Georgia

The Atlanta Police Department (APD) confirmed on Monday that the controversial Atlanta Public Safety Training Center is slated to open in January 2025 despite years of protests, demonstrations and violence aimed at preventing its construction. A video posted to the social media platform X by APD on Monday showed former Chief Rodney Bryant and former Assitant Chief Todd Coyt viewing the site of the safety training center. Bryant was previously instrumental in pushing for the center.

Georgia Democrats want an investigation after they said a state audit surfaced questions about whether Gov. Brian Kemp's administration circumvented state contracting requirements, potentially for political gain. It's not immediately clear which state or federal agencies might lead the probe, and Democrats said they haven't formally requested an investigation.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona refused to define what a woman is during a committee meeting this week. "I'm here to talk about the budget and if you'd have a question about the budget, I'd be happy to respond," he said, in part.

A federal judge has granted a motion to dismiss a challenge to Georgia's citizenship verification process, state officials said. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross granted Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's motion to dismiss.

The Democrat challenging Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee claimed the incumbent is under "tremendous" pressure due to the Georgia case against former President Donald Trump brought by District Attorney Fani Willis. Robert Patillo, the former executive director of the Rainbow PUSH social justice group started by Reverend Jessee Jackson who is now challenging McAfee, made the remarks in a Wednesday interview with WSB-TV.

A Wednesday report reveals the Department of Justice (DOJ) admitted to "inconsistencies" in how Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis used federal grant money. A DOJ official admitted this to The Washington Free Beacon regarding a $448,000 federal grant dispersed to Willis' office.

The campaign to reelect President Joe Biden announced it hired new staff and a series of new offices in Georgia last week. The decision to expand Biden's political operation in Georgia comes as former President Donald Trump continues to poll ahead of the Democrat in surveys of Peach State voters. Biden's campaign reportedly confirmed the addition of seven new offices and nine new full-time campaign workers in Georgia, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The outlet reported a Biden spokesman claimed "the seven offices will be open by mid-April."

While the discussion continues following the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, several opportunities to improve operations and processes have emerged. Officials at Georgia's and South Carolina's ports have vowed to help however they can.

A co-defendant of President Donald Trump in the Georgia election case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis demanded her resignation on Thursday. Harrison Floyd, who remains a defendant in the Georgia case against Trump, posted to X a screen shot of an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article that reports Willis' office recorded a phone call with his Maryland-based attorney.

A Glynn County resident, sentenced to 20 years in federal prison as part of Operation Ghost Busted, pled guilty to trafficking the drugs responsible for two overdose fatalities. 32-year-old Jon Dillon Screen of Brunswick, Georgia, pled guilty to trafficking drugs, including the fentanyl that killed Screen's girlfriend and a man from Brunswick.

A Georgia Public Service Commission hearing officer has ruled a railroad can take private land from several Sparta property owners, saying its proposed rail spur "serves a legitimate public purpose." The Sandersville Railroad, a Class III short line railroad that has served the area since 1893, petitioned the PSC on March 8, 2023, to condemn land for a proposed 4.5-mile-long spur. The railroad subsequently moved to condemn additional land.

Georgia lawmakers have passed legislation that ostensibly bans "foreign adversaries" from owning agricultural land or property near a military base or airport, but one expert said it's not clear the measure can stand up to judicial scrutiny. Proponents say they crafted Senate Bill 420 in response to a Department of Agriculture report from 202 that found that China had roughly 384,000 acres of agricultural land across the country, a 30% increase from 2019 to 2020.

Former special counsel Nathan Wade has refused to pay for his estranged wife's medical treatments and cut off financial support for his children's studies after he resigned from the Georgia case against former President Donald Trump, a divorce filing by his wife Joycelyn Wade claims. Joycelyn Wade asked the Cobb County Superior Court to hold her husband in contempt after she asserted he violated their previous divorce settlement, which was announced on January 30, by refusing to pay for her medical treatments.

The disciplinary trial of Donald Trump’s former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark wrapped up on Thursday with the D.C. Bar’s disciplinary panel making a nonbinding preliminary determination that Clark was culpable on at least one of the two counts against him.

The second and final week of the disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s former DOJ official, Jeffrey Clark, began to wind down on Wednesday with more testimony from operations security expert Harry Haury.