ATLANTA – Unemployed Georgians will soon begin receiving enhanced federal unemployment benefits that were cut off at the end of last month when the program expired, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday.
The $300 weekly supplements will come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through the Lost Wages Assistance Program, a new grant initiative President Donald Trump announced after Democrats and Republicans in Congress couldn’t reach agreement on a new coronavirus relief package.
Democrats pushed to renew the unemployment benefits program at the full $600 per week jobless Americans were receiving before the program expired. Republicans sought a lesser amount after some business owners complained they were having a hard time getting their unemployed workers to return because they were receiving more money from unemployment.
“This news is truly life-changing for hardworking Georgians in every part of our state,” Kemp said. “We deeply appreciate the Trump administration’s leadership to help us provide timely unemployment assistance to families weathering the economic impact of this pandemic.”
Trump approved up to $44 billion from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund early this month to provide financial assistance to Americans who have lost wages due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The benefit will be limited to three weeks, with the availability of additional benefits depending on the availability of remaining FEMA funds. Critics of the president’s plan have argued the money should not be taken from FEMA at the height of hurricane season.
States will be required to request additional disbursements weekly after the introductory three-week period of benefits are distributed.
“The Georgia Department of Labor will deliver a system meeting the new FEMA guidelines to process these weekly supplements as quickly as possible,” state Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said. “We will continue to work with the U.S. Department of Labor, FEMA, and Governor Kemp’s office to provide financial support for Georgians during this pandemic.”
The labor department anticipates programming to begin this week and implementation to be completed within three to four weeks.
Eligibility for the new program is based upon an individual’s weekly benefit determination – an amount calculated by a claimant’s reported wages. Individuals must have received a weekly benefit of at least $100 to be eligible.
Also, the recipient must be unemployed or partially unemployed due to disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic.
Individuals do not need to call or apply separately for this benefit. Information on the new program can be found on the agency’s web page at www.gdol.ga.us.
Coronavirus has sickened hundreds of thousands people and killed thousands more in Georgia. (Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Gov. Brian Kemp’s office is warning Georgians not to ingest the bleach-like chemical chlorine dioxide following reports of people using the cleaning substance in an attempt to treat COVID-19.
The warning came Monday after state public-health officials received reports of people ingesting diluted chlorine dioxide, the active ingredient in certain disinfectants for drinking-water treatment and other industrial uses.
The governor’s office did not say how many people had reportedly ingested bleach-like substances but stressed that chlorine dioxide products “are not meant to be swallowed by people.”
“Chlorine dioxide products have not been shown to be safe and effective for any use including treatment of COVID-19,” said a statement from the governor’s office.
Kemp’s office added the substances “can have severe adverse health effects, including death.”
Ingesting chlorine products can lead to respiratory failure, potentially fatal abnormal heart rhythms, dehydration leading to life-threatening low blood pressure, liver failure, low blood cell counts, severe vomiting and severe diarrhea.
Those products are being marketed under the following names:
MSS
Miracle Mineral Solution
Master Mineral
Water Purification Solution
CDS
Aqueous Chlorine Dioxide
In April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned a Florida organization that billed itself as a church to stop selling the chlorine dioxide product Miracle Mineral Solution as a COVID-19 treatment method.
The FDA stressed chlorine dioxide products “pose significant risks to patient health” and that the agency “is not aware of any scientific evidence supporting their safety and effectiveness,” according to a news release.
Chlorine dioxide products have also been peddled as false remedies for autism, cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and flu.
The warning from Kemp’s office Monday came months after President Donald Trump speculated about the effectiveness of injecting “disinfectant” into patients infected with COVID-19.
The president said the idea “sounds interesting” during a news conference on April 24, but later portrayed the comments as “sarcasm” following intense pushback from health experts on the subject.
ATLANTA – One of the unsuccessful candidates for the Democratic nomination in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District has been named president of a political action committee representing the state’s Muslim Americans.
Nabilah Islam, who finished third to Democratic nominee Carolyn Bourdeaux in the June 9 primary in the 7th District, will serve as president of I-PAC Georgia.
“Georgia’s Muslim community is a reflection of the beauty and diversity of America’s Muslim communities,” Islam said Monday. “I am thrilled to lead I-PAC Georgia to ensure Georgian Muslims have a seat at the legislative table.”
I-PAC has enjoyed significant success in its candidate endorsements, including an 80% win rate in 2018.
The organization recently partnered with EmgageUSA, a Washington, D.C.-based national organization that seeks to increase Muslim American civic engagement.
Islam ran in a crowded primary field for the Democratic nomination to seek a suburban Atlanta congressional seat being vacated by Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall of Lawrenceville.
Bourdeaux, who ran a close race against Woodall two years ago, won the Democratic primary in June by a large margin over state Rep. Brenda Lopez Romero, D-Norcross, and Islam.
Bourdeaux will oppose Rich McCormick, who won the Republican primary, in November.
The 7th Congressional District covers large portions of Gwinnett and Forsyth counties.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Monday outlined steps election officials are taking to curb long lines and issues with mail-in voting requests ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.
Around 6,000 poll workers have been recruited with help from the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the American Civil Liberties Union to boost staff numbers at polling places after many poll workers abstained from the June 9 primary due to health risks from COVID-19, Raffensperger said.
To head off technical issues and equipment gaps, Raffensperger’s office has sent spreadsheets to county election officials so they can track inventory and training needs to smooth over any future hiccups quicker than was done during the primary.
County election officials have also started tapping grant funds to install drop boxes for voters to deposit absentee ballots rather than vote in-person on Election Day, Raffensperger said. So far, 175 drop boxes have been installed in the state.
Additionally, Raffensperger’s office is set to launch an online absentee ballot request portal in the coming days to ease the burden local election officials had ahead of the June 9 primary to process a wave of mail-in ballot requests.
Overall, Raffensperger said local officials and poll workers should be better equipped to handle potential technical issues that may crop up on Election Day based on lessons learned from the coronavirus-impacted primary.
“While no election is ever perfect, it is likely November will have its issues,” Raffensperger said Monday. “We have dedicated time, effort and significant resources to make November a success.”
Raffensperger’s comments came during a virtual roundtable with most Republican members of Georgia’s congressional delegation and U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., ranking member on the U.S. House Committee on House Administration.
The roundtable also featured input from some election officials in Fulton County, where voters faced among the longest lines and technical issues in the state during the primary.
Mark Wingate, a Republican member of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, said the county will be back up to its full roster of 210 polling places on Election Day after several sites closed for the primary due to worker shortages and COVID-19 safety concerns.
He also said county officials received a flood of poll-worker applications after the primary, enabling them to now tap a reliable supply of workers to be fully staffed on Nov. 3.
“I can assure you that through the staff and the board and all the help from the county in particular, we’re ramped up and we’re moving this as well and as humanly possible as we can,” Wingate said Monday.
In Augusta, poll workers are set to receive an extra $40 per day in hazard pay to support increased responsibilities for workers to keep voting equipment clean and make sure people are spaced out in line to curb the chances for coronavirus transmissions.
“The last thing we want are overcrowded conditions in our polling places,” said Lynn Bailey, executive director of the Richmond County Board of Elections.
The roundtable also drew concerns from several congressmen over mail-in voting and the chances for voter fraud, echoing Republican criticism of widespread vote-by-mail efforts amid the pandemic that President Donald Trump has repeatedly highlighted.
Raffensperger, a Republican, stressed Georgia law requires voters to request absentee ballots before they can be provided and that all counties are required to match signatures before counting ballots.
Raffensperger noted around 500,000 Georgia voters will be automatically sent absentee ballots after requesting one for the June 9 primary. Those voters consist of people age 65 and older, disabled persons and voters living overseas or in the military, Raffensperger said.
The state is not sending out absentee ballot request forms to every Georgia voter for the general election as occurred ahead of the primary, though a few counties like DeKalb have individually decided to send out those forms to all local registered voters, Raffensperger said.
With huge numbers of people expected to vote by mail across the country during the pandemic, Christy McCormick of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission said absentee voters should plan to mail their ballots no later than a week before Nov. 3 to avoid the possibility of slowed postal services.
“They do claim that they are going to give election mail special priority,” McCormick said of the U.S. Postal Service. “We’ll have to see how that goes.”
Georgia voters can start mailing in their absentee ballots on Sept. 15. Early voting for the Nov. 3 election begins on Oct. 12.
ATLANTA – A new partnership between the state agencies in charge of higher education and K-12 will expand the University System of Georgia’s fintech curriculum into high schools.
The new program will build on the success of the Georgia FinTech Academy, which has provided at least one fintech course to more than 1,900 college students at 23 of the university system’s 26 institutions since it was launched two years ago.
Those college courses will now be available to students attending Georgia’s 481 public high schools, allowing them to earn college credit and credentials valued by employers in a fast-growing industry.
“Fintech is a high-demand career field, and we are committed to preparing the state’s workforce to meet that demand,” said Tristan Denley, the university system’s executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.
Georgia is a global financial technology and payments hub, so much so it is home to America’s payments processing “Transaction Alley.” In fact, 70% of all U.S. financial transactions pass through Georgia companies each year.
The new partnership between the university system, the Georgia Department of Education and the American Transaction Processors Coalition is aimed at maintaining that momentum.
“Offering an on-ramp at the high school level makes this a first-of-its-kind initiative that can potentially inspire similar programs across the country to feed our growing industry’s workforce demand,” said West Richards, the coalition’s executive director.
The high-school fintech program will include three courses modeled after those offered by the Georgia FinTech Academy at the college level.
The courses may be provided as a standard high school pathway or for dual high school and college credit. Students interested in the dual-enrollment program should contact their academic advisor or guidance counselor.
