The South

Georgia State Representative Mesha Mainor (R-Atlanta) confirmed on Friday she filed a lawsuit against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and other officials over an alleged failure to correctly prosecute a man she claims stalked and violently assaulted her. In addition to Willis, the lawsuit by Mainor names the district attorney's office, Fulton County, the Fulton County Ethics Board and Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington as defendants.

Members of the Tennessee National Guard were among the personnel installing razor wire fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday as part of their work assisting Texas authorities in carrying out Operation Lone Star.

A U.S. Senator from Tennessee is demanding answers from food delivery applications like DoorDash, UberEats and GrubHub, who have allegedly allowed illegal alien drivers to use their platforms.  "The danger to Americans—and specifically consumers using your services—is real. These illegal immigrants are delivering food directly to consumers’ doors without ever having undergone a background check and often without even using their real names," Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) wrote in a letter to GrubHub CEO Howard Migdal last week. "Deliveries routinely occur late into the night, compounding the dangerous situation, and—if the unimaginable happened—there would be little to no way to track the immigrant or bring them to justice."

Gov. Bill Lee (R) has officially proclaimed April 28 to May 4 as Small Business Appreciation Week in Tennessee.  Noting that small businesses are "the backbone of Tennessee's economy, comprising a significant portion of the State's employment including nearly half of private-sector workforce," and that "supporting small business owners in Tennessee strengthens the State's resilience against economic downturns and promotes sustainable economic development," Lee released the official proclamation on the state's website. 

Activists who participated in the "Gaza Liberation Encampment" at Virginia Tech brought children to the ill-fated protest before dozens of protesters were arrested by police, suggests video posted to social media on Sunday.  One video that surfaced on the social media platform X on Sunday after police ordered protesters to leave the encampment included a child who led the protesters in a chant. The video was captioned to ask police whether they are scared by children.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opted to skip her first debate Sunday ahead of early voting in the Democratic primary to instead host a "self-care fair" for crime victims, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. Willis' absence left her Democratic challenger, Christian Wise Smith, debating an empty podium, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. Willis, who appointed her romantic partner Nathan Wade to work on the case against former President Donald Trump and allowed him to pay for vacations they took together, was sharply criticized by Judge Scott McAfee in a March decision that did not grant defendants’ request to disqualify Willis but did require Wade to step down.

Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright on Friday called for the resignation of General Sessions Court Judge Bill Anderson, who leads the county magistrates that determine possible bail assignments after suspected criminals are arrested. Wright said he is calling for Anderson's resignation in remarks to WREG, pointing to soft bail policies from Anderson's office as a source of Memphis' crime.

A bill making it a misdemeanor punishable by just less than a year of imprisonment for assisting in bringing a minor across state lines for an abortion without parental permission is headed to the desk of Gov. Bill Lee. An amended Senate Bill 1971 was concurred by the Senate 25-4 after passing the House 74-24.

Governor Glenn Youngkin in a Sunday appearance on CNN pledged to protect the First Amendment on Virginia's college campuses, but also vowed to keep Jewish students safe from "hate speech and intimidation" from anti-Israel protesters. The governor stated during an appearance with Dana Bash on CNN's State of the Union that his administration will allow protesters to peacefully demonstrate against Israel while preventing the establishment of anti-Israel encampments and protecting the rights of Jewish students.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a measure to create a new offense of unlawful squatting following widespread reports in Georgia and beyond of squatters taking over people's properties House Bill 1017, the "Georgia Squatter Reform Act," defines the crime as entering and residing on a property without an owner's consent. Anyone cited for squatting has three business days to provide proof of their authorization to be on a property, such as a "properly executed lease or rental agreement or proof of rental payments."

The Virginia Board of Education recently reviewed takeaways from 15 listening sessions it hosted as part of its “Accreditation and Accountability Redesign.” “Virginia is one of the few states that continues to combine an accreditation and accountability system,” said Todd Reid, assistant superintendent of strategic communications for the state’s Department of Education. “Combining these systems into one measurement makes it virtually impossible to really determine how the students are academically performing at that school and how the school is shaping educational outcomes.”

Senator Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming), who sponsored Senate Bill 233, said that the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act puts parents in charge regarding school choice options for their children. The bill was signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp on Tuesday. Senator Dolezal told The Georgia Star News on Friday, "The Georgia Promise Scholarship Act will ensure that parents and children are at the center of the education decisions in Georgia. I am excited to empower parents to make decisions on education opportunities for their children that best fit their needs. We have seen a school choice wave sweeping the County, and we can add Georgia to the list of states where parents are in the drivers seat of control."

The Stop Cop City protesters who were present at the anti-Israel encampment at Emory University on Thursday previously raised money from more than 70,000 donors and used it to selectively bail alleged criminals out of jail, according to Georgia state prosecutors who targeted the group in a criminal racketeering case last year. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr indicted 61 individuals allegedly associated with Stop Cop City in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act case in September 2023. Carr alleges the activists are engaged in a criminal conspiracy to use violence in a bid to prevent the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, which will be used to train Georgia police and firefighters.

Georgia officials are paying more than $400,000 to remove 167 variable speed limit signs in metro Atlanta. Georgia transportation officials approved the plan for the signs on Interstate 285 in 2012 and subsequently started introducing them along the interstate's northern portion, according to various media reports from the time. However, reports suggest that the system wasn't activated until about October 2014.

A bill aimed at preventing people from blocking Tennessee roadways was amended and passed by both chambers of the Tennessee Legislature before it next heads to the desk of Gov. Bill Lee along with a glut of late-session bills. Rather than creating an increased felony charge, Senate Bill 2570 was amended to allow for lawsuits to be filed if a person or company suffers a loss because a “defendant intentionally obstructed a highway, street, or other place used for the passage of vehicles or conveyances.”