ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., said Wednesday she is liquidating her family’s holdings in stocks in individual companies and moving those investments into exchange-traded funds and mutual funds.
Loeffler’s announcement came in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday in which she also defended herself against allegations that she bought and sold millions of dollars in stocks shortly after a Jan. 24 closed-door briefing she and other senators attended on the emerging coronavirus pandemic.
Similar insider trading accusations have dogged Georgia’s other Republican U.S. senator, David Perdue, although he did not attend the briefing. Both have denied wrongdoing and stated their investments are handled by third-party advisors without their input.
Loeffler is married to Jeff Sprecher, CEO of InterContinental Exchange Inc.
In the op-ed, Loeffler wrote that she made the decision to liquidate her stock portfolio to put an end to the distractions resulting from “improper accusations” leveled by the news media and political opponents.
“I’m not doing this because I have to,” she wrote. “I’ve done everything the right way and in compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, Senate ethics rules and U.S. law. I’m doing it because the issue isn’t worth the distraction.”
Appointed to the Senate by Gov. Brian Kemp in December to succeed retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson, Loeffler is running for election to the remainder of Isakson’s full term in a crowded “free-for-all” race. Rather than the usual party primaries that winnow candidates from the field, all 21 candidates who signed up during the qualifying period last month will be on the ballot in November.
Besides Loeffler, the other prominent Republican candidate in the race is U.S. Rep. Doug Collins of Gainesville. Democrats in the contest include the Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church; Ed Tarver, a former U.S. attorney and state senator from Augusta; and Matt Lieberman, son of former U.S. senator and 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman.
Democrats fired back at Loeffler on Wednesday, arguing her decision to stop investing in stocks in individual companies doesn’t go far enough.
Alex Floyd, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia, called on Loeffler instead to move her assets into a blind trust.
“This latest attempt by unelected Senator Loeffler to distract from her stock trading scandal still leaves many questions unanswered,” Floyd said. “Rather than doing damage control, Senator Loeffler should commit to a full Senate Ethics Committee Investigation and start being honest with Georgians”
ATLANTA – State Attorney General Chris Carr is warning Georgians to watch out for a growing number of scammers seeking to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic.
Scam artists are using fraudulent websites, texts and e-mails to steal consumers’ personal or financial information or to install malware on their communications devices.
“Scammers are pursuing different angles related to the coronavirus pandemic to commit identity theft, create chaos and steal people’s money,” Carr said Wednesday. “People should be very wary of messages containing links or requests for their personal or financial information.”
The attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division has received complaints about text messages warning the recipient that someone they’ve been in contact with either has tested positive for COVID-19 or shown symptoms of the virus. The victim is referred to a website that asks for their phone number.
More than 110,000 suspicious coronavirus-related domains have been registered, according to the attorney general’s office.
Another scam that has been reported involves e-mails purported to be from hospitals warning the recipient they may have come into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. The e-mail contains an attachment that, when downloaded, installs malware on the recipient’s device.
Consumers should also watch out for e-mails, text messages and robocalls about COVID-19 stimulus money that appear to come from the U.S. Treasury, but which may actually be coming from scammers impersonating government officials. In these scams, consumers are told that to receive stimulus money they should click on a link or go to a website, where they are then directed to enter their personal and financial information.
The Consumer Protection Division cautions consumers not to click on any links or go to websites that come from unsolicited texts, e-mails or phone calls.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia’s top legislative leaders jointly announced Wednesday they will extend a statewide public health emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic through May 13.
Kemp first declared a public health emergency back on March 14 as COVID-19 began taking hold in Georgia. Lawmakers ratified the governor’s order two days later during a one-day special session and set the declaration to expire on April 13.
“This measure will allow us to continue to deploy resources to communities in need, lend support to frontline medical providers, and keep preparing as we brace for potential patient surge in our health-care facilities,” Kemp said in a prepared statement. “We deeply appreciate the hard work of Georgians who are sheltering in place, using social distancing, and helping us flatten the curve. We are in this fight together.”
The extension of the public health emergency by Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan – the state Senate’s presiding officer – and Georgia House Speaker David Ralston came as the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the resulting deaths continued to mount.
As of Tuesday night, 9,156 Georgians had tested positive for coronavirus and 348 had died from the virus.
“We must continue our aggressive fight against COVID-19,” Duncan said. “By extending the public health state of emergency, we can ensure Georgians have access to every available state resource during this crisis.”
“The entirety of our state government is working to protect the health and safety of our citizens,” added Ralston, R-Blue Ridge. “While we have difficult days ahead, we continue to coordinate with both local and federal partners in responding to needs as they arise. As Georgians, we will persevere and emerge stronger on the other side.”
Kemp is extending the public health emergency declaration without having to call the legislature back for another special session.
After hours of behind-the-scenes negotiations during the one-day special session last month, the General Assembly passed a resolution authorizing the governor to extend the declaration unilaterally if lawmakers were unable to return to the Capitol this month because of the limit on large gatherings necessitated by the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the state remains under a separate statewide shelter-in-place order that took effect last Friday. That order is due to expire at 11:59 p.m. April 13 unless Kemp acts to extend it.
Kemp, Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey, state Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency Director Homer Bryson, and Georgia National Guard Adjutant General Tom Carden are scheduled to deliver an update on the state’s COVID-19 response efforts Wednesday afternoon.
Sen. Jack Hill, R-Reidsville, was the longtime chairman of the state Senate Appropriations Committee. He died on the evening of April 6, 2020. (Officials Georgia Senate photo)
Sen. Jack Hill was a humble grocer from rural Georgia who rose to become one of the state’s most powerful lawmakers.
He never took credit for a legislative triumph, even though everyone knew it was he who got it done. And he had impeccable penmanship.
These are among the many recollections of friends, colleagues and cataloguers who knew the 75-year-old state senator as a towering figure in Georgia politics who buried his pride and burned the midnight oil to get the budget passed each year.
He scored money for libraries, parks, fishing spots, schools, roads and an airport runway in Southwest Georgia. He saw to it that millions of dollars in construction funds went to state colleges like his alma mater, Georgia Southern University. He led the Senate side of the budget-setting equation in the General Assembly for almost two decades.
And he did it quietly, without any fuss or glory, according to those who knew him.
“It kind of bothers me that he’s no longer with us,” said Billy Trapnell, the former mayor of Metter and a friend of Hill. “The people of Georgia will miss something special and may not even know it.”
Hill, R-Reidsville, was found dead in his office around 5:30 p.m. Monday, said Tattnall County Sheriff Kyle Sapp. His legacy was quickly hailed throughout Georgia by business leaders, educators and elected officials like Gov. Brian Kemp, who described him as “a gentle giant.”
State Rep. Bill Werkheiser, who shared a district boundary with Hill, recalled the many Sunday nights he arrived in Atlanta for the legislative session after a three-hour drive from his home in Glennville to find a lone light on in the state Capitol building. It would always be Hill, working on the budget.
“There was no one who put in more work and did more hours,” said Werkheiser, R-Glennville. “This one’s a kick in the gut.”
“He always did it so quietly,” Werkheiser added. “And if it was ever brought up, he was always giving credit to anybody but him.”
Hill immediately became one of the legislature’s most influential members in 2003 when he was made chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, tasked with overseeing lengthy and often testy negotiations each year over the state budget.
First elected as a Democrat, Hill had switched parties after the 2002 elections, helping Republicans capture a majority in the Senate they still hold today. He held onto the budget-writing post until his death.
Many who knew Hill marveled at the small-town grocer’s ability to manage billions of dollars in the state budget. Often, he saw local issues as opportunities to improve financing for services across the state.
Trapnell, whose tenure as Metter mayor from 1994 through 2017 overlapped with Hill, recalled an occasion when Hill was asked to help drum up money for construction of a local library. Setting aside money in the budget specifically for that library would have been “no problem” for Hill, Trapnell said.
But after hearing from the state librarian about the rough conditions facing all of Georgia’s public libraries, Hill decided a better approach would be to open up grant funding that any library in the state could apply for, not just one in his backyard.
“So many libraries got fixed,” Trapnell said. “He truly cared about the people of Georgia.”
First elected in 1990, Hill was among the longest serving lawmakers in the General Assembly at the time of his death. He represented the 4th Senate District covering several Southeast Georgia counties including Tattnall, Evans, Bulloch, Candler, Emanuel and Effingham.
Local luminaries in Hill’s district guessed the smart grocer from Reidsville would do well at the Capitol, said Mickey Peace, publisher of The Claxton Enterprise. But with his soft-spoken nature, few foresaw the heights he would reach.
“Quiet, unassuming, with an ‘aw shucks’ demeanor and boyish good looks, I think he practiced well the art of political persuasion without the public controversy that often dogs those who seek and hold office,” Peace said.
Newspaper reporters, editors and publishers could always count on Hill answering his phone or calling back whenever they had questions, said Pam Waters, former editor of The Glennville Sentinel. He packed his answers with keen insights on the budget, local business matters or Georgia agriculture, always mindful to be courteous and respectful with reporters.
“He was a politician like you just don’t find anymore,” said Carvy Snell, publisher of The Metter Advertiser. “If he was working on something, you knew it was going to be done by the book.”
Others, particularly in the General Assembly, saw Hill as a mentor. Sen. Blake Tillery, whose Vidalia-based district borders Hill’s, said he spent countless hours working with the veteran lawmaker and because the younger Tillery “simply would not leave his office.”
Hill taught the old-school skills of statesmanship, Tillery said, from replying personally to constituent calls and emails to showing other lawmakers the legislative ropes to displaying a “penmanship [that] was frame-worthy.”
“All while managing to write a budget for our state,” said Tillery, R-Vidalia.
“He could literally change the direction of the Senate through a leaning of his head,” Tillery said. “He is irreplaceable. His shoes will never be filled.”
ATLANTA – The coronavirus pandemic is speeding up Piedmont Atlanta’s plan to open a portion of its new Marcus Tower.
The tower’s sixth, seventh and eighth floors will open next Monday, almost four months ahead of schedule, adding 132 beds for both COVID-19 patients and patients suffering from other maladies. Of those beds, 64 will be designed for intensive care.
“By opening this part of the tower early, we are increasing capacity at a critical time when our community needs it the most,” said Dr. Patrick Battey, CEO of Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. “Getting these beds ready for patients who may need them during the COVID-19 outbreak was the right thing to do, and I am proud of the staff at Piedmont and our partners on the project who made it happen.”
The 16-story tower was originally set to open Aug. 1. But Piedmont’s construction management team worked in concert with Brasfield & Gorrie, CBRE and HKS to accelerate completion of three floors.
“Piedmont exists to serve its communities, and there is no greater way that we can serve them than by increasing our capacity with this state-of-the-art facility during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Kevin Brown, CEO of Piedmont Healthcare. “Because of the great work our team on the project has performed by already being ahead of schedule, we were able to advance the timeline further to open these ICU and acute-care units and have them ready in case we need them.”
When the rest of the tower opens, it will house the Piedmont Heart Institute, the new Marcus Heart and Vascular Center, the Samsky Invasive Cardiovascular Services Center and the Shaheen Auditorium. The tower ultimately will have a capacity of 408 beds.
The tower was made possible through an initial donation of $75 million from Bernie and Billi Marcus through the Marcus Foundation.
