Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a series of bills aimed at growing the state’s workforce, including measures aimed at making it easier for Georgians to get occupational licenses and job training.
“As our state continues to grow, measures like this will help us stay ahead of the curve and cut red tape,” Kemp said during a bill signing at the Jordan Vocational High School in Columbus.
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Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a new immigration enforcement bill Wednesday, months after a Georgia college student was allegedly murdered at the hands of an illegal immigrant.
Kemp signed into law House Bill 1105, which requires sheriffs in the state to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The legislation mandates local jailers hold any foreign national in their custody who is suspected of being in the U.S. illegally and wanted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
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A federal civil rights investigation into Emory University was confirmed on Thursday, with Biden administration officials asked to determine whether the university discriminated against Muslim students following the devastating October 7 surprise attack by Hamas fighters against civilians in Israel.
The Department of Education is now investigating Emory University to determine whether it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in its treatment of Muslim students following the October 7 attack.
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The Georgia State Ethics Commission referred Fulton County Commissioner Khadijah Abdur-Rahman to Attorney General Chris Carr after the commission determined she likely used campaign money for personal expenses, a Tuesday report exposed.
Abdur-Rahman, who is an ally of District Attorney Fani Willis, allegedly made purchases or payments with campaign funding to Dollar Tree, Title Max, Georgia Power, and a chiropractor, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
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The first non-gas QuikTrip store on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta is closing in May partially due to concerns about the safety of customers and employees, the company said.
QuikTrip (QT) Corporate Communications Manager Aisha Jefferson told The Georgia Star News last week, “It’s critically important to us that every location across our 1,000 [plus] store footprint nationwide delivers the in-store experience that QT customers have come to know, love, and expect.”
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The first non-gas QuikTrip store on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta is closing in May partially due to concerns about the safety of customers and employees, the company said.
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The president of Emory University on Monday acknowledged he was “not entirely accurate” in his reporting of the number of university “community” members who participated in an anti-Israel encampment last week.
Emory University President Gregory Fenves made the new remarks about the Thursday protest after Emory faculty members arranged a no confidence vote against him that will conclude on Friday.
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation doubling annual paid parental leave for state employees and school personnel, including teachers.
Previously, state employees could take three weeks or 120 hours of paid parental leave during a 12-month “rolling” period following a child’s birth, adoption or foster care placement. However, House Bill 1010 increases the paid leave to six weeks — or 240 hours.
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Georgia State Representative Mesha Mainor (R-Atlanta) confirmed on Friday she filed a lawsuit against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and other officials over an alleged failure to correctly prosecute a man she claims stalked and violently assaulted her.
In addition to Willis, the lawsuit by Mainor names the district attorney’s office, Fulton County, the Fulton County Ethics Board and Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington as defendants.
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opted to skip her first debate Sunday ahead of early voting in the Democratic primary to instead host a “self-care fair” for crime victims, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
Willis’ absence left her Democratic challenger, Christian Wise Smith, debating an empty podium, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. Willis, who appointed her romantic partner Nathan Wade to work on the case against former President Donald Trump and allowed him to pay for vacations they took together, was sharply criticized by Judge Scott McAfee in a March decision that did not grant defendants’ request to disqualify Willis but did require Wade to step down.
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a measure to create a new offense of unlawful squatting following widespread reports in Georgia and beyond of squatters taking over people’s properties
House Bill 1017, the “Georgia Squatter Reform Act,” defines the crime as entering and residing on a property without an owner’s consent. Anyone cited for squatting has three business days to provide proof of their authorization to be on a property, such as a “properly executed lease or rental agreement or proof of rental payments.”
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Georgia officials are paying more than $400,000 to remove 167 variable speed limit signs in metro Atlanta.
Georgia transportation officials approved the plan for the signs on Interstate 285 in 2012 and subsequently started introducing them along the interstate’s northern portion, according to various media reports from the time. However, reports suggest that the system wasn’t activated until about October 2014.
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The Stop Cop City protesters who were present at the anti-Israel encampment at Emory University on Thursday previously raised money from more than 70,000 donors and used it to selectively bail alleged criminals out of jail, according to Georgia state prosecutors who targeted the group in a criminal racketeering case last year.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr indicted 61 individuals allegedly associated with Stop Cop City in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act case in September 2023. Carr alleges the activists are engaged in a criminal conspiracy to use violence in a bid to prevent the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, which will be used to train Georgia police and firefighters.
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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed multiple anti-human trafficking bills into law on Wednesday to hold both “traffickers and buyers” accountable.
“For years Georgia was considered a hot spot for human trafficking,” said Governor Kemp in a press release on Wednesday, “but thanks to the GRACE Commission, under the leadership of First Lady Marty Kemp, we have established Georgia as a national leader in this fight by passing legislation that cracks down on both traffickers and buyers while also, and even more importantly, empowering survivors.”
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The Stop Cop City movement reported on Thursday that Georgia State Police confronted its protesters as they attempted to create a pro-Palestine encampment on the Emory University campus.
A post to the social media platform X by Stop Cop City activists claims “an encampment in the Emory quad” was established at 7:30 a.m. “to demand total divestment from Israeli apartheid and Cop City,” the activists’ preferred term for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
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A super PAC that previously supported former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley in the Republican primary cycle is now reportedly targeting her Republican supporters in Georgia on behalf of President Joe Biden.
The super PAC previously known as Primary Pivot formerly urged Democratic and unaffiliated voters to cast ballots for Haley in Republican primary contests, but rebranded after Haley dropped out of the race.
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An empty podium will represent Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after her campaign declined to participate in a debate with her primary challenger, Christian Wise Smith, it was reported Monday.
The Atlanta Press Club will live stream more than nine hours for its Loudermilk-Young Debate Series on April 28, with the event originally scheduled to culminate with a debate between Willis and Wise Smith.
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis received the Woman of Influence Award from the Cobb County Democratic Committee in a Friday gala aimed at attracting political donations.
Willis was confirmed as an attendee by the Cobb County Democratic Committee’s acting chair Essence Johnson, according to Fox 5 Atlanta, which reported Willis “was honored with the Woman of Influence Award.”
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Candidates running for Fulton County Sheriff told voters at an ACLU of Georgia “Know Your Sheriff” town hall event on Tuesday they plan to improve prison conditions through a combination of additional staff, increased scrutiny of incoming inmates, and upgraded housing. Suggestions come in the wake of a slew of deaths in the county’s prison system.
As part of the event, candidates completed a questionnaire to inform voters about their position on issues. One question asked, “Since 2022, over 20 people have died in the custody of the Fulton County Sheriff’s department. What plans do you have to improve the safety of the Fulton County Jail?”
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U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that he was “probably the best business partner” cartels “could ever have” in a hearing on Tuesday.
“Mr. Secretary…you’ve allowed the cartels to make billions and billions. As a matter of fact, you’re probably the best business partner they could ever have,” she said, and added, “They make all this money in human trafficking and drug trafficking at our border. You’ve allowed approximately 300 Americans to be murdered every single day from fentanyl that comes across our border….”
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Cobb County School District (CCSD) Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced the removal of four books containing “lewd, “vulgar,” and “sexually explicit” content from school media centers in a Board of Education meeting Thursday night.
“Tonight, I am announcing that four additional books are being removed after having gone through our very thorough district process: ‘It Ends with Us,’ ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower,’ ‘Lucky,’ and ‘Thirteen Reasons Why.’ The review found all four of these books to contain lewd, vulgar, and sexually explicit and graphic content inappropriate for a public school,” Superintendent Ragsdale said during the meeting.
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Georgia House Republicans criticized Postmaster General Louis DeJoy of the United States Postal Service (USPS) for “mail service delivery breakdowns” in the Peach State, demanding answers in a joint letter on Monday.
A press release on Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s (R-GA-11)website says that in the letter, Georgia lawmakers “take Postmaster General DeJoy to task and describe the many frustrations constituents are facing with the delays in delivery and receipt of their mail…” and want “answers to several questions regarding the mail service delivery breakdowns.”
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The office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is once again under fire from a judge as prosecutors face the possibility of court on the weekend due to an alleged failure to make timely court filings in the Young Slime Life trial.
Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville raised his voice at a member of Willis’ office during court on Wednesday, with the judge threatening defense attorney Max Shardt and Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Adriane Love with court on the weekends over the case’s slow progress.
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The Democrat challenging Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is reportedly under investigation by a Georgia watchdog over campaign materials that referred to him as an elected judge.
Robert Patillo is under investigation by a panel at the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) over “campaign conduct” involving his former campaign website and current campaign email, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office claimed in court papers that it is “an entity not capable of being sued” and has moved to dismiss an open records lawsuit from Just the News to obtain communications between her office and the Biden White House.
The district attorney’s office cites unsettled immunities under Georgia law and claims the records requested are “statutorily exempt from disclosure under the Open Records Act,” according to the court filing earlier this month.
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Fulton County Sheriff’s candidate Kirt Beasley, who is challenging embattled Sheriff Pat Labat in the Democratic primary, questioned the veracity of reports about the Fulton County Jail that began during Labat’s tenure.
Reports from the jail claim the walls are crumbling to such a degree that inmates are able to disassemble them to create makeshift weapons, and at least two inmates were entrusted by Labat to testify about the jail’s conditions to the Fulton County Commission last year.
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The Atlanta Police Department (APD) confirmed on Monday that the controversial Atlanta Public Safety Training Center is slated to open in January 2025 despite years of protests, demonstrations and violence aimed at preventing its construction.
A video posted to the social media platform X by APD on Monday showed former Chief Rodney Bryant and former Assitant Chief Todd Coyt viewing the site of the safety training center. Bryant was previously instrumental in pushing for the center.
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Georgia Democrats want an investigation after they said a state audit surfaced questions about whether Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration circumvented state contracting requirements, potentially for political gain.
It’s not immediately clear which state or federal agencies might lead the probe, and Democrats said they haven’t formally requested an investigation.
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Education Secretary Miguel Cardona refused to define what a woman is during a committee meeting this week.
“I’m here to talk about the budget and if you’d have a question about the budget, I’d be happy to respond,” he said, in part.
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A federal judge has granted a motion to dismiss a challenge to Georgia’s citizenship verification process, state officials said.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross granted Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s motion to dismiss.
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The Democrat challenging Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee claimed the incumbent is under “tremendous” pressure due to the Georgia case against former President Donald Trump brought by District Attorney Fani Willis.
Robert Patillo, the former executive director of the Rainbow PUSH social justice group started by Reverend Jessee Jackson who is now challenging McAfee, made the remarks in a Wednesday interview with WSB-TV.
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A Wednesday report reveals the Department of Justice (DOJ) admitted to “inconsistencies” in how Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis used federal grant money.
A DOJ official admitted this to The Washington Free Beacon regarding a $448,000 federal grant dispersed to Willis’ office.
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While the discussion continues following the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, several opportunities to improve operations and processes have emerged.
Officials at Georgia’s and South Carolina’s ports have vowed to help however they can.
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The campaign to reelect President Joe Biden announced it hired new staff and a series of new offices in Georgia last week. The decision to expand Biden’s political operation in Georgia comes as former President Donald Trump continues to poll ahead of the Democrat in surveys of Peach State voters.
Biden’s campaign reportedly confirmed the addition of seven new offices and nine new full-time campaign workers in Georgia, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The outlet reported a Biden spokesman claimed “the seven offices will be open by mid-April.”
Read MoreA co-defendant of President Donald Trump in the Georgia election case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis demanded her resignation on Thursday.
Harrison Floyd, who remains a defendant in the Georgia case against Trump, posted to X a screen shot of an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article that reports Willis’ office recorded a phone call with his Maryland-based attorney.
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A Glynn County resident, sentenced to 20 years in federal prison as part of Operation Ghost Busted, pled guilty to trafficking the drugs responsible for two overdose fatalities.
32-year-old Jon Dillon Screen of Brunswick, Georgia, pled guilty to trafficking drugs, including the fentanyl that killed Screen’s girlfriend and a man from Brunswick.
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A Georgia Public Service Commission hearing officer has ruled a railroad can take private land from several Sparta property owners, saying its proposed rail spur “serves a legitimate public purpose.”
The Sandersville Railroad, a Class III short line railroad that has served the area since 1893, petitioned the PSC on March 8, 2023, to condemn land for a proposed 4.5-mile-long spur. The railroad subsequently moved to condemn additional land.
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Georgia lawmakers have passed legislation that ostensibly bans “foreign adversaries” from owning agricultural land or property near a military base or airport, but one expert said it’s not clear the measure can stand up to judicial scrutiny.
Proponents say they crafted Senate Bill 420 in response to a Department of Agriculture report from 202 that found that China had roughly 384,000 acres of agricultural land across the country, a 30% increase from 2019 to 2020.
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The disciplinary trial of Donald Trump’s former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark wrapped up on Thursday with the D.C. Bar’s disciplinary panel making a nonbinding preliminary determination that Clark was culpable on at least one of the two counts against him.
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Former special counsel Nathan Wade has refused to pay for his estranged wife’s medical treatments and cut off financial support for his children’s studies after he resigned from the Georgia case against former President Donald Trump, a divorce filing by his wife Joycelyn Wade claims.
Joycelyn Wade asked the Cobb County Superior Court to hold her husband in contempt after she asserted he violated their previous divorce settlement, which was announced on January 30, by refusing to pay for her medical treatments.
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The second and final week of the disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s former DOJ official, Jeffrey Clark, began to wind down on Wednesday with more testimony from operations security expert Harry Haury.
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Georgia Republican Party (GAGOP) Chair Josh McKoon on Wednesday confirmed rumors he requested the resignation of the party’s 1st vice chairman, Brian Pritchard, following the revelation he violated the state’s election laws by illegally voting despite being on probation for forgery.
McKoon wrote in a post to the social media platform X that he requested Pritchard’s resignation before making the request public.
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The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s former DOJ official, Jeffrey Clark, continued into its second and final week on Tuesday, featuring testimony from three witnesses for him.
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Garland Favorito, who leads the election integrity group VoterGA, said the recent series of election integrity bills passed by the Georgia General Assembly create “landmark features” and will serve as an example to states looking to secure their voting procedures.
A press release by VoterGA highlights legislation, passed by lawmakers, which bans “unverifiable QR-coded voting and improve election transparency by making physical ballots public record.”
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The second week of the disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s former DOJ official, Jeffrey Clark, resumed its second week on Monday. Clark, who is also a defendant in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ RICO prosecution, is being disciplined for drafting a letter that was never sent to Georgia officials after the 2020 election advising them of their options for dealing with the election illegalities.
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Georgia’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) declared on Friday it will sue the state if Governor Brian Kemp signs a bill, already approved by lawmakers, to strengthen election integrity in the state.
The legislation, SB 189, removes the Secretary of State from the Georgia Board of Elections, creates new conflict of interest provisions for election officials and private individuals involved with the election process, revises the process for challenging presidential electors and creates new chain of custody requirements for mail-in ballots.
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis invoked race in her first public speech since Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee cautioned her about invoking race during a previous speech delivered from the pulpit of an Atlanta church.
The district attorney made the remarks about race at the South Fulton Women of the Shield Awards on Friday, stating, “It’s hard out here always having to prove yourself two and three times.”
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Georgia lawmakers signed off on the fiscal year 2025 budget in the final hours of this year’s legislative session but did not pass a bill to allow sports betting.
Lawmakers gave the nod to a more than $66.8 billion state budget for fiscal 2025, which starts July 1. The spending plan, which anticipates $36.1 billion in state money and $19 billion in federal taxpayer funds, includes pay raises for public school teachers and state law enforcement officers.
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The Georgia Association of Educators is advancing far-left gender ideology, Critical Race Theory, and social justice activist curriculum for members of its organization.
The Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), an affiliate of the National Educators Association (NEA), promotes racial justice education materials from various sources, including those offered by NEA, whose organization claims that racism is “systemic” and “is so deeply rooted in our history, culture and institutions that there’s no escaping it.”
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The Georgia Senate passed a bill protecting women’s sports by 33 to 21 on Tuesday that would prevent biological males from unfairly competing in women’s and K-12 girls’ sports. The bill awaits transfer to the House for continued discussion.
HB 1104 seeks to safeguard “students from harm” and maintain “competitive fairness” in school sports by requiring athletes to compete in activities based on the gender listed on their birth certificate. The bill states that local schools may have “separate teams for members of each sex where selection for such teams is based upon competitive skill, competitive fairness,  student safety or the activity involved is a contact sport.”
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