ATLANTA – Hall County Solicitor General Stephanie Woodard has been indicted on 11 counts of theft by taking and 34 counts of false statements and writings.
Woodard is accused of unlawfully obtaining funds from Hall County and the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to cover personal and other expenses unrelated to her official duties. She also allegedly was reimbursed for travel expenditures that either she had previously submitted or that she never actually incurred.
“Those elected to uphold the law must operate honestly, ethically, and transparently,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said Tuesday. “Anything less undermines our system.”
“As a public official, Hall County citizens trusted Solicitor Stephanie Woodard with their community’s interests,” added Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. “This indictment indicates that no one is above the law and must be held accountable for their actions.”
The offenses alleged in the indictment took place between July 2018 and September 2022. The attorney general’s Public Integrity and White Collar Crime Unit presented the evidence to a Hall County grand jury last week, leading to the indictment.
ATLANTA – Brian Jack, a former White House aide to Donald Trump, was well on his way Tuesday night to capturing the Republican nomination to seek Georgia’s only vacant congressional seat.
With 949 of 1,643 precincts reporting as of 9 p.m., Jack led former state Sen. Mike Dugan in west-central Georgia’s 3rd Congressional District with 66.1% of the vote to Dugan’s 33.9%, according to unofficial results.
Jack will face Democrat Maura Keller in November in the 3rd District, which stretches from Paulding and Polk counties south to Columbus. U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-West Point, decided not to seek a fourth term in Congress.
Trump’s endorsement gave Jack a decided advantage over Dugan, who served two terms as the Georgia Senate’s majority leader before leaving the General Assembly earlier this year to mount the congressional bid.
Jack played up his close ties with the Trump administration during the campaign, including his role in securing America’s southern border against illegal immigrants.
Jack was the top vote-getter last month in a Republican primary race that featured five candidates. However, he failed to win a majority of the total votes, forcing Tuesday’s runoff against Dugan.
In other congressional runoffs, Wayne Johnson defeated Chuck Hand to capture the Republican nomination in Southwest Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District. Johnson will oppose veteran incumbent Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, in November.
In the 14th Congressional District in Northwest Georgia, Shawn Harris won a Democratic runoff over Clarence Blalock. Harris will take on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, on Nov. 5.
ATLANTA – Thirteen hospitals in rural Georgia will receive $6 million in grants through a state program that will give them a choice of how to use the money.
The Georgia Department of Community Health’s Dual Track Rural Hospital Support program gives grant recipients the option of choosing between funding new or existing graduate medical education programs or providing direct hospital support.
“Since I took office, my administration has worked to deliver on the promise that we would work with state and local partners to develop Georgia’s rural communities, including efforts to improve our rural health-care system,” Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday.
“These awards will provide further support to those hospitals that serve rural Georgians and communities in need.”
The largest of the grants – $1 million – are going to Archbold Memorial Hospital in Thomasville and the Colquitt Regional Medical Center in Moultrie.
Atrium Health Navicent Baldwin in Milledgeville, Emanuel Medical Center in Swainsboro, Effingham Medical Center in Springfield, Putnam General Hospital in Eatonton, and Washington County Regional Medical Center in Sandersville will receive $500,000 each.
Grants of $250,000 are going to Coffee Regional Medical Center in Douglas, Memorial Health Meadows Hospital in Vidalia, Fairview Park Hospital in Dublin, Jefferson Hospital in Louisville, Upson Regional Medical Center in Thomaston, and Union General Hospital in Blairsville.
The grant program is funded through the state’s Rural Hospital Stabilization Grant, established in 2014. Since then, it has awarded more than $40 million in grant funding.
“These grant awards reflect our commitment to addressing the health-care needs of rural hospitals and providing effective solutions,” said Joel Presley, executive director of the State Office of Rural Health. “These funds will provide support to initiatives that address critical needs for both Georgia’s rural hospitals and citizens.”
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., introduced legislation Tuesday that would create a federal grant program to help technical colleges and community colleges match their workforce development programs with community needs.
The bipartisan bill – also sponsored by Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind. – would help train students for good-paying jobs in fields where the federal government has been making historic investments, including clean energy, manufacturing, and health care.
“We really need skilled workers, and not all these workers are from four-year colleges and universities,” Warnock said. “My bill would give a powerful and permanent tool to fill Georgia jobs with Georgia workers.”
The Pathways to Prosperity Act of 2024 would provide competitive grants to community and technical colleges to support partnerships between those schools and employers. The partnerships would work to establish, improve, and expand the colleges’ workforce development programs to align with local industry needs.
Warnock said he is looking to include the bill as a provision in workforce development reauthorization legislation now before the Senate.
“Technical and community colleges are among our most underappreciated and underfunded resources,” he said. “My legislation will make their efforts more robust.”
Groups endorsing the bill include the Progressive Policy Institute, the Association for Career and Technical Education, and the National Skills Coalition.
ATLANTA – The state is seriously underfunding mental health and housing services for veterans, professionals in the field told Georgia lawmakers Tuesday.
The state’s two veterans homes in Milledgeville and Augusta currently are serving about 400 veterans, far below the estimated need of 1,975. Neighboring states with lower populations – including Alabama and South Carolina – have up to a half dozen veterans homes inside their borders.
“We are woefully behind other states,” Patricia Ross, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Veterans Service, said during the initial meeting of the state Senate Study Committee on Veterans’ Mental Health and Housing. “We are really failing our veterans.”
Numerous studies have shown that veterans suffer from mental illnesses including chronic stress and post-traumatic stress disorder serious enough to contemplate suicide at much higher rates than the general population.
A recent Georgia-specific study found that one in five veterans suffers from substantial chronic stress, said Brian Moore, a psychology professor and director of the Ames Research Center at Kennesaw State University. One in five vets also are experiencing financial stress, which can lead to depression, he said.
Georgia veterans tend to have a hard time obtaining mental health services because they are uninsured at about twice the rate of the general public, Moore said.
The study also found that veterans suffer disproportionately from food insecurity and housing insecurity. More than 10% told researchers they don’t eat three meals a day, he said.
Moore cited national statistics showing Georgia is ranked 48th in the nation in access to behavioral services.
“It’s not because we can’t do it,” he said. “We just don’t have enough people to do it.”
Ross said there have been some success stories in Georgia, including the hiring of a suicide prevention outreach coordinator two years ago who has reached out to 12,244 veterans. Her agency also is working in partnership with the Ames center on a suicide prevention program, she said.
The state also will have a full-time coordinator to focus on veterans’ housing needs starting July 1, she said.
Moore said the state should build additional veterans homes to meet the need for mental-health services. He suggested Waycross and Dahlonega – with large veterans populations in their regions – would be good sites for two more homes. The federal government would pick up 65% of the construction costs, he said.
Moore also recommended establishing a state-level coordination center for veterans services that currently are being offered in a disjointed manner.
Ross said another area that needs improving is the way the state serves veterans making the transition from the military to civilian life. Veterans who haven’t made that transition successfully after three years tend to encounter serious mental-health issues, she said.
“What we have not done a good job with is to be able to capture these folks and help them with transitioning,” she said.
The study committee has until Dec. 1 to make recommendations for improving the delivery of mental-health and housing services for veterans in Georgia.
