U.S. District Judge Tilman E. “Tripp” Self III sentenced Macon native, Shelley Johnson, on Tuesday to 37 months in prison for his participation in a dog-fighting and cocaine distribution ring based in Roberta, Georgia.
“Johnson participated in a brutal criminal enterprise that profited from the suffering of animals,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD)
Read the full story
Jake Evans, the Trump-endorsed candidate in the Republican primary runoff election for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, on Wednesday criticized the Peach State’s open primary system and called for a closed primary voting process.
“Our open primary system allows for partisans to sabotage the primaries of their political opponents,” Evans said in a statement sent to supporters.
Read the full story
U.S. District Judge Tilman E. “Tripp” Self III has ordered Middle George Family Rehab (MGFR) healthcare clinic in Macon, Georgia to pay $9,617,679.22 in damages after the District Court for the Middle District of Georgia found the business to be involved in fraudulent TRICARE and Medicaid claims on Thursday.
“The ‘reckless disregard’ displayed by Middle Georgia Family Rehab (MGFR) in its billing should serve as a warning to other health facilities across Georgia—and the nation—that filing improper and false claims will come with hefty consequences,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary.
Read the full story
The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Georgia has indicted two men on federal drug and money laundering charges for their participation in the facilitation of the importation and distribution of illegal narcotics, including fentanyl.
“Pills in the underground drug market and on the Dark Web are often diluted with dangerous and deadly substances like fentanyl, as was the case in this investigation,” said Robert J. Murphy, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta Field Division.
Read the full story
Georgia primary runoff elections candidates from Congressional District Six, and State House Districts 24 and 28 will attend a stump speech and cookout event on Saturday hosted in Cumming by the Forsyth County Republican Party (FCRP).
“Join us for a family cookout of hamburgers and hot dogs while we hear from our runoff candidates,” said the Forsyth County GOP in a weekly online update.
Read the full story
Republican lieutenant gubernatorial candidate, Butch Miller, conceded the primary race to Trump-endorsed candidate, Burt Jones, on Friday.
“I don’t know what God’s plan is for my future or how I might be of service to Him and my fellow man, but I rely upon Him,” said Miller in a statement sent to supporters.
Miller, who served in the State Senate since 2010, received just over 31 percent, or 346,795 votes, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. Fellow State Senator Burt Jones (R-Jackson) narrowly avoided a runoff with 50.07 percent, or 557,994 votes.
Read the full story
Former NFL star Herschel Walker is the projected winner of the GOP nomination for a U.S. Senate in Georgia.
The race was called Tuesday by the Associated Press at about 8:15 Eastern time.
Read the full story
Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed former senator David A. Perdue Jr. about his campaign against Gov. Brian P. Kemp in the May 24, 2022, Republican gubernatorial primary.
Read the full story
Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed Arizona GOP Senate hopeful Blake Masters about his primary opponent Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s failure to pursue evidence of election misconduct in the 2020 election.
Read the full story
Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams made waves with her statement on Saturday at the Gwinnett County Democratic dinner when she stated, “I am tired of being told that we are the best state in the country to do business when we are the worst state in the country to live.”
Abrams is running unopposed for Georgia’s Democratic primary for governor. She will face the eventual winner of the Republican primary election which will be decided on Tuesday. Abrams’ statement received criticism from Republicans.
Read the full story
Federal authorities have charged a Marietta, Georgia man with obtaining a fraudulent $9.5 million Paycheck Protection Program loan.
Carl Delano Torjagbo, also known as Karl Lucius Delano, 42, faces bank fraud and money laundering charges. He was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda T. Walker and remanded to custody.
Read the full story
Jake Evans, the 6th Congressional District candidate endorsed by Donald Trump, spoke with The Georgia Star News on Friday about his success fighting for election integrity in the 2020 elections in Banks, Stephens, and Habersham Counties.
Evans stated, “[I’m the] only lawyer in Georgia history to overturn two elections in the same race, and then I contested the other one down in Long County. So, we found people that voted twice. We found people voting in a district they didn’t live in. We found people that were wrongly assigned a district. We found people who hadn’t signed absentee ballots. There’s fraud out there. It’s a thing.”
Read the full story
Georgia is doling out more than $415 million in federal relief money as grants to help nonprofits recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The money, which goes to more than 30 recipients, is from the American Rescue Plan’s Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds.
Read the full story
South Korea-based automaker Hyundai is set to announce a new $7 billion manufacturing electric vehicle (EV) plant in the U.S. that will also make gas-powered cars, according to several media reports.
“We are excited to announce a new EV plant plan in the United States soon, but we do not have details to share at this stage,” Hyundai told Reuters in a statement on Monday.
Read the full story
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed the state’s more than $30.2 billion fiscal 2023 state budget, increasing spending by more than 10% over last year’s budget.
The plan, which takes effect July 1, exceeds $57.9 billion when including other funds, such as more than $17.6 billion in federal money and grants.
Read the full story
A record number of Georgians continue to cast ballots in the state’s 2022 primary election during the early voting period.
Through Wednesday, May 11, during the second week of early voting for Georgia’s 2022 primary election, nearly 270,000 Georgians cast early votes. The numbers are a 159% increase from the primary in 2020 and a 235% increase from 2018.
Read the full story
The Trump-endorsed candidate in the May 24 Republican primary, former U.S. Senator David Perdue, issued a statement on Monday in the aftermath of the shooting of six people on Mother’s Day.
“This is another tragic example of what happens when a Governor keeps his ‘powder dry’ instead of taking bold action to keep people safe. Crime is out of control across the state. People are being shot daily, but Brian Kemp is missing in action. This disaster is happening on his watch. My question to the people of Georgia is do you feel safe? If not, then it’s time for a new Governor. Nothing is more important to me than ensuring you and your family are safe.”
Read the full story
Hyundai Motor Co. has held discussions with Georgia officials about building its new electric vehicle manufacturing plant in the state, according to reports.
It is unclear whether Georgia might offer tax incentives to lure Hyundai to the state.
Read the full story
Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Tennessee Star Lead reporter Laura Baigert to the newsmaker line to highlight the newly released 2000 Mules movie by Dinesh D’Souza.
Read the full story
Several Georgia-based labor groups, which are traditionally Democrat in both endorsements and membership, have sent letters to the Biden administration urging them to change course on policies that have resulted in rising inflation and higher gas prices.
The Atlanta North Georgia Labor Council, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists – Atlanta Chamber, and UFCW-Retail Wholesale and Department Store Unions have all sent letters to the Biden administration expressing their displeasure with current energy policies, expressing the plight of their membership in relation to inflation and fuel prices, and demanding a change of course.
Read the full story
State attorney general candidate John Gordon criticized incumbent Attorney General Chris Carr for what he characterized as a “do nothing” term at an event Monday.
“I’ve worked hard and now I’ll work hard for each of you and for the people of Georgia, which is, unfortunately, more than I can say about my opponent, Chris ‘Do Nothing’ Carr,” stated Gordon. “I have worked hard for election integrity. I didn’t hear one word about election integrity [from Carr].”
Read the full story
The Team Trump Georgia Bus Tour, a state-wide circuit supporting Trump-endorsed political candidates, hit the road Monday morning at Wild Wings restaurant in Dunwoody, Georgia.
DeKalb County Republican Party Chairman Marci McCarthy stated, “We’re thrilled to be here in welcoming the John Fredericks Georgia Trump Bus Tour here in DeKalb County, Georgia! We’re the kickoff stop, and we are going to vote DeKalb red.”
Garland Favorito, the head of the Georgia-based election integrity group, VoterGA, added, “It’s really got to change now or we’re going to lose Georgia, and if we lose Georgia we’re going to lose America, and if we lose America we’re going to lose the world. So this is huge.”
Read the full story
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a measure that opens the door to $636 million for state and local governments to bolster their opioid treatment and prevention efforts.
The money is part of a $26 billion multistate opioid settlement with the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors — Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen — and opioid manufacturer and marketer Johnson & Johnson.
Read the full story
Former President Donald Trump-endorsed candidate for Georgia attorney general, John Gordon, in an interview on The John Fredericks Show, hammered his opponent – incumbent Attorney General Chris Carr – for what he described as a lack of accessibility on the campaign trail.
“I have been campaigning every day for the past two months and I have yet to see Chris ‘Do Nothing’ Carr anywhere,” he said. “In fact, I have concluded that he must have moved into Joe Biden’s basement because we can’t find him anywhere.”
Read the full story
Jack Link’s plans to invest $450 million in a new manufacturing facility in Perry that will create 800 jobs.
The company is building a snack meat production plant on a 120-acre Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development certified site near Interstate 75 in Houston County. Officials said it would be operational by the end of 2023.
Read the full story
During an appearance on The John Fredericks Show, Georgia State Senate candidate Shawn Still reminded the audience that he filed a lawsuit in 2020 against Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and stated very clearly how important election integrity is to him.
“I have been on the forefront on election integrity since all of this began, when we saw the election irregularities. When we saw that we knew the election results, that we knew the election had been stolen, I filed a lawsuit in State Superior Court in Fulton County against the Secretary of State,” said Still.
Read the full story
Georgia investigators have signaled their focus in a wide-ranging investigation into alleged illegal ballot trafficking during the 2020 election with subpoenas that target the possible source of funding for such an operation and any eyewitness participants.
Read the full story
While state officials touted their recent unemployment numbers as an all-time record, a state organization says a deeper analysis of the numbers shows a troubling undercurrent.
Georgia’s unemployment rate in March dropped to an all-time low of 3.1%, down from February’s revised rate of 3.2%, as the number of employed Georgians also hit a record high. Georgia is tied with Arkansas for the 16th lowest unemployment rate, according to an analysis from the Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO).
Read the full story
Two different polls were released that show Herschel Walker and State Senator Burt Jones with massive leads in the Republican primaries for U.S. Senate and Lt. Governor, respectively.
Current Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger trails Trump-endorsed U.S. Representative Jody Hice in both polls and has a massive deficit in the second survey.
Read the full story
Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host Fredericks welcomed South County, Georgia school board candidate Mike Valdes to talk about how he will make sure teachers are upholding the state law in the classroom.
Read the full story
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he referred more than 1,600 cases of potential non-citizens attempting to register to vote in Georgia to local prosecutors and state investigators.
The secretary of state referred the cases to the State Election Board, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and local prosecutors. The announcement comes weeks after Raffensperger said the state completed the first citizenship audit of the state’s voter rolls.
Read the full story
President Trump amplified accusations that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp used Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan to block an election integrity bill in a Monday morning email to supporters and media.
Trump shared a statement issued by VoterGA, a Georgia-based election integrity group. Its website says it is “a coalition of citizens working to restore election integrity in Georgia. We advocate for independently verifiable, auditable, recount-capable and transparent elections.”
Read the full story
At his March 26, 2022, rally in Commerce, Georgia, President Donald J. Trump namechecked Buckhead City and told the tens of thousands of his supporters there that Bill White was one of his best and oldest friends.
White told Neil McCabe of The Star News Network that the key factor driving the residents to leave Atlanta is the need for them to take over their own affairs, especially as the neighborhood suffers its current crime wave, and the Atlanta mayor does not provide the law enforcement officers they need.
Read the full story
The man running to unseat Georgia Gov. Brian P. Kemp in the May 24 Republican primary told The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network that Kemp failed Georgians out in many ways, and one of them was when Kemp refused to back the separation of Buckhead City from Atlanta.
“Look, this is a governor that has sold us out,” said former senator David A. Perdue Jr., the man President Donald J. Trump endorsed to defeat Kemp.
Read the full story
The Georgia Fake News machine was working in overdrive on Saturday night in Commerce, Georgia.
Petrified by the resurgence of Donald Trump in Georgia, they coordinated a blatant effort to portray a minimal crowd for Trump’s rally at a North Georgia raceway. This equates to lying to your readers to create a phony narrative. Putin and Pravda would be proud.
Read the full story
Twenty-one states have filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s continued mask mandate on public transportation, including on airplanes.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody are leading the effort. Moody filed the suit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida along with 20 other attorneys general. DeSantis said the mask mandate was misguided and heavy-handed.
Read the full story
Georgia recorded all-time high employment numbers in February.
The number of workers – more than 5 million – increased by 21,102 in February, the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) said. The Peach State’s labor force of more than 5.2 million workers also is at an all-time high and increased 18,994 during the month.
Read the full story
Georgia plans to spend about $10 million to upgrade state-owned rail lines to Class II standards, which officials said would better integrate the lines with the national rail network and allow faster speeds.
The funding is included in the proposed fiscal year 2023 budget Georgia lawmakers are considering. However, the funding isn’t enough for the state to completely overhaul the lines, Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) spokesperson Natalie Dale told The Center Square.
Read the full story
Live from Virginia Monday morning on The John Fredericks Show – weekdays on WNTW AM 820/ FM 92.7 – Richmond; WJFN FM 100.5 – Central Virginia; WMPH AM 1010 / FM 100.1 / FM 96.9 (7-9 p.m.) – Hampton Roads; WBRG AM 1050 / FM 105.1 – Lynchburg/Roanoke; and weekdays 6-10 a.m. and 24/7 stream – host Fredericks welcomed David Perdue to discuss his enthusiastic endorsement by Donald Trump for Governor of Georgia and his attempts to talk to Brian Kemp about 2020’s election integrity.
Fredericks: David Perdue joining us now, running for governor, Georgia. That’ll be decided primary May 24th. And zero chance of that being a runoff.
Read the full story
The Star News Network’s National Political Editor, Neil W. McCabe, visited Dunwoody, Georgia, on Wednesday and spoke to former Diversity Advisor Bruce LeVell under President Trump about why the president appealed to black voters.
Read the full story
Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy discussed Bill Barr’s failure to recognize credible evidence of election irregularities in the 2020 election.
Read the full story
A Georgia’s General Assembly prepares to eliminate the state’s gas tax to alleviate increasing prices at the pump, the state’s gas prices soared to a record high.
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), Thursday’s average cost per gallon of gas was $4.29 in the Peach State, eclipsing its previous record of $4.16 per gallon on September 15, 2008.
Read the full story
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said late last week that he has joined a lawsuit to force the Biden administration to release records that might reveal Biden’s attempts to intimidate parents. In a statement, Carr said these parents tried to speak out on issues concerning their children’s education. The lawsuit follows Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed last fall.
Read the full story
Members of one Athens church fear for their safety after they said homeless people — many of whom they suspect aren’t even from that city — have harassed and threatened them on church grounds. Luis Ortiz, senior pastor of the Athens’ Young Harris Memorial United Methodist Church, said his complaints to Athens-Clarke County officials go mostly ignored. He and other city residents told The Georgia Star News they believe Athens’ officials are using a $60 million federal grant to bestow upon homeless people. Consequently, homeless people from other areas of the state are relocating to Athens.
Read the full story
Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue said this week that incumbent Governor Brian Kemp provided state-backed financial incentives to an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer tied to George Soros. Bloomberg reported this week that Soros does invest in the EV company Rivian.
Read the full story
Georgia Speaker of the House David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) and House Ways and Means Chair Shaw Blackmon (R-Bonaire) on Tuesday announced legislation that would, if enacted into law, lower Georgia’s maximum income tax rate. Ralston and Blackmon want to reduce Georgia’s maximum income tax rate from 5.75 percent to a single and flat rate of 5.25 percent. They said at a press conference that state residents would save an estimated $1 billion per year if and when the proposed cut goes into effect for calendar year 2024.
Read the full story
Georgia’s redistricting process has caused Democrat Incumbent U.S. Representative Lucy McBath to flee the 6th Congressional District, leaving an open seat.
McBath has left the race for the Sixth district and is running in the much bluer neighboring new Seventh district, taking on fellow Democrat incumbent U.S. Representative Carolyn Bourdeaux. The new GA-7 has a partisan rating of D+16. According to the FEC, McBath has raised $3,199,954.75 and has a war chest of $2,452,731.80 cash on hand. Bourdeaux has $2,005,771.81 cash on hand and has raised $2,406,048.45 for the 2022 election cycle.
Read the full story
News of yet another violent crime in Buckhead apparently won’t nudge Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and other high-ranking GOP legislators to push for legislation to allow Buckhead residents to vote on separating from crime-plagued Atlanta. Members of the Atlanta Police Department (APD) reported a violent carjacking in Buckhead on Sunday.
Read the full story
A new bill in the Georgia General Assembly would, if enacted into law, remove places of worship from a list of unauthorized locations where people in the state may carry weapons or long guns. Representative Rick Jasperse (R-Jasper) is the primary sponsor of the bill, HB 1378, according to the Georgia General Assembly’s website.
Read the full story
Members of the Georgia General Assembly this week will consider a bill that would, if enacted into law, allow all lawful weapons carriers to carry a firearm without needing a government permit. Senator Jason Anavitarte (R-Dallas) is the primary sponsor of the bill, SB 319, according to the Georgia General Assembly’s website.
Read the full story