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Speaker Ralston vows new Ga. Hemp law won’t lead to recreational weed
Jasper, GA – Some local agencies created a buzz recently when they said they would dismiss misdemeanor cases or no longer charge people for small amounts of pot, citing their inability to distinguish the difference between marijuana and now-legal hemp. House Speaker David Ralston has a message for them: Not so fast. The Blue Ridge […]
State lawmaker says funeral industry oversight is too lax
Rep. Rick Williams is part of a small group of Georgia lawmakers who informally call themselves the funeral home caucus and are known for their macabre quips on the House floor. As Williams has told his colleagues, he’ll be the last one to let them down. But the middle Georgia funeral home director isn’t joking […]
State agency loosens rules on curbside package store service
The state’s alcohol regulators just gave cocktail lovers cause for a toast. New rules announced this week allow customers to pick up liquor through online-ordered curbside service, a convenience popularized by grocery stores. Local ordinances can still prohibit this kind of service, though. It’s a flexibility only recently allowed for wine and beer two years […]
Georgia farmers “collateral damage” in NAFTA replacement
Sam Watson will likely have fewer eggplants, cucumbers, squash and bell peppers growing on his south Georgia farm next spring after struggling through the last three seasons. Watson said he just can’t compete with the much cheaper Mexican produce that is flooding U.S. markets. So he scaled back this spring and, with no relief in […]
Lawmakers, clergy call for gun restrictions at vigil near Capitol
It took about 30 minutes to read aloud the more than 600 names of the people who died of gun violence in Georgia last year. Dozens of people stood in the blazing Georgia sun Wednesday at Liberty Plaza across from the state Capitol to memorialize these victims of gun violence and to issue a call […]
Metro Atlanta nonprofit brushes aside criticism over free adoptions
Metro Atlanta’s public shelters are turning to the appeal of free adoptions in hopes of freeing up space after a surge of animals overwhelmed the facilities this summer. The Fulton and DeKalb county shelters took in a combined 1,850 animals during July. That is hundreds more than even last July, when a spike strained shelter […]
Panel reviews press coverage of anti-abortion bill at Monday night event
When Georgia became the latest Southern state to pass a strict anti-abortion bill this year, the intense glare of the national media’s attention shifted to the Gold Dome. The coverage yielded a spate of national and local stories speculating on the bill’s impact on women, health care access and Georgia’s economy. Could women be charged […]
Grant to Georgia College nursing program a remedy for rural health ills
A newborn might be in one room, a great grandmother in the next and an injured farmer in still another room. For Dr. Sallie Coke, this would just be any other day at the small-town clinic where she works in rural Lamar County, which is home to 18,000 people in middle Georgia. “It’s wonderful. You […]
Ga. opioid abuse treatment improves, but more can be done, audit says
Georgia’s made progress since a state report spotted significant barriers for those trying to access medical treatment for opioid abuse in 2017, just as the crisis killed a little more than 1,000 people in the state, according to an update. But the new report also found that more remains to be done. The pair of […]
Weekend shootings in Ohio and Texas prompt call for tighter gun laws
State Democrats renewed calls for tighter gun laws in Georgia in the wake of the back-to-back mass shootings that left 31 people dead and dozens injured this weekend in Texas and Ohio. “Because of how our gun laws are in this nation and in this state, either one of those tragedies could have taken place right […]
Perdue wavers on supporting ‘red flag’ legislation
Georgia U.S. Sen. David Perdue stopped short of saying he would support “red flag” gun legislation, citing concerns that such a law could threaten a person’s due process rights. Bipartisan support appears to be growing for a federal law that would authorize law enforcement to take weapons away from a person the courts have found […]
Georgia DIYers stymied by big tech
A combination of experience, leaked technical documents and internet-powered crowd-sourcing has helped Nate Minor find his way around the inside of an iPad Pro and other high-tech devices without the aid of an official manufacturer’s guide. But the owner of the East Atlanta Village Screenfixing.com repair shop, says he hopes tech companies like Apple will […]