ATLANTA – The Georgia House of Representatives will resume a 2020 legislative session interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday, June 11, Speaker David Ralston announced Tuesday.
In a memo to House members and staff, Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, reiterated a starting date he had previously announced late last month.
However, the speaker also delayed the resumption of in-person committee meetings at the Georgia Capitol. Under the new schedule, the House staff will return to their offices on June 1, instead of May 18, and in-person committee meetings will begin on June 2 instead of May 19.
Until then, committee meetings will be held online.
When lawmakers reconvene under the Gold Dome, it will be under safety guidelines recommended by the Georgia Building Authority and a bipartisan committee of House leaders the speaker formed to develop plans for reopening the Capitol.
“As you can imagine, the nature of the legislative session which, by design, is meant to bring together hundreds of people from across the state under one roof to craft legislation and debate policy poses some unique challenges with regard to preventing the spread of the virus,” Ralston wrote.
“I support these [guidelines] and will ensure that sound policies and procedures are put in place in order to protect members, staff and public participants in the legislative process.”
When the Senate will gavel back into session remains uncertain. Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, the Senate’s presiding officer, has previously expressed a preference for returning at some point in May.
The General Assembly suspended the 2020 session indefinitely in mid-March as the pandemic was taking hold in Georgia. When lawmakers return to the Capitol, it will be for Day 30 of their annual 40-day session.
ATLANTA – The coronavirus pandemic isn’t stopping the Georgia Lottery.
In fact, the lottery posted its highest sales week of the year from April 26 through May 2, Brad Bohannon, the Georgia Lottery Corp.’s vice president for government relations, told members of the Georgia House of Representatives’ Higher Education Committee Tuesday.
Sales for the month of April were up $7.4 million, or 1.8%, over April of last year, Bohannon said.
“We’re seeing increases for all product lines,” he said.
Bohannon attributed the strong numbers despite the COVID-19 outbreak to lottery customers adapting well to online sales and to most lottery retailers remaining open while adhering to the new social distancing requirements.
With the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year looking good, Bohannon predicted the lottery will end fiscal 2020 on June 30 by transferring $1.113 billion in profits to Georgia’s HOPE Scholarships and pre-kindergarten programs.
“We feel very confident we’ll be able to show another increase in May,” Bohannon said.
Bohannon said the lottery corporation soon will reopen its offices around the state by appointment only to distribute prizes to winners.
ATLANTA – Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville (GGC) is launching a new “nexus” degree program in professional sound design for film and television.
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents unanimously approved the new program Tuesday.
Gwinnett is home to both Eagle Rock Studios in Norcross and the forthcoming Atlanta Media Campus and Studios, located on the former OFS plant site along the Jimmy Carter Boulevard Corridor.
GGC boasts a diverse student population, with 59.8% of its students identified as minority students. Women make up 56.2% of the student body.
The college already features film courses as part of its curriculum. It began offering a bachelor of arts in cinema and media arts production in 2017, growing the program quickly from just two students initially to 288 in 2018 t0 483 last year.
The university system created nexus degrees several years ago to emphasize the connection between traditional college instruction, hands-on experience and training from professionals in specific careers.
The new nexus degree in professional sound design for film and television will require 42 hours of general education and 18 credit hours in highly specialized courses, including 12 upper division credit hours. GGC will will use program content built by the Georgia Film Academy.
Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes was appointed oversee the prosecution in the Ahmaud Arbery case. (Official Cobb County photo)
Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes has been appointed to prosecute charges against Gregory and Travis McMichael, the coastal Georgia father and son accused in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery.
In a case that has sparked widespread outrage, Arbery, 25, was gunned down in the Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick on Feb. 23. Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, were booked into the Glynn County jail last Thursday on murder and aggravated assault charges stemming from the shooting.
Appointed by Attorney General Chris Carr to oversee the case, Holmes is Cobb County’s first woman and black district attorney. She previously served as the chief magistrate judge for Cobb County Superior Court and replaced Cobb’s former district attorney, Vic Reynolds, who was tapped as director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation last year.
A video showing the fatal encounter circulated online last week, prompting widespread outrage and comparisons to other high-profile killings of unarmed black men in recent years.
The video shows the final moments when the McMichael men, who were armed, blocked Arbery’s path in a truck. A struggle breaks out between Arbery and Travis McMichael, who is armed with a shotgun. Three shots are heard before Arbery stumbles to the pavement.
Arbery’s family claims Arbery, who is black, was jogging in the neighborhood when he encountered the two McMichael men, who are white. Gregory McMichael told police they suspected Arbery of having committed recent burglaries.
News of Holmes’ appointment Monday as prosecutor met with support from members of Arbery’s family and one of their attorneys, Ben Crump.
“In order for justice to be carried out both effectively and appropriately in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, it is imperative that the special prosecutor has no affiliation with the Southeast Georgia legal or law enforcement communities,” said a joint statement by the family and Crump. “We implore District Attorney Joyette Holmes to be zealous in her search for justice, as she works to hold all of those responsible for the unjustifiable execution of an unarmed young black man in broad daylight.”
Meanwhile, Carr has also asked federal authorities to investigate how coastal Georgia officials handled the case from the start.
The attorney general requested the U.S. Department of Justice to step in Sunday following revelations of several conflicting interests between persons involved in the shooting and two district attorneys who oversaw the case prior to state investigators intervening last week.
In a news release Sunday, Carr’s office outlined the timeline of the case in which Brunswick Judicial Circuit Attorney General Jackie Johnson initially recused herself on Feb. 27, since Gregory McMichael formerly worked in her office as an investigator.
At that time, Carr’s office appointed Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill to take over the case. Barnhill then recused himself on April 7, at which point the case passed on to Atlantic Judicial Circuit District Attorney Tom Durden.
But it was not revealed until recently that Barnhill, before being appointed to the case, had already reviewed evidence in the shooting and advised the Glynn County Police Department not to arrest the McMichael men, Carr’s office said.
Additionally, Barnhill’s son works for Johnson’s office as a prosecutor in Brunswick and had previously prosecuted Arbery on unrelated charges prior to the Feb. 23 fatal shooting. It was also revealed then that Gregory McMichael had investigated the same prior prosecution of Arbery.
No explanation was given initially as to why Barnhill waited more than a month between Feb. 27 and April 7 before recusing himself in the case, according to Carr’s office.
Barnhill also wrote in a Feb. 24 letter to Glynn County police a day after the shooting that arrests should not be made in the case, Carr’s office said.
Those facts prompted Carr to request a “complete and transparent review” of the case’s handling by Johnson and Barnhill’s offices. U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine of the Southern District of Georgia is leading that review.
“The family, the community and the state of Georgia deserve answers,” Carr said in a statement. “And we will work with others in law enforcement at the state and federal level to find those answers.”
Gov. Brian Kemp praised the move by Carr, calling it “another positive step to ensure truth and justice prevail.”
ATLANTA – Marietta-based C.W. Matthews Contracting has been named the “apparent” winner of a state contract for the second phase of the widening of Interstate 85 from Braselton northeast into Jackson County.
The project, which will widen the highway in both directions from two lanes to three, is part of the ambitious $11 billion Major Mobility Investment Program (MMIP) then-Gov. Nathan Deal announced in 2016 shortly after the General Assembly passed legislation earmarking $950 million a year for transportation improvements across Georgia.
The first phase of the widening project, stretching from Hamilton Mill Road in Gwinnett County to Braselton, is on target to open to traffic this summer.
C.W. Matthews got the nod on the second phase of the project after submitting a bid of $94.6 million. The DOT selected C.W. Matthews over two competitors using a “best-value” procurement method, which takes into account both the price and technical proposals.
“C.W. Matthews has developed a strong history of working with the department,” said Andrew Hoenig, the DOT’s design-build program manager. “We are looking forward to working with them on the delivery of the I-85 widening Phase 2 project.”
Final design of the project is expected to begin late this year, with construction due to begin next year. The project is expected to open to traffic in 2025, four years ahead of the original schedule.
The DOT decided last year to speed up the timetable for the I-85 widening and another MMIP project to build truck-only lanes along northbound I-75 from north of Macon to McDonough to allow for better competition among construction bidders and permit better maintenance of traffic during construction.
At the same time, the agency delayed the scheduled addition of toll lanes along the Top End of I-285 and Georgia 400.
The I-85 phase two contract will be officially awarded after the DOT verifies the bid is in order.
