More than half of Georgia voters support an expansion charter schools in the state, according to a new poll.
The poll, which was conducted on behalf of the Georgia Charter Schools Association, showed 56% of registered voters in Georgia favor increasing the number of public charter schools in Georgia. Support for public charter schools also is strong with more than 6 out of 10 surveyed in favor of the schools.
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Members of U.S. President Joe Biden’s Justice Department will investigate how Georgia’s state government confines it prisoners, particularly those who are gay or transgender. This, according to a press release that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee published this week.
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U.S. Representative Jody Hice (R-GA-10), running to replace Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger next year, has announced he will have to postpone a previously announced Election Integrity Tour. Hice originally scheduled the tour for this week.
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According to Delta Airlines’ privacy policy, the Chinese communist government collects personal information of passengers who use the airline to travel to China. This, according to a new article in The Federalist.
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In the wake of the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopting a resolution backing the use of critical race theory (CRT) in public schools, Savannah, GA Mayor Van R. Johnson II (D) has affirmed his support for the measure.
The mayors of Georgia’s four other largest cities have yet to declare their stand on the issue.
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U.S. Representative Austin Scott (R-GA-08) said this week that the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will benefit the two military bases in his district. Scott told his constituents in an emailed newsletter that the bill benefits Robins Air Force Base (AFB) and Moody Air Force Base (AFB).
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Georgia authorities have sentenced a member of a violent Chicago street gang, two Ghost Face Gangsters and a conduit for Mexican drug cartels to decades in federal prison for their roles in a major drug-trafficking conspiracy. Members of this conspiracy funneled large amounts of methamphetamine and other drugs into coastal and south Georgia.
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The economic impact of Georgia’s airports increased by more than 18% over nearly a decade, data shows.
Travis Vallin, the vice president of aviation construction planning firm Jviation, presented the data Wednesday to the General Assembly’s Joint Study Committee on Airport Infrastructure & Improvements.
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This week Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced the date of a special election to fill a vacancy due to the death of State Representative Edward Mickey Stephens (D-Savannah). Stephens represented Georgia House District 165.
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Former President Donald Trump did not commit to running for president in 2024 while on Fox News on Thursday, but said he’d make a decision “in the not too distant future.”
“I think you’ll be very happy,” Trump told host Greg Gutfeld. “I’ll make a decision in the not too distant future, but I love our country.”
Trump contradicted his previous statement to Sean Hannity in June, according to which he had already made a decision on whether he would run for president again.
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) is leading the charge among Republican officials to litigate against President Joe Biden’s order that all employers with 100 or more staffers ensure that their workers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or that they show a negative test weekly.
“Just ended a call with my fellow Republican governors,” Kemp tweeted Friday. “We are fighting back against @POTUS’ outrageous overreach and attack on individual freedom.”
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Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer criticized U.S. President Joe Biden Thursday for demanding that appointees of former U.S. President Donald Trump resign from the U.S. Military Academy’s advisory board. The appointees’ only other alternative is to wait for Biden to dismiss them.
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Fulton County election officials mismanaged money, mismanaged documents, and failed to comply with various grant requirements, according to a recent audit. The Georgia Star News requested a copy of the audit straight from county officials. The communications staff for the Fulton County Government, though, did not respond before Wednesday’s stated deadline. Staff at the Atlanta-based WSB-TV posted the audit on their website this week.
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The most violent clashes between police and protesters on January 6 occurred inside and outside the west terrace tunnel. The tunnel leads to doors that open into the Capitol building; according to federal documents, “the Lower West Terrace Door was heavily guarded by U.S. Capitol Police and [D.C. Metro Police] personnel, who had formed a defensive line to prevent unauthorized access into the U.S. Capitol via the tunnel.”
Dozens of people have been arrested and charged with various offenses, including assaulting police, for their conduct at the tunnel that afternoon.
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A Clarke County School Board member said Georgians exaggerate the influence of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and that no one in her school district teaches it as the subject is too complex for K-12 public schools. That board member, Patricia Yager, talked to The Georgia Star News on Tuesday.
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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp will spend $5.8 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds — taxpayer money — on the state’s tourism industry. This, according to an emailed press release late last week.
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr joined 17 states late last week in filing a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court to support the First Amendment rights of Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. The Mission is seeking Supreme Court review of a recent ruling by the Washington State Supreme Court that denied the faith-based charity’s First Amendment right to hire employees who share its faith.
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Parents in Georgia’s largest school district are suing the superintendent and school system over its mask mandate, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Four parents are seeking an injunction against the mask mandate at Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS), which serves around 180,000 students, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported. The requirement was implemented at the end of July when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended indoor masking for schools amid the rise of the delta variant.
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U.S. Representative Jody Hice (R-GA-10), running to replace Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger next year, has announced a statewide “Election Integrity Fly Around Tour” later this month. Hice has scheduled the tour for September 14 through September 16, according to an email he sent supporters this week.
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Members of the Georgia Democratic Party sent out a series of fundraising emails this week warning that U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) could lose reelection next year. “The analysts at CNN have put together a list of which Senate seats they believe are most likely to flip in 2022, and the results are extremely concerning: They’re saying Sen. Reverend Raphael Warnock is the MOST vulnerable Democrat up for re-election,” according to one of the Georgia Democratic Party’s emails.
“Making things even worse, a recent poll shows Herschel Walker, Donald Trump’s hand-picked candidate, is NECK AND NECK with Sen. Rev. Warnock! That means top supporters like YOU are all that will stand in the way of Mitch McConnell becoming Senate Majority Leader once again.”
U.S. Representative Rick Allen (R-GA-12) said his Republican colleagues are co-sponsoring legislation that would require the U.S. Secretary of Defense to submit daily reports to Congress about the evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan. Allen announced the news during a Tuesday telephone town hall with his constituents.
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced Wednesday that he has joined a coalition of 16 states to stop the Biden administration’s “Interim Guidance,” which Carr said “drastically and intentionally” curtails enforcement of immigration laws. Carr announced this in a press release.
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U.S. Representative Drew Ferguson (R-GA-03) on Tuesday reprimanded U.S. President Joe Biden and said the president ignored members of Congress, military leaders, and intelligence agencies before he abandoned Americans in the Middle East. Just the News reported Tuesday that Biden, in June, waived an important congressional mandate. That mandate would have forced members of the Pentagon to inform Congress, in depth, about the risks of withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
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If Georgia officials want to reverse soaring crime rates then they must keep more experienced prosecutors on the job, and they must also contain the spread of COVID-19 so jails can hold more prisoners. This, according to Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia (PACGA) Executive Director Pete Skandalakis. He spoke Tuesday at a hearing before Georgia State House Public Safety and Homeland Security committee members. Committee members met at the state capitol to discuss crime in Atlanta.
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Members of the Georgia State House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee are scheduled to meet Tuesday to address Atlanta’s rising crime rates, and a representative from a gun control group plans to speak. Committee members are scheduled to meet at 1 p.m., Tuesday, August 31, in room 406 of the Coverdale Legislative Office Building at 18 Capitol Square Southwest in Atlanta.
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U.S. Representative Nikema Williams (D-GA-05) reportedly said this week that the Federal Reserve must deliver “equity, diversity, and inclusion” to the banking and housing industries while also eliminating what she said was a “racial wealth disparity.” Williams serves on the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services.
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Several members of Georgia’s congressional delegation have commented on this week’s terror in Afghanistan, and many of them criticized U.S. President Joe Biden for what they described as a weak response. Twelve U.S. Marines died in explosions in Afghanistan, while the lives of thousands of Americans and allies within the country remained imperiled.
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Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian this week announced the Atlanta-based company will force employees who remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 to wear masks, to test for the virus, and to possibly sacrifice part of their compensation packages. But how will Delta officials distinguish between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated?
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FLOVILLA — Speaking before a crowd of several hundred people, Georgia State Senator Burt Jones (R-Jackson) declared Thursday he will run for lieutenant governor, and he listed four reforms he’ll deliver as a statewide elected official. Jones announced his candidacy at a conference center at Indian Springs State Park.
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Herschel Walker has reportedly filed the paperwork to run for one of Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats. FOX News reported Tuesday that Walker, a Republican, will challenge incumbent U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) in 2022. The network also reported that Walker, a Georgia native, will officially announce “in coming days.”
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Members of the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) have referred their investigation of alleged shenanigans at the Spalding County Board of Elections to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. Spalding County officials allegedly showed gross incompetence in how they managed last year’s presidential election.
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Georgia State House Minority Leader James Beverly (D-Macon) and other members of the Georgia House Democratic Caucus on Monday demanded that Governor Brian Kemp and other state officials mandate COVID-19 masks at public schools. Beverly did not return The Georgia Star News’ request for comment Monday. We contacted the eight other caucus members who said in an emailed press release that public school students must wear masks. Seven of those eight state representatives did not respond before Monday’s stated deadline.
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Tea Party Patriots have scheduled a series of “Just Say No” rallies against mask and vaccine mandates nationwide, and they have scheduled one rally for next weekend in Georgia. Members of Tea Party Patriots, according to their website, already held one such rally last week in Marietta. They are scheduled to hold a “No to Vaccine Mandate” event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, August 28, at 180 Market Square in Cartersville.
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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp reportedly has invited Afghan refugees to resettle there, and his announcement has not carried over well with Peach State conservatives. Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Vernon Jones said on his social media pages this week that Kemp’s suggestion is reckless and threatens national security.
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U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) has filed legislation that would, if enacted into law, create what he said is the first-ever affirmative right to vote and challenge Georgia’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202. “This builds upon the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and would establish for the first time in federal statute an affirmative right to vote for every U.S. citizen,” Ossoff said on MSNBC.
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Georgia’s Election Board moved Wednesday toward an eventual takeover of elections in the state’s most populous county, reacting to mounting evidence of incompetance and irregularities in the Atlanta area last November.
The board’s unanimous vote was made possible by provisions in the state’s sweeping new voting law passed earlier this year.
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During COVID-19, Georgia and Tennessee have both fared substantially better economically than Kentucky and Michigan with no significant increase in cases from reopening their economy. This, according to a report that members of the Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee published this month. Beacon is a free market think tank.
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Three members of Congress who represent Georgia and Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives said Monday that U.S. President Joe Biden must resign from office. This, after Biden decided to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has announced the indictments of 14 defendants on 15 charges of human trafficking, racketeering, criminal street gang activity, charity fraud, and money laundering. This, according to a press release that members of Carr’s staff published this week.
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A plurality of people who participated in a recent Telephone Town Hall with U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) said they worry most about what’s taking place at the U.S.-Mexico border. Clyde told his constituents in an emailed newsletter this week that more than 4,700 residents in his district participated in his Telephone Town Hall.
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Georgia officials have announced that economic development projects throughout the state during fiscal year 2021 have delivered record-setting jobs and investments. This, according to a press release that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and officials with the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) published this week.
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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger wants members of the Georgia General Assembly to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to clarify that the state constitution permits only American citizens to vote. Raffensperger, at a press conference Wednesday, said seeing this through was one of his top priorities when he ran for his seat in 2018.
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Aliberal nonprofit that accused President Donald Trump of unleashing a “surge in white supremacy and hate” donated $85,000 last fall to election administrators in Georgia’s largest county as part of a campaign to turn out black votes in the 2020 election. Auditors now want some of that money returned.
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Georgia State Sen. Burt Jones (R-Jackson) announced Tuesday he’s running for lieutenant governor, and, while he didn’t elaborate, said he feels “real good” about getting an endorsement from former U.S. President Donald Trump. The Georgia Star News asked Jones Tuesday if he knows something about a possible Trump backing that he has not yet publicly disclosed.
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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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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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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. Rick Allen (R-GA-12) has sounded the alarm bell over what he calls wasteful and excessive spending at the federal level, but his pleas to trim the budget went unheeded. Allen, on the floor of the House, criticized Democrats for what he called “a bloated spending package.”
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Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger said Thursday he’s taking another step to update voter lists to safeguard election integrity. Georgia election officials will this week send nearly 200,000 notifications to voter files that have registered no contact with Georgia’s election system for at least five calendar years.
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Federal officials have sentenced a Stonecrest, Georgia man for defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Coronavirus Food Relief Program and attempting to defraud the IRS’s COVID-19 relief program. This, according to a press release that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia published this week.
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