Behind the Investigation with Atlanta News First

Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid. What is it really like to negotiate with ransomware attackers? Why negotiate? What's the most moment in a ransomware negotiation?  Mark Lance is vice president of GuidePoint Security, who talks about the many aspects involved in negotiating after a ransomware attack.

 Searches of innocent passengers at airport boarding gates continue nationwide as federal drug officers look for cash they can seize. Atlanta News First Investigates documented the practice in the series In Plane Sight , showing how plainclothes officers confront passengers who’ve already successfully cleared inspections by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). In court records, the Dr...

Anytime Chekietha Grant sees a police cruiser, she immediately starts recording on her phone. It’s an impulse reaction after a 2022 encounter with law enforcement in Brookside, Alabama, that started with an alleged broken tag light, and ended with her in handcuffs and behind bars. “Every time I go anywhere, I’m nervous,” Grant said. “If police get behind me, I instantly have to record.” Police arr...

Ford Motor Company’s recall of the 2016-2022 Ford EcoSport and Focus 1.0L engines has put owners in a difficult position. Their cars have defective parts that could potentially ruin the engine, but the replacement parts will not be available for at least six months. According to the recall , “the oil-drive belt tensioner arm may fracture or separate, causing a loss of vehicle power and power braki...

 Driving behind a dump truck feels like a game of roulette. Rocks could fall out, damaging your windshield or causing a crash. You’ve probably noticed those stickers warning you to stay back and that the trucks aren’t responsible for broken windshields. But did you notice something missing? How about license plates? In Georgia and most other states, dump trucks aren’t required to have license plat...

A group of alleged squatters identified by viewers of a recent Atlanta News First investigation as members of a polygamist group have been evicted from the DeKalb County house in which they were residing. Viewers claimed at least two of the squatters are associated with a polygamist group known as Carbon Nation , which DeKalb County prosecutors refer to as a sex cult. Its leader, Eligio Bishop , w...

The city of Lenox, Georgia , covers less than two square miles. It’s a small town in south Georgia with a big reputation for handing out traffic citations. Using figures provided by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, an Atlanta News First investigation shows Lenox relies more on the profit generated by its police force than any other Georgia town. In 2022, it collected $1.3 million from...

Someone claiming to be the son of a recently deceased man allegedly filed false probate paperwork that gave him access to everything the beloved uncle to an Atlanta family left behind. Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/07/25/metro-family-loses-inheritance-family-home-even-their-late-uncles-ashes/

Steve Christian was 77, a veteran who, according to a letter he left behind, was suffering from cognitive memory loss. His letter said the diagnosis made him want to take his own life. On a rain-soaked March 3, 2023, Christian shot himself in the parking lot of Brookhaven, Georgia’s Blackburn Park. While waiting on an ambulance, Christian expressed his sorrow to police officers and seemingly expre...

Atlanta News First Chief Investigator Brendan Keefe, political reporter Doug Reardon and anchor/legal expert Joy Lim Nakin report on the 2024 Republican National Convention. Former president Donald Trump has been nominated for an unprecedented third consecutive time, and he's chosen Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance as his running mate. Meanwhile, the Georgia Court of Appeals has chosen a date to hear...

 When Coleen Brooks sees something out of the ordinary, she jots it down on paper. It started as a hobby that turned into a full-time career. In her 30 years as a columnist for small newspapers in Calhoun, Georgia, she estimates writing at least 10,000 articles about everything from the weather and local sports to movies. There’s one column, though, that has always stuck with her, one she wrote de...

Young Thug's trial – which has been repeatedly plagued by arrests , charges and disruptions – began on Nov. 27, 2023. Defense attorneys have repeatedly raised concerns that the trial could go on for years based on the number of witnesses the state plans to call up. Digital content producer Tim Darnell and broadcast reporter Rachel Aragon talk about the latest delay, and how a judge's fut...

The fastest electric Kia can now outrun the Georgia State Patrol ’s gas-powered pursuit vehicles. The state patrol’s newest Dodge Charger police pursuit cruisers accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in around six seconds, according to tests by the Michigan State Police . A 2024 Kia EV6 GT gets to 60 MPH in 3.2 seconds. The Kia also has a higher top speed than the standard police car. The fast...

Atlanta News First consumer reporter Harry Samler, of Better Call Harry, covers some items you need to remember if you're planning to move.

 When Georgia state lawmakers debated a proposed law back in 2018 about granting cities the authority to install speed detection cameras in school zones, the bill’s author pulled at his colleagues’ heartstrings. “We’ve had several deaths and major injuries in the state of Georgia already in these school zones,” said then-state Rep. Chad Nimmer, a Republican from Blackshear, during a state House pu...

Paul Lowe was 93, but the husband and grandfather was still living independently and making plans for the future. He often left notes for his wife to read around the house. “One of the last notes I have [from him] is, ‘Putting this in writing, ‘Do not buy more ice cream,’ said Betty Lowe. “Because he knew, if I brought it home, he would eat it.” Paul Lowe died in May at Piedmont Eastside Medical C...

He never pulled the trigger, but Christian Brown nearly went to prison after going somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be with a gun in his hand. It happened in December 2018 inside a stranger’s home near Palmetto, Georgia. Brown used the bottom of a handgun to hit the homeowner in the head and walked away with just over $100. “Every time I look back at that, I’m like, that was not worth it at all,” B...

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/04/01/emory-launch-study-after-anf-investigations-into-forever-chemicals/

According to an Atlanta News First investigation, metro school districts have faced teacher shortages in the triple digits. Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/04/04/metro-atlanta-schools-facing-teacher-shortages-triple-digits/

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/04/09/alleged-home-security-bait-and-switches-popping-up-after-anf-investigations/

 AT&T’s recent disclosure about a security breach compromised more than 70 million current and former customers. That means online criminals may have access to your personal information on the dark web, which could give them access to your credit. What does that mean? It means there’s enough information available on the dark web for someone to open a credit card or take out a loan in your name...

A Georgia man detained more than a decade behind bars and never convicted of a crime is now home with his family. Maurice Jimmerson’s pretrial detention is believed to be one of the longest such detentions in American history . His release comes nearly a year after an award-winning Atlanta News First investigation , The Sixth , uncovered him languishing in the Dougherty County, Georgia, jail witho...

According to state repair logs, of the 370 defective guardrails identified in a December 2023 GDOT report, more than a third of the repairs, or 33%, took longer than the required 21-day time frame. Some of the repairs took more than 100 days. Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/03/07/unguarded-gdots-failure-repair-road-safety-barriers-put-lives-risk/

Elfreda Parks said she’s lost sleep over a mountain of private parking violations on her kitchen table. Each violation is $87, and she worries she’ll get more every time she goes to her mailbox. The violations began arriving in September 2023. Parks said she first received a few violations, but it got much worse over the following months. She began receiving large envelopes filled with dozens of c...

Roseanne and Richard King knew they were in a bad situation when a hospital doctor in Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic, told them they’d be there for a very long time. The two left their cruise ship on Thanksgiving Day after a ship’s doctor diagnosed Roseanne King with double pneumonia. The hospital in which Roseanne King was admitted charged the couple $5,100 before she even stayed one night. “An...