by Dave Williams | Jun 4, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A bookkeeper at an accounting firm in Glynn County has been indicted on charges of stealing more than $380,000 from an elderly client.
Christie Edwards, 47, of Jacksonville, Fla., is charged with racketeering and theft by taking in connection with a series of fraudulent ATM withdrawals, point-of-sale transactions, checks, and credit card payments.
The case was investigated by the White Collar and Cyber Crime Unit housed in the Attorney General’s Prosecution Division.
“Protecting older Georgians from scams and fraud will always be our top priority,” Attorney General Chris Carr said Wednesday.
“Sadly, those who often perpetrate such crimes are closest to the victims with direct access to their savings and personal information. We encourage older adults and their families to have a plan in place that includes multiple trusted individuals to oversee their finances and file a report with law enforcement if you ever feel something is wrong.”
A guide created by the state agency’s Consumer Protection Division covers a variety of topics important to seniors, including scams, identity theft, reverse mortgages, home repairs, long-term care, elder abuse, and more. The guide is available in English, Spanish, and Korean and is free to download.
Carr’s office has not released further details about the investigation that led to Edwards’ indictment.
by Ty Tagami | Jun 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Lack of access to cancer screening is costing Georgia heartache and money, especially in rural areas with fewer doctors and an aging population, state lawmakers learned Tuesday.
It was the second hearing of a study committee of the Georgia House of Representatives, which met in Albany at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital to hear from experts.
The members of the Study Committee on Cancer Care Access had already heard last week in Gainesville about the state’s relatively high rates of lung and colon cancer and the potential risk of exposure to polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, particularly in parts of North Georgia.
On Tuesday, they heard about the value of screening for cancer early enough to treat it successfully and at less cost. And they learned about the challenge of providing that screening within the U.S. health-care system in general and in rural Georgia in particular.
Fewer medical students are choosing primary care because of the low pay compared to specialty fields. Fewer primary care doctors means longer drives for patients, and these doctors serve as a key gateway to screening. Add the transportation challenges to inadequate insurance coverage, and many Georgians simply aren’t getting screened for cancer, said Robert Smith, senior vice president of Early Cancer Detection Science at the American Cancer Society.
Too often, patients get screened after experiencing symptoms and learn that they have advanced cancer. Then, they either suffer through distressing treatments or succumb to the disease, Smith said. The resulting pain, in human cost, ripples out to everyone around them, he added.
This inefficiency costs society a lot of money.
“Employers tell us that cancer is the top driver of their health-care costs,” Smith said, noting that two-thirds of cancer patients miss more than four weeks of work, and more than a third miss more than three months.
Smith said the U.S. health-care system relies on overworked primary care physicians and volunteer organizations to advocate for screening. He pointed to Europe, and Sweden in particular, as a model for establishing more deliberate screening systems. Georgia lawmakers could establish such a system, relieving primary care doctors of the responsibility, he said, when prompted for recommendations.
Nita Ham, executive director of the Georgia State Office of Rural Health in the Department of Community Health, painted what she called a “pretty bleak picture” of deteriorating conditions in rural Georgia.
That’s partly due to the flight of younger people, leaving an older and more cancer-prone population behind, Ham said. But the situation is compounded by inadequate insurance coverage and by hospital closures, forcing patients to drive farther for care, she said.
Eleven rural hospitals have closed since 2001, eight of them between 2013 and 2020, Ham said.
“We certainly are concerned that there may be one or two more in the near future,” she said.
Cancer costs hospitals a significant amount, said Caylee Noggle, president and CEO of the Georgia Hospital Association. She said hospitals lose tens of millions of dollars on uncompensated cancer care statewide.
Sarah Sessoms, chief operating officer of Community Health Works, which provides low-cost and mobile cancer screening, recommended that the legislature make nonprofit hospitals report the number of cancer screenings they do. She said lawmakers could establish a minimum number of indigent screenings as a condition of nonprofit status.
by Dave Williams | Jun 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) is seeking public input ahead of two planned open houses this month on a plan to widen Interstate 16 west of Savannah.
The project would widen the heavily traveled highway from two lanes to three in both directions from the I-16/I-95 interchange west to Georgia 67 in Bulloch County, a distance of 32 miles. Twenty bridges in 10 locations along the route would be widened or replaced.
I-16 serves as a major connector for trucks heading into and out of the Port of Savannah, as well as to warehousing and manufacturing facilities along the corridor. The widening would include the stretch of I-16 in Bryan County adjacent to the huge Hyundai electric vehicle manufacturing plan, which opened in March and has resulted in heavy rush-hour traffic congestion.
The open houses will take place on June 11 at the Bulloch County Center for Agriculture in Statesboro, and on June 12 at Bloomingdale City Hall. Both will run from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.
The project’s price tag is estimated at $450 million. The DOT expects to select a contractor for the work during the second quarter of next year, with construction due to start in 2027.
by Dave Williams | Jun 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – State Sen. Brian Strickland entered the 2026 race for Georgia attorney general Tuesday, pledging to uphold Georgia’s conservative values against attacks from the Left.
“We’re proud to run on my reputation as a conservative fighter who knows to win,” Strickland said during a news conference at Liberty Plaza across from the state Capitol.
The Republican from McDonough was elected to the Senate in 2018 after serving in the Georgia House of Representatives since 2013. A lawyer, Strickland serves as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In that role, he has helped steer to passage Georgia’s strict abortion law and legislation targeting human trafficking and granting the right of Georgians to carry firearms without a permit.
Strickland also has helped champion the cause of mental health reform in Georgia, including a sweeping reform bill the General Assembly passed in 2022 that, among other things, requires insurance companies to cover mental health treatment at the same level as physical ailments. He said improving mental health care inside Georgia’s prison system has been a major part of criminal justice reform efforts launched by then-Gov. Nathan Deal during the last decade.
“We need to lock up people who need to be locked up,” Strickland said. “But we’re also going to work to help people who need to get out of the system.”
Strickland accused Democrats of constantly taking the state to court to challenge both electoral defeats and legislation passed by the General Assembly’s Republican majorities. In his case, that includes several court challenges to his electoral victories that he has been forced to beat back.
“They’re trying to win at the courthouse what they couldn’t win at the ballot box,” he said. “We look forward to taking that fight across the state.”
One other candidate in the race for attorney general, state Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, filed paperwork in April indicating plans to run for the post.
by Dave Williams | Jun 2, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The checks are about to go out in the mail.
The Georgia Department of Revenue will begin issuing one-time state income tax refunds to taxpayers this week, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday.
The General Assembly approved the rebate – the third this decade – during this year’s legislative session.
“Because we’ve managed our state’s resources wisely, we’re again able to return money to hardworking Georgians who know best how to use it,” Kemp said. “Along with our acceleration of the largest income tax rate cut in state history, this latest refund is just one more way we’re working to support the people of our state, their families, and their businesses.”
Single taxpayers and married people filing separately will receive a rebate of up to $250, with $375 going to heads of households and $500 headed to married couples filing jointly.
The state issued previous one-time tax rebates in 2022 and 2023. Most eligible taxpayers who filed both 2023 and 2024 individual income tax returns in a timely manner, have paid into the system, and do not owe the state any taxes can expect to receive a rebate within the coming weeks.
Taxpayers can check their eligibility using the Surplus Tax Refund Eligibility Tool, available through the Georgia Tax Center, by inputting their tax year, Social Security or Tax Identification Number, and Federal Adjusted Gross Income.
