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After a long search, the Savannah Bananas have hired a Director of Fun. Tyler Gray, originally from Chattanooga, TN, has already made the move to Savannah to join the team on February 26.

Gray joins the Bananas after four years with Norwegian Cruise Line and as the Cruise Director for NCL’s flagship, the Norwegian Escape.

"During his time with Norwegian, he oversaw all onboard entertainment and activities for over 5,000 guests weekly and managed a team of 200 employees. Tyler is an entertainer and well-known Master of Ceremonies who has hosted events and been on stage with celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Douglas, Rod Stewart, celebrity chef Aaron Sanchez, Iron Chef Jose Garces, and Pitbull," says a Bananas spokesperson.

The Bananas made an entertaining video about the job search and hiring process. View it here.

"I am extremely excited to be a part of the Bananas family and the Savannah community,” said Gray. “The Bananas have already made big waves not only in baseball but in the entertainment industry. They took the game of baseball and made it into a spectacular show that everyone can enjoy.”

Bananas owner Jesse Cole adds, “Over 200 people reached out to us from across the country to be the Director of Fun. Once we saw Tyler's videos and what he said he wanted to bring to Savannah, we knew this could be something special.”

“Tyler is a game changing hire for the Bananas organization. He brings energy and experience like we've never seen before. He is an idea machine and I can guarantee fans will see things they've never seen before at the stadium this summer. My one suggestion for the fans is to expect the unexpected with Tyler.”

Fans will be able to meet Tyler at upcoming events, including the Tap of the Morning Beer Fest on April 7.

At its second and final reading today, a new ordinance to lessen penalties for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana was approved in an 8-1 vote by Savannah City Council.

Effective July 1 and only effective in the City of Savannah — no other municipalities or unincorporated areas in Chatham County — the new penalties for possession of an ounce or less will be a maximum of $150, with no arrest or jail time.

Alderman Van Johnson, who spearheaded the move, said this is not an effort to decriminalize or legalize marijuana but is a "sign of the times" that will help law enforcement focus on more serious crime and lessen what he calls disproportionate minority contact by police.

Alderman Brian Foster was the only dissenting vote and said "the law is the law" and that marijuana is still illegal under federal and state law.

Foster said the measure sends the wrong message and warns of workers not being able to pass drug tests for employment.

Johnson responded that "we invite people to Savannah to drink" all the time.

Savannah will be the third city in Georgia to adopt such a measure, after Atlanta and Clarksville. City leaders here point out that Savannah is the only city which will offer a substance abuse treatment program for those who opt into it.

In other business, City Council approved new measures to allow low-volume and/or disadvantaged local businesses to be awarded City bids if their bid is within ten percent of the low bidder.

They also voted a new Hotel Development Overlay District and to allow third-party advertising on tourist trolleys.

The Savannah Bananas have been selected to host the Budweiser Clydesdales in the days leading up to Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

The Clydesdales will be at Grayson Stadium March 13 through March 16.

The Bananas will host multiple events during this time, starting with a private event for partners on Wednesday evening.

The following night, the Clydesdales will lead a parade around Daffin Park, ending at Grayson Stadium. The event will feature music, lawn games, and art and crafts for children. Guests will also be able to take pictures with the Clydesdales. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. This event will run from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Fans are invited back to Grayson Stadium on Friday evening, from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. for another chance to see the famous horses. Once again, family-friendly activities and food and beverages will be available.

Those who are unable to attend either event are also welcome to come to Grayson Stadium to see the Clydesdales between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 13 through Thursday, March 15.

More information is available at www.thesavannahbananas.com/events.

SSU police are investigating a shooting incident that resulted in the death of an individual. The victim is not a university student, University Police report.

"At approximately 2:25 pm today, public safety received a report of shots fired in the vicinity of University Commons. The shooting victim was located and transported to Memorial Hospital where he died as a result of his injuries. The campus was placed on lockdown until approximately 4:45 p.m. A suspect in the shooting left campus in a silver 2006 Chevrolet Monte Carlo LT," police report.

The investigation is ongoing and is being conducted by the SSU Department of Public Safety and Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Anyone with information about the incident should call 912-358-3004.

This is the fifth homicide of the year in the Savannah/Chatham County jurisdiction.

Congressman Buddy Carter will host a town hall today, Feb. 23, at 3:45 p.m.

The town hall, taking place at the Community Hall at Messiah Lutheran Church on Skidaway Island, will address senior citizens and tax reform.

For more information, contact Marolyn Overton, 912-598-7358 or [email protected].

For a second week, the City of Savannah Recorder’s Court will reschedule Traffic Court sessions due to "ongoing IT issues" involving a malware attack discovered earlier this month.

Next week's sessions, from February 27-29, will be rescheduled. Recorder’s Court will send subpoenas through the mail with new court dates and times.Traffic Court is held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at the Chatham County Courthouse.

Today's Traffic Court had already been canceled due to the issues.

Criminal court sessions are not being effected and will proceed as scheduled, the City says.

The problem began when a virus, reportedly linked to an email phishing scheme, was discovered the afternoon of Feb. 9.

" As a precautionary measure DoIT staff has temporarily halted communication between City servers to limit the spread of the virus. While this is an inconvenience, it appears that the virus has not compromised any City data or damaged City systems," was what the City reported at the time.

The City’s Lawson software system which is used for the City’s finance, purchasing and payroll units was temporarily suspended as a precautionary measure. Whoever, that system was brought back online by Feb. 13.

Late last week, the City's IT staff was preventing attachments to be received via email by City staff, and was urging people to use an FTP to transfer files to the City.

(UPDATE: About 90 minutes after

For its 8th year on Saturday, April 21, the A-Town Get Down Art & Music Festival will feature music legend Chuck Leavell as its 2018 headliner.

A key figure in The Allman Brothers Band, Leavell’s  keyboard work has also been heard on the works of Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, George Harrison,
The Black Crowes, Blues Traveler, Train, Martina McBride, John Mayer, David Gilmour and more.

“It has been a very long time since I have played a show in my newly adopted home of Savannah…and I  am so pleased that it will be at the 2018 A-Town Get Down Festival,” says Leavell.

“I’ll be playing with my good friends, the Randall Bramblett Band, and we’ll have an amazing time.”

Chuck Leavell’s association with the Stones began back in 1982. He recently
toured with the Stones on their No Filter tour of Europe.

In February 2012, he received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy for his work with the Allman Brothers Band.

Leavell is also an author, conservationist, sustainable development advocate, and tech entrepreneur.

The 2018 A-Town Get Down Festival will take place Saturday, April 21 from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Indian Street under the bridge, between Fahm and Warner Streets.

The festival, held each year in memory and honor of SCAD student Alex “A-Town” Townsend, operates with the mission of increasing access to art  and music experiences throughout the Savannah community.

The 8th annual festival will also feature musical performances from Bloodkin, Randall Bramblett, Southern Avenue, Webb Wilder, Walter Parks featuring Bernard Purdie, The New Familiars, Missionary Blues, Hudost, Britt Scott, Phoebe Elliot, Savannah Children's Choir, and an open jam hosted by Walter Parks.

Attendees can also enjoy an array of visual art from Shea Slemmer, R. Land, Katherine Sandoz, Betsy Cain, Jor Smith Michel, Alfredo Martinez, SCAD Ceramics, Scribble Art Studio, Will Penny, Matt Toole, Jason Armstrong Beck (Bison Jack), Adobe Arts Lab-featured artists (David Smiley, Kim Valentinnson, Rashad Doucet, Ella Ward, Ellen Manning, Caleb Boyles, and Jose Medina) Portrait Post-featured artists (Jared Seff, Catherine Blanch, Dana Richardson, Alyssa Maria Gonzalez, and Catherine McCabe, and much more.

Held each year in memory and honor of SCAD student Alex "A-Town" Townsend, the festival operates with the mission of increasing access to art and music experiences throughout the Savannah community.
The A-Town Get Down Art & Music Festival is family-friendly and
admission is free for children 12 and under.

For more information on the 2018 A-Town Get Down Art & Music Festival and to purchase tickets online, visit A-TownGetDown.com/Festival

Savannah Police Violent Crimes detectives are investigating a shooting that resulted in the death of a 29-year-old man the evening of Feb. 14 near Sunset Boulevard and April Street.

"About 6:30 p.m. officers responded to the basketball court at Sunset Boulevard and April Street and discovered Terry Coburn with gunshot wounds. He succumbed to his injuries at the scene. A 10-year-old was grazed during the incident. The child was treated for minor injuries at the scene and was released," police say.

The circumstances leading up to the shooting remain under investigation.

This is the fourth homicide of 2018 in Savannah-Chatham County.

Anyone with information should contact the Savannah Police tip line by calling (912) 525-3124. Information can also be forwarded to CrimeStoppers at (912) 234-2020. Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.

Deep Center, Savannah's nonprofit providing free, fun, and rigorious writing workshops for public school students, has named its Deep Laureate for Fall 2017.

13-year-old poet Tyler Kipp has been recognized as one of Savannah's "deepest" young authors, whose creative writing is among the most skilled, original and fearless in the county.

Tyler was one of 145 students who completed Deep Center's Young Author Project in fall 2017. His personal narrative "Anxiety" won him the Deep Laureate honor.

“It means a lot to me that I have been named Deep Laureate,” said Tyler, a native of Portland, Maine who enjoys writing and illustrating comics. “I write to make people feel safe, and I want to be known for being a positive force for good.”

The works of Tyler, along with all participating students, have been published in four anthologies, which are on sale for $12 at deepkids.com. All book sale proceeds support Deep's nonprofit creative writing workshops. The anthologies can also be found in the Live Oak Public Library system.

In today's City Council meeting, Council voted to adopt the recommendations of the Confederate Memorial Task Force, which will essentially leave the actual monument in Forsyth Park alone, but will include relocating two busts of prominent Confederate figures.

Saying "I have no affinity" for the Confederate monument, Alderman Julian Miller asked if removing the busts would violate a state law directed to preserving memorials to the Civil War in Georgia.

City Attorney Brooks Stillwell replied that whatever measure the City would take to remove the busts would be done with an eye towards compliance with state law.

A citizen asked why the Task Force didn't take into account the City's own public survey, which indicated a clear majority wanting no action of any type to be taken. The City Manager replied that the task force "came to its own conclusions."

Other measures include renaming the monument as the Civil War Memorial in memory of all who died on both sides in the Civil War.

Council also unanimously approved a controversial step to limit the official St. Patrick's Day Festival to two days this year, Fri. March 16 and Sat. March 17.

The bar community had wanted the City to employ the option of letting bars which don't derive most of their revenue from food to open on Sun. March 18.

In practice the measure means that wristbands must be purchased the two days in order to enjoy Savannah's to-go cup ordinance in the festival zone — a right which is free of charge to those over 21 years of age the other 363 days a year.

A member of the St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee, which is a non-government organization, appeared before Council to say that while the organization felt pushed out of the loop by City Council's announcement two weeks ago that the City wanted to "take control" of the St. Patrick's Day Festival, he felt all sides could come to a reasonable resolution.

A short discussion of the City's elimination of funding for the Tara Feis festival ensued, in which Alderman Van Johnson said he both regretted and apologized for the City's move to de-fund the event.

Referring to its authenticity as an actual display of Irish culture and its family-friendly nature, Johnson called the now-defunct Tara Feis "a very small investment" for taxpayers which would result in a large impact.

Deputy Assistant City Manager Marty Johnson pushed back on the idea that the City is overreaching on St. Patrick's Day, saying "we don't want to take over the parade." She said "I'm not sure how this got misinterpreted" in local media reports and on social media.

In other business, action on the controversial new Hotel Development Overlay District was delayed to allow for more public input.

A proposal to change City ordinance to exempt liquor license permitting from state distance requirements passed and will be voted on in two weeks.

The measure would effectively give local churches more power to lobby against granting liquor licenses to event spaces nearby.