State and Local News That Matters
U.S. Representative Jody Hice (R-GA-10) has released a new television ad — featuring former President Donald Trump — in his campaign to replace Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In the ad, Trump endorsed Hice. Trump said Hice will “fight for free, fair, and secure elections in Georgia.” The former president also called Raffensperger one of the worst secretaries of state in America.
Federal officials have charged 13 people in or near Athens as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged drug traffickers and violent offenders with ties to Metro Atlanta. An FBI Safe Streets Gang Task Force oversaw the arrests.
Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) announced this week that he plans to run for re-election in Georgia’s Ninth Congressional District. This, despite members of the Georgia General Assembly recently drawing him out of his current seat and into the newly vacant 10th District.
Federal officials in Georgia have indicted two dozen defendants on federal conspiracy charges after they said they uncovered a transnational, multi-year investigation into a human smuggling and labor trafficking operation. This operation illegally imported Mexican and Central American workers into brutal conditions on South Georgia farms, according to a press release this week from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.
A Republican who wants to replace U.S. Representative Jody Hice (R-GA-10) and owns a Jackson-based trucking company said it wouldn’t take much for the government to increase productivity within that industry, especially with current driver shortages. But government officials would have to have enough willpower to make those changes.
U.S. Representative Lucy McBath (D-GA-06) on Monday announced that she will run in a different district established by Georgia’s redistricting process, abandoning her current district.
Republican Jake Evans, a candidate for Congress in the Sixth Congressional District, argued the move by McBath highlights growing support for the GOP as the 2022 elections approach.
Members of the Georgia House on Monday voted for a Congressional Redistricting Map that removes U.S. Representative Lucy McBath (D-GA-06) from her current district and paves the way for a Republican to win that seat. The proposal now goes to Governor Brian Kemp to approve.
U.S. Representative Jody Hice (R-GA-10) and U.S. Representative Austin Scott (R-GA-08) told their respective constituents this month that Thanksgiving this year will likely cost them more than any other.
Scott, in an email to constituents, said the following:
Buckhead City leaders this week said a proposed Buckhead City could affect all City of Atlanta-owned property within Buckhead itself. Buckhead officials said in a press release this week that they have asked Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and City Attorney Nina Hickson to help them identify all of Buckhead’s City of Atlanta-owned properties.
Law enforcement officers at Thursday’s Gwinnett County Public School (GCPS) Board meeting arrested two mothers, one on a charge of criminal trespass and another on a charge of obstruction as part of the school’s enhanced security measures. Both mothers told The Georgia News on Friday they did nothing wrong and that School Resource Officers (SROs) overreacted — to put it mildly.
In a rare act for a state chief executive, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has referred the audited November 2020 election results in the state’s largest voting metropolis to the State Election Board after multiple reviews found significant problems with absentee ballot counting that included duplicate tallies, math errors and transposed data.
Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.1 percent in October, the lowest rate in Georgia’s recorded history. This, according to Georgia Department of Labor (DOL) Commissioner Mark Butler in an emailed press release Thursday.
During the November 3, 2020 presidential election, Georgia law was broken in DeKalb County and, as such, the results should never have been certified, according to the chair of the Republican Party there.
Marci McCarthy, head of the DeKalb County GOP since April 2021, told The Georgia Star News that the handling of absentee ballots in her home county during the November 2020 election violated Georgia law.
The Atlanta City Council passed a new pilot program that will provide direct, monthly cash payments to certain residents of the city.
The initiative, entitled Income Mobility Program for Atlanta Community Transformation (IMPACT), will award a stipend of $500 per month for up to 12 months to individuals who qualify.
An influential Georgia state senator, who is running for lieutenant governor in 2022, says he believes states like his own that used drop boxes to collect absentee ballots last year should audit the surveillance video tapes that were installed at the voting locations to ensure no shenanigans occurred.
“All those drop boxes that were sent throughout Metro Atlanta, you can’t police them if you wanted to, so it just made it ripe for bad actors to game the system,” Republican state Sen. Burt Jones told Just the News in an interview this week.
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Members of the Georgia Senate and the Georgia House of Representatives’ Majority Caucuses released a proposed Congressional Redistricting Map Wednesday that, if passed into law, will influence the state’s political landscape for the next 10 years. But certain members of the political right are displeased with it.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr on Tuesday announced the state has filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers.
Kemp and Carr announced this in an emailed press release.
U.S. Representative Austin Scott (R-GA-08) and 22 other members of the House want U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to help reduce India’s tariffs on American pecans.
India currently has a 36 percent tariff on American pecans, far higher than the 10 percent tariff on other American tree nuts, like pistachios and almonds.
The head of the Oklahoma National Guard won’t require troops to comply with the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, but don’t expect the Georgia National Guard to follow Oklahoma’s example.
Adjutant General of Georgia Major General Thomas Carden told The Georgia Star News on Monday that he intends to follow orders.
Representative Jody Hice (R-GA-10) last week said President Joe Biden is not governing like someone who has intentions of running for reelection in 2024. Hice said this as he appeared on Newsmax.
Members of the Georgia Department of Education (GDOE) have announced their priorities for the 2022 session of the Georgia General Assembly. The GDOE, among other things, wants Georgia students to focus more on civics and to give parents more power to decide what’s best for their children’s health.
The nation’s supply chain crisis has strained Georgia’s farmers, so much so they’re unsure they can produce their crops on time. This, according to Southern Valley Fruit and Vegetable, Inc. Executive Officer Jon Schwalls. The organization is based out of Norman Park.
According to data presented Friday to the Senate Retirement Security for Georgians Study Committee, about half of Peach State residents—and Americans generally—aren’t saving enough for retirement.
Jessica Eckman, a senior legislative representative with the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), told the committee that about 50 percent of U.S. households are at risk of accumulating insufficient retirement savings, up from 31 percent three decades earlier.
Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) said he voted against the recently passed federal infrastructure bill because it contributes to more government waste, stretches out the deficit, and doesn’t concentrate enough on security at the U.S.-Mexico border. Clyde said this in an emailed newsletter to his constituents this week.
A former Georgia State University (GSU) professor has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of possessing child pornography, and certain images and videos he had showed children as young as five engaging in sexually explicit conduct. That man, Daniel Deocampo, taught at GSU and was also a dean.
Members of the Newnan-based Frontline Policy Action have announced their legislative priorities for the 2022 session of the Georgia General Assembly, and those policies including fighting what they call “radical indoctrination in the classroom.” Frontline Policy President Cole Muzio said he and members of his group want state legislators to ban Critical Race Theory (CRT) from local curriculums.
The suspect in the death of Henry County officer Paramhans Desai, who was shot on Nov. 4 when he responded to domestic disturbance call in the town of McDonough, has taken his own life, according to Wednesday reports.
After battling for four days, Desai succumbed to his gunshot wound Monday.
Federal officials have arraigned Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary, on federal charges of wire fraud, conspiracy, and federal program theft related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This, according to a press release that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia published Wednesday.
Exactly 74 Georgia counties are unable to produce all the original ballot images from the November 2020 election.
VoterGA co-founder Garland Favorito said this at a press conference Tuesday in Roswell. The group, according to its website, is a nonprofit whose members said it wants to restore election integrity to the Peach State.
Two Atlanta, Georgia men who are members of the Nine Trey Gangster national criminal organization pleaded guilty this week to Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) conspiracy.
This, according to a press release that the U.S. Justice Department published Tuesday.