by Dave Williams | Dec 20, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Politics dominated 2024 in Georgia, a presidential election year that saw former President Donald Trump turn the tables on Democrats in the Peach State.
But Republican Trump’s victory four years after President Joe Biden became the first Democrat to capture Georgia’s 16 electoral votes since 1992 was far from the only political news to reverberate under the Gold Dome.
Two high-profile crimes that occurred this year in Georgia – the murder of nursing student Laken Riley at the University of Georgia and a mass shooting that killed four at a Barrow County high school – drove state lawmakers’ agendas.
Here’s a look at the top Georgia stories of 2024:
Feb. 23: Nursing student Laken Riley is murdered while jogging on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, is convicted in the killing. In the wake of the murder, majority Republicans in the General Assembly pass legislation cracking down on illegal immigration, largely along party lines.
March 20: The legislature’s Republican majorities pass a private-school vouchers bill after years of failed efforts. The measure provides up to $6,500 in annual funding to students who reside in a public school attendance zone that is in the lowest-performing 25% of all public schools in the state and wish to transfer to a private school.
April 29: After years of delays and cost overruns, the nuclear expansion at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle goes into full commercial operation with the completion of the second of two new nuclear reactors.
June 27: President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump take part in a nationally televised debate in Atlanta. Biden’s halting performance leads Democrats to replace him on the ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris.
July 12: Former Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine is sentenced to three and a half years in prison for conspiracy to commit health-care fraud in connection with unnecessary lab testing. In a guilty plea, Oxendine admits that his insurance consulting business ordered the tests from a lab company in Texas in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks.
Sept. 4: A teenage gunman is arrested and charged with shooting two teachers and two students to death at Apalachee High School in Barrow County. Colt Gray’s father Colin is charged with giving his son access to the murder weapon, prompting Georgia lawmakers to call for legislation incentivizing gun owners to safely store their firearms.
Sept. 27: Hurricane Helene tears a path through South Georgia north through the Augusta area, killing 34 Georgians and causing heavy rainfall and widespread flooding as well as extensive power outages.
Oct. 19: A gangway on Sapelo Island collapses under the weight of passengers waiting to take a state-operated ferry to the mainland following the annual Sapelo Cultural Day celebration, killing seven people.
Nov. 5: Republican Donald Trump carries Georgia by more than 115,000 votes over Democrat Kamala Harris on his way to winning the 2024 presidential election.
Nov. 24: Georgia Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson dies at age 59, eight months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
by Dave Williams | Dec 19, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Court of Appeals Thursday disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting the state’s case against former President Donald Trump for election interference in 2020.
In a 2-1 decision, the appellate court declared that Willis’ sexual relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to lead the case, constituted an appearance of impropriety that could not be overcome even though Wade removed himself from the prosecution team.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump – now the president elect – and 18 co-defendants in August of last year on charges of participating in a racketeering conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
The defendants sought to have Willis removed from the case, citing her relationship with Wade as a conflict of interest.
Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled last March that Willis could remain on the case but only if Wade removed himself. Wade resigned from the case several hours later.
On Thursday, the appellate court ruled that McAfee’s solution wasn’t enough to avoid an appearance of impropriety on Willis’ part.
“The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her
broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring,” Judge Trenton Brown wrote.
“While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety generally is not enough to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings.”
One of the three judges on the appellate panel – Benjamin Land – dissented from the ruling. He argued the appellate court should have given greater deference to McAfee’s trial court opinion.
“I am particularly troubled by the fact that the majority has taken what has long been a discretionary decision for the trial court to make and converted it to something else entirely,” Land wrote.
Although Thursday’s ruling did not dismiss the underlying indictment of Trump and his associates, it raises serious doubts over whether the last of several court cases still pending against the president elect can move forward.
by Dave Williams | Dec 19, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate rose slightly last month but still remains lower than the national jobless rate, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Georgia unemployment for November stood at 3.7%, up from 3.6% in October and half a percentage point below the national rate.
“Despite a slight uptick in unemployment this November, Georgia’s economy remains among the strongest in the nation,” said Louis DeBroux, serving as emergency interim successor to the late state Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson, who died last month.
“We’ve added 85,000 workers to the labor force and created nearly 46,000 new job opportunities over the past 12 months, bringing us closer to the milestone of five million jobs,” DeBroux added. “With unemployment still well below the national average, Georgia further establishes itself as the premier state for businesses to thrive and families of hardworking Georgians to prosper.”
While the year-over-year numbers were positive, several month-over-month statistics showed declines.
Jobs were down by 2,000 in November to 4.98 million. The labor forced declined by 3,000 to about 5.4 million, the first decrease since November of last year.
The number of employed Georgians fell by 5,217 to 5.2 million, while the number of unemployed rose by 2,217 to 198,405, the highest since July 2021.
On the bright side, the number of initial jobless claims filed in November declined by 9,323 to 19,319.
Some job sectors showed gains last month despite the overall decline. The health-care and social assistance sector gained 2,300 jobs, while arts and entertainment jobs increased by 2,000 jobs.
The accommodation and food services sector showed the largest drop in November, with 3,000 jobs lost, while the administrative and support services sector fell by 2,600 jobs.
by Dave Williams | Dec 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The state is lifting a moratorium on drilling new irrigation wells in parts of Southwest Georgia that has been in effect for more than a decade.
Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday that the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) will begin accepting applications for groundwater withdrawal permits from farmers on April 1. Applications must include drought-related measures aimed at ensuring the long-term viability of water supplies along the Lower Flint and Chattahoochee river basins.
“As Georgia farmers continue to recover from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene, I could not be more proud to deliver this good news,” Kemp said. “I am grateful to the EPD for their diligent and hard work in ensuring that our state is on a path that protects both Georgia farmers and our water resources.”
The EPD imposed the moratorium on new irrigation wells in 2012 in response to a two-year drought that dried up one stream and significantly decreased flows in others.
The agency eased the ban last year by lifting it during periods when frost threatened crops. But farmers complained that lifting the ban only for the limited time of the year when freezes are a concern didn’t go far enough.
Wednesday’s announcement cited extensive scientific research conducted since 2012 that has left the EPD confident the time is right to lift the moratorium completely.
“Our metering program has gathered extensive data strengthening our technical understanding of surface water and groundwater in the Lower Flint,” EPD Director Jeff Cown said Wednesday. “We look forward to working with all water users as they obtain these newly developed permits.”
Technological improvements during the last decade are allowing farmers to better track the amount of water they’re using to irrigate their crops. That ability to measure groundwater use was among the arguments lawyers for the state used to prevail in a long-running legal battle over water allocation against Florida and Alabama.
by Dave Williams | Dec 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – President-elect Donald Trump has nominated former University of Georgia football standout Herschel Walker to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.
Trump recruited Walker, a longtime friend and ally, to run for the U.S. Senate in 2022, but the Republican lost to incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.
“A successful businessman, philanthropist, former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL great, Herschel has been a tireless advocate for youth sports,” Trump posted on his social media site this week. “During my first term, he served as co-chair of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.”
Trump and Walker’s friendship goes back to the 1980s, when the United States Football League team Trump owned, the New Jersey Generals, signed Walker to his first professional contract.
Walker is just the latest Republican with Georgia ties nominated by Trump to serve in his administration.
The list includes former Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., to serve as U.S. ambassador to China, former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., to head the Small Business Administration, and former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, to serve as director of the Veterans Administration.
All of the nominations are subject to confirmation by the Senate, which will be in Republican hands when the new Congress convenes next month.
