by Dave Williams | Oct 16, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Class of 2024 scored slightly lower on the ACT compared to last year but still beat the national average for the eighth year in a row.
Georgia students’ average composite ACT score of 21.2 was down slightly from 21.3 in 2023 but exceeded the pre-pandemic average of 20.7.
“The Class of 2024 continues to make us proud here in Georgia – from beating the nation on both the SAT and ACT to achieving an all-time high graduation rate for our state,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said Wednesday.
“It’s encouraging to see that investing in academic recovery, despite the challenges of the last several years, has paid off for our students and their futures.”
This year’s ACT test takers scored highest in reading at 22.2, well above the national average of 20.1. Georgia students also scored 20.5 in English, 20.4 in math, and 21.1 in science, all above the national averages in those categories.
All of this year’s scores were based on the 2024 high-school graduates who took the ACT at any point during their sophomore, junior, or senior years.
by Dave Williams | Oct 16, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A Fulton County Superior Court judge has blocked a new rule governing Georgia’s election requiring counties to hand-count the number of ballots cast at polling places on Election Day.
Judge Robert McBurney issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday night delaying implementation of the rule until the parties in a lawsuit filed by the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration have a chance to be heard on the merits of the rule.
The hand-count requirement is one of a series of changes to state election law adopted in recent weeks by the Republican-controlled State Election Board (SEB).
In an eight-page decision, McBurney objected to the timing of the rule, particularly amid an election climate fraught with memories of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
“On paper, the Hand Count rule – if properly promulgated – appears consistent with the SEB’s mission of ensuring fair, legal, and orderly elections,” the judge wrote.
“[But] a rule that introduces a new and substantive role on the eve of election for more than 7,500 poll workers who will not have received any formal, cohesive, or consistent training … does not contribute to lessening the tension or boosting the confidence of the public for this election.”
McBurney’s decision on the hand-count requirement was his second this week shooting down one the SEB’s new rules. The judge also declared that county election boards must certify election results in a lawsuit brought by a Fulton County elections board member asserting her right to refuse certification.
Tuesday night’s ruling came on the day early voting ahead of the Nov. 5 election began in Georgia. More than 300,000 early votes were cast on Tuesday, shattering the all-time record for first-day early voting in the Peach State and eclipsing any single day of early voting two years ago.
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.
