by Dave Williams | Oct 15, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Former President Donald Trump Tuesday night pledged to defeat inflation, lower taxes, and deport illegal immigrants at a campaign rally in Cobb County.
“The American standard of living is in a free fall,” Trump told sign-waving supporters at the Cobb Energy Center. “Cities aren’t safe. Illegal aliens are pouring in by the millions. … We’re going to take back our country, turn it around.”
Trump, the Republican nominee for president for the third consecutive time, said Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, would raise taxes on American families by allowing the tax cuts a then-Republican Congress passed during Trump’s first year in office to expire. He also reiterated his call for ending taxes on tips and overtime.
He also accused his opponent of being soft on crime during stints as district attorney in San Francisco and as California’s attorney general.
“She destroyed San Francisco,” he said. “It’s not even livable.”
But Trump said illegal immigration is the top issue in this year’s election. He drew loud applause from the crowd when he promised to launch the largest deportation initiative in the nation’s history.
“Illegal immigration is a bigger thing than inflation,” he said. “We don’t want them in this country.”
As he did during a rally in Atlanta in August, Trump cited the murder last February of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed while jogging on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. A 26-year-old Venezuelan man allegedly in the country illegally has been charged with the crime.
If he’s elected, Trump said he would bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. by imposing tariffs on a host of imported goods. He also pledged to make America energy independent through more aggressive drilling – including fracking, which he accused Harris of opposing.
Trump praised Gov. Brian Kemp’s mustering of state and federal resources to respond to the damage caused by Hurricane Helene late last month. He and Kemp had a falling out when the governor refused to help his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, but Kemp has endorsed Trump this year.
Trump didn’t mention the abortion issue on Tuesday night, which Democrats see as an opportunity to win a large majority of the women’s vote. Harris is calling for Congress to restore the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion and has criticized Trump for appointing three of the justices who overturned Roe in 2022.
“We know what Trump wants to do because it’s in his Project 2025 playbook: a nationwide abortion ban, restrictions on access to contraception and threats to IVF,” said Porsha White, Georgia state director for the Harris campaign. “Georgians have seen the damage Trump inflicted, and we’re not going back.”
Trump said the stakes in this year’s election couldn’t be higher.
“If we’re not successful, we’re going to lose our country,” he said. “[But] we have a mission. … America will be confident again. We’ll have a rebirth of the American dream.”
by Dave Williams | Oct 15, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Super Bowl LXII will be held in Atlanta in February 2028, the National Football League announced Tuesday.
The game will take place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which also hosted the Super Bowl in 2019.
Atlanta’s bid was led by the Atlanta Sports Council in partnership with the Atlanta Falcons, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, the city of Atlanta, and the state of Georgia.
“This decision underscores our position as an ideal host for large-scale attractions like this,” Gov. Brian Kemp said. “Fans from across the world who attend Super Bowl LXII will experience the world-class lodging, amenities, and commitment to safety that set us apart.”
The 2028 Super Bowl will be the fourth held in Atlanta. The Georgia Dome hosted the game in 1994 and 2000. The 2019 game, which saw the New England Patriots defeat the Los Angeles Rams, took place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Metro Atlanta has hosted many major global sporting events over the years. The list of upcoming events includes college football’s national championship game in January, Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game at Truist Park next July, soccer’s World Cup in 2026, and the NCAA Men’s Final Four basketball tournament in 2031.
“No city is better positioned than Atlanta to host events of this magnitude,” said Dan Corso, president of the Atlanta Sports Council. “Super Bowl LXII would not be possible without the incredible cooperation of leaders in the civic and business community who continue to come together to deliver for our city and state.”
by Dave Williams | Oct 15, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – State law requires local election boards to certify election results, a Fulton County Superior Court Judge ruled Tuesday.
Judge Robert McBurney rejected the assertions of Julie Adams, a member of the Fulton County elections board, who refused to certify primary results earlier this year and maintained she had the legal authority to do so.
“Some things an election superintendent must do either in a certain way or by a certain time, with no discretion to do otherwise,” McBurney wrote in an 11-page decision. “Certification is one of those things.”
Tuesday’s ruling was limited to the lawsuit Adams brought in Fulton County. Still pending is a legal challenge to a change in election rules the Republican-controlled State Election Board adopted in August allowing local election officials to delay certifying results in order to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” if they suspect voter fraud.
“While the superintendent must investigate concerns about miscounts and must report those concerns to a prosecutor if they persist after she investigates, the existence of those concerns, those doubts, or those worries is not cause to delay or decline certification,” the judge wrote. “This is simply not an option.”
The “reasonable inquiry” rule is among a series of election rules the State Election Board has approved along party lines in the last two months.
The list includes a rule that allows county election board members to delay certification of results while they examine “all election-related documentation created during the conduct of elections.” Another requires counties to hand-count the number of ballots cast at polling places on Election Day.
Supporters of the rules changes say they’re being done in the name of promoting election integrity after allegations of fraud were leveled in Georgia after Democrat Joe Biden carried the Peach State over then-incumbent Republican President Donald Trump in 2020. A series of court challenges found no widespread fraud occurred.
Opponents of the new rules say they’re part of a concerted effort by Republicans in Georgia to sow chaos and confusion in this year’s election, potentially delaying the results and helping Trump secure the state’s 16 electoral votes even if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the popular vote.
by Dave Williams | Oct 15, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Early voting is off to a record-breaking start in Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reported Tuesday.
As of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, about 234,000 Georgians had cast their ballots on the first day of the early voting period, far surpassing the 136,000 who voted on the first day of early voting ahead of the last presidential election four years ago and more than any day of early voting in 2022.
Raffensperger said his office shipped out absentee ballots last week as scheduled, despite disruptions in South Georgia and the Augusta region caused by Hurricane Helene. Just more than 250,000 Georgia voters have requested absentee ballots, he said.
Blake Evans, director of elections for the secretary of state’s office, said Georgia has 350 early voting locations statewide. Voters can click on MyVoterPage.com for information on early voting locations in their county.
Raffensperger said the average wait time for early voting on Tuesday morning was just 57 seconds, even faster than the average wait time of three minutes posted two years ago.
“It’s going to be free. It’s going to be fair, and it’s going to be fast,” he said.
Raffensperger said state law now requires voters to show a photo ID no matter whether they vote early, in person on Election Day, or by absentee ballot. About 99% of voters use a photo ID to prove their identity, he said.
The secretary said his office conducted a statewide audit more than 20 months ago to ensure only U.S. citizens are registered to vote in Georgia. The agency works in information-sharing partnerships with other states and the Georgia Department of Driver Services to identify voters who may have moved out of state, he said.
“We understand how many people move each year in America,” he said. “It’s a lot to keep track of.”
Raffensperger urged Georgians to make a plan for how they want to vote.
“It’s your choice, but please make a choice,” he said.
Early voting in Georgia continues through Nov. 1, four days before Election Day,
by Dave Williams | Oct 14, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s 2024 Teacher of the Year is joining the state Department of Education to boost the agency’s teacher recruitment and retention efforts.
Christy Todd, who spent 15 years teaching in Fayette County Public Schools, will lead projects aimed at growing the teacher pipeline.
“Christy Todd is an outstanding educator who is passionate about ensuring her fellow Georgians can also answer the call to teach,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said Monday. “I am thrilled she is joining us at the Georgia Department of Education as we work to recruit great teachers and make sure the classrooms of our state are places where they can build thriving careers.”
In her new role, Todd will work to build a statewide teacher recruitment website and a roadmap school districts can use to increase teacher retention.
“During my term as the 2024 Teacher of the Year, it became clear to me that if Georgia wants to remain the No.-1 state to do business, we must also become the No.-1 state for teachers to teach,” she said. “The economic futures of our state, communities, families, and students depend on Georgia’s public-school classrooms being led by highly qualified teachers.”
Todd spent most of her career in Fayette County at Rising Starr Middle School as a chorus director, music technology teacher, and founder of the district’s Community for Creativity initiative, which teaches students to create songs, podcasts, videos, and audiobooks.
Prior to teaching, she worked in nonprofit consulting and business development.
Todd holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Shorter College and a master’s degree in music education from Florida State University.
