This week’s top stories from the Ledger-Enquirer | September 9-15

1. Geraldo chased Irma to Columbus. He and the mayor caught two whitewater daredevils.: For about 10 hours, I had covered the effects of Hurricane Irma, now a tropical storm, from Midland to Double Churches Road and midtown to downtown, and I was headed home. Then someone called me and said there was a river rescue in progress. I was not surprised, having seen kayakers on the river a couple of hours earlier. What I found down by the river was not a rescue.

2. Man charged with vehicular homicide in Double Churches Road wreck: A man was charged with vehicular homicide in the Aug. 6. wreck on Double Churches Road that left a 26-year-old woman dead, according to Columbus police. Zachary Alexander Norris, 26, faces first-degree vehicular homicide in the two-vehicle wreck that killed Jessica Oberlin of Columbus. He was booked into the Muscogee County Jail, but he was released on bond before his preliminary hearing.

3. New Mark Jones restaurant to open next month in downtown Columbus: Columbus restaurateur Mark Jones is going after the downtown Columbus fried chicken market. He plans to open The Poultry Company early next month in the 1200 block of Broadway where he operated Philly-osophy: The Art of Cheesesteak before closing it in late July. “It’s going to be bone-in fried chicken and wings,” Jones said Thursday morning.

4. Major anchor store closing its doors at Cross Country Plaza: Cross Country Plaza in Columbus is losing one of its major anchor tenants, with the OfficeMax store planning to close its doors by Sept. 30. OfficeMax, which encompasses 23,500 square feet of space, has done business at the 3201 Macon Road Road shopping center about 20 years. It opened in the mid-1990s, around the same time that Publix supermarket did.

5. After Irma, Columbus suspends policy charging homeowners for private tree removal: After Tropical Storm Irma toppled multiple trees on private land, the Columbus Consolidated Government has decided to suspend regulations requiring homeowners to pay the city a fee to haul away a tree that fell on their own property. This “tree for fee” policy normally charges $50 per load plus landfill fees. The moratorium will last 30 days, until Oct. 13, said Director of Public Works Pat Biegler.

This story was originally published September 16, 2017 at 4:03 PM with the headline "This week’s top stories from the Ledger-Enquirer | September 9-15."