Tag: Georgia

U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk Warns Georgia that Federal Officials Want to Mandate COVID-19 Vaccine

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA-11) said this weekend that forces within the Biden administration and other Democrats in Washington, D.C. want to force a COVID-19 vaccine upon all Americans. “There are few things that remain very consistent, and one of those — and it is of grave concern to most of the people in our district, and I believe most of the people in America — is the attacks on our individual liberties. The one that is most prominent right now is the government trying to force a medical procedure, a vaccine, on every citizen,” Loudermilk said during a podcast Saturday.

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Federal Infrastructure Bill Could Bring Major Projects, Higher Taxes to Georgia

The Center Square

With U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visiting Georgia on Friday to promote a federal infrastructure bill, construction workers and transit officials say it could mean major developments for the state.

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) officials said the $1.2 trillion U.S. Senate proposal could increase Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding for it and other transit agencies by 65% over previous levels. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) said it could help restore billions of dollars in the economic costs and millions of hours of lost time caused by the state’s structurally deficient bridges.

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Arizona Attorney General Brnovich Files Amicus Brief to Uphold Georgia ‘Election Integrity Act’

The Center Square
Attorney General Mark Brnovich

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced that he joined a coalition of 16 states in filing an amicus brief urging the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to uphold the state’s recently-enacted “Election Integrity Act of 2021.”

The attorneys general expressed their support for Georgia’s motion to throw out the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit against the new voting law, which Georgia said was based on “political posturing rather than a serious legal challenge.”

The “Election Integrity Act of 2021,” or Senate Bill 202, passed the legislature along party lines. Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga, signed the 98-page omnibus bill on March 25.

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U.S. Rep. Austin Scott Says Wage Disparities Across the Border Make It Hard for American Farmers to Compete

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA-08), who serves on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, shared his worries about cheap produce imports, the impact of cheaper labor costs in Mexico, and how this affects Georgia farmers. Committee members held a hearing entitled, “21st Century Food Systems: Controlled Environment Agriculture’s Role in Protecting Domestic Food Supply Chains and Infrastructure.”

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Georgia to Start Accepting Applications for American Rescue Plan Funds Sunday

The Center Square
COVID Testing station

Georgia is still deciding how to divide more than $8.1 billion from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in March.

Applications for more than $4.8 billion in funding opens up Sunday. State government entities, local governments, businesses and nonprofits have 30 days to apply for the aid.

The aid will be issued in two installments and cover expenses from March to the end of 2026, but the state has until December 31, 2024, to allocate all of the funds.

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Georgia Nonprofit Joins Groups Calling on Congress to Restore Cuts to Charter School Funding

The Center Square

A Georgia nonprofit is among a coalition of more than 70 organizations calling on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee to restore proposed cuts to charter school funding.

The committee voted to cut $40 million from the federal Charter Schools Program. The budget they approved for fiscal year 2022 also includes language that would prevent federal funds from being awarded to charter schools ran by for-profit entities.

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Georgia Officials File Motion to Dismiss U.S. Department of Justice’s Lawsuit Against SB 202

Chris Butler

Georgia officials have filed a motion to dismiss the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) lawsuit against the state’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202. Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr this week released a statement and called the lawsuit “politically-charged” and said it seeks “to intrude into the State of Georgia’s constitutional authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of its elections.”

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Georgia Campaign Donor Says Politics Did Not Influence Generous No-Bid COVID-19 Contract

Chris Butler
Richard L. Jackson

The president of an Alpharetta-based medical company whose CEO donated generously to Georgia’s top politicians and subsequently received a $434 million no-bid contract said Tuesday that politics “had absolutely nothing to do with it.” Rick Jackson, the CEO of Jackson Healthcare, donated roughly $1 million to various statewide political candidates. Jackson donated to, among others, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

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Commentary: Supreme Court Raised the Bar for Challenge to Georgia Election Law

RealClearWire

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee has prompted extensive commentary about the implications for future challenges to election laws under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Litigants arguing that some laws, such as Georgia’s newly enacted SB 202, disproportionately affect racial minorities may have a greater challenge meeting the standard set forth by the court than the standard that some lower courts had been using in recent years.

But while the justices split on a 6-3 vote on whether a pair of Arizona statutes ran afoul of the Act, it voted 6-0 (with three justices not addressing the question) in concluding that Arizona did not act with discriminatory intent. This holding sets the stage for the Justice Department’s recent lawsuit against Georgia, and it offers hints at how district courts and reviewing courts should behave. In short, the Justice Department has an uphill battle.

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Georgia to Issue Licenses to Companies for Medical Marijuana Production

The Center Square
Zane Bader

The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission will pick six companies to start producing the plant for medical uses in the state.

Nearly 70 companies applied for licenses to grow marijuana and convert it to oil to treat various illnesses. Once the commission approves them, the companies could be looking at paying up to $200,000 in licensing fees to the state. They will have one year to get product to thousands of Georgians who have been waiting for more than five years.

Patients with a Low THC Oil Registry card legally can purchase up to 20 fluid ounces of the THC oil from licensed dispensaries or pharmacies under legislation signed into law by former Gov. Nathan Deal in 2015. However, without guidelines and a medical marijuana marketplace, the 14,000 registered patients in Georgia have no way of legally obtaining the oil.

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Mitch McConnell Mocks Amy Klobuchar, Other Democrats for Georgia Hearing

Chris Butler

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reportedly disapproves of a field hearing that U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) held in Georgia last week to undermine that state’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202. This, as Klobuchar and four other Democratic U.S. senators who attended refused to answer The Georgia Star News’ questions about other states whose voting requirements are stricter than Georgia’s.

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Speaker of Georgia House Demands Investigation into Fulton County Election Irregularities

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Speaker David Ralston presides over the Georgia House chamber

Georgia’s Speaker of the House David Ralston is demanding an investigation to “determine if any irregularities or willful fraud occurred” in the state’s largest metropolis last November, saying recent revelations about problems with vote counting in Fulton County merit an independent probe.

Ralston sent a letter late last week to Fulton County election officials requesting that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation be allowed to conduct the investigation.

The request comes after Just the News reported last month that an independent observer for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger noted two dozen pages of irregularities in the Atlanta vote counting center last Nov. 3, including double scanning of ballots, insecure transportation of ballots and possible voter privacy violations.

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Democrat Claim of ‘Smoking Gun’ at U.S. Senate Rules Hearing Immediately Debunked as Quote Taken Out of Context

Chris Butler
Amy Klobuchar Atlanta

ATLANTA, Georgia —  U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) came to Atlanta Monday to bash Georgia’s Senate Bill 202, and she left believing she had uncovered “a smoking gun” that proved the law was a case of overreach.

That “smoking gun” was testimony from Georgia State Sen. Sally Harrell (D-Atlanta). But Harrell’s words were refuted by another state legislator — a Republican — when The Georgia Star News contacted that man Monday.

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Convicted Felon Sentenced to Prison for Robbing Traveler at Georgia I-75 Rest Area

Chris Butler
James Clemente Holloway

Federal officials have sentenced a Florida man — also a convicted felon — to federal prison following a high-speed chase along Interstate 75 after he robbed a traveler at gunpoint. U.S. District Judge Louis Sands sentenced that man, James Clemente Holloway, 43, of Jacksonville, Florida, to serve 80 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. This, after Sands previously pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

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RNC Reminds MLB All-Star Game Viewers That Democrats Got Game Pulled Out of Georgia

Chris Butler

The Republican National Committee (RNC) released a television ad during Tuesday night’s All-Star Game and told Atlanta residents that Democrats stole the game from their city, all to push a divisive political agenda. The ad features former Georgia State Rep. Melvin Everson. Everson, according to Ballotpedia, is a Republican who served in the legislature from 2005 to 2011.

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Southwest Georgia Resident Criminally Charged with CARES Act Fraud

Chris Butler

A federal grand jury has returned a 12-count indictment charging a Sycamore, Georgia, resident with bank fraud, money laundering and making false statements related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Officials indicted Anthony C. Boncimino, 46, this month with four counts of bank fraud, four counts of money laundering and four counts of making false statements.

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Stacey Abrams’ PAC Pulls in $104 Million in First Two Years, among Top Political Fundraising Groups

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Stacey Abrams

The political action committee for former Georgia state lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has raised over $100 million in the first two years of its existence, making it one of the top fundraising PACs in the country.

The Fair Fight PAC was created by Abrams after she failed to win the 2018 Georgia governor’s race. She has since devoted much of her efforts toward fundraising and get-out-the voter efforts for fellow Democrats running for office.

Of the $104 million so far raised, $90 million was part of the 2020 election cycle, $8 million was for this year’s special Senate elections in Georgia, in which Democrats took both GOP-held seats, and the other $6 million has been raised since February, according to The Hill newspaper.

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Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Employing and Exploiting Illegal Aliens in Georgia

Chris Butler

A Bartow County, Georgia businessman has pleaded guilty in federal court to harboring illegal aliens for financial gain. That man, Juan Antonio Perez, 48, of Rydal, illegally encouraged and induced aliens to reside in the United States where they worked for his own commercial advantage and private financial gain. This, according to a press release the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia published this week.

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Lumber Demand Drives Georgia Home Prices Higher

The Center Square
A beige house in a suburban community during the day

A spike in lumber prices has compounded the state’s housing crisis, Georgia housing advocates said.

The price of lumber increased by 300% this spring compared with the same time last year, reports show. The building material reached an all-time high of $1,515 per thousand board feet on May 28.

The price of oriented strand board, which is most often used for sheathing, has increased by 400% since last spring.

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Georgia Attorney General Blasts Biden Administration’s ‘Unconstitutional Changes’ Regarding Pronoun Policies

Chris Butler

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and other state attorneys general this week told U.S. President Joe Biden they formally oppose new federal guidelines they say will force radical changes on employers and schools nationwide. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Education issued these guidelines. The group of attorneys general responded to the federal agencies’ claim that using biologically accurate pronouns could violate the law.

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Georgia Long-Term Care Facilities Face Financial Hardship from Pandemic

The Center Square

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a financial toll on Georgia’s long-term care facilities, officials said.

Devon Barill, communications director for the Georgia Health Care Association and Georgia Center for Assisted Living (GHCA/GCAL), said the facilities have faced increased expenses and revenue losses from caring for the state’s most vulnerable population.

While COVID-19 can lead to severe complications in older people and those with underlying issues, the congregated facilities are often home to the elderly and people who require supportive care.

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Georgia U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter Accompanies Donald Trump to Border, Describes Mayhem

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA-01) traveled with former U.S. President Donald Trump to the U.S.-Mexico border last week and said he saw “the opposite of progress.” “When Vice President Kamala Harris claimed the Biden Administration, ‘made progress,’ during his visit to our southern border last week, I was intrigued.  I was appalled by what I saw when I visited the border in May and hopeful that the Biden Administration was finally taking this situation seriously,” Carter told his constituents in an emailed newsletter Sunday.

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July Ushers in Georgia Income Tax Cut, New Business Incentives

The Center Square
Person writing on paper with pen

New laws that will cut income taxes for Georgians and increase tax incentives for businesses go into effect Thursday with the start of a new fiscal year.

Dubbed the Tax Relief Act of 2021, House Bill 593, raises the standard deduction on state income tax returns for a single taxpayer by $800 to $5,400 and by $1,100 to $7,100 for a married couple filing a joint return, starting in the 2022 tax year.

HB 593 created the second tax cut of its kind in three years. It will cut income taxes by more than $600 million collectively over the next five years. The Georgia Legislature doubled the state’s standard deduction under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in Georgia in 2018.

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