Over 70 Companies Sign Progressive Groups’ Letter Supporting For The People Act

Legislators gather to discuss For The People Act.

Over 70 companies signed on to a letter Monday in support of the For the People Act, a voting bill proposed by Democrats seeking to reform large parts of the electoral process.

The letter called on the Senate to pass the voting bill, calling it “one of the most significant pieces of legislation to strengthen our democracy since the Civil Rights era” and condemning recent Republican voting legislation, The Hill reports. The letter was backed by a number of advocacy groups such as Vote.org and Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote

“More than 360 bills in 47 states have been introduced to put up barriers to silence our fellow Americans’ voices, especially the voices of Black, Brown, young, disabled, and working class voters,” the letter said. “The For the People Act would override many of the abusive state laws that make it harder for millions to cast their ballots, and set national standards for free and fair elections.”

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Atlanta Area Among Country’s Fastest-Growing New Home Construction Markets

Light trails on a suburban highway

A recent National Association of Realtors report shows the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta metro area is experiencing new-home growth amid a national housing shortage.

The area ranked fourth in the country for metro areas with the most single-family home building permits over the past year.

Metro Atlanta real estate agent Allahva Panton has seen a large increase in real estate sales in the Atlanta area, but not so much in Sandy Springs or Alpharetta.

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Bombshell Investigative Piece About Fulton County Documents ‘Massive Election Integrity Problems’ Last November

Fulton County, Georgia had more election integrity problems during last year’s U.S. presidential elections than were previously known, according to a new investigative report that Just the News published late Thursday night. Reporters John Solomon and Daniel Payne cited a 29-page memo they obtained that documented double counting of votes, insecure storage, threats, and massive chain of custody irregularities.

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Buckhead Grapples With Another Violent Weekend as City Officials Campaign to Leave Atlanta

View of Buckhead, Georgia

Buckhead, already trying to formally break away from the City of Atlanta so they can address an out-of-control crime wave using their own resources, had another violent weekend, including a murder. According to the Atlanta Police Department’s (APD’s) website, someone shot a man Saturday as he jogged through the 1200 block of West Wesley Road in Buckhead.

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Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Prioritizes Gender Neutral Restrooms

Keisha Lance Bottoms

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will soon sign an administrative order directing the city’s Department of Enterprise Assets Management (DEAM) to designate all single-occupancy restrooms within city facilities as gender neutral. This, according to the order that Bottoms will sign later this month. The Georgia Star News obtained a copy on Friday from Atlanta Director of LGBTQ Affairs Malik Brown.

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Georgia Lawmakers to Study Crime in Atlanta

Police line do not cross tape

Georgia lawmakers will study the rise in crime in Atlanta this summer.

The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee plans to hold a series of hearings to look at the causes and solutions for the increase in crime in the state’s capital city.

“We want to have productive hearings that can get down to exactly what’s going on because, as you all know, the success of the city of Atlanta is directly impacted by the success of Georgia and vice versa,” Committee Chair J. Collins, R-Villa Rica, said.

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Atlanta Republican Fed up with GOP Establishment Says ‘The Old Guard is Cornered’

One Atlanta conservative unsettled by the behavior of the Fulton County Republican leadership at their party’s convention last month said too many members of the old GOP establishment resist change — and put the party in peril. Rob Cunningham told The Georgia Star News this week that “the call to get engaged [among the grassroots] is being heeded.”

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Barry Loudermilk Says Major League Baseball’s Sudden Decision to Move All-Star Game Has Left Atlanta Business Owners Bewildered

U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA-11) said this month that many Atlanta business owners realized controversy surrounded Georgia’s voter integrity law Senate Bill 202, but Major League Baseball’s ultimate reaction to it still astonished them. MLB officials pulled their scheduled All-Star Game out of Atlanta.

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Georgia’s Cobb County Says it Will Lose $100 Million From MLB Moving All Star Game

Braves baseball stadium

The Cobb County Travel and Tourism Bureau said that it estimates it will miss out on $100 million in revenue, after Major League Baseball (MLB) was brow-beaten by political activists into moving its 2021 All-Star game from Atlanta. 

“This event would have directly impacted our county and the state, as visitors spend their dollars on local accommodations, transportation, entertainment and recreation, food and retail throughout the county,” the bureau said. “This would have been a big boost to Cobb businesses and help with recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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Brian Kemp, Others, Tell Corporate America They Will Not Retreat on Georgia’s Voter Integrity Law

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Saturday told Major League Baseball officials and executives at Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines that he will not buckle under to their pressure. Kemp, flanked by several supporters at the Georgia State Capitol, said he will not do away with the state’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202. The governor also told state residents that Democrat and former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is lying about the new law and fundraising off of her lies.

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Gov. Brian Kemp Blasts Major League Baseball ‘Cancel Culture’ Decision to Pull All-Star Game Out of Georgia

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday evening said Major League Baseball officials caved “to fear, political opportunism, and liberal lies.” This, after MLB officials announced earlier in the day that they will relocate the 2021 All-Star Game and MLB Draft, originally scheduled for Atlanta, to another location. They specifically cited Georgia’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202.

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Georgia Democrats Push for More Gun Control, Hate Crime Laws

Democrats who represent Georgia in the state’s general assembly as well as the U.S. Congress said this week that recent mass shootings, including the one in Atlanta, necessitate either more gun control or hate crimes laws. State Sen. Michelle Au (D-Johns Creek), for instance, filed SB 309, a bill this week that would, if enacted into law, mandate a five-day waiting period for anyone who wants to purchase or transfer certain firearms.

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Biden Stumbles Three Times While Climbing the Stairs to Air Force One

Joe Biden fell three times while climbing the stairs to Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews on Friday.

The stumbles happened just before noon when Mr. Biden, 78, was trying to jog up the steps to the aircraft for a flight to Atlanta.

After the first stumble, Biden, who has previously taunted former President Trump for lacking physical prowess, tried steady himself, but he fell a second time, and then a third time to his knees.

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Massage Parlors Attacked by Gunman Busted in Prostitution Stings

According to documents released Friday, the two massage parlors targeted by a deranged gunman in Atlanta Tuesday had both been subjects of prostitution stings by police, despite claims to the contrary by Atlanta’s mayor. 

“As far as we know in Atlanta, these are legally operating businesses that have not been on our radar,” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said after the shootings. “Not on the radar of [the Atlanta Police Department].”

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Biden Meets with Abrams, Asian American Leaders in Georgia

President Joe Biden spent part of his Friday in Georgia meeting with failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and leaders of the Asian American community. 

Along with Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden’s visit was aimed at offering “support to the Asian American community following a string of shootings at three Atlanta-area spas that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent,” according to WKRN. 

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Doug Collins to Debut and Host Political Talk Show out of Georgia Next Week

Former U.S. Republican Congressman Doug Collins is scheduled to launch his own talk radio program Monday, March 1, and the show will feature guests local to Georgia as well as guests who hold national stature. The Doug Collins Show will broadcast from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. every weekday on the Georgia-based WMLB (1690 AM). People outside of the Atlanta-listening area may also listen to the show through the John Fredericks Radio Show app.

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Georgia Bill Would Restrict Local Government’s Power to Defund the Police

Six members of the Georgia House of Representatives have responded to the “Defund the Police” movement and filed a bill that would prohibit local governments in the state from cutting more than 5 percent of their police budgets. State Rep. Houston Gaines (R-Athens), the bill’s primary sponsor, said Tuesday that his legislation would, if enacted into law, exempt local governments that lose more than 5 percent of their budget revenues.

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Report: Atlanta’s Debt Burden at $1,900 Per Resident

A recent report found Atlanta’s budget deficit would cost each of the city’s 500,000 residents $1,900 to balance, representing the 26th-lowest tax burden among the 75 most-populous cities in the U.S.

Truth in Accounting (TIA) released its fifth annual Financial State of the Cities analysis last week, examining the financial health of 75 of America’s most-populous cities and calculating how much each resident would have to pay to cover all of their city’s bills.

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Questions Surrounding Administration of ‘Rollover’ Absentee Ballots in Fulton County Remain Unanswered Days Before Georgia U.S. Senate Runoff Elections

Just days before the statewide U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia, confusion over obtaining absentee ballots remains. 

“Georgians who are over the age of 65, members of the military or are physically disabled have the option of receiving absentee ballots for an entire election cycle by submitting a single application,” Atlanta radio station WABE reported in November. 

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Pandemic Restrictions Cause a Rash of Closures in Atlanta Restaurant Scene

Over 25 area restaurants closed their doors for good – several that have been in business for decades – due to the impact of Health Department stay-at-home orders and restrictions on business operations that began in March 2020 with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A few days after Thanksgiving, Governor Brian Kemp issued an executive order further restricting restaurant operations. The Georgia Restaurant Association (GRA) published a statement shortly after.

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Commentary: Faith in Fairness Is Shattered Beyond Recovery

Many people, including some good friends, believe that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election fair and square. 

Many others – and I place myself among them – believe that something is rotten in the state of Denmark, or, to be more specific, in the cities of Milwaukee, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Detroit, not to mention Maricopa County, Arizona. I think what happened was so rotten that I regard the election as illegitimate. 

What proof, you might ask, do I have? 

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Prominent Atlanta Pastor Michael Youssef Says He Received Three Mail-In Ballots for Adult Son Who Lives Overseas

Dr. Michael A. Youssef, a prominent Arab-American pastor in Atlanta, posted on social media that three mail-in ballots were sent to his house for his adult son — who has lived overseas for decades.

Youssef is founder/pastor of The Church of the Apostles megachurch in the Buckhead neighborhood. He also runs Leading the Way, an international television and radio ministry that shares the gospel in 26 languages in six continents.

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Black Voices for Trump: President Trump Meets Swain at Event and Says, ‘I’ve Seen You Before. You Do a Great Job’

In a specific discussion on Thursday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy was joined by former Vanderbilt and Princeton professor Dr. Carol Swain to talk about her experience at last Friday’s Black Voices for Trump event in Atlanta.

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Williamson County Schools Superintendent Mike Looney May Soon Depart for New Job in Atlanta

Williamson County Schools Superintendent Mike Looney may soon vacate his position and relocate to Atlanta. Officials with the Fulton County School System said on their official website Wednesday that Looney is their top finalist for their open superintendent job. Looney was in Atlanta Wednesday morning, about 12 hours after he oversaw a Williamson County Board meeting Tuesday night. According to The Williamson Herald, decision day is only a few weeks away. “Vying as the Fulton County School District’s top finalist, Looney could be soon exiting the position he’s held in WCS for just over 10 years if he chooses to officially accept the position May 2 at the competing district’s school board meeting,” the paper reported. Williamson County School Board Chair Gary Anderson told The Herald he and his colleagues could soon hire an interim superintendent, if Looney takes the Atlanta job. According to a statement on the Fulton County Schools’ website, board members have searched nationwide for a new superintendent since December. “As prescribed by Georgia law, the school board must give a minimum of 14 days for public input on a finalist for the position of Superintendent,” the press release said. “To ensure Dr. Looney has the opportunity to…

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Nation’s Only All-Male Historically Black College To Start Accepting Transgender Men

by Evie Fordham   The nation’s only all-male historically black college announced a new transgender policy after its board of trustees approved it on Saturday. Morehouse College in Atlanta will begin accepting transgender men next year, college leaders told The Associated Press. “I think Morehouse having the courage to speak to issues of masculinity in today’s environment is important,” Morehouse College President David Thomas told The AP. “For 152 years, the world has, in some way, seen Morehouse as the West Point of black male development.” Transgender men, meaning they have transitioned from female to male, can enroll at the college starting in 2020, but students who were born male and now identify as female will not be allowed to. Morehouse “will continue to use masculine pronouns” and “the language of brotherhood” according to the new policy as cited by The AP. The college will not guarantee a degree to students who transition from male to female while enrolled, however. Morehouse alumni include Martin Luther King Jr., film director Spike Lee and former Atlanta Democratic Mayor Maynard Jackson, reported The AP. The college now joins more than 1,000 other U.S. colleges and universities that have approved a transgender policy. Morehouse is…

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Southwest Airlines Begins Nonstop Flights Between Nashville, Atlanta

Southwest Air

Southwest Airlines has begun nonstop flights from Atlanta to Nashville. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said the airline launched the flights from Atlanta to Nashville, The Associated Press reported. Nashville International Airport celebrated the inaugural flight from BNA to Atlanta Tuesday. The airline will operate five flights a day Monday through Friday between Hartsfield-Jacskon Atlanta International Airport and BNA, as well as three flights a day on Saturdays and Sundays. Southwest Airlines Co. vice president of technical operations Trevor Stedke said in a statement when the airline announced the route in February that it answers business community requests in both cities. Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority CEO Doug Kruelen says business people have long sought more service between Nashville and Atlanta. Kruelen says the route brings more competition and options. Delta Air Lines already flies the route. Nashville International Airport served more than 14.9 million passengers in the fiscal year that ended in June, making it one of the nation’s fastest growing airports, The Tennessee Star previously reported. The record makes Nashville International, or BNA, the fourth fastest growing airport among the top 50 airports in North America, the airport’s website said. BNA serves 450 daily flights to more than 65 nonstop markets.…

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