Russ Bynum, Author at The Rapid City Post

People stroll past Paula Deen's restaurant The Lady Sons in Savannah, Ga., on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, after Deen announced the eatery that launched her to Food Network fame had closed. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)

Paula Deen has abruptly closed the Savannah restaurant that launched her to Food Network fame

August 1, 2025

Former Food Network star Paula Deen has abruptly closed the Savannah, Georgia, restaurant she started with her two sons nearly three decades ago. Deen said in a statement Friday on her website and on social media that she and sons Jamie and Bobby Deen had made a “heartfelt decision” to close The Lady & Sons, which they opened in downtown Savannah in 1996. She also shut down an attached takeout business called The Chicken Box. No reason was given. Deen said four restaurants she owns in Tennessee, South Carolina and Missouri will remain open. Deen’s flagship Savannah restaurant helped launch her to fame. Her Food Network show premiered in 2002 and ran for a decade.

FILE - In this image from Camden County Detention Center surveillance video provided by attorney Harry Daniels, jailers beat detainee Jarrett Hobbs at the facility in Georgia, Sept. 3, 2022. (Camden County Detention Center/Courtesy of Attorney Harry Daniels via AP, File)

A former Georgia deputy gets federal prison for beating a Black man in a jail cell

July 25, 2025

A former Georgia sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to federal prison in the beating three years ago of a Black jail detainee who was punched repeatedly by guards who rushed into his cell. Court records show that a U.S. District Court judge sentenced Ryan Biegel to a year and four months in prison Thursday. Biegel pleaded guilty earlier this year to violating the due process rights of detainee Jarrett Hobbs by using unreasonable force. Security camera video from the Camden County jail recorded deputies beating Hobbs after was booked for traffic violations and drug possession charges in September 2022. Biegel still faces state charges in the beating along with and two other ex-deputies.

FILE - The sun sets on the lily pads and floating vegetation in the Chesser Prairie inside the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on March 30, 2022, in Folkston, Ga. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, File)

Conservation group makes $60M land deal to end mining threat outside Okefenokee Swamp

June 20, 2025

A conservation group says it will pay $60 million to buy land outside the Okefenokee Swamp from a mining company that spent years battling environmentalists over its plans to extract minerals there. The Conservation Fund announced the deal Friday, saying the purchase of 7,700 acres ends what it called an “existential threat” to the largest federally protected wildlife refuge east of the Mississippi Rivers. Twin Pines Minerals had been seeking permits to mine less than 3 miles from the refuge since 2019. Scientists and conservationists warned the project could cause irreparable damage to an ecological treasure. Twin Pines President Steve Ingle confirmed the sale but declined further comment.

Mining project near the Okefenokee Swamp has stalled over a $2M permit requirement

June 16, 2025

A hotly debated mining project near the federally protected Okefenokee Swamp has stalled over a $2 million permit requirement needed before Georgia regulators make a final decision. Twin Pines Minerals was told in 2024 that it must submit a $2 million bond or equivalent before state officials can issue a permit to mine minerals near the wildlife refuge. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division says that still hasn’t happened 16 months later. The mining company declined to comment Monday on the delay. Federal scientists have warned that miningnear the swamp could irreparably harm the environmentally sensitive area. But regulators say mining there should have minimal impacts.

Russ Bynum.

Paula Deen has abruptly closed the Savannah restaurant that launched her to Food Network fame

A former Georgia deputy gets federal prison for beating a Black man in a jail cell

Conservation group makes $60M land deal to end mining threat outside Okefenokee Swamp

Mining project near the Okefenokee Swamp has stalled over a $2M permit requirement

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