Colonel Chris Wright is commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp is committing up to $2 million from the Governor’s Emergency Fund to the state Department of Public Safety’s Crime Suppression Unit.
Kemp’s announcement Wednesday is the latest initiative he and other Georgia Republican leaders have taken this spring and summer aimed at rising crime across the state but particularly in Atlanta.
“In April of this year, I asked Colonel Chris Wright and the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to develop and execute a plan to tackle crime and reckless street racing across the metro-Atlanta region,” Kemp said.
“Colonel Wright made a request of additional funds – up to $2 million – for the department to bring additional personnel onto the Crime Suppression Unit in order to strengthen their ongoing efforts. I have agreed to Colonel Wright’s request.”
In May, the governor committed $5 million from the emergency fund to fighting crime.
The $2 million he’s freeing up now is not part of that $5 million package, which was allocated for the fiscal year that ended June 30, Kemp spokesman Cody Hall said. However, not all of the earlier money had been spent when fiscal 2021 ended, Hall said.
Last week, Kemp told a legislative committee holding hearings on the crime wave he plans to include crime on the General Assembly’s to-do list during the special session he will call this fall to draw new congressional and legislative district maps.
During the same hearing, House Speaker David Ralston asked lawmakers to earmark $75 million to boost state law enforcement and mental health services when the legislature takes up the fiscal 2022 mid-year budget and fiscal 2023 budget this winter.
Also last week, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who presides over the Georgia Senate, proposed a $250 million state income tax credit to raise money for fighting crime.
Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, endorsed the governor’s latest funding proposal on Wednesday.
“This additional funding is necessary to keep the streets of Atlanta safe and protect residents and visitors alike,” the speaker said. “Our state law enforcement personnel are working around the clock to bring criminals to justice, and I greatly appreciate their work on behalf of all Georgians.”
ATLANTA – Rural education in Georgia is getting special attention in the form of a new office within the state Department of Education that will focus on the needs of rural schools.
The Office of Rural Education and Innovation will be headed by Bronwyn Ragan-Martin, a veteran education leader who served most recently as superintendent of the Early County School System and president of the Georgia School Superintendents Association.
Ragan-Martin will take on the title of deputy superintendent for rural education and innovation starting in October.
“It is a top priority of my administration to strengthen and bring greater opportunities and economic prosperity to rural Georgia,” Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday.
“The Georgia Department of Education’s new Office of Rural Education and Innovation will support those efforts to renew and revitalize rural Georgia and ensure our state remains the best place to live, work, and raise a family.”
“Our rural schools and districts face unique challenges and resource gaps – and many of those challenges have only intensified due to the pandemic,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods added.
“There is also, though, an opportunity for a transformational investment in rural Georgia that could change the lives of children and the course of their communities. That’s what I’m tasking our new Office of Rural Education and Innovation with working toward.”
Woods said Ragan-Martin’s experience, commitment and deep roots in rural Georgia make her a perfect fit for her new role.
Ragan-Martin has been school superintendent in Early County, a system with about 2,000 students, since 2013. She also served on the school superintendents association’s Rural Task Force from 2018 until last year.
A native of Randolph County, Ragan-Martin holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, a master’s in English education from Georgia Southwestern College, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Valdosta State University.
The new office will be supported with federal coronavirus relief funds and work to address educational needs in rural Georgia including connectivity, teacher retention and recruitment, resources and funding, and educator development.
Ragan-Martin and the staff she brings on will join school and community leaders to address gaps brought to the forefront during the pandemic and develop a roadmap for moving beyond recovery to renewal.
ATLANTA – Democrats in the Republican-controlled General Assembly are asking GOP Gov. Brian Kemp to add Medicaid expansion to the legislature’s upcoming redistricting special session.
A letter dated Tuesday signed by 67 Democratic members of the Georgia House and Senate called the need for legislative action to expand Medicaid coverage “urgent.”
“This governor has made it clear he wants to expand the scope of the session beyond redistricting,” said Rep. Matthew Wilson, D-Brookhaven, the chief signatory to the letter, referring to Kemp’s announcement last week that he will add tackling the recent rise in violent crime to the special session agenda. … If we’re going to include other items in the special session, Medicaid expansion must be a top priority.”
Georgia Democrats have pushed for Medicaid expansion since then-President Barack Obama steered the Affordable Care Act through a Democratic Congress in 2010 with no Republican votes.
But Georgia remains among 12 Republican-run states that have chosen not to expand Medicaid, with former Gov. Nathan Deal and now Kemp citing the program’s costs.
Instead, Kemp proposed a more limited expansion, which the Trump administration approved last year. But the new Biden administration has put that plan on hold because of concerns that it includes a work requirement for Medicaid recipients.
State Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, said the governor’s limited coverage plan isn’t going to pass muster with either the Democratic president or in the courts.
“[Medicaid] is a health-care program,” she said. “When you throw in work requirements on top of that, it is not only outside the aims of the statute. It doesn’t serve the purpose of the program.”
Kemp’s proposal would apply to adults earning up to 100% of the federal poverty level, covering about 50,000 Georgians, according to state estimates.
The Democrats’ letter claims a full-blown Medicaid expansion for those with incomes up to 138% of the poverty level would cover nearly 500,000 Georgians who make too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid but can’t afford to buy private health insurance.
Georgia’s two U.S. senators, Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, introduced a bill this month to let the 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid do so through a new Medicaid “look-alike” program.
Wilson, who has entered next year’s race for state insurance commissioner, said the General Assembly could pursue Medicaid expansion on a separate track while the federal bill makes its way through Congress.
“Georgians can’t wait,” he said. “Urgency requires us to act now.”
Still, Medicaid expansion is unlikely to land on the special session agenda. As governor, Kemp has the sole power to decide what the legislature takes up during special sessions.
House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, also expressed reluctance Tuesday to put additional business on the agenda. He pointed out that this year’s redistricting session must be held later than usual because of a pandemic-related delay in getting the U.S. Census data needed to draw new congressional and legislative district maps.
“The delay in Census data combined with the holidays in November and December simply make a prolonged special session difficult at best, especially with the regular session happening only a few weeks later in January,” Ralston spokesman Kaleb McMichen wrote in an email.
The once-a-decade redistricting session, which is usually held in August or September, isn’t expected to start this year until October at the earliest.
ATLANTA – The Port of Savannah has become the first container port in the Southeast or on the Gulf Coast to move more than 5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo in one year.
The port handled 5.3 million TEUs during fiscal 2021, which ended June 30, a 20% increase over the previous year, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) reported Monday.
The record came during a difficult year that saw major disruptions to supply chains around the globe.
“GPA leadership, our employees and our partners across the logistics community put in a tremendous effort to make this milestone possible,” said Joel Wooten, incoming chairman of the ports authority’s board.
“Growing our business by 20 percent in a single year is an amazing accomplishment and secures Savannah’s position as the fastest growing gateway in the nation over the past 10 years.”
Part of the reason for the Port of Savannah’s rapid growth in container traffic is that the authority added 210,000 TEUs of container capacity during fiscal 2021 by expanding container handling space and adding equipment at the port’s Ocean Terminal.
The port also saw a 14% increase in rail volumes at Savannah’s Garden City Terminal and a 26% increase in cargo lifts at the Appalachian Inland Port, a facility the ports authority opened in Northwest Georgia in 2017 primarily to bring exports by rail to Savannah.
Fiscal 2021 also was marked by progress on the multi-year deepening of Savannah Harbor, a $1 billion project now 90% complete and due to be completed in December. Another project expected to open this winter is the $220 million Mason Mega Rail, two sets of nine working tracks that will raise rail capacity at the Port of Savannah to 2 million TEUs per year.
“As port users continue to route additional cargo to Georgia, we are bullish on the future,” said Griff Lynch, the authority’s executive director. “We have an abundance of near-port property available for development, and GPA is right now adding millions of TEUs of additional capacity in Savannah.”
The ports authority’s trade in autos and heavy machinery also saw significant growth during the last fiscal year. Roll-on/Roll-off cargo reached 703,528 units, with the Port of Brunswick alone handling more than 685,000 units of vehicles and heavy machinery. Total Ro/Ro volume grew by 18% over fiscal 2020.
ATLANTA – Georgia high schools soon will be offering a new career pathway aimed at filling the growing number of technology jobs in the Peach State.
The state Board of Education has approved State School Superintendent Richard Woods’ recommendation to launch a career pathway in cloud computing. The pathway will include three courses: Introduction to Software Technology, Computer Science Principles and Cloud Computing.
The Georgia Department of Education began the Career Pathways program in 2013 as a way to improve Georgia’s high school graduation rate.
Starting in ninth grade, students choose among a variety of “career clusters” they wish to pursue throughout high school. Each cluster contains a series of more specific “pathways” designed to prepare students for post- secondary options including a four-year college, two-year technical college or a certificate program qualifying them for a job out of high school in a skilled trade.
“Our goal is that, when a student graduates from high school in the state of Georgia, they will be prepared for their next step,” Woods said Monday. “This cloud computing pathway is an example of the opportunities available in Georgia schools for students to gain skills that will get them ready for the future.”
Cloud computing is in high demand in Georgia, with more than 4,000 related job openings available.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) reached out to the education department with a proposed pathway that would prepare students for entry-level jobs in cloud computing. It’s part of a broader initiative that includes courses at the technical college level.
The high school courses were developed with feedback from AWS, Google Cloud, NCR, Accenture, Microsoft and other tech companies.
After completing the high school pathway, students will be ready to continue their studies in the program offered through the Technical College System of Georgia.
