ATLANTA – Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, married for 77 years to former President Jimmy Carter, died Sunday at the age of 96 at the couple’s home in Plains.
For decades, she championed the causes of mental health, caregiving, and women’s rights.
“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished, said President Carter. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”
Mrs. Carter had just entered hospice care on Friday. President Carter, 99, entered the hospice program last February.
Mrs. Carter is survived by her children – Jack, Chip, Jeff, and Amy, and 11 grandchildren, including Jason Carter, the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee.
Tributes to a woman who served as first lady both in the White House and in the Governor’s Mansion in Georgia began pouring in shortly after the Carter Center announced news of her death.
“A proud native Georgian, she had an indelible impact on our state and nation,” Gov. Brian Kemp wrote on social media. “Working alongside her husband, she championed mental health services and promoted the state she loved across the globe. … President Carter and his family are in our prayers as the world reflects on First Lady Carter’s storied life and the nation mourns her passing.”
“Rosalynn’s lifetime of work and her dedication for public service changed the lives of many,” said U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. “The state of Georgia and the United States are better places because of Rosalynn Carter. I join all Georgians and Americans in mourning her loss.”
Memorial events and funeral ceremonies had not been finalized as of Sunday. In lieu of flowers, the Carter family requests mourners to consider a contribution to the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program or the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers.
ATLANTA – After years of failed efforts to get legalized gambling through the General Assembly, political observers could hardly be faulted for not betting on 2024 to be different.
But if Las Vegas were setting odds on the three options that have generated the most discussion under the Gold Dome, sports betting would be the clear favorite over casinos and horse racing.
“Sports betting is something that should be an easy lift,” said Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who introduced a sports betting bill back in 2020 when he was a member of the state Senate. “It’s probably the most popular of the three arenas of gambling we’ve talked about.”
Sports betting appeared to get the jump on casinos and horse racing during this year’s legislative session when former Georgia Chief Justice Harold Melton wrote in a legal opinion that sports betting could become law in Georgia without changing the state’s constitution.
Melton deemed sports betting essentially a lottery game, meaning it could be overseen by the Georgia Lottery Corp., which voters already incorporated into the constitution in a 1992 statewide referendum.
Not everyone agreed. Some lawmakers favored going with a constitutional amendment to give Georgia voters a chance to weigh in on whether they want sports betting. An alternative Senate measure was introduced to put sports betting in the constitution.
But in the end, the Senate defeated both measures, forcing supporters to wait until 2024.
Jones, who presides over the Senate, said he expects his legislative chamber to take the lead on sports betting again when the General Assembly convenes in January.
Once again, the Metro Atlanta Chamber will be a key backer of the measure. The chamber works closely with Atlanta’s four professional sports teams, which have banded together to support sports betting during recent legislative sessions.
Marshall Guest, the chamber’s senior vice president, said 38 states have legalized sports betting since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision authorized states to take that step. The list includes the neighboring states of Tennessee and North Carolina.
“This legislation would drive fan engagement for our state’s professional sports teams,” Guest wrote in an email to Capitol Beat.
Guest and others also pointed to the tax revenue the state could generate from sports betting, which under all of the various legislative proposals that have been considered would go to the Georgia’s hugely popular HOPE Scholarships and Pre-Kindergarten programs.
State Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, a longtime proponent of legalized gambling, said the tax benefits of sports betting are a good reason for lawmakers to go with the constitutional amendment approach.
A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote of the state House of Representatives and Senate before it can go to the voters, a more difficult obstacle than bills that only need a simple majority to pass.
But Stephens said emphasizing where the tax money would go if sports passing comes to Georgia could be enough of a winning argument in an election year to secure those two-thirds majorities.
“If we can get this to the floor, it’s going to put people in a position of voting for or against HOPE and Pre-K,” he said.
Another option lawmakers have considered during recent legislative sessions is combining sports betting, casinos, and horse racing into a single constitutional amendment so voters could decide whether to legalize all three at one time.
Supporters of that approach have argued both casinos and horse racing would create more jobs than sports betting, which would be conducted primarily or exclusively online.
Advocates of horse racing have pitched its potential as an economic boon for rural Georgia because of the hay farms and racehorse training facilities it would require. Casino backers have cited examples of destination resort casinos in other states that are reaping huge profits.
But Stephens said pushing all three forms of legalized gambling in Georgia at once is probably too much of a reach.
“I would rather not to try to eat the elephant all at one time,” he said.
Even if sports betting ends up getting the emphasis during the upcoming legislative session, supporters of casinos and horse racing are willing to wait. Change takes time in Georgia, as was exemplified by the years it took Sunday sales of alcohol to pass in the Peach State.
“It’s going to happen,” said Rick Lackey, an Atlanta-based real estate developer who has backed several proposed casino resorts. “It’s just a matter of when.”
ATLANTA – The Port of Savannah had a good October but business is down when looking at a bigger picture.
Savannah handled 449,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containerized cargo last month, the port’s fourth-busiest October ever and a 5% increase over October 2019, the most recent year not affected by the pandemic.
But business is down for the first portion of the current fiscal year, which began July 1. The Port of Savannah moved 1.7 million TEUs in July, August, September, and October, a decrease of 18% over the same period during the last fiscal year.
The good news is Georgia Port Authority officials announced Friday that all berths at Savannah’s Garden City Terminal are open for business for the first time in two and a half years.
“Our infrastructure planning efforts will be realized with Berth 1’s opening, and we now have ample berth capacity to handle demand,” said Kent Fountain, the authority’s board chairman. “The timing is important for the holiday season and last-minute orders.”
Like Savannah, the Port of Brunswick also saw a decline in activity last month. The ports authority moved 67,500 units of autos and machinery in October, down 5.8% compared to October of last year. However, Roll-on/Roll-off cargo business for the first four months of fiscal 2024 increased 17% over the same period in fiscal 2023.
Trust Park will host Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game in 2025
ATLANTA – Atlanta was awarded Major League Baseball’s 2025 All-Star Game Thursday, two years after the game was pulled from Georgia during a flap over voting reform legislation state lawmakers had passed earlier that year.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred commended Atlanta Braves Chairman Terry McGuirk, President and CEO Derek Schiller, and the Atlanta Sports Council for leading the effort to bring the so-called Mid-Summer Classic to the Atlanta area for the third time.
“As a model of success on and off the field, the Braves deserve to host the All-Star Game,” Manfred said during a news conference. “Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta will provide fans a world-class experience in 2025. We look forward to working with the Braves and local leaders to deliver a memorable All-Star Week that brings people together and benefits the community in many ways.”
Atlanta was awarded the All-Star Game in 2021, only to have Major League Baseball pull the game and send it to Denver instead in response to a voting bill the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed along party lines that civil rights and voting rights groups viewed as voter suppression.
The law also drew criticism from corporate interests, including from Atlanta-based Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines.
Senate Bill 202 requires voters seeking to cast absentee ballots to show a photo ID, a provision that already applied to in-person voting. The law also limits the number of absentee ballot drop boxes and prohibits non-poll workers from handing out food and drinks within 150 feet of voters standing in line.
Two years later, the measure is still the subject of court challenges. This year, a federal judge upheld some provisions of the law while blocking others. The case is likely headed next to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
ATLANTA – The state has issued a permit to Georgia Power for a coal ash pond closure plan at Plant Hammond critics say violates a federal rule against leaving ash in contact with groundwater.
The closure of Ash Pond 3 at the plant near Rome is in conjunction with the Atlanta-based utility’s plan to to close all 29 of its coal ash ponds. At 19 of the ponds, ash is to be excavated and removed. The other 10 are to be closed in place.
Coal ash contains contaminants including mercury, cadmium and arsenic that can pollute groundwater and drinking water as well as air.
The ponds are being closed because Georgia Power intends to retire its entire fleet of coal-burning power plants by 2028, with the exception of two units at Plant Bowen near Cartersville.
A parade of Georgia environmental activists urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at a public hearing in September not to let the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) approve permits Georgia Power was seeking to leave ash in groundwater at four of the ash ponds it plans to close in place, including the pond at Plant Hammond.
“This state permit is not worth the paper it’s printed on because ash pond closures cannot comply with the [EPA] rule if closed in contact in groundwater, which is the case with Plant Hammond,” said Chris Bowers, a senior attorney with the Atlanta-based Southern Environmental Law Center.
“Leaving toxic coal ash in primitive, unlined pits contaminates groundwater and puts Georgia’s rivers at risk. … EPA has put Georgia EPD on notice that federal closure standards prohibit closure of ash ponds that are in groundwater, and today’s permit does not change that.”
A Georgia Power spokeswoman said in September that the EPA has authorized Georgia’s coal ash pond permit program to operate rather than the federal program, making Georgia one of only three states authorized to do so.
“At Plant Hammond, as we have at all our ash ponds across the state, we are utilizing proven engineering methods and technologies as part of customized, site-specific closure processes,” the company wrote Thursday in a statement. “This permit issuance is an important step as we continue our ash pond closure efforts at Plant Hammond.”
The permit the EPD issued contains a list of conditions, including following a post-closure plan for at least 30 years, conducting groundwater monitoring, and maintaining “the integrity and effectiveness of the final cover system as necessary to correct the effects of settlement … erosion, or other events, and preventing run-on and runoff.”
