A new report from WalletHub found that Atlanta experienced the 38th highest increase in the homicide rate of the 50 largest cities in the country.
The topic of crime in the state was a hot topic during this week’s Atlanta Press Club debate of the attorney general candidates: incumbent Republican Attorney General Chris Carr, Libertarian Martin Cowan and Sen. Jen Jordan, D-Atlanta.
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Stacey Abrams on Wednesday implied that abortion can and is used by women to help keep costs down amid rising inflation.
During an interview on MSNBC with “Morning Joe’s” host Mike Barnicle remarked that abortion “nowhere reaches the level of interest to voters” as does sky-high inflation prices for groceries, gas and other consumer products.
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Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed national political correspondent for One America News, Neil W. McCabe, to the newsmaker line to comment on the recent debate for Georgia governor between Brian Kemp and Stacy Abrams and senate candidates Raphael Warnock and Hershel Walker.
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Georgia saw a record number of voters turn out for a midterm election, state officials said.
As of Tuesday, 143,077 voters have cast ballots in Georgia — 131,318 voted early in person, while 11,759 voted via an absentee ballot. The number of in-person voters is an 85% increase from the 70,849 voters who cast ballots in person on the first day of early voting in the 2018 midterm election.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist, Aaron Gulbransen in studio to comment on recent polling for midterm elections and the governor and senate races in Georgia.
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President of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, Raphael Bostic, is under investigation after he admitted to not disclosing specific trading activities that he was involved in during certain restricted time periods, the Epoch Times reports.
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Georgia is investigating a charity run by the church where Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock is a pastor due to concerns about its legal status, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
The Ebenezer Building Foundation is soliciting charitable contributions and operating as a charitable organization but isn’t registered as one in the state of Georgia, according to a letter from the Securities and Charities Division Georgia Secretary of State office. The letter urged the organization to register by Nov. 2 and noted that it could be subject to administrative penalties.
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Incumbent Georgia Republican Sen. Raphael Warnock squared off against his Republican challenger, former football star Herschel Walker in a Friday debate.
Inflation opened the debate. Walker attributed the rise in consumer prices to the Biden administration’s spending plans. He further proposed pursuing energy independence as a solution to both the nation’s economic and national security woes. He declined to back cuts to military spending when asked. “We have to be ready for war. This is not a playground,” he said.
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State lawmakers could soon consider increasing the state’s tax incentives for music or creating a state-run music office to help performers, managers, songwriters and producers.
Those were among the suggestions witnesses offered to lawmakers during a Joint Study Committee on Georgia Music Heritage meeting.
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Despite touting high-profile indictments against gang members, Georgia’s attorney general’s office will not say whether it needs more money to continue its work.
State lawmakers allocated $1.3 million in the more than $30.2 billion fiscal 2023 budget for the Gang Prosecution Unit. Lawmakers created the unit, which began its work on July 1, as part of House Bill 1134.
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A new poll shows Gov. Brian Kemp widening his lead over challenger Stacey Abrams with less than a month until election day and just days before early voting starts.
The new Georgia News Collaborative poll found Kemp, a Republican, leading Abrams, a Democrat, by a margin of 51% to 40.7%. Libertarian Shane Hazel drew 2.3% of the vote, while 6% were undecided.
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Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock is senior pastor, moved to evict poor, low-income tenants from a building it owns while Warnock publicly railed against evictions, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Columbia Tower at MLK Village in downtown Atlanta, of which the church is 99% owner, is a 501(c)3) non-profit intended to house the mentally disabled and chronically homeless, according to a grant application. However, the church’s business partner Columbia Residential filed a dozen eviction lawsuits against low-income residents throughout the pandemic over past-due rent amounts as low as $28.55 and successfully evicted two tenants, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
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The feds sent millions to Georgia’s technical colleges to help workers and employers — especially those from “marginalized communities” — affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Department of Labor sent the $15 million Quality Jobs, Equity, Strategy, Training Disaster Recovery Grant to the Technical College System of Georgia. With the money, the 22-college system will establish The Untapped Workforce Initiative.
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Georgia continues to see its revenues increase amid ongoing economic concerns nationwide.
State officials said Friday that the Peach State’s September net tax collections totaled nearly $3.1 billion. That represents an increase of 9.9% over a year ago.
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Lindsey Barr was fired from her substitute teaching job after expressing concern over the content of a book in the school library.
Barr is a mother of three boys. All her children attend public school in Bryan County, Georgia, about 30 miles southwest of Savannah, where she also works as a substitute teacher.
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A Georgia study identified more than $103 million in air cargo investments at Georgia airports to keep up with growing demands, and state taxpayers may fund at least some of the projects.
The Statewide Air Cargo Study conducted for the Georgia Department of Transportation recommended the state create an Air Cargo Working Group to, in part, advocate for funding from the state legislature. The study does not include the air cargo investment needed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the country’s 13th busiest air cargo airport.
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The Georgia Department of Transportation said it awarded seven projects valued at more than $104.7 million in August.
However, the awards list the agency provided indicates that the state only awarded about $12.1 million in projects. A GDOT spokesman said officials deferred a pair of widening and reconstruction projects worth roughly $93 million and expect to award them later.
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Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker trails incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia by double digits amidst a scandal over him allegedly paying for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion, per a new poll released on Wednesday.
Walker polled 38% support compared to 50% for Warnock, according to SurveyUSA, which conducted the poll for 11Alive News in Atlanta. Should Warnock gain even one vote more than 50% in November’s election, it would be enough to beat Walker outright and avoid a runoff election against him later in the year.
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Georgia’s congressional delegation said the Air Force should select Marietta’s Dobbins Air Reserve Base for a new version of the C-130 to replace an older model of the venerable aircraft.
The lawmakers want the Air Force Reserve Command to recapitalize eight C-130H aircraft with the newer C-130J at Dobbins ARB.
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has extended the suspension of the state’s collection of taxes on motor and locomotive fuel.
The governor also extended the supply chain state of emergency. Both orders will be effective through Nov. 11, shortly after the election.
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A federal judge ruled Friday that Georgia’s election integrity practices requiring voter ID and citizenship checks are legal and constitutional, rejecting arguments of racism and voter suppression from the state’s Democrat nominee for governor, Stacey Abrams, just weeks before Election Day.
U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones, an Obama appointee, issued the ruling, after a lengthy trial, handing a major victory to Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who aggressively defended the state’s election integrity laws from a legal assault by Abrams voter group Fair Fight Inc. and other liberals.
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A Morgan County judge has struck down a key component of a deal to entice an electric vehicle manufacturer to build a plant in Georgia.
Earlier this year, the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Joint Development Authority of Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton counties announced a deal to give incentives totaling $1.5 billion to electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive. The company plans to build a $5 billion plant at Stanton Springs North along Interstate 20 in Morgan and Newton counties.
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The U.S. Department of the Treasury has awarded more than $125 million to Georgia-based institutions under programs that support community financial institutions to help small and minority-owned businesses.
The 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act established the Emergency Capital Investment Program. Under the program, the feds allocated $9 billion to Community Development Financial Institutions and Minority Depository Institutions.
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The Georgia Ports Authority approved $60 million for upgrades to its Colonel’s Island Terminal in Brunswick, the country’s second busiest port for total roll-on, roll-off cargo.
A GPA spokeswoman told The Center Square that the authority is pulling the funding for the infrastructure and upgrade projects from port revenues. The money will go toward additional buildings, property development and civil infrastructure to expand Ro/Ro capacity.
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The city of Atlanta launched its guaranteed income pilot program earlier this year in the wake of the COVID pandemic that gives $500 a month to 300 Atlanta residents.
According to the city, the guaranteed income program “is meant to supplement rather than replace the existing social safety net and can be a critical tool for improving racial and gender equity.”
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Georgia taxpayers could be on the hook for $400,000 worth of new election equipment for Coffee County after individuals illegally accessed voting equipment.
The state is sending the county 100 ballot marking devices, 100 printers, 21 poll pads, 10 precinct scanners, and new flashcards and thumb drives. County election officials will receive the equipment in time for installation and testing before voting starts.
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The feds are sending millions more to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a more than $18.4 million grant to reconstruct taxiways at the world’s busiest airport.
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Law enforcement officers from across Georgia want state lawmakers to help increase wages for officers.
During a House Study Committee on State and Local Law Enforcement Salaries meeting in Americus, representatives from state and local agencies detailed the difficulties they have hiring and retaining officers.
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Georgia officials pride themselves on the state’s tax credits for the movie industry, but a leading economist says the tax credits don’t benefit the state.
“There’s nothing politicians love more than jocks and movie stars,” Kennesaw State University economist J.C. Bradbury told The Center Square. “That’s why they give out a lot of subsidies for sports stadiums, and film and movie credits are also something that are often given out.
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Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams made an unscientific remark on the topic of abortion during a recent campaign stop.
“There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks. It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman’s body,” Abrams said.
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A bipartisan Georgia House committee will study state programs providing literacy instruction to Georgians and determine whether low literacy impacts the state’s competitiveness.
The House Study Committee on Literacy Instruction, established by House Resolution 650, will explore potential changes to the state’s educational standards. It will also determine “the definition of evidence-based literacy instruction.”
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The Federal Highway Administration has signed off on Georgia’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Plan, opening the door to millions in federal taxpayer dollars for the state.
With this approval, the Georgia Department of Transportation can start planning how the state will spend roughly $130 million to pay for electric vehicle charging infrastructure over the next five years.
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Georgia Democrats are planning to introduce a series of gun control legislation for lawmakers to consider during the next legislative session.
Among the proposed legislation is a measure to prohibit supplying a semiautomatic assault weapon to anyone under the age of 21 years.
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Georgia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams defended abortion through all nine months of pregnancy using an already debunked claim by the abortion industry and its allies that women seek late-term abortions due to some “traumatic experience.”
“There is no example of a woman — you’ve gone through the trouble of buying a crib and naming that child — there is no one who wakes up and says at eight months, never mind,” Abrams said last week on ABC’s The View.
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A global agriscience technology manufacturer plans to invest nearly $35 million to launch a campus in Jasper County.
Profile Products, based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, plans to produce wood-based erosion control technologies and horticulture substrates at the new plant. The company, which employs more than 500 globally, plans to create 80 new jobs as part of the project.
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Federal data shows the Atlanta area has the country’s second highest local metropolitan inflation reading. As the national Consumer Price Index climbed an average of 8.3% over the past year, that of Atlanta climbed a whopping 11.7% during the same time period
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Georgia will allocate $130 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to fund 200 additional beds at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital following the announced closure of Atlanta Medical Center.
Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said the additional beds would be enough to cover Atlanta Medical Center’s average patient census. The state will also reallocate a temporary medical unit used during the COVID-19 pandemic to Grady, adding 24 patient rooms and 12,000 square feet to the hospital’s footprint.
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The Fulton County prosecutor investigating “attempts to influence” the 2020 presidential election in Georgia says some targets of the probe, if convicted of a related crime, will receive prison sentences.
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Georgia incumbent Senate Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker have agreed to one debate before their Nov. 8 general election showdown.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Walker said Tuesday in a Twitter video. “I will see you there. Now you get a chance to tell us why you voted with [President] Joe Biden 96% of the time. And God bless.”
The televised debate was reportedly set after Warnock agreed to terms set forth by Walker, the former NFL star who played college football for the University of Georgia.
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The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority plans to spend $176 to 215 million to extend Atlanta’s streetcar line eastward.
The agency plans to use money from the More MARTA Atlanta half-penny sales tax voters in Atlanta approved in November 2016 to fund the two-mile extension, which won’t open until 2027. The agency expects to start construction in 2024.
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While the July and August Consumer Price Index numbers show “inflation has stalled,” a Georgia expert warns that “we’re not out of the woods yet.”
On Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the CPI rose 0.1% in August and 8.3% year-over-year.
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The vast majority of Hill staff could fall under President Joe Biden’s qualification threshold for his loan forgiveness plan, making them eligible to receive a minimum of $10,000 in debt repayment. According to salary data, nearly 91% of Sen. Raphael Warnock’s staff could qualify.
This percentage is merely an estimation as there are several unknown factors, including whether or not the staffers went to college, if they took out loans, if they still have loans or if they had a full-ride scholarship, as well as the total household income of Hill staffers.
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With the recent expiration of the federally mandated 2-year window for preservation of 2020 presidential election records, counties across the country have been inundated with public records requests from Americans concerned about election integrity.
During his “Moment of Truth Summit” last month spotlighting 2020 presidential election irregularities, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell exhorted “every single person in the country” to ask for cast vote records from the election from their local county clerk’s office. His website links to the Ordros Analytics, Inc., website, which provides templates of public records requests for cast vote records.
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A roofing and waterproofing manufacturer plans to invest $146 million over the next six years in a new manufacturing facility in Lowndes County.
GAF Materials intends to create 135 new jobs with the new facility, increasing the company’s thermoplastic polyolefin roofing manufacturing capacity. GAF employs more than 225 Georgians at its Savannah, Statesboro and Cumming manufacturing plants.
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Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker and incumbent GOP Gov. Brian Kemp are both widening their leads over their Democratic opponents, according to a poll.
Former NFL star Walker is ahead of incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock by 47-44%, an InsiderAdvantage/FOX 5 Atlanta poll released Thursday shows. Libertarian nominee Chase Oliver is receiving 4% support with 5% of voters still undecided.
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Georgia touts its business-friendly climate, but some home-based businesses face another layer of bureaucracy: local government licensing requirements, a Center Square analysis found.
Nearly 30 years ago, Georgia lawmakers passed legislation giving cities the power to impose business and occupation requirements, including taxes and regulatory fees. While lawmakers have revised the law, local governments may levy and collect occupation taxes on any business or practitioner with an office in the jurisdiction.
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Two Cobb County Sheriffs Deputies were killed in the line of duty Thursday night while attempting to serve a warrant, that law enforcement agency said.
“Two deputies died tonight in the line of duty while serving a warrant,” the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) said Thursday night. “SWAT and FAST teams are at the scene. The suspect is barricaded. We will release additional information, including the names of the fallen deputies, as it becomes available.”
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Georgia continues to see increasing revenues, new numbers show.
The state’s total general fund receipts in August exceeded $2.3 billion. That represents an increase of 8.5%, or $180.4 million, over last August when net tax collections topped $2.1 billion.
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A Georgia sound solutions and engineering company plans to build a new manufacturing facility in Thomas County
Brunswick-based Troy Acoustics Corporation will invest almost $40 million in the new facility. The company plans to create 88 new jobs to add to the 17 positions it currently supports.
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Georgia has settled allegations that a company sent deceptive direct mail solicitations to help small business owners in the state secure a Certificate of Existence.
The state attorney general’s office alleged that CA Certificate Service, which also operates as GA Certificate Service, misrepresented that the fee it charges for obtaining a Certificate of Existence was a government fee. However, state officials say the company has no affiliation with any Georgia government agency, including the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.
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