The environmental review is underway for a planned inland port to be built northeast of Gainesville. Presuming it opens, the facility that’s billed as a way to ease traffic congestion in metro Atlanta is likely to be heralded as a success as the state House prepares to update Georgia’s decade-old rail improvement plans.
The shutdown, which entered its 31st day Monday, overshadows every other news story in the United States right now. As the decades roll on, however, this month will be much more likely to be remembered for a spectacular scientific and technical milestone: the landing, on the far side of the moon, of a lunar lander and rover named after a Chinese moon goddess and her pet rabbit.
“The eyes of Georgia are watching, especially the women of Georgia, who are now engaged in voting in record numbers. Thank goodness they’re voting and they’re engaged … ”
Five CEOs are paid a total of more than $9 million a year to run non-profit hospitals in metro Atlanta, according to the hospitals’ latest available tax returns. These salaries, and other hospital financials, are to be made more readily available to the public as the part of a proposed effort by the state House to “revolutionize” health care delivery.
By Guest Columnist MELITA EASTERS, executive director of Georgia’s WIN List
Record-setting numbers of women took the oath of legislative office under Georgia’s Gold Dome last week, representing a new wave of enthusiasm and energy for progressive ideas that mirror the media “buzz” surrounding the new class of congresswomen on the national stage.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has hired a new chief lobbyist for the city, who got her lobbying badge for the city on Wednesday as Atlanta prepares to deal with issues including a proposed state take-over of the management of the city’s airport.
A powerful Georgia state lawmaker is about set in train a good look at railroads, to get more freight moving through Georgia more quickly. That might also mean better drives for folks in cars.
The Georgia governors of another day would have been confounded if told that in the future, people would watch an inauguration speech on their phones. The technology would puzzle them, of course, but also the idea that many people would be interested enough to do such a thing. Streaming has become commonplace, however, and after the closest and most divisive governor’s race of modern times, Brian Kemp’s first speech as governor Monday at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion was watched more closely than most.
Atlanta’s aged tree ordinance of 2001 looks so good that some folks say they’d be happy if the city would enforce it – until it can be updated. Meanwhile, the city says it’s on track to update the existing tree ordinance in July.
Atlanta Streets Alive has scheduled three events this year and the City of Atlanta intends to provide the sponsor with $200,000 to help cover the cost of closing streets to vehicles so that pedestrians and non-motorized conveyances can have their afternoon on the asphalt during each event.
Incoming Gov. Brian Kemp has the benefit of delivering his first budget proposal to the Legislature as the state economy continues to expand and spin off an increasing amount of tax revenues, according to an economic outlook contained in a new policy brief by Georgia’s state economist.
If and when the government’s 25-percent shutdown reaches a pain level high enough to spur real action to end it, Georgia, starting at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and radiating outward, will be one of the states feeling it most.
By Guest Columnist ROBERT A. “BOB” HOLMES, emeritus distinguished professor of political science at Clark Atlanta University and former state representative
Georgia’s history of racial discrimination and voter suppression has been well documented by voting rights advocate Laughlin McDonald in his book, published by Cambridge University Press, A Voting Rights Odyssey: Black Enfranchisement in Georgia. Among the many techniques used to eliminate or diminish black political presence and influence in the electoral process were: Poll taxes, literacy tests, white elections, racial gerrymandering, run-off election requirement, closure of voting precincts, purging of voter registration lists and denial of felons’ right to vote.
Candidates still are making the trek to Iowa and New Hampshire to make their presidential intentions known. But early voting and a supercharged calendar with California and Texas near the front will change the presidential primaries in 2020.
Republican Gov.-elect Brian Kemp said it’s time to “put politics behind us,” addressing a group of mainly lawmakers and lobbyists, in a bit of an opening speech ahead of his first legislative session as governor.
After all the talk of voter fraud and ballot integrity before this election, the race for the last seat in Congress has indeed come down to charges of election tampering. The figures at the center of of this controversy are not shadowy illegals, but a Baptist preacher and the vice-chair of the Bladen County, N.C., Soil and Water Conservation District board.
The market’s having a lousy year, but politically, the nation seems not to have noticed. Opinions about the economy, always subject to political leanings, seem increasingly less tethered to objective data.
The lingering governor’s race has deflected attention from the runoffs for secretary of state and the Public Service Commission, but these are important races for the future of both parties.
The Georgia Water Coalition’s latest report on the state’s most polluted waters shifts the traditional focus of the Dirty Dozen from the most polluted places to the “politics, policies and issues” that most threaten Georgia’s water.
Last week’s election did more to reshape the political map of Georgia than any since 2002, when Sonny Perdue’s victory in the governor’s race triggered the shift to a Republican majority in the General Assembly. We can say that, even before the last details of the election have been ironed out.
Metro Atlanta ranks 10th of 15 big U.S. metros for future commercial investments, Trepp reportsJanuary 23, 2019 - 4:44 pm
Environmental impact of future inland port cited as state plans review of freight networkJanuary 22, 2019 - 6:14 pm
Atlanta police to use body cameras properly or face fines, penalties, chief saysJanuary 21, 2019 - 3:29 pm
