Georgia has placed itself squarely in the cockpit of the new, electrified economy. So far in 2024, it’s been a bumpy ride.
Category: Tom Baxter
Crossover Day: Uncharacteristically businesslike for an election year
It could have been a lot worse. When you can say that about Crossover Day, especially in an election year, you’ve said a mouthful.
Sprewell Bluff decision marked Carter’s debut as an environmentalist
Jimmy Carter has lived long enough to mark the 50th anniversary of an act which literally changed the American landscape. It began with a canoe ride down the Flint River.
We’re not depopulating. We’re just not populating as fast as we were
Recently there was a study which predicted that by the end of the century, “about half” of American cities will lose a significant amount of their population. But not us.
The big game, the new rules, and she whose name need not be mentioned
Joe Biden walks and talks like an old man, but every now and then he thinks like a young one.
Sports gambling advances — maybe — in Georgia, Mississippi
On the same day last week, the Georgia Senate and Mississippi House passed sports gambling bills. Betting can now begin on whether either becomes law.
Legislators rush to protect us from librarians
When I was a teenager, a fellow member of my high school writer’s club, an earnest young man, recommended I read “Justine,” by the Marquis de Sade. I did. “Justine,” is the story of an 18th-century French girl whose every effort to be decent and kind is rewarded with the sort of sexual cruelty to […]
Bainbridge ponders: How many monkeys equal prosperity?
Are you bent out of shape about that self-storage place they’re building up the street or the manufacturing plant they’ve just announced down the road? What if economic development came in the form of 30,000 monkeys? To be precise, 30,000 cynomolgus macaques, a Southeast Asian primate considered ideal for medical and scientific research. A company […]
Kemp draws the partisan line between Washington and Georgia
o hear him tell it, with most of his second term still ahead, Gov. Brian Kemp remains laser-focused on the state’s business. He’s raised a lot of money, and it’s been widely speculated he might challenge U.S. Sen. John Ossoff in 2026, but after his run-in with former President Donald Trump he has no national ambitions. So, if all that is true, what are we to make of Kemp’s State of the State speech last week?
Watchwords for 2024: Nothing to fear but nothing to fear
Surveying prospects for the stock market in the coming year, financial expert Ed Yardeni recently used a twist on the old FDR line about there being nothing to fear but fear itself.
In a banner year for school vouchers, Georgia and Texas prove difficult ground
In the waning days of this year’s General Assembly session, Gov. Brian Kemp voiced his public support for a school voucher bill. The bill failed in the House, but with that extra spin of Kemp’s support, we’re sure to see a renewed effort to pass the measure in next year’s session.
In the Sunshine State, liberty means never having to say you’re sorry
It’s such a classic Florida tale that the first reaction to the story of Bridget and Christian Ziegler might be just to stuff it into an already thick folder full of Sunshine State craziness and pay it little mind. It deserves more attention than that.
Map drawing and Medicaid: yin and yang under the Golden Dome
Last week the Republican-majority General Assembly got up on its hind legs and passed a couple of maps that seemed to dare a federal judge to strike them down, and this week it seems set on doing the same thing with the congressional map.
Map drawing under a volcano: The special session begins
Last week there were a couple of court rulings which, if nothing else, change the context for the special redistricting session which begins Wednesday under the Golden Dome.
Rosalynn and Jimmy: They made the best of each other
As they were both aware, Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter improved each other.
Elections point to a future for Nikki Haley
This is not Nikki Haley’s day in the sun. Barring something miraculous, she’s not going to overtake Donald Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. But when you try to imagine a path forward after the election for each of the candidates, she stands alone in clearly having one.
A decision on the races that time forgot may be near
It stands to reason that if we forgot to hold an election, it would be a race for a seat on the Public Service Commission. That’s not exactly what has happened in Georgia, but it’s too close for comfort.
Special session signals big changes in Metro Atlanta’s legislative maps
The headline over last week’s ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones was that the legislature has to draw a new congressional map with another black or near-black district before next year’s election. But what’s under the hood in this ruling may be the bigger story.
Apologies to the people of Georgia (the rough drafts)
To the Citizens of the state of Georgia:
Many people have said that MAGA means never having to say you’re sorry. I may have said that myself, a time or two.
Too late for his party, Austin Scott throws his hat in the ring
It may only have been a delaying tactic, but U.S. Rep. Austin Scott’s brief dalliance with the spotlight Friday afternoon illuminated one of the ironies of the predicament Republicans in Congress have found themselves in.
