Government & Politics
Coast Guard: Golden Ray’s unstable loads caused it to capsize
A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant testified Tuesday that the Golden Ray might have capsized at St. Simons Sound last year after leaving the Port of Brunswick because unstable loading left it susceptible to tipping over, according to an analysis of the wreck. A public hearing into the cause of the Golden Ray shipwreck that was […]
House passes deal on stopgap funding, avoids government shutdown
House and Senate leaders reached a bipartisan agreement Tuesday night to pass a three-month funding stopgap, averting a government shutdown in the midst of a pandemic and a short time before the November elections. In a 359-57 vote, the House passed H.R. 8337, which extends federal government funding until Dec. 11, when lawmakers would have to renew it again. The […]
GOP leaders’ push for a Supreme Court vote gains support late Monday
WASHINGTON — Two key Republican senators indicated Monday they won’t stand in the way of a furious effort by the Senate GOP to confirm a nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy before Inauguration Day. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley ended the suspense with a statement Monday night saying there’s no “ambiguity” about what direction for […]
Trump says he’ll announce Supreme Court pick by Friday or Saturday
President Donald Trump said Monday that he would announce a replacement for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by either Friday or Saturday, including a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. During a morning interview on “Fox and Friends,” the president said the administration wanted […]
Georgia mayors push for urgency as time runs short for 2020 census
Time is running out to be counted, and Georgia’s local leaders are calling on residents to make sure they are signed up. The deadline to participate in the 2020 census is Sept. 30, a month earlier than originally planned, after President Donald Trump ordered the early wrap-up. A federal judge has ordered the Census Bureau […]
Governor green lights senior care visits but safety guidelines a tall order
Gail Reid regularly joined her mother at her Dunwoody assisted living facility’s dining room before COVID-19 and shelter-in-place orders abruptly ended Reid’s access to the campus and kept her 89-year-old mom confined to her apartment. For the next three months, the phone line was the Decatur resident’s only connection to her mom, Irene Margolies. After […]
Georgia firm tied to ethics board member financed scheme to trip up progressive groups
Shortly after dawn on a recent steamy July morning, a man who said his name was James Fortune showed up off NC Highway 12 in Cape Hatteras. He had flown in from New York City and rented a car for a rendezvous with an employee of a North Carolina nonpartisan election education organization for a […]
New $300 unemployment boost arrives but some film workers left out
Over a half million Georgians have received their first federal unemployment insurance supplement in more than a month this week as the state Department of Labor disburses $463 million under the Lost Wages Assistance program. The program’s up-to $300 weekly payments replace the now-defunct enhanced unemployment payment through the CARES Act, which offered an extra […]
Collins campaign gobsmacked over fraudster’s dodgy UK perfume spree
WASHINGTON — Someone in the United Kingdom smells a whole lot better thanks to U.S. Rep Doug Collins’ campaign for the Senate. That’s because a fraudster ripped the campaign off to the tune of more than $15,000, spending the money on high-end perfume, mostly in the UK, according to Federal Election Commission records. The FEC […]
Bookman: No need to adjust your set if you don’t recognize TV Perdue
There’s a man on my TV set these days claiming to be U.S. Sen. David Perdue, but I sure don’t recognize him. He’s nothing like the David Perdue that Georgians have come to know over the last six years. On TV, we see a people-oriented, compassionate Perdue, trying to pass programs to help Georgians; in […]
Northern senators say Sonny Perdue’s trade-war relief favors South’s farmers
U.S. Department of Agriculture Commissioner and former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue drew withering criticism this week from senators from northern farming states who complain that the 2019 trade-war relief program he oversaw favors his native South. The nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) this week reported that eight of the nine states receiving the highest payments […]
State budget faces ‘steep cliff’ without renewed weekly jobless pay
The state’s revenues were up about 7% last month over the pre-pandemic August of last year, allowing Georgia to chalk up a second consecutive month of positive revenues that seemed unlikely a few months ago. But without additional federal aid, the run of promising revenue news could be short-lived, says Danny Kanso, tax and budget […]