ATLANTA – A Middle Georgia drug dealer arrested following a two-month undercover operation in Butts County has pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of methamphetamine.
Darian Berry, 40, of Jackson pleaded guilty earlier this week in federal court in Macon before U.S. District Judge Tripp Self. He faces up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine and three years of supervised release.
“Law enforcement stopped a well-known meth dealer in Butts County,” said Charlie Peeler, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. “The defendant is facing a steep prison sentence without parole for pushing this poison in Middle Georgia.”
Berry admitted to selling methamphetamine to a confidential informant on five separate occasions in Butts County between July and August 2018. Officers with the Butts County Sheriff’s Office conducted and recorded the buys.
“We will continue to pursue those spreading poison in our community until justice is served,” Butts County Sheriff Gary Long said. “This type of result is what happens when agencies work together.”
The Butts County Sheriff’s Office partnered with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in conducting the operation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William R. Keyes.
ATLANTA – Court proceedings in Georgia will start back toward some semblance of normalcy under an order issued Thursday by Chief Justice Harold Melton.
The order authorizes grand jury proceedings to resume immediately, even though jury trials are still suspended.
Melton’s order extends until Oct. 10 the statewide judicial emergency he first declared back in mid-March, as the state virtually shut down to discourage the spread of coronavirus. Thursday’s was the sixth 30-day extension of that original order.
While jury trials remain on hold, Melton indicated Thursday he intends to order trials to resume when he issues the next 30-day extension next month.
“As explained in the last extension order, this broad prohibition cannot continue, even if the pandemic continues,” the chief justice wrote in Thursday’s order. “The criminal justice system, in particular, must have some capacity to resolve cases by indictment and trial.”
To lay the groundwork for a resumption of jury trials, Thursday’s order calls for the chief judge of each superior court to assemble a local committee for each county in his or her judicial circuit. The committee, made up of judicial system participants, will develop detailed guidelines for safely resuming jury trials, based on guidelines developed by a statewide task force Melton created in May.
Melton cautioned that neither grand jury proceedings nor jury trials are expected to start until a month or longer after they are authorized because of the time it takes to summon potential jurors.
“It should also be recognized that there are substantial backlogs of unindicted cases, and due to ongoing public health precautions, those proceedings will not occur at the scale or with the speed they occurred before the pandemic,” the order states.
Melton praised courts across the state for expanding their use of remote proceedings since March through technology including videoconferencing.
“Those proceedings that can be done remotely should be done remotely,” he said. “But those that cannot – based on law or practicality – must nevertheless resume, but under strict adherence to public safety guidelines.”
ATLANTA – Initial unemployment claims in Georgia fell below 100,000 last week for the sixth week in a row, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
During the week ending Sept. 5, unemployed Georgians filed 50,320 first-time claims, down 963 from the previous week. That brought the total number of initial unemployment claims filed since March 21 to almost 3.65 million, more than during the last eight years combined.
Meanwhile, the labor department announced claimants who qualify for the Lost Wages Assistance federal program President Donald Trump unveiled last month will be issued their first checks early next week.
Trump turned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the $300 weekly unemployment supplements after Congress failed to extend an earlier program that had been providing Americans thrown out of work amid the coronavirus pandemic $600 per week.
FEMA announced Wednesday that all states will be limited to six weeks of benefits. The Georgia Department of Labor plans to issue checks for the first three weeks early next week and benefits for the final three weeks by late next week.
“We understood the president’s executive order was contingent upon the availability of funds,” state Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said Thursday. “Although the six weeks of benefits wasn’t what many had hoped for, the additional support will make a big difference to some struggling to avoid eviction.”
Eligibility for the new program is based upon an individual’s weekly benefit determination – an amount calculated by a claimant’s reported wages. Individuals must have received a weekly benefit of at least $100 to be eligible.
Also, the recipient must be unemployed or partially unemployed due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.
Since March 21, the accommodation and food services job sector has accounted for the most initial unemployment claims in Georgia with 872,074. The health care and social assistance job sector is next with 426,927 initial claims, followed by retail trade with 391,387.
Nearly 150,000 jobs are listed online at EmployGeorgia.com for Georgians to access, a 50% increase over pre-pandemic levels. The labor department offers online resources for finding a job, building a resume and assisting with other reemployment needs.
Georgia’s public high school class of 2020 outperformed their counterparts around the nation on the SAT despite empty classrooms because of COVID-19.
ATLANTA – Georgia public-school students outperformed their peers around the country on the SAT for the third year in a row, the state Department of Education reported.
The Georgia high school class of 2020 recorded a mean score of 1043 on the standardized test, 13 points higher than the mean nationwide score for public schools.
The Georgia students scored 12 points higher in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and one point higher in Math.
“The class of 2020 has faced unprecedented adversity and uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “Given all they have overcome, I am so proud of these students for becoming the third graduating class in Georgia history to beat the national average on the SAT.”
Members of the class of 2020 were forced to abandon their classrooms in mid-March when the coronavirus pandemic took hold in Georgia. The students ended up completing their final high school semester online.
On the down side, the state’s public-school students did experience a slight decrease in the SAT compared to 2019. The mean score of 1043 for 2020 was down five points from last year’s 1048.
However, the nationwide decrease in 2020 was nine points at 1030, compared to 1039 in 2019.
Public-school minority students in Georgia posted strong gains on the SAT this year.
Black students recorded a mean composite score of 946, well above the national mean of 914. Georgia’s Latino students recorded a mean composite score of 1010, compared to the national mean of 958.
ATLANTA – Georgia tax collections rose in August for the second month in a row after three straight months of declines at the height of the coronavirus-driven business lockdown.
The state took in nearly $1.89 billion last month, up $134.5 million – or 7.7% – over August of last year. August’s positive numbers followed a 17% increase in tax revenues in July.
Last month’s results were strong all around. Individual income taxes rose by 10.3% over August of 2019, while net sales tax collections were up 10.8%.
Corporate income tax revenues soared by 115.9%, driven by a 112.2% rise in tax return payments and a 29.1% decrease in refunds issued by the Georgia Department of Revenue. Corporate income taxes typically are more volatile than individual income and sales taxes.
With Georgians still driving and traveling less because of the pandemic, motor fuel and hotel/motel tax receipts declined in August compared to the same month last year. Motor fuel taxes were down 2.5%, while hotel/motel tax payments dropped by 30.4%.
The $25.9 billion state budget that took effect in July cut spending by $2.2 billion to help offset the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The last two monthly revenue reports are seen as a sign Georgia’s economy is bouncing back from the business shutdown prompted by the COVID-19 outbreak and that further budget reductions might not be required.
Gov. Brian Kemp said last month he would not ask state agencies for additional spending cuts next year.
