In a violent and lawless weekend throughout the Fountain City, no less than two people are dead from gunshot wounds, two others shot, and one innocent bystander was killed by a fleeing vehicle in a high-speed car chase. As the Columbus Police Department remains without an interim chief at the indecisive mercy of Mayor Henderson, our city largely continues to go underpoliced. Explore the full story for our interactive map with the details.

After police chief Freddie Blackmon accepted a severance from the city, Assistant Chief Joyce Dent-Fitzpatrick threw a temper tantrum by wrongfully threatening to sue the city if she was not made the department’s interim chief. However, the position is an appointed one that officials may award to whomever they deem appropriate. Explore the full story to see why her tyrannical attempt to seize power is ironically why she should never have it.

Nine months after its original publishing, this article’s sentiments continue to expose the Springer Opera House’s haphazard and inconsistent ways. As the Springer now scrambles to alter its age restrictions for a show featuring extreme adult content, their motives and morals come into question again. Explore the full story to see how the Springer claims to be a champion of free speech, yet continues to combat speech they do not agree with.

Immediately following police chief Freddie Blackmon’s decision to accept a severance offering, Mayor Skip Henderson stated there would be an interim chief in place ‘almost immediately.’ The next day, he walked back his words to ‘in a day or two.’ One week later, the department remains without an interim chief. Explore the full story to see how CPD is far from leaderless, despite Henderson’s delays.

Since its original publishing in July 2022, the words of this article unfortunately continue to be proven true with each passing day. Though Columbus says it wants to retain talented and educated people, its actions continue to drive them away. Explore the full story to see how this irony may provide the valuable insight needed to get it right.

In front of the entire city and its elected officials, City Manager Isaiah Hugley brazenly explained his plan to improperly use his position to directly influence a judge’s decision in hopes of achieving a predetermined outcome conducive to his political goal. The move comes after Hugley was exposed for having unethical connections to an organization that held a political protest against the city. Explore the full story for the details.

During the city council meeting on April 11, a 16-year veteran of the Columbus Police Department delivered her keen insight on CPD’s recent history and immediate future needs. The officer did not mince her words as she politely explained the realities of our city’s violent crime. Explore the full story to hear her words for yourself as she boldly and bravely chose to set the record straight for the future of our city.

As our city remains at a critical political juncture that may well determine the future direction of Columbus, residents can sometimes forget how important it is to voice their concerns to their elected officials. However, the absence of your voice is often more detrimental than anything else. Explore the full story to see how easy it really is to voice your concerns during the public agenda of a city council meeting.

Given the extreme fallout that has occurred in recent months, the initial appointment of police chief Freddie Blackmon was rather obviously quite flawed. When examined, a long pattern of behavior from our city’s elected officials reveals how that came to be. Explore the full story to see how the Columbus City Council can avoid a repeat ‘Blackmon Scenario.’

In the aftermath of recent events surrounding police chief Freddie Blackmon, we at the Muckraker recently published a message to our City’s Finest. Mayor Henderson’s words now appear to match our sentiments, showing he may have learned a very valuable lesson in the importance of martial leadership. Explore the full story to see how the city is starting to shape a strong foundation for a unified Columbus Police Department.

Police Chief Freddie Blackmon has accepted the severance offering from the City of Columbus, now due $400k plus additional benefits for his retirement beginning on April 30. Blackmon has also begun paid leave until that time, effective immediately. Explore the full story as we begin to take a look at what comes next for the Columbus Police Department, along with a special message for our City’s Finest.

On April 5, WTVM made an embarrassing past-tense Facebook post about the special meeting called by city council before the meeting had even occurred. More interestingly, the article contained objectively false and misleading info about how city council can legally remove a city officer. Explore the full story to see how a few tactful comments from the Muckraker caused WTVM to pull their false article from their website completely.

After Chief Blackmon presented his inept strategic plan, Mayor Henderson offered him a generous severance. In a video news interview given the following day, Henderson blatantly lied to the entire city by saying he didn’t think Blackmon would be removed. Explore the full story to see how Henderson seeks to save his own face instead of the city he’s supposed to lead.

Even though police chief Freddie Blackmon isn’t entitled to any severance at all and can be terminated at any time without cause, he sent a laughable counter offer anyway. The offer established a quid pro quo, stating he would withdraw his erroneous claims of ‘discrimination’ if the city pays him more. Explore the full story to see why that’s a crime, along with the other laughable claims made in the counter offer.

Though police chief Freddie Blackmon is not entitled to any severance package whatsoever, the city of Columbus, Georgia provided Blackmon with the opportunity to bow out gracefully through a very generous offer anyway. Explore the full story to see why city officials can choose to terminate any city officer at their sole discretion, along with a complete look at what Blackmon’s very polite offer contains.

After record-low crime rates controlled by the outstanding rise in police recruitment & retention under police chief Freddie Blackmon, a national association has taken note. The city was also noted for its absence of political corruption, particularly how there are absolutely no city officers recently tied to political protests against the city. Explore the full story to see how foolish it would be to ignore our city’s prestigious award.

After our investigation revealed city manager Isaiah Hugley’s close ties to the organization that hosted a political protest against the city, Hugley released a statement claiming he had ‘nothing to do’ with the protest. However, the same statement inadvertently admitted his conflict of interest by being a ‘financially active’ member. Explore the full story to see how Hugley’s statement could land him in some seriously hot water.

At the city council meeting on March 28, the same race-baiting agitators spewed the same race-baiting rhetoric, which has now likely caught the attention of state law enforcement officials. Despite their erroneous noise that only drew a crowd of just a few dozen people, it’s easy to see how these serial agitators manipulate the public for their own power-hungry personal gain. Explore the full story to see the one simple question that completely dispels their entire race-baiting narrative.

On March 27, WTVM knowingly lied, stating that the scheduled protest surrounding police chief Freddie Blackmon was filed by a ‘private individual’ as they showed a heavily redacted form as ‘proof.’ However, WTVM had already published the unredacted form which exposes their own falsely-constructed narrative. Explore the full story for the revealing details and see how the full unredacted form reveals the full unredacted truth.

After police chief Freddie Blackmon signed off on a 500-person protest in support of himself, we conducted an investigation on the organization hosting the protest. What we found was both lengthy and shocking. Explore the full story to see how the organization’s shell company subsidiary business address just-so-happens to be the personal home of Isaiah Hugley.

Police Chief Freddie Blackmon was offered the opportunity to gracefully exit with a $250,000 lump-sum severance package. Despite his well-documented leadership failures, Blackmon now appears to be setting himself up to become the villain his younger self would have disliked. Explore the full story to see how Blackmon can be the hero he always wanted to be by just taking his severance and letting his officers do their jobs.

In a laughable interview with WTVM, Chief Blackmon said ‘race’ must be the reason for his severance, though he simultaneously admitted his years of failure throughout a line of questioning, saying things like ‘micromanagement is necessary.’ Explore the full story to see how Blackmon’s insane statements ironically displayed his incompetence as he pulled the race card anyway.

Local activist and racial extremist Wane Hailes stupidly emailed his plan for an illegal robocall scheme that sought to force elected officials to vote based on their race. The ‘actual malice’ shown in Hailes’ plot violates state law and is not protected free speech. Explore the full story to see why supporting his efforts could land you as an accomplice to his criminal plot.

Look around you. The violent state of our dearest Fountain City has destroyed countless lives while shootings, murder, poverty, and drugs continue to turn our city into the next Detroit. Have you noticed that this all occurred while race-based division continues to tear our city apart? Explore the full story to see how the selfish ambitions of a few racist people continue to prey upon the lifeblood of our city for their own personal gain.

In an extremist and racist email sent to other local political activists, NAACP president Wane Hailes blatantly instructed others to overthrow the rule of law and constitutional form of government in Columbus if city council members do not vote how he wants them to. Explore the full story to see the slew of laws Hailes may have violated and what could happen.

As our city’s police force remains hindered by a lack of effective leadership direction, the Fountain City saw no less than four reported shootings with at least five people shot this weekend alone between the dates of March 17-19, 2023. Explore the full story to see our interactive map of each shooting’s details as our city’s violent crime continues to skyrocket.

CPD Assistant Chief Debra Kennedy was ordered to attend the March 14 council meeting, though she was wrongfully forced to leave by a MCSO deputy who claimed she was not permitted to stand along the back wall. As she left, NAACP activist Wane Hailes waltzed in unbothered and took her place. Explore the full story to see how the rules were brazenly not equally enforced.

According to numerous sources, police chief Freddie Blackmon did not attend the funeral of one of his own fallen CPD officers, opting to work on his ‘strategic plan’ and presentation due the following morning instead. Explore the full story to see what our sources had to say, along with how Blackmon’s callous behavior is just another example of why he is unfit to lead.

Police Chief Freddie Blackmon’s track record of leadership is so amazing that his new ‘strategic plan’ relies on bribing officers not to quit. Explore the full story to see how needing to bribe your officers is obviously a sign of outstanding leadership, especially when it’s briefed from a plan that a hired consultant needed to build for you.

Unlike police chief Freddie Blackmon’s crayola crayon pile of disconnected and incohesive buzzwords arranged on a series of slides in a way that does not serve to communicate nor achieve any sort of desired end-state through lines of effort, we independently developed a proper strategic approach for CPD. Explore the full story to see how four lines of effort can achieve overmatch and dominance over our city’s criminal adversaries.