Day: January 29, 2021

Georgians Demand Answers from Department of Labor on Missed Payments

Peter D'Abrosca

Georgians are circulating petitions demanding that the state government, particularly the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) begins responding to their requests for information. 

“This petition was started and organized by residents all throughout the State of Georgia that have filed claims with the Georgia Department of Labor,” says a Change.org petition started by Felicia Primus. “Many of Georgia Residents [sic] haven’t received any updates on claims or they’re missing payments from the Department of Labor. GDOL has not provided better Self-service [sic] options for its website or phone support to help with the increasing demand of unemployment claims, during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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Two Democrats Call for Hearing on ‘Robinhood’s Market Manipulation’ of GameStop Trades

Georgia Star News Staff

At least two House Democrats are on board to hold a hearing on “Robinhood’s market manipulation,” Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Thursday.

Companies such as GameStop, AMC, and Blackberry recently saw their ticker’s unable to trade on the popular investment platform Robinhood. The stock surge for companies such as Gamestop and AMC, boosted by a group on Reddit, has caused hedge fund managers who held short positions on those companies to lose billions, according to Yahoo Finance.

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Hunter Biden Continues to Hold Stake in Chinese Private Equity Firm, Records Show, Despite Reports That He Was Planning to Divest

Georgia Star News Staff

Hunter Biden continues to hold a 10% stake in the Chinese private equity firm BHR Partners, Chinese business records show, despite multiple reports from December suggesting he was divesting his position in the company.

Both the Daily Mail and Fox News reported in late December that Hunter Biden was in the process of offloading his stake in BHR. Both outlets cited an unnamed source with Hunter Biden and his business dealings.

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California Rep. Jimmy Gomez Introduces Resolution to Expel Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress

Georgia Star News Staff

California Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez said that he would introduce a resolution to expel Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress after recent reports alleging that she previously supported executing notable Democrats and FBI agents.

“Such advocacy for extremism and sedition not only demands her immediate expulsion from Congress, but it also merits strong and clear condemnation from all of her Republican colleagues, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell,” Gomez said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

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New Jobless Claims Decrease to 847,000, Economists Expected 875,000

Georgia Star News Staff

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 847,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented a decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Jan. 16, in which there were 900,000 new jobless claims reported. Roughly 18.3 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the BLS report Thursday.

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Tiffany Ashton Releases New Music

Bethany Bowman

The last person I interviewed face-to-face before the COVID shutdown was Tiffany Ashton on February 29, 2020. Her plans that day were to finish college at UNC-Charlotte in May then permanently move to Nashville.

Two weeks later, we were in lockdown as a nation and nobody went anywhere. Not only that, Ashton was one of the first people I knew who got the coronavirus and it put her out of commission for a month.

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Voter Survey: Rep. Liz Cheney’s Support Plummeting After Trump Impeachment Vote

Peter D'Abrosca

A survey of Wyoming voters by a national consulting group shows Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) hemorrhaging support after voting to impeach former president Donald J. Trump.

“Liz Cheney’s decision to vote to impeach President Trump makes her extremely vulnerable according to a Wyoming poll conducted among 500 likely general election voters,” a memo from McLaughlin & Associates said. “It is evident her ratings are in bad shape among general election voters and have collapsed among Republicans and Trump voters. The strong voter sentiment in this survey suggests there could be similar results for other Republicans who voted for impeachment.”

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Commentary: Biden Signals Pivot Back to China with Controversial National Security Council Pick

Georgia Star News Staff

President Joe Biden is signaling a pivot back to China with his most recent choice to sit on the National Security Council, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell.

Campbell wrote the book, “The Pivot: The Future of American Statecraft in Asia,” where he argued, “While the Asian Century detoured to the Middle East in the years following the September 11 attacks… the United States has led a ‘Pivot’ (or ‘rebalancing,’ as many prefer) of American diplomacy toward the nuanced yet demanding tasks of engaging a rising Asia. The Pivot is premised on the idea that the Asia-Pacific region not only increasingly defines global power and commerce, but also welcomes U.S. leadership and rewards U.S. engagement with positive returns on political, economic, and military investments.”

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Economy Shrank More in 2020 Than Any Year Since the End of WWII Despite Fourth Quarter Growth

Georgia Star News Staff

The U.S. economy contracted 3.5% in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, marking the nation’s worst economic performance since the end of World War II.

The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), which measures net services and goods produced by a country, fell 3.5% in 2020 compared to the 2.2% increase in 2019, according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) report released Thursday. The overall decline came despite 4% growth in the fourth quarter, the period from October to December, and 38.3% growth in the third quarter, the period from July to September.

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Medical Center Suspended Six Months from Administering Vaccines After Vaccinating Teachers Without State Permission

Corinne Murdock

The Medical Center of Elberton has been barred temporarily from administering COVID-19 vaccines after mistakenly vaccinating teachers and other school staff without state permission. The medical center reportedly vaccinated around 40 percent of the Elbert County School District employees.

For that, the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) suspended the medical center from receiving vaccine supplies for 6 months.

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Georgia Attorney General’s Office Recommended Compromise Settlement Agreement with Stacey Abrams

Chris Butler

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he entered into the controversial Compromise Settlement Agreement and Release with Stacey Abrams because members of the Georgia Attorney General’s Office Chris Carr recommended he do so. In a letter dated January 6, Raffensperger told former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) that the agreement strengthened Georgia’s signature verification system.

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