by Dave Williams | Aug 25, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s leading aerospace companies Monday announced the formation of a new statewide organization dedicated to advancing the state’s aerospace and defense industries.
The Georgia Aerospace & Defense Alliance (GADA) – being launched by Gulfstream Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Rolls-Royce, FlightSafety International, and Pratt & Whitney – will be housed at Mercer University in Macon, with Ember Bishop Bentley as executive director and Jay Neely as its initial board chairman.
Bentley most recently served as chief of staff and vice president for external affairs at Middle Georgia State University in Macon, home to Georgia’s flagship School of Aviation. Neely serves as board chairman for the state Department of Economic Development.
Aerospace is Georgia’s second largest industry, with an annual economic impact of more than $57.5 billion and about 200,000 employees.
“Georgia has long been a national force in aerospace and defense,” Bentley said Monday. “Through GADA, we will bring together industry, education, and government to ensure we remain competitive, innovative, and forward looking in every aspect of this critical sector.”
The new alliance will work to sustain the aerospace and defense industries through coordinated advocacy, workforce development, and industrial collaboration.
by Dave Williams | Aug 25, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp will lead a trade mission to Brazil and Argentina this week.
The governor and First Lady Marty Kemp will join representatives from the state departments of Economic Development and Agriculture and the Georgia Ports Authority in meeting with executives from companies already operating in Georgia or building new projects here.
Last year, Georgia exports to Brazil totaled $748 million, with another $120 million in exports going to Argentina.
“We’re always eager to grow those pipelines of opportunity so more Georgians from all parts of the state can benefit,” Kemp said Monday.
“I look forward to working with our partners in Brazil and Argentina to continue to build upon our already strong relationship,” Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tyler Harper added.
During the trip, the state economic development agency will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Georgia’s trade office in Brazil.
“Georgia’s connectivity to South America means opportunity,” said Pat Wilson, the state’s commissioner of economic development. “Brazil and Argentina are home to some of the largest agriculture and infrastructure companies in South America, aligning with Georgia’s strong agribusiness and food and beverage industries.”
The state delegation also will include Maj. Gen. Richard “Dwayne” Wilson, Georgia’s adjutant general, who will meet with members of the Georgia National Guard and their Argentinian counterparts as part of the Department of Defense State Partnership Program.
by Ty Tagami | Aug 25, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The list of candidates who want to be Georgia’s next attorney general keeps growing, with another Democrat entering the race.
State Rep. Tanya F. Miller of Atlanta announced her candidacy outside the Gold Dome Monday.
The former chief senior district attorney in Fulton County, now in private practice, said she will focus her campaign on crimes of exploitation, such as predatory lending and human trafficking.
“For too long, this office has prioritized Washington, D.C., politics over the wellbeing of Georgia’s 159 counties. As your attorney general, my priority will be putting you and your family first,” Miller said.
She is among a growing field of candidates vying for an open seat currently held by Republican Chris Carr, who is running for governor.
Miller’s speech targeted Carr and President Donald Trump more than her competitors — two Republican lawmakers and a former Democratic lawmaker.
Last month, former House Minority Leader Bob Trammell became the first Democrat to announce his candidacy. Miller must face him in next year’s primary election. If she wins, she will be up against a Republican in the general election.
Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, a lawyer who chairs the state Senate’s Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee, was the first to enter the race. He was followed by Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, a lawyer who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Cowsert had reported raising the most money as of the last campaign finance reporting deadline in early July, collecting $531,000 against Strickland’s $435,000. Both Miller and Trammell have registered their intent to raise money but neither has filed a contribution report yet.
Cowsert chairs a committee that has been investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The state Senate granted his committee authority to expand the scope to include groups founded by former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
Cowsert also sponsored legislation to give his committee subpoena powers. It passed the Senate and the House of Representatives after bitter partisan debate, with one leading Democrat labeling it “authoritarianism.” Gov. Brian Kemp then signed it into law.
Strickland was the chief co-sponsor of legislation that sought tax credits for parents of young children, but the legislation did not pass. Lawmakers instead approved a general tax credit of between $250 and $500, which Kemp also signed.
Trammell grew up in Luthersville in Meriwether County and served as county attorney there. He was also the top Democrat in the state House, as minority leader from 2017 until 2021.
Miller was sworn in to the state House in 2023 and was elected chair of the House Democratic Caucus last year. She said she has taken on child abusers, rapists, murders, insurance companies and “greedy” corporations and “slumlords.”
“I will be guided by law, not politics, by principle, not polls, and by the people, not the powerful few,” she said.
by Dave Williams | Aug 25, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia (USG) is launching a need-based scholarships program financed through the private sector.
The USG Foundation raised more than $4.5 million in startup funds for the new DREAMS Scholarship to help students bridge financial gaps, system Chancellor Sonny Perdue announced Saturday during the annual Regents’ Scholarship Gala. The first scholarship will go to Giuli Capparelli Sanabria, a junior majoring in biology at Georgia Tech.
“The Board of Regents is focused on affordability, but unmet needs for students can still arise,” Perdue said. “By helping to close the gap between the cost of college and what families can afford, this program helps us expand access to higher education for those who need it most.”
Georgia and New Hampshire are the only states that don’t offer a need-based scholarships program in their four-year public colleges and universities. The HOPE Scholarships program is based on merit and covers only tuition costs.
Funded in part with $2 million in seed money from Truist Charitable Fund, DREAMS will provide up to $3,000 per year to eligible students. The program encourages student responsibility by expecting part-time employment or volunteer service by participants.
Once fully built out, the program aims to serve not only USG students but those enrolled in one of Georgia’s technical colleges.
“The support we’ve received will help more students complete their studies, thrive in their careers, and contribute to a stronger, more competitive Georgia,” said Regent Cade Joiner, chairman of the USG Foundation Board of Trustees. “We’re building new pathways that change lives through education.”
by Ty Tagami | Aug 22, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Next fall, every public elementary and middle school in Georgia will have to swim against the cultural tide by banishing cellphones.
It will be a major undertaking: nearly every teen in America has one, and they have grown up with addictive social media flashing across their screens.
Despite the size of the task, some schools have already checked it off their to-do list, and their experience can serve as an example for the rest of the state.
“It is going surprisingly better than we expected,” said John Pace, III, superintendent of the Henry County School District, which prohibited cellphone use in all schools when students returned from summer break a few weeks ago.
Pace’s district of 40,000 students south of Atlanta is a year ahead of the deadline set by a state law passed this year. Henry County also prohibited cellphone use in high schools even though the new law will not require it.
Pace said the only pushback he received was an email from a student who said she needed her phone to study even though the district gives students locked-down devices.
Henry County could have banned phones by fiat, but experts say that approach invites opposition, and Pace agrees, adding that his system is not even using the word “ban” to describe its new policy.
“Distraction-free learning environments. That’s what we like to call it,” he said.
Pace brought the community along through meetings with teachers, parents and students, where they discussed the consequences of cellphone distractions.
Last year, a teacher asked all students to turn on the notification sounds on their phones, then counted the rings, dings, beeps and buzzes. On average, there were 636 per 50-minute class period, the district reported in an online video.
At a forum on cellphones and teens at Emory University last week, public health professor Julie Gazmararian cited research that says it takes 23 minutes to refocus after disruptions like phone notifications.
“This is an issue that is considered a crisis in both health and educational arenas,” she said.
The lawmaker who introduced the cellphone legislation said he was inspired by observing his own family’s behavior.
“I have three children who are addicted to their cellphones,” state Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, said at the Emory conference. “And we need to change that.”
It will be a big task. There are more than 1.1 million students in Georgia’s public elementary and middle schools.
And, according to a 2023 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 95% of teenagers in the United States have a smartphone, almost all of them with daily internet access.
The report said social media is good and bad: it can foster connection, creative expression and learning while also encouraging unhealthy social comparisons and stealing time from exercise, sleep and study.
Older studies have measured the brain drain caused by phones, even when they are not in use. One published in 2017 found that university students who placed their smartphones on the desk in front of them performed worse on math and memory tests than peers who left their phones in a different room.
A year later, another study said participants who dined with friends or family enjoyed the interactions less when they put their phone on the table than when they stowed it.
Most districts have not yet implemented cellphone prohibitions.
In a collaboration with the Georgia Department of Education, Gazmararian surveyed superintendents across the state. Her preliminary results indicated 42% prohibit phones the entire day. The superintendents cited various barriers to implementation, with two-thirds saying their biggest challenge was parent resistance.
A high school in Brockton, Mass., overcame such resistance, in part because cellphones were being blamed for extreme violence.
Students were getting into so many fights at Brockton High School that members of the school’s leadership committee called for intervention by the National Guard.
Students were using their phones to antagonize each other and to schedule fights, one news outlet reported. Some parents said their kids were afraid of going to school.
The National Guard never actually came, but Kevin McCaskill, the school’s principal, leveraged the discontent to push for a prohibition on cellphones.
At evening community meetings, he and his staff emphasized the academic toll from phone-related distractions. They also addressed parents’ biggest concern: how would they reach their kids during an emergency?
The school would send accurate and timely information, McCaskill promised. He told them that if they relied on calls or texts from students, they would be more likely to receive and spread misinformation, causing hysteria.
The school’s case was convincing enough, and as of last fall students were no longer allowed to use their phones at Brockton High. Staff at eight entry points ensured that all 3,800 students put their phones into pouches that only the staff could unlock. Students could carry their phones around in these pouches made by a company called Yondr, but they could not access them.
The number of violent incidents dropped, and students began to engage with each other more, McCaskill said.
Instead of brooding over something they saw on social media or in a text message, they were making eye contact and talking — in the cafeteria, in the hallways and in classroom discussions.
“We brought back the art of conversation,” McCaskill said.
He said more students have been passing their Advanced Placement courses and earning dual enrollment credits.
Marietta City Schools, a small district north of Atlanta, implemented a Yondr pouch policy in middle school the same semester as Brockton High.
The district compared the students’ year-to-year responses on the Georgia Department of Education’s Student Health Survey.
“The kids reported a 22% improvement in their ability to focus in class,” Grant Rivera, the superintendent, said at the Emory conference.
In Henry County, students leave their phones in their lockers or place them in storage units in each class, then stow them in their backpacks while walking between classes. They face disciplinary action if they use them.
Gazmararian’s research indicates that nearly two-thirds of her survey respondents who have prohibited phone use are doing so with lockers and backpacks.
McCaskill said the main tool is cultural. At Brockton High, some students have tried putting a fake phone in their Yondr pouch, but other teens turned them in when they pulled out their real phone, he said. “Phones have gone underground.”
Some schools in the Savannah-Chatham County system have had a similar experience. A longstanding policy that outlined how students could bring their own devices to school and use them in classrooms also allowed school leaders to prohibit them. About half the schools that were surveyed as part of the district’s preparation for the new law had already done so, including some high schools, said Derrick Butler, the district’s chief administrative officer.
The schools used various methods to control phones, including portable lockers purchased on Amazon.
The district has not yet studied the effectiveness of the various tactics. What is more important, Butler said, is the norm that gets established. Some kids might hide their phone so they don’t have to put it in the teacher’s locker, but during classroom observations and through interviews with school staff they didn’t see or hear about students using their phones where they were not allowed, he said. “And ultimately, that is the goal, right? It’s not so much that we want to collect your phone. We want you to be actively engaged and not distracted.”
Pace, the Henry County superintendent, said he included high schools in the phone prohibition because the students themselves acknowledged their phones were distracting them.
He decided he should lead by example. He used to tour schools with his phone in hand, taking notes. Now, he jots on paper, though he still transfers the information to his phone later.
Pace likened his own experience to withdrawal from an addiction.
“The first two days, it was hard for me,” he said. “By the time I got to day five, it was easy.”
