Biden’s New Georgia Ad Makes Questionable Claims on Supply Chains, Drug, and Utility Prices

President Joe Biden unveiled a new advertisement in Georgia this week, making bold claims about the accomplishments of his administration. However, the president’s claims to have addressed the supply chain crisis and lowered the prices of drugs and utilities may not stand up to scrutiny.

In the 30-second video, a narrator claims Biden “got to work” by “fixing the supply chains, fighting corporate greed, passing laws to lower the cost of medicine, cut utility bills, and make us more energy independent.” However, recent reporting reveals the supply chain crisis continued as recently as May, utility bills rose over last year, and the costs of most drugs increased in January.

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Report: Fani Willis Has Transcript Exonerating Former Trump Lawyer Ray Smith, Former Georgia GOP Chair David Shafer

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is reportedly in possession of a meeting transcript that exonerates two defendants named in her August 14 indictment against former President Donald Trump, his former lawyers, and Georgians involved in his effort to contest the 2020 presidential election.

A transcript of a December 14, 2020 meeting of those involved in the effort to create alternative Trump delegates in Georgia for the 2020 election, reviewed by The Federalist, reveals that Shafer and former Trump attorney Ray Smith specifically planned to act as “Republican nominees for Presidential Elector,” and not “duly elected and qualified” electors, in what seems to be a direct contradiction to Willis’s indictment.

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Gov. Brian Kemp Rejects Calls to Dismiss Fulton County DA Fani Willis

On Thursday, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) said at a press conference that he would not support efforts to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from office following her indictment of President Donald Trump.

As reported by Breitbart, Kemp referred to such efforts as “political theater,” after a Republican state senator had already vowed to take action against Willis. Willis’ indictment included 41 different charges against President Trump and 18 campaign surrogates, lawyers, and other prominent allies.

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Trump Pleads Not Guilty in Georgia Election Case After Waiving Arraignment

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday pleaded not guilty to 13 felony charges related to his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, and he waived his right to appear in court in Fulton County next week.

Trump was scheduled to be arraigned in Georgia on Sept. 6 alongside 18 co-defendants on charges under the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, as well as charges of making false statements and soliciting a public official to violate their oath of office, among other things.

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Giuliani Loses Georgia Election Workers’ Defamation Lawsuit by Default

Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani lost by default Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit filed by two Georgia election workers and a judge imposed sanctions on him in the case. 

In a scathing 57-page ruling, federal Judge Beryl Howell criticized Giuliani for not producing evidence as required for the case filed by election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, resulting in the default loss.

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Commission Chair: Georgia CON Laws ‘Intended to Stifle Competition’

When officials in Lee County tried to build “a small acute care hospital” with 60 beds and four operating rooms, it began a multi-year process that cost millions of dollars and didn’t end with the construction of a facility.

“When we started our quest to build a hospital, we knew that it was going to be an uphill battle,” Billy Mathis, the Lee County Commission chairman, told lawmakers during a Senate Study Committee on Certificate of Need Reform hearing on Monday. “For the first couple of years, after you are granted a certificate of need, you fight litigation. The code in Georgia encourages litigation, basically. So, you get your certificate of need, and then all sorts of folks sue you — to put it very plainly.”

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Georgia State Senators Spar on Special Session over Trump Indictment

While one Georgia state senator wants a special session to potentially act on the district attorney prosecuting former President Donald Trump, another says it’s impossible.

Last week, State Sen. Colton Moore, R-Trenton, sent a letter to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, calling for a special session “for all purposes, to include, without limitation, the review and response to the actions of [Fulton County District Attorney] Fani Willis.”

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Georgia Officials Able to Hire HEROs for Atlanta Area Highway Patrols

The Georgia Department of Transportation has found a few HEROs to help patrol metro Atlanta’s highways.

In May, GDOT officials said the agency lacked the personnel to maintain 24-hour Highway Emergency Response Operator patrols, a common sight along metro Atlanta’s busy interstates. At the time, the agency said HERO units would continue to patrol when traffic volumes are the highest — during daytime and evening hours seven days a week — and when roughly 91% of mishaps happen.

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Georgia Groups Turn Attention to Tax Overhaul

As the state looks to evaluate and possibly overhaul its tax system, one state public policy group says officials should improve the tax credit system’s transparency.

“The state has taken a vital step toward creating a fairer tax system by convening this panel and by implementing specific legislative provisions like the one in 2021’s SB 6 that provided for the analyses of tax benefits,” Georgia Budget and Policy Institute President and CEO Staci Fox said in a statement. “While these measures are commendable, past evaluations of tax credits have run into resource and information limitations that hindered meaningful findings and the identification of actionable next steps.

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Atlanta Signs Off on $4 Million Plan to Use Shipping Containers for Homeless Housing

The Atlanta City Council signed off on spending $4 million to develop “quick-delivery housing” for the city’s homeless population.

Last month, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens issued an executive order directing the city’s chief financial officer to fund a new “Rapid Housing” initiative. The city plans to repurpose shipping containers that the Georgia Emergency Management Agency used as temporary hospitals amid the COVID-19 pandemic and are now being decommissioned.

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Trump Co-Defendant John Eastman Turns Himself in to Fulton County Officials in 2020 Election Case

Attorney John Eastman turned himself in Tuesday to the Fulton County jail, records show, after he was indicted last week alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 other co-conspirators for their alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Eastman said Tuesday that the indictment “should never have been brought” and that it “targets attorneys for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients.”

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Georgia Committee to Discuss Artificial Intelligence

A Georgia Senate joint committee will soon meet to discuss artificial intelligence.

“AI may be one of the greatest disruptors in history providing significant advancements and monumental risk,” State Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell (pictured above), chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, said in a statement. “We must address this head on to protect our citizens, businesses, and state.”

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Georgia Unemployment Remains Below National Average as Initial Claims Rise

Georgia’s July unemployment rate was 3.2%, unchanged from June’s revised rate, even as more Georgians filed initial unemployment claims.

The state’s unemployment rate is also lower than the national unemployment rate of 3.5%. In July, Georgians filed 31,410 initial claims for unemployment benefits, up 34%, or 7,933, from a month earlier and 2,865 from last year.

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Georgia School Board Fires Teacher Who Read Book on Gender Identity to Fifth Graders

A Georgia school board voted Thursday to fire a teacher who read her fifth-grade students a book on gender identity, according to The Associated Press.

In March, Katie Rinderle, a fifth-grade teacher at Cobb County School District, says she got in trouble for reading her class “My Shadow is Purple,” a picture book about a child who discovers they are neither a girl or a boy, according to the AP. The Cobb County School Board voted 4-3 to fire Rinderle, finding that the teacher had violated the state’s divisive concepts law, which bars educators from giving lessons on race and “espousing personal political beliefs.”

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Georgia State Senator Asks for Emergency Session to Investigate Fulton County DA Fani Willis

Georgia State Senator Colton Moore (R-Trenton) sent a letter to Governor Brian Kemp calling on him to convene an emergency session to investigate Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

“We, the undersigned, being duly elected members of the Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia Senate, and comprising 3/5 of each respective house, pursuant to Article IV, Section II, Paragraph VII(b), hereby certify to you, in writing, with a copy to the Secretary of State, that in our opinion an emergency exists in the affairs of the state, requiring a special session to be convened under that section, for all purposes, to include, without limitation, the review and response to the actions of Fani Willis,” Moore wrote in his letter on Thursday.

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Commentary: Trump’s Claims of Election Misconduct Were Never Adjudicated in Georgia

In a post to his locals.com page Georgia attorney Robert Barnes took subscribers on a little trip down memory lane about the 2020 Georgia election challenges.

As Mr. Barnes explained, detailed affidavits filed by the Trump campaign established the veracity of the claims. Short version: Constitutionally unqualified voters cast Constitutionally unqualified ballots that were Constitutionally unqualified canvassed and counted in far excess of the margin of victory — indeed, more than 10 times the margin of victory. Unlawfully, Fulton County courts blocked the case from ever being heard.

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News Outlets Declare Teacher Shortage in Georgia Yet Data Shows Rising Numbers

Georgia’s news outlets from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to Atlanta News First have reported about a shortage of teachers plaguing the state’s education system. Data from the state’s Department of Education paints a different picture. 

Georgia had a total of 123,210 teachers in 2022-23, according to their data. This is an increase of 1,711 teachers from the previous school year when Georgia had 121,499 teachers.

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Georgia Lawmakers Likely to Consider Cyberbullying Legislation

Georgia lawmakers will likely consider legislation requiring social media companies to help crack down on cyberbullying.

Lt. Governor Burt Jones and Senate Majority Caucus Chair Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, plan to introduce legislation for lawmakers to consider during the 2024 legislative Session to require social media companies to take “concrete steps” to verify their users’ ages.

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State Representative: Georgia Lawmakers Might Act on Property Tax Increases

Earlier this year, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed House Bill 118 and House Bill 622 to triple Bartow County’s homestead tax exemptions for school and county ad valorem taxes.

But property owners across the Peach State have seen their property tax bills balloon. State Rep. Matthew Gambill, R-Cartersville, spoke with The Center Square recently about property taxes and what action state lawmakers might take.

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Eight Former Georgia Employees Indicted for Unemployment Insurance Fraud

A Fulton County grand jury has indicted eight former state employees on unemployment insurance fraud charges.

Prosecutors say the eight submitted false claims and weekly certifications to the Georgia Department of Labor during the COVID-19 pandemic to receive unemployment insurance benefits when employed by the state. According to the State of Georgia Office of the Inspector General, the eight received $170,931 in unemployment insurance benefits and federal supplements.

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Family of Man Found Dead, Covered in Bug Bites in Fulton County Jail Reaches $4 Million Settlement

The family of Lashawn Thompson reached a $4 million settlement with Fulton County in the death of Thompson, who was found dead in a cell on the county jail’s psychiatric floor covered in bed bugs and insects last year.

Fulton County commissioners voted six to zero to approve the family’s settlement, 11 Alive reported. The outlet noted that the settlement comes two months after the family released the results of a private autopsy of Thompson, which showed that he died from “severe neglect.”

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Atlanta Mayor Wants $4 Million for Homeless ‘Quick-Delivery Housing’

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens plans to use $4 million to develop “quick-delivery housing” for homeless people in the city.

Dickens issued an executive order directing the city’s chief financial officer to fund a new “Rapid Housing” initiative. The city plans to repurpose shipping containers that Georgia Emergency Management Agency used as temporary hospitals amid the COVID-19 pandemic and are now being decommissioned.

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Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor Expresses Frustration with Elections Meeting

Election security will likely remain a hot-button issue in Georgia when lawmakers return to the Gold Dome in January and heading into the 2024 election.

Last week, Lt. Governor Burt Jones met with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Republicans, to discuss a 2021 report by Alex Halderman, a University of Michigan computer science and engineering professor. The Georgia Republican Party has raised concerns about the report, which it said uncovered vulnerabilities.

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