ATLANTA – The Justice Department has awarded more than $1.2 million in grants to law enforcement and public safety initiatives in South Georgia.
The grants include funding for the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, a key component of the Justice Department’s strategy for reducing violent crime, said Jill Steinberg, U.S attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
“In addition to fueling the fight against violent crime through Project Safe Neighborhoods, these grants will assist local agencies and communities in keeping their residents safe and improving outcomes for vulnerable citizens,” Steinberg said.
The largest of the grants – $500,000 – will go to the Waycross Area Shelter for Abused Persons to improve the greater Ware County area criminal justice system’s response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The collaborative effort with the city of Waycross will implement a project that serves communities throughout the region.
East Georgia College in Swainsboro will receive $399,117 to work with Sunshine House and the Swainsboro Police Department to provide planning, education and training activities to prevent and respond to incidents of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
The city of Savannah is getting a $119,429 grant to purchase two new bomb suits for the Savannah Police Department’s Bomb Unit, replace outdated equipment used by the Savannah police Underwater Search and Recovery Team, and to buy new traffic enforcement equipment for the Garden City Police Department.
The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office will get $99,990 for a program using its K9 Unit to locate or prevent the wandering of individuals with dementia or developmental disabilities.
An end-of-fiscal-year 2023 PSN grant to the Southern District of Georgia of $98,657 will distribute funding to Savannah, Augusta, and Brunswick, the three most populous cities in the Southern District, in collaboration with local public safety agencies to help achieve reductions in violent crime.
ATLANTA – U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, announced Friday he is running for speaker of the House.
Scott’s announcement came at the end of a week that saw the House Republican Caucus nominate Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., for the top leadership post behind closed doors, only to have Scalise withdraw his bid after failing to secure enough votes to win.
Scalise and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee had entered the race for speaker last week after House Republicans ousted then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who won the speakership in January after 15 floor votes over multiple days that exposed GOP divisions for the world to see.
“We are in Washington to legislate,” Scott said Friday in a prepared statement with a not-so-subtle reference to the House’s inability to get anything done while the speaker position remains vacant. “I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people.”
Scott has compiled a conservative voting record in the House but was highly critical of the handful of far-right House Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy. He also voted late last month in favor of legislation to avoid a government shutdown.
Scott, 53, is serving his seventh term in the House representing Georgia’s 8th Congressional District, which covers a large swath of Middle and South Georgia from Milledgeville to Valdosta. He is a member of the House Agriculture and Armed Services committees, both vital to the interests of his largely rural district.
Before going to Washington, he was a longtime member of the state House of Representatives, first winning election at the age of 26. He owned and operated an insurance brokerage firm for nearly 20 years.
Scott graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in risk management and insurance.
ATLANTA – Georgia lawmakers on both sides of the state Capitol are taking their first serious look this fall at how rapidly evolving artificial intelligence technology is likely to affect public policy.
A House subcommittee formed to study the issue already has begun holding hearings, while two Senate committees are set to launch a parallel effort Nov. 1.
“The first thing we need to do is educate our fellow legislators on what artificial intelligence is,” said Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee, which will take up AI in conjunction with the Senate Science and Technology Committee.
“Some people believe AI is a disruptor similar to when Uber came out, or the iPhone, or even the internet. This will literally change everything we do.”
The development of AI technology is being widely seen as a double-edged sword. While it promises to increase workplace productivity and produce life-saving drugs, it also threatens to replace large numbers of jobs now done by humans and compromise cybersecurity.
So-called “deep fakes” generated by AI already are being used in criminal scams and political advertising, using false images and audio to fool people into thinking a family member or candidate for public office said something they didn’t or did something that never happened.
“Deep fakes can be really damaging,” said state Rep. Brad Thomas, R-Holly Springs, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Artificial Intelligence. “We’ve got to make sure the technology isn’t being used in ways that harm people.”
Bills related to artificial intelligence were introduced in at least 25 state legislatures this year, and 15 states adopted bills or resolutions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Examples include Maryland, which established a grant program to help manufacturers implement new AI technology, and Texas, which created an advisory council to monitor AI systems developed or employed by state agencies.
At the national level, a U.S. Senate subcommittee chaired by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., held a hearing in June during which Ossoff described the growth of AI as an “existential threat” to U.S. labor markets and Americans’ right to privacy.
At two hearings last month, Ossoff raised the specter of AI being used in political ads to distort candidates’ views on issues and questioned technology experts about AI’s implications for national security.
Academia also has become heavily involved with artificial intelligence. Jonathan Shihao Ji, a computer science professor at Georgia State University, received a $10 million federal grant this month to advance research in AI with a focus on human-robot interaction.
“It has been claimed recently that AI is the new electricity,” Ji said. “It can empower and will transform almost every industry in the next several years.”
The Georgia Tech Research Corporation landed a $65 million federal grant last year to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence by Georgia industries including semiconductors, batteries, food production, and aerospace.
Albers said he plans on bringing in AI experts from Microsoft and large consulting firms, as well as technology lawyers, to testify before the two Senate committees.
“We’re going to go through a methodical process on how [AI] will affect state government, education, health care, public safety, [and] how it will impact … local cities and counties and school systems,” he said.
Typically, legislative study committees that meet between General Assembly sessions come up with recommendations for lawmakers to consider during the next session. But Thomas said the legislature needs to move at a more deliberate pace on artificial intelligence to avoid unintended consequences.
“I want to make sure we do due diligence, not do something we didn’t intend to do,” he said.
Albers said any legislation the General Assembly develops to address AI will evolve over time.
“What we do in 2024 will be different from what we do in 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028,” he said. “I want to be careful not to stifle innovation but with a sense of urgency so we can establish some parameters.”
Gov. Brian Kemp is sworn in for his second term by Justice Carla Wong McMillian in an inauguration ceremony at Georgia State Convocation Center in Atlanta on Thursday, January 12, 2023. (Arvin Temkar / [email protected])
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp has instructed the state treasurer to buy $10 million in bonds from Israel to support its military response to last weekend’s brutal attack launched by Hamas militants.
The $10 million was the highest amount available on the bond market and brings Georgia’s current investment in Israel via bonds to $25 million.
“Israel is one of Georgia’s strongest allies and greatest friends, and our support for its people as they endure horrific attacks from terrorists is unwavering,” Kemp said Friday. “Purchasing these bonds is just the latest expression of that support.”
Rocket attacks and raids into Israel from the Gaza Strip since last Saturday have killed 1,300 and injured about 3,300, according to the Israeli government. About 150 kidnapped hostages are thought to have been taken to Gaza.
Gaza’s health ministry said more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed and more than 6,600 others wounded in Israeli air strikes on the blockaded enclave.
The governor, Georgia First Lady Marty Kemp, and their three daughters led a delegation of state officials to Israel in May on an economic development trip. Kemp met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and other Israeli officials to discuss security in the Middle East and other issues.
ATLANTA – Just a year and a half after completing a $1 billion project to deepen Savannah Harbor from 42 feet to 47 feet, the Georgia Ports Authority is launching another deepening plan.
The agency is asking U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Savannah, and Georgia’s two U.S. senators, Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, to seek congressional authorization for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study the economic and environmental impacts of another deepening project. The study would be funded next year through legislation reauthorizing the Water Resources Development Act as well as some non-federal funds.
The earlier deepening project, which took 25 years to navigate bureaucratic red tape and build, was designed to accommodate containerized-cargo ships with capacities of up to 8,200 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
However, vessels with capacities of more than 16,000 TEUs are now calling at the Port of Savannah. Ships that big can’t make it up the Savannah River to the port at low tide, causing delays that make the port less productive.
Once the study is completed and if it green lights the project, Congress would be asked to fund construction.
Griff Lynch, the ports authority’s executive director, did not mention the deepening project at Thursday’s annual State of the Ports luncheon updating state and regional business and political leaders on other planned improvements at the ports of Savannah and Brunswick. However, he acknowledged the request to study the implications of another deepening project during remarks to reporters after his luncheon speech.
