by Dave Williams | Jul 5, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A Warner Robins man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for shooting at federal and local law enforcement officers trying to take him into custody on felony warrants.
Renaldo Smith, 33, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and one count of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Smith was wanted on state felony warrants when the U.S. Marshals Service learned in January of last year that he was at a home in Warner Robins. When marshals tried to execute a search warrant there, Smith fired multiple shots from inside the residence.
The Warner Robins Police Department’s SWAT team then arrived on the scene, and a police negotiation team communicated with Smith for hours to try to get him to stand down peacefully. When that didn’t work, police deployed pepper spray into the home, and Smith was taken into custody after an exchange of gunfire.
Inside the residence, police recovered an automatic pistol and a rifle.
“Renaldo Smith put the lives of many people at risk when he opened fire on law enforcement officers attempting to take him safety into custody,” U.S. Attorney Peter Leary said Friday. “These highly trained officers are to be commended for their display of bravery in the line of duty and for safely bringing the defendant into custody.”
Smith had been convicted of several prior felonies, including robbery by force and possession of methamphetamine.
by Dave Williams | Jul 5, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia lawmakers may or may not develop legislation this summer and fall to establish state standards for regulating emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
But one certainty that became clear from the inaugural hearing of a state Senate study committee late last month is that AI will dramatically affect a wide range of government policy areas, from economic development to health care, education, public safety and transportation.
“It’s going to impact and change things like never before,” said Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, chairman of the Senate Study Committee on Artificial Development.
One public policy area already being affected by AI is elections. So-called “deep fakes” already are cropping up in political ads, which digitally alter a candidate’s physical appearance or voice to say or do something the actual person did not say or do.
With deep fakes in political advertising among the early manifestations of AI, some state lawmakers have made the practice the focus of the General Assembly’s first attempt to rein in the industry.
A bill introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives this year called for criminalizing the use of deep fakes in political ads. House Bill 986 overwhelmingly cleared the House only to fizzle in the state Senate.
The effects AI technology is expected to have on public policy already are starting to become evident. In the public safety arena, AI is already capable to picking up 911 calls and dispatching responders, Albers said.
“Nobody will ever be on hold and not have an answer immediately,” he said.
Likewise, the huge role AI will play in transportation is being demonstrated initially by the development of autonomous vehicles, drone deliveries, and technology that allows cities to manage the flow of traffic. Eventually, AI will drive transportation planners’ decisions on where to widen highways or build bridges.
Albers said AI also will revolutionize education.
“We’ve been teaching the same way for 85 years,” he said. “The world has changed eight time over during that time.”
In health care, the data consolidation capabilities of AI could help researchers cure cancer, Albers said.
While much of the General Assembly’s attention on AI is focused on its public policy applications, the legislature also could actively encourage the private sector with incentives to foster use of the technology as an economic development tool.
“We have a real opportunity to create a massive number of (business) startups in this state,” said Pascal Van Hentenryck, a professor at Georgia Tech, director of Tech-AI, the university’s AI hub, and a member of the study committee.
Albers said whatever the General Assembly does in the way of regulating AI also must have an equity component.
“We don’t want to exclude people in this,” he said. ‘We want to defeat the digital divide.”
Albers said the study committee will hold seven or eight hearings this summer and fall, including some away from the Capitol. One of those sessions will be held in Augusta, home to the Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center.
The committee is due to release recommendations for proposed legislation by Dec. 1. If no legislation is forthcoming, the panel will file a report to the full Senate.
by Dave Williams | Jul 3, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Two participants in what has come to be known as the Great Locomotive Chase during the Civil War in Northwest Georgia are being awarded Medals of Honor posthumously Wednesday at a White House ceremony.
Pvts. George D. Wilson and Philip G. Shadrach were among 22 volunteers from the Union Army who commandeered a Confederate locomotive outside of Big Shanty (now Kennesaw) on April 12, 1862, and took it northward toward Chattanooga, Tenn.
The raiders tore up as much of the vital Western and Atlantic Railroad line as they could before running out of fuel near Ringgold and abandoning the train. The men scattered into the woods before being captured by Confederate troops.
Civilian scout James Andrews, the leader of the raid, and seven of the raiders -Wilson and Shadrach among them – were hanged on June 18 of that year in Atlanta, while the others were held as prisoners of war and exchanged for Confederate prisoners the following year.
Six of the raiders were awarded the United States’ first Medals of Honor in March 1863, and eventually 19 were similarly honored. As a civilian, Andrews was not eligible for the award. Wilson and Shadrach were not honored until now.
Descendants of both men will be on hand at the White House as President Joe Biden awards the medals.
by Dave Williams | Jul 2, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is asking the Justice Department (DOJ) and the FBI to make sure they’re taking steps to protect election workers this year and ensure the efficient administration of elections.
In a letter dated Tuesday, Ossoff requested that the agencies detail their processes for receiving and responding to threats, the steps they’re taking to make sure staffing needs are met, and how they plan to enforce laws aimed at protecting election workers..
“Protecting the integrity of our elections depends on protecting those who run them,” Ossoff wrote. “Yet over the last several years, election workers in Georgia and across the country have reported increased intimidation, harassment, and threats of violence.
“(The) DOJ must ensure the safety of election workers across the country in order to protect free and fair elections. I urge the DOJ and FBI to prioritize efforts to protect our election workers and to investigate any such threats expeditiously.”
Ossoff went on to cite a survey of election officials earlier this year in which 38% of the respondents reported experiencing harassment or abuse in their role.
In February, Ossoff joined Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., chair of the Senate Rules Committee, in pushing for significant funding in the federal budget to maintain and improve election infrastructure, keep up with emerging technology including artificial intelligence, and improve cybersecurity capabilities to combat new threats. Klobuchar’s committee has oversight authority over federal elections.
by Dave Williams | Jul 1, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Limits on donations to a state tax credit that supports foster children aging out of the system were eliminated effective Monday.
The General Assembly created the foster-care tax credit last year with a $20 million cap. In its first year, the program raised almost $11.6 million.
About 700 young Georgians age out of the foster care system each year, most with no family to return to after they leave the system. Data from numerous studies shows most who leave foster care end up homeless, in chronic poverty, in jail, or become victims of human trafficking.
Taxpayers wishing to contribute to the program can receive dollar-for-dollar state income tax credits for up to $2,500 per year, while married couples filing jointly can receive up to $5,000. Corporate donations are limited to 10% of the company’s annual tax liability.
“Every Georgia taxpayer ,,, whether a business or an individual … should see this as a no-brainer to either eliminate or greatly reduce their state income taxes,” said Heidi Carr, executive director of Fostering Success Act Inc., (FSA) one of the foster-care support organizations authorized by the state to work with these young people.
“At the same time, their tax credit donation will not only save lives but save more tax dollars in the long run by keeping these youth off the streets, out of jail, and out of poverty.”
FSA and other nonprofits use the proceeds from donations to the program to provide foster youth who age out of the system medical care, counseling, food, car repairs and housing, as well as aid for high-school GED programs and tuition to pay for vocational or college courses needed to complete their education.
