Georgia was one of six states classified as having exemplary disclosure of its Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) spending, according to a new report on transparency in CRF spending.
The CRF was established from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The act was signed into law by former President Donald Trump in March 2020 and gave states a total of $111.8 billion to cover COVID-19-related costs.
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Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-GA-11) announced late last week that he has asked the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to increase the number of new C-130J aircraft, which are manufactured at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Marietta, Georgia. That Lockheed Martin factory, Loudermilk went on to say, employs 3,000 Georgia residents.
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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp this week announced his administration’s floor leaders for the 2022 legislative session. Floor leaders generally promote the governor’s interests in the legislative chamber.
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Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) Commissioner Mark Butler announced Thursday that the state now employs the highest number of Georgians ever, surpassing the number of employed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic by more than 3,000. Butler announced the news in a Thursday press release.
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Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) this month shared how Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents violated him and his rights several years ago and listed new ways for the agency to reform itself. Clyde made his remarks at a House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties hearing.
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A Washington, D.C.-based group said in a new report that Georgia is one of only six states that do a good job disclosing how they spend COVID-19 relief money. Members of this organization, Good Jobs First, in a report they released Monday, ranked how states spend federal CARES Act money.
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U.S. Representative Jody Hice (R-GA-10) pushed back this week against a proposal from President Joe Biden to allow federal employees to work remotely. The congressman said the plan will shortchange the American people.
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Former Republican senator and declared gubernatorial candidate David Perdue and another Georgia resident this week cited fraud in last year’s elections in Fulton County and filed a suit seeking greater election transparency. In their lawsuit, Perdue and Elizabeth Grace Lennon requested access to Fulton County’s absentee ballots and absentee envelopes from last year. They filed the suit in the Superior Court of Fulton County. Lennon said county officials denied her the right to vote.
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Officials with the left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) this week announced they will start spending nearly three times as much money than usual — nearly $100 million — on voter outreach throughout the Deep South, including Georgia. SPLC officials said in a press release that they will partner with the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta (CFGA) and spend that money in other southern states as well. Those states include Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, SPLC officials said.
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U.S. Representative Buddy Carter (R-GA-01) on Monday denied that he voted for a federal database that documents who got vaccinated against COVID-19. According to the U.S. House of Representatives’ website, Carter was the sole Republican House member from Georgia to vote yes on H.R. 550. That bill is otherwise known as the Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2021.
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The former Republican Georgia senator who lost the January runoff election to Sen. T. Jonathan Ossoff is expected to announce his challenge to Gov. Brian P. Kemp Monday in the May 25 primary, after months of prodding from President Donald J. Trump, setting up a clash of two former allies and another test of Trump’s sway over the GOP.
“Bonnie and I have been praying about our state and I am concerned about the state of our state,” said David A. Perdue Jr., speaking with the host of WDUN’s “The Martha Zoller Show” and teasing his run with an appearance that broadcast a week before Thanksgiving.
The leading Democrat in the race in the party’s 2018 nominee Stacy Abrams, who Wednesday announced her 2022 campaign.
Trump has been angry at Kemp after the governor refused to back efforts to review the 2020 election before it was certified.
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Former Georgia State Representative Beth Beskin is scheduled to launch a new weekly talk radio show on Saturday, December 4, where she promises to give listeners a front row seat to Peach State politics. The Beth Beskin Show will broadcast live each Saturday from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. on WMLB AM 1690 in Atlanta. Listeners who live outside of the Metro Atlanta area may listen by downloading the Freedom WMLB AM 1690 App.
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Republican Rich McCormick, running for Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District, previously said four GOP members of Congress had endorsed his candidacy but on Thursday he said they did not actually endorse him. McCormick said he made a mistake.
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Republican Rich McCormick, who in 2020 lost Georgia’s Seventh Congressional District race to Representative Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-GA-07), announced Tuesday he’s running again — but this time for the state’s Sixth Congressional District.
McCormick told The Georgia Star News that the newly redrawn Seventh District is now a 65 percent Democrat stronghold. He said any Republican would have a difficult time competing there.
“There is nobody that has a claim to the Sixth [District] any more than I do,” McCormick said.
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Patrick Witt, a Republican running for Georgia’s 10th Congressional District, this week said certain members of the GOP should blame themselves for what occurred in the state on November 3, 2020. Witt, according to his Twitter profile, was a member of former President Donald Trump’s post-election legal team. He also served as a senior official in the Trump administration.
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Georgia state legislators will soon consider a bill that, if enacted into law, would designate certain people not as cyberbullies but, instead, as stalkers.
Local boards of education would have to notify students and parents of the change, according to an emailed press release.
Senator Jason Anavitarte (R-Dallas) authored the bill. Legislators are scheduled to consider the bill during the upcoming 2022 session.
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The owners of a company that publishes newspapers in Georgia are suing Google and Facebook on the grounds that the two tech giants violated federal antitrust and monopoly laws. The Times-Journal Inc. announced the lawsuit in their newspapers this week, including The Northwest Georgia News. Company officials said in their lawsuit that Google and Facebook agreed to monopolize the market and subsequently damaged the newspaper industry.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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The chairman of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for Election Integrity (AFPI) told The Star News Network that he is watching for how elections run in 2022 and 2024 based on lessons learned from the poor handling of the 2020 presidential election.
“Look back and see that in 1918 you had the Spanish Flu, then in 1929, you had a complete economic collapse, in 1968, you had the riots, and in 1974, we had the Nixon impeachment—well, in 2020, you had all of those things happening in one year,” said J. Kenneth “Ken” Blackwell, who joined AFPI in July after a long career in public service and academia, including service as Ohio’s secretary of state and as the mayor of Cincinnati.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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A Lawrenceville, Georgia, man has pleaded guilty in Las Vegas to fraudulently obtaining more than $170,000 in unemployment benefits.
That man, Robert Devon Barber, 25, did this by submitting multiple unemployment claims in other people’s names and using benefits debit cards not belonging to him.
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Remington Firearms (RemArms) announced Monday that they will locate their global headquarters in LaGrange, Georgia.
RemArms officials, in a press release, also said they will open an advanced manufacturing operation and a research and development center in LaGrange. The press release did not elaborate.
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Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-GA-11) and nearly 90 other members of the U.S. House of Representatives this week urged Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to allow certain 18-20-year-olds to operate Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce. This, Loudermilk and other members of Congress said in a letter to Buttigieg, to help alleviate the nation’s growing supply-chain emergency. The representatives said there are too few truckers on the road to meet demands. They asked the Department of Transportation (DOT) to proceed with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA’s) Under-21 Commercial Driver Pilot Program.
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The State of Georgia’s net tax collections in October approached $2.48 billion, for an increase of $460.7 million, or 22.9 percent, compared to October 2020, when net tax collections totaled roughly $2.02 billion. This, according to an emailed press release that Governor Brian Kemp’s office emailed Friday.
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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and state Attorney General Chris Carr on Friday announced that they filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s employer vaccine mandate. The Federal Register published The Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) setting forth the mandate on Friday, the press release said.
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Even as the 2021 elections and President Joe Biden’s approval ratings make Democrats’ hope of keeping Senate control after next year seem less likely, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) has doubled down on his thoroughly leftist agenda.
In a tweet the day after Republicans swept statewide contests in the previously “blue” state of Virginia and nearly unseated Gov. Phil Murphy (D) in the even more Democratic state of New Jersey, Warnock is accusing Republicans of having “stood in the way of” voting rights.
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Representative Jody Hice (R-GA-10) this week blasted President Joe Biden and other Democrats for asking the nation’s largest energy producers to reduce their energy production, all while energy prices continue to rise. Hice made his remarks during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing.
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Georgia Speaker of the House David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) and other members of the state’s general assembly on Wednesday published a draft map of new state house districts for state legislators. Legislators will examine and consider the map during the 2021 Special Session.
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President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors could kill several Georgia jobs and even compromise the state’s food safety, Governor Brian Kemp and other state officials warned Wednesday.
Kemp — flanked by state attorney General Chris Carr and state Agricultural Commissioner Gary Black — alerted the public at a press conference at the Georgia State Capitol. Carr said Biden’s mandate is unconstitutional and he will sue to stop what he called the president’s overreach.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is scheduled to appear alongside the state’s attorney general and agriculture commissioner Wednesday to discuss how President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors violates the law and harms the state. This, according to a press release that member of Kemp’s staff emailed Tuesday. The press release called Biden’s mandate “unlawful” and suggested that state officials would file a lawsuit to fight it.
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A Laurens County, Georgia man lied to obtain a COVID-19 disaster relief loan and used that money to buy a collectible Pokémon trading card.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Justice for the Southern District of Georgia announced the news in a press release this week.
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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp may have another Republican opponent as he vies for reelection next year. The Intelligencer reported this week that former U.S. Senator David Perdue is mulling whether to compete against Kemp.
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and other state attorneys general this week repudiated the Biden administration as well as the National School Boards Association (NSBA) for colluding with one another to threaten parents nationwide. Carr announced the news Wednesday in an emailed press release.
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The U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday passed a bill that Representative Lucy McBath (D-GA-06) filed that, if enacted into law, would deny firearms to individuals under certain circumstances. McBath said in an emailed press release Wednesday that her bill, H.R. 2377, would allow family members and law enforcement to obtain an extreme risk protection order. That order would temporarily remove access to firearms for people deemed a danger to themselves or to others by a federal court.
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