female victim deceased at 4:50 a.m.
The Violent Crimes Unit was called to the scene to take lead on the investigation.
Anyone with information on this case is urged to contact Sgt. D. Baker at 706-225-4296 or DBaker@columbusga.org.
Rep. Margie Wilcox, R-Mobile, speaks on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 5, 2026 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The House of Representatives passed her bill that increases the penalty for driving under the influence. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
(Alabama Reflector) — The Alabama House of Representatives approved legislation on Thursday increasing criminal penalties for those who physically injure or kill people while driving under the influence.
HB 243, sponsored by Rep. Margie Wilcox, R-Mobile, establishes the crime of manslaughter for people who cause the death of another person while driving under the influence, increasing the penalty from a Class C penalty with a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison to a Class B felony with a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison.
“As a matter of fact, in 2001, the (Alabama) Court of Criminal Appeals asked the Legislature to amend this law to prevent inequities from occurring in the future,” Wilcox told members of the House of Representatives. “Keep that in mind, in 2001, (the court) asked us to amend this law.”
The legislation also increases penalties for leaving the scene of an accident where someone is injured from a Class C felony to a Class B felony. It also allows people who are victims of a traffic collision that is considered criminal to collect restitution stemming from the incident.
Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Prichard, didn’t strongly oppose the bill but questioned why it was necessary to enhance the criminal penalty because the leaving the scene happened after the fact.
“If a person did a hit and run and was caught, it doesn’t change the fact that the hit and run happened, and the horrible event that happened at that moment,” said Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Prichard. “Whether they stayed or left, that horrible thing still happened.”
Wilcox said current law disincentivizes people from rendering aid.
“You face more penalties if the person is injured than, in fact, if they died or if they were killed,” she said.
WASHINGTON (States Newsroom) — The second partial government shutdown in 2026 began at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, after lawmakers left the nation’s capital without reaching a deal on changes to immigration enforcement tactics at the Department of Homeland Security.
The department’s shutdown is also likely to go on for some time. With Congress out next week for the Presidents’ Day recess, lawmakers are not expected back on Capitol Hill for votes until Feb. 23.
A procedural vote to approve funding for the Homeland Security bill for fiscal year 2026 failed Thursday to gain support from Senate Democrats because constraints to immigration enforcement were not included, such as an end to agents wearing face coverings.
Even with the president’s border czar, Tom Homan, announcing Thursday, the withdrawal of the thousands of federal immigration officers from Minneapolis, Democrats argued it’s not enough.
“Without legislation, what Tom Homan says today could be reversed tomorrow on a whim from (President) Donald Trump,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor Thursday.
Asked by the press pool Friday about cutting a deal on the shutdown, Trump said, “We’ll see what happens. We always have to protect our law enforcement.”
After the Senate vote failed 52-47, members of Congress emptied out of Washington for the recess. Some were off to Munich, Germany for a major security conference.
ICE still has cash at hand
While the agency Trump tasked with carrying out his mass deportation campaign of immigrants will shut down, enforcement will continue because Congress allocated a separate stream of money, about $75 billion for U.S. Immigration and Enforcement Services.
During last fall’s government shutdown, which lasted a record-breaking 43 days, immigration enforcement continued.
The other agencies within DHS that will be shut down but continue to operate because they include essential workers include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Secret Service, the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, among others.
In general, any employees who focus on national security issues or the protection of life and property would continue to work through a shutdown, while federal workers who don’t are supposed to be furloughed.
Neither category of employees will receive their paychecks during the funding lapse, though federal law requires they receive back pay once Congress approves some sort of spending bill.
Democratic mayors call for GOP to accept proposals
Democrats have pushed for policy changes after federal immigration officers killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, where a deportation drive is set to wind down after the city faced more than two months of aggressive immigration enforcement.
Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Jan. 7, which prompted a bipartisan agreement to enact some guardrails, such as $20 million in funding for immigration agents to wear body cameras.
But a second killing by federal immigration officers, that of Alex Pretti on Jan. 24, prompted the Senate to decouple the Homeland Security measure from a package of spending bills, as Democrats floated proposals meant to rein in enforcement tactics, and prompted a four-day partial shutdown. A two-week funding patch was set for negotiations, and it expires at midnight Friday.
Democratic mayors hailing from the major cities of Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Portland, Oregon, Friday issued a letter that called on the top Republicans in Congress, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, and House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, to accept the proposals before DHS entered a shutdown.
“When federal agents operate in our streets without identification, without warrants, and without accountability, that trust is shattered,” they wrote. “All of us agree that for so long as the agency exists, new funding for the Department of Homeland Security must be conditioned on the comprehensive 10-point framework released last week.”
Those policy suggestions include requiring immigration officers not to wear masks and identify themselves, which has drawn strong opposition from Republicans and the leaders of ICE and Customs and Border Protection, who argue the face coverings prevent their agents from being doxxed.
Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., sent the proposals over to the White House, but said the Trump administration’s response was “incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct.”
According to the contingency plan for DHS, the agency expects about 20,000 employees out of 271,000 to be furloughed in the event of a government shutdown.
Toccoa Police Department has arrested Victoria Galliher of Toccoa after she failed to appear in court in connection with the 2022 death of her infant child. (Toccoa Police Department)
TOCCOA, Ga. — A Toccoa woman accused in the 2022 death of her infant child is behind bars after failing to appear in court, prompting officers to activate outstanding murder warrants and move quickly to locate her.
The Toccoa Police Department arrested Victoria Galliher on February 13 without incident. She was transported to the Stephens County Jail, where she remains held pending further judicial proceedings.
Galliher’s failure to report to court triggered the immediate activation of warrants for second-degree murder related to the infant’s death.
“This case originated in 2022 when Toccoa Police Investigators conducted a child death investigation,” said Toccoa Police Chief Bruce Carlisle. “Casey Pugh and Victoria Galliher were identified as the suspects in the death of the child. The case was presented to a Stephens County Grand Jury who returned a True Bill Indictment for cruelty to children in the 1st degree and 2nd degree murder.”
According to Carlisle, arrest warrants were issued by the superior court after both defendants failed to appear earlier this month.
“Galliher was arrested without incident by Toccoa Police Investigators in Toccoa on this date, and Pugh was later arrested in Habersham County on this date, as well,” Carlisle said. “A special thank you to Habersham County Sheriff’s Office and Cornelia Police Department for assisting Toccoa Police Investigators in Pugh’s arrest.”
FILE - Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, sits in the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
(GPB News) – The trial of Colin Gray, the father of the suspected Apalachee High School shooter, will begin on Monday, after a days-long jury selection process in neighboring Hall County.
Prosecutors have charged Gray with 29 counts, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and multiple second-degree counts of cruelty to children.
If convicted, it would be the first time in state history that a parent would be found liable for providing a weapon used in a school shooting, mirroring the conviction of Jennifer and James Crumbley in Michigan.
Both prosecutors and Gray’s attorneys agreed to choose from a pool of jurors in Hall County, citing concerns that a jury of residents of Barrow County, site of the killings, would bring in their own biases about the case.
Kay Levine is a professor of law at Emory University. She said it’s not unusual to see this happen in cases that get a lot of public attention.
“Lots of people who live in the community heard about it and they heard some details that were being reported in the press,” she said. “They may have heard some side commentary about the people who were involved, and prosecutors, defense attorneys, and the judge need to make sure that the only evidence that the jurors are going to hear is the evidence that is produced in court.”
The alleged shooter, Colt Gray, last appeared in court in December, represented by a new defense attorney. That attorney told Chief Judge Nicholas Primm that a mental evaluation is still ongoing for Gray, and its findings would be ready by mid-March.
Last May, Gray’s previous attorney told the court he’d likely be ready to plead guilty after the evaluation was concluded.
Chase Elliott, (9) takes the checkered flag during the second of two NASCAR Daytona 500 qualifying auto races at Daytona International Speedway, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/David Graham)
Joey Logano and hometown favorite Chase Elliott won 150-mile qualifying races Thursday night to set the starting grid for Daytona on Sunday. Elliott will be joined on the oval by fellow Georgian Corey Heim of Marietta, who qualified on Wednesday.
NASCAR’s Super Bowl
William Byron will try to become the first driver in history to win the Daytona 500 three consecutive years when the 68th running of “The Great American Race” opens the NASCAR season on February 15.
Byron won last year’s event in overtime after race leader Denny Hamlin got spun on the final lap, igniting a multicar crash. Byron ended up passing eight cars on the last lap to return to victory lane.
Driver William Byron works on the track during a NASCAR Daytona 500 practice, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Daytona, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Can he make it three in a row? Four others — Richard Petty in 1975, Cale Yarborough in 1985, Sterling Marlin in 1996 and Hamlin in 2021 — came up short in threepeat bids at NASCAR’s signature race.
The field includes seven other previous Daytona 500 winners, most notably three-time winner Hamlin and seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson. Hamlin is trying to bounce back from a heartbreaking loss in the 2025 season finale and the December death of his father. Johnson, meanwhile, is again driving the No. 84 Toyota for his team, Legacy Motor Club.
This will be the first non-exhibition race since NASCAR and two teams — 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports — settled a federal antitrust lawsuit that threatened the series. The outcome guaranteed permanent charters for 36 teams.
The offseason also included the death of retired driver Greg Biffle, who was among seven people killed when his plane crashed in North Carolina just a week before Christmas.
How to watch the Daytona 500
The race will be aired on Fox. The green flag is set to drop at 2:30 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, weather permitting. Forecasts call for a chance of rain that could cause the race to be delayed.
The race will be streamed on the Fox One and the Fox Sports app.
GAINESVILLE, Ga. — A Social Circle man was killed Friday morning in a two-vehicle crash on Cornelia Highway at Lula Road, according to the Hall County Sheriff’s Office.
The collision occurred shortly before 9:48 a.m. Feb. 13 at the intersection of Cornelia Highway (Ga. 365) and Lula Road (Ga. 52), Hall County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer BJ Williams said.
Patrol deputies and investigators with the agency’s Accident Investigation Unit responded to the scene after receiving reports of the crash.
According to the on-scene investigation, a 1997 Ford Conventional flatbed truck was traveling south on Cornelia Highway and had stopped at a traffic light at the Lula Road intersection. A 2021 Nissan NV traveling south behind the truck failed to stop and struck the truck in the rear, Williams said.
The driver of the van, identified as Rafael Warner, 43, of Social Circle, died at the scene. His body was transported to the DeKalb Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.
The driver of the truck, Ralph Hilliard Jr., 66, of Gainesville, sustained minor injuries and was transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville for treatment.
Cornelia Highway was closed for approximately 1½ hours while investigators processed the scene.
