ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) is working with Chicago-based commercial real estate company JLL to plan a network of electric vehicle charging stations across the state.
The plan is a required step toward landing federal funds for charging stations through a $5 billion grant program established by the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure spending bill Congress passed last fall.
The grants will help states deploy charging stations in convenient locations.
Georgia political and business leaders have identified an adequate supply of EV charging stations as vital to continued economic development as the number of electric vehicles on the highways grows.
“Strengthening our electric charging network will require collaboration among government, industry, utilities and other stakeholders at every stage of the process,” said Jannine Miller, the DOT’s director of planning.
“We are excited to work with JLL to put forth our initial deployment plan and to stay abreast of emerging opportunities.”
“As an advisor to the state of Georgia … our shared goal is to create a cleaner, greener economic future for Georgia and beyond,” added Josephine Tucker, JLL’s managing director of clean energy.
The DOT and JLL are partnering with Ernst & Young and HNTB on the project.
To meet the grant program’s guidelines, the plan must demonstrate adequate EV charging coverage along previously established corridors for alternative fueling and provide a strategy for upgrading and expanding charging station installations over time.
The plan must be sent to the newly established federal Joint Office of Energy and Transportation by Aug. 1.
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Despite the publicity surrounding last month’s series of wildfires on Georgia’s St. Catherines Island, the number of forest fires is trending lower across the Peach State.
Last year, Georgia saw 2,444 forest fires burn around 12,500 acres. That’s down from a 10-year-high in 2017, when 6,129 fires burned 71,000 acres.
By way of comparison, during the major wildfires of 2007, about 441,700 acres burned in Georgia, mostly in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
“Wildfires in Georgia all depend on the weather,” said Frank Sorrells, chief of forest protection for the Georgia Forestry Commission. “Weather is the deciding factor in how intense a fire is.”
Sorrells helped fight that fire – one of the more unusual of his career spanning more than 40 years.
The St. Catherines operation required airplanes, barges, bulldozers, and a helicopter.
The team used “minimum-impact suppression tactics” while fighting the St. Catherines fires, Sorrells said, to protect the island’s delicate environmental and historical heritage.
“The weather turned to the good,” Sorrells noted, returning to his theme of how weather can change everything. A few days of rainfall helped suppress the fire.
Sorrells’ wildfire team relies on a carefully planned network of 110 firefighting offices across Georgia staffed by about 425 firefighters.
That network has also been key to the state’s success in managing wildfires in Georgia, Sorrells said.
“We strategically have … fire personnel distributed through all parts of the state to be sure we’re within a 45-minute response-time,” said Sorrells, who has been in his current role as chief of forest protection for 10 years.
When firefighters cannot reach a scene within 45 minutes, it’s usually because of difficult terrain like the North Georgia mountains or the Okefenokee Swamp, Sorrells said.
Most fires in Georgia are caused by humans, whether accidentally or intentionally, making outreach and fire prevention education an important part of the firefighter’s job.
“It’s easier to fight a fire that has not started,” Sorrells said. “It doesn’t cost the taxpayers any money.”
About two-thirds of Georgia is forested, with about 23 million to 25 million acres of forested land, 92% of which are privately owned, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission.
Sorrells said fall is a high season for fire in North Georgia as leaves fall off the trees, providing additional potential fuel for fires. He said that season continues until December or early January.
There is another uptick in fires in Georgia in March and April from Macon south, when low humidity and brisk winds make fires more likely.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Despite being from different political parties, the two incumbents atop the Georgia ballot this year are leading their respective races, according to a new poll.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is ahead of Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams 52% to 45%, according to a survey commissioned by AARP Georgia.
The poll found Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock holding a narrower lead over Republican challenger Herschel Walker, 50% to 47%.
In both races, the Republicans lead among older voters, while the Democrats hold the advantage among women.
Kemp is 15 points ahead of Abrams among voters at least 50 years old 56% to 41%, while Walker leads Warnock among older voters 52% to 46%, according to the survey, conducted by the bipartisan polling team of Fabrizio Ward & impact Research.
Kemp also enjoys a 27-point lead among men who took part in the polls, while Abrams is up 11% among women.
Warnock has a much larger lead among women, with 58% of the female vote to 39% for Walker, the main driver in Warnock’s overall lead, according to a news release distributed with the poll results.
The polling firm credited Kemp’s overall lead to his 14-point edge over Abrams among independent voters. Warnock leads Walker by 3% among independents.
The poll found Kemp with a favorable image among 50% of the survey participants, while 46% found Abrams favorable.
Warnock’s image was evenly divided at 47% favorable and 47% unfavorable. Walker was judged favorable by 41%, with 49% viewing him as unfavorable.
The polling firm interviewed 1,197 likely Georgia voters between July 5 and July 11, including a statewide representative sample of 500 likely voters. Interviews were conducted via landline telephone, cellphone and online.
Depending on the category of voters interviewed, the poll’s margins of error varied from plus-or-minus 3.4% to plus-or-minus 4.9%.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission has dismissed two charges against Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams.
Commission attorney Joseph Cusack said on Tuesday that Abrams’ attorney, Joyce Gist Lewis, provided him with the evidence needed to clear up potential violations stemming from two transactions by the Abrams campaign.
In one, the commission contended that Abrams received $3,865 of in-kind contributions from Friends of Stacey Abrams and Georgia Next prior to filing paperwork declaring her intention to run. Lewis was able to produce documents that showed the campaign contributions were received after Abrams’ declaration of intent to run had been filed.
Abrams also appropriately amended her contribution disclosure filings to reflect the correct information, Cusack said.
The second count stemmed from a law firm invoice the commission alleged was not properly included on Abrams’ campaign contribution disclosure reports. Cusack said the Abrams campaign produced evidence that it had paid that invoice.
“She’s given me every single piece of evidence I’ve asked for,” Cusack said of Lewis’ co-operation in the matter.
“I think this is the perfect example of both sides working together, supplying the information that the commission needs to show that Ms. Abrams was in compliance,” commission Chairman James Kreyenbuhl added.
The commission upheld a slew of other charges against 30 Georgia candidates facing fines for failing to file sufficient personal financial disclosure information.
A bill passed during this year’s legislative session that took effect in March requires candidates to disclose the past five years of income information, which many candidates neglected to do.
The consent orders process put in place by the commission allowed the candidates to agree to the charges and pay a fine.
Four Democratic candidates who survived the recent spring primaries and runoffs agreed to pay fines for campaign violations.
State Sen. Jen Jordan, D-Atlanta, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, and Janice Laws Robinson, the Democratic nominee for insurance commissioner, each agreed to pay a penalty of $625 for omitting past years’ income details on their financial disclosure reports.
Both state Rep. William Boddie, D- East Point, the Democratic nominee for labor commissioner, and Alisha Thomas Searcy, the Democratic nominee for state school superintendent, failed to file personal financial disclosure reports on time. Each agreed to a $1,000 civil penalty and a $125 late fee.
Non-Democrats faced penalties as well.
Kartik Bhatt, who ran for state labor commissioner in the May Republican primary, did not file his personal finance disclosure statement and also received and spent campaign funds prior to filing a declaration of intent to run. Bhatt agreed to a $5,000 civil penalty.
David Raudabaugh, the Libertarian candidate for Georgia agriculture commissioner, faced a $625 fine for not including past years’ income on his personal financial disclosure report.
U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Greensboro, who lost to Republican incumbent Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in the primary, received a $1,000 civil penalty for failing to file his personal financial disclosure report on time.
The complete list of consent orders is available on the commission’s website.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Fourteen Georgians, including eight prison inmates, were charged Wednesday with participating in a drug trafficking ring operating in southeastern Georgia.
According to a federal indictment, the group began distributing methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl as far back as 2018 in at least seven counties: Bacon, Brantley, Camden, Coffee, Glynn, Pierce and Ware.
All 14 are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute the drugs. They face sentences of 10 years in prison up to life, along with substantial fines and at least five years of supervised release after completing any prison term.
“The use of contraband cell phones and other devices inside prisons for coordination of criminal activity outside prison walls is an increasing danger to our communities,” said David Estes, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
“Our law enforcement partners, including the Georgia Department of Corrections, did outstanding work in identifying and infiltrating this network to being an end to this illegal conspiracy.”
The inmates charged in the indictment include Jonathan Alvin Pope, 38, of Calhoun State Prison; Christy Renee Pope, 42, of Pulaski State Prison; Jason Wildes, 40, of Ware County Detention Center; Clark Bennett, 50, of Floyd County Prison; and James Edward Lane, 55, of Dooly County Detention Center.
Also charged were three inmates at the Brantley County Detention Center: Kristina Ashley Montgomery, 37; Tony Marvin Jones, 63; and Michael Mancil, 45.
The other defendants include Richard Reginald Perkins Jr., 46; Joshua Lance Lee, 45, and Sara Elizabeth Laroche, 37, all of Nahunta; Jode Lee Weaver, 41, and Ashlee Pope, 32, both of Waycross; and Lena Leigh Davis, 45, of Homeland.
The case was investigated by the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation, working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Savannah office; the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Georgia Department of Corrections, and several local sheriff’s departments.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
