July 30th could be celebrated as the birthday of democracy in America, as the Virginia House of Burgesses became the first legislative body in the New World on July 30, 1619.
Its first law, which, like all of its laws, would have to be approved by the London Company, required tobacco to be sold for at least three shillings per pound. Other laws passed during its first six-day session included prohibitions against gambling, drunkenness, and idleness, and a measure that made Sabbath observance mandatory.
On July 30, 1931, Georgia Governor Richard B. Russell, Jr. signed legislation merging Milton and Fulton Counties if voters in each county approved a referendum. Fulton had earlier merged with Campbell County, to the south.
Actor Laurence Fishburn was born in Augusta, Georgia on July 30, 1961.
President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed legislation creating Medicare, for seniors, and Medicaid for some low-income people on July 30, 1965.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Kamala Harris and Megan Thee Stallion will campaign in Atlanta today, according to Atlanta News First via WTOC.
Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Atlanta Tuesday for her sixth trip to Georgia this year, but the first as the Democrat Party’s presumptive White House nominee.
Her visit also comes three weeks before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where she would solidify her nomination, if not before. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion posted to Instagram that she will be in Atlanta and will make an appearance at Harris’ event, which is set for 7 p.m.
“Especially here in Georgia, we’ve seen enthusiasm increase dramatically,” said State Sen. Jason Esteves (D-Atlanta). “We have seen young people very excited. We’ve seen Black voters excited. We’ve seen voters all across the state really galvanized by this move by Vice President Harris run for president.”
Esteves, like many other Democrats, is encouraged by Harris’ swift presence in the state of Georgia after launching her budding campaign. Georgia, Esteves said, is still in play even if Republicans are touting a similar sense of confidence going into the final months of the campaign cycle.
“We are a true battleground state. Which means every presidential cycle, every election cycle, it’s going to be a horse race until the end,” he said.
“My home state of Georgia, I’ve lived here all my life, it’s hard to believe that they call it purple,” said U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Rome) at a Trump campaign event in Dunwoody to train poll watchers and vote canvassers. “I believe it’s red, and I believe it’s ruby red, and I think we’re going to prove that in November.”
Harris’ trip to Atlanta comes as Biden is pushing for a series of U.S. Supreme Court reforms, including imposing term limits on the justices and requiring them to comply with binding ethics rules.
Several polls came out last week that all show a potential Harris-Trump race to be virtual tossups. An NPR/PBS News Marist Poll conducted July 22, 2024, shows Trump leading Harris 46% to 45%, with 9% of voters undecided. Marist’s one-day survey of 1,309 adults was conducted on July 22, 2024.
Also, for the first time since 1976, a general election presidential ballot will be without the names “Biden,” “Bush” or “Clinton” appearing on the ticket:
If Trump wins in November, he will become the second former President – the first being Grover Cleveland in the 19th century – to be elected to the White House after losing his reelection bid.
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion will perform to give a boost to young voters, she announced on her Instagram page Monday, saying “ATL HOTTIES SEE YOU TOMORROW”.
Megan Thee Stallion has more than 32 million followers on the social media platform.
Harris is rallying in a battleground state just over a week after President Joe Biden chose to drop out of the presidential race against republican candidate Donald Trump.
Harris’s likely candidacy has inspired the youth vote, with singer-songwriter Charli XCX writing on X that ‘Kamala is Brat,’ a youth term meaning that someone is confident and willing to take risks.
Tuesday’s rally will be at the Georgia State University Convocation Center in Atlanta. Georgia senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff will also be on-hand, with the event beginning at 7 p.m.
A complete schedule, including when Megan Thee Stallion will perform, has not been released.
From the Associated Press via WALB:
Little more than a week ago, Georgia appeared to be slipping out of the Democrats’ reach: President Joe Biden ‘s campaign pledged to concentrate more on holding the Midwestern “ blue wall” states and indicated they might be willing to forsake “Sun Belt” battlegrounds.
But now that Biden has bowed out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris is the likely nominee, Democrats say they have new hope for the state. They’re betting that a fresh burst of energy and a surge in fundraising has helped make Georgia — the state that delivered Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020 — a toss-up again.
Harris is planning to make a show of political force with a rally in Atlanta on Tuesday night that will feature a performance by hip hop star Megan Thee Stallion, the latest example of just how much the race against Republican Donald Trump has shifted since Biden abandoned his reelection bid. She will be appearing in the same city where Biden’s dismal performance in a debate against Trump on June 27 sparked a Democratic revolt that ultimately ended his campaign.
Harris is hoping a large rally will help affirm her campaign’s momentum. Her campaign argues that Harris’ appeal with young people, working-age women and non-white voters have scrambled the dynamics in Georgia and other states that are demographically similar, from North Carolina to Nevada and Arizona.
“The energy is infectious,” said Georgia Democratic Chairwoman Nikema Williams, a congresswoman from Atlanta. “My phone has been blowing up. People want to be part of this movement.”
“Trump was going to win Georgia. It was over,” said Republican consultant Brian Robinson. “The Democrats have a chance here for a reset.”
Robinson said Harris still has plenty of liabilities, including the progressive positions she took in her failed 2020 primary campaign and her various rhetorical stumbles. But he said Harris so far in this campaign has been “in command,” and if that continues “we have a new ballgame and she will be competitive in Georgia.”
The Harris campaign and Georgia Democratic officials have 24 offices across the state, including two added last weekend in metro Atlanta. Trump and the Republican National Committee opened their first Georgia offices only recently.
Democrats are betting that a combination of high turnout among traditional, core Democratic constituencies, as well as a strong showing in the suburbs and small pickups elsewhere can be enough for Harris to carry Georgia. That approach was on display at the weekend office openings.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said in a recent interview that the best GOP campaigns can win comfortably in Georgia but bad efforts — combined with strong Democratic campaigns — lose.
From Greg Bluestein with the AJC:
Key Democrats are no longer despondent about their chances in November against former President Donald Trump. Republicans are promising renewed energy of their own. And Harris’ visit signals Georgia could be even more hotly contested than expected.
Throughout her visit, Harris will be surrounded by living symbols of her party’s breakthrough success in Georgia. She’ll be greeted by U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, whose 2021 runoff victories helped secure Biden’s policy agenda in the Senate.
Among those expected to welcome the vice president is Stacey Abrams, who was twice unable to channel enthusiasm and energy around her campaigns for governor into a winning coalition.
And Harris will get a glimpse of the party’s potential reach. Former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, one of the most prominent Republicans to endorse Harris, has become a de facto spokesman for disaffected conservatives. He’s scheduled to be on hand during the Harris event.
Democrats are competing for Georgia with a vast campaign apparatus, boasting more than 170 staffers scattered throughout 24 offices. Harris spokesman Michael Tyler calls it the “largest in-state operation of any Democratic presidential campaign cycle ever.”
It’s fueled a guarded optimism that wasn’t there before. Gov. Roy Barnes, the last Democrat to hold Georgia’s highest office, acknowledged what few party leaders would say publicly a few weeks ago: The race in Georgia was tilting decisively toward Trump.
Now, Barnes said he’s confident that Harris has more than a “fighting chance” to keep Georgia in the blue column.
His advice to her strategists: focus on younger Georgians, “quit worrying about angry old white men” and contrast her background as a prosecutor with Trump’s legal troubles.
“Because who’s on the other side? Someone convicted of 34 felonies and still has felony cases pending here in Georgia.”
The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office has a new program to allow out-of-state residents to cancel their Georgia voter registration online, according to Atlanta News First via WALB.
The secretary of state’s office launched a new web portal that allows Georgians to cancel their voter registration online if they are moving or no longer wish to vote in the Peach State. Family members of voters who died can also cancel their deceased relatives’ registration.
Here’s how to cancel your voter registration in Georgia:
• Log in on the cancellation link with your first initial, last name, county you’re registered to vote in and date of birth.
• When you log in, you can select one of three options: Voter has moved out of state, Voter no longer wishes to be registered in the State of Georgia and Voter is deceased.
Kalki Yalamanchili is running as an independent for District Attorney of the Western Judicial Circuit, serving Athens-Clarke County and Oconee County, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
According to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, Yalamanchili has collected enough verified voter signatures on his petition to run as an independent candidate. He will face incumbent Democratic District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez in November.
In early July, Yalamanchili announced he had collected 14,000 signatures across the Western Judicial Circuit, far more than the about 5,000 signatures he said at the time were needed to get on the November ballot.
To get on the ballot, Yalamanchili was required to collect verified signatures from 5% of the voters who were registered to vote in the 2020 contest that put Gonzalez in office. Those signatures need not have come from people who cast ballots in that election.
A notification appearing in recent days on the website of the Georgia Secretary of State, which supervises elections statewide, noted Yalamanchili’s status as “Qualified – Signatures Accepted” as the November contest approaches.
According to figures from the Oconee County Elections and Registration Office, Yalamanchili needed a total of 4,944 verified signatures from voters in the two counties comprising the Western Judicial Circuit to get on the November ballot. He collected 16,021 signatures, of which 9,967 were accepted as valid. Regarding the rest of the collected signatures, 3,672 were rejected for a variety of reasons, such as not matching signatures on file with the elections offices in Athens-Clarke or Oconee counties. Finally, 2,382 signatures were rejected because they did not belong to registered voters.
Moving forward, Yalamanchili said, he’ll be knocking on doors, setting up speaking engagements, and working toward a possible debate, perhaps more than one, with Gonzalez.
Gonzalez was elected in a December 2020 runoff against James Chafin, a Republican and veteran Western Judicial Circuit prosecutor who ran as an independent candidate.
Murray County Sole Commissioner Greg Hogan voted to place a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for Transportation (T-SPLOST) on the November ballot, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
Murray County Sole Commissioner Greg Hogan last week voted to place a TSPLOST referendum on the November general election ballot. He also approved an intergovernmental agreement with the cities of Chatsworth and Eton that will determine how they and the county will divide the money raised by the tax if voters approve it.
A TSPLOST is a 1% tax on most goods sold in the county that can be used for road resurfacing, bridge repair and other transportation projects. The county’s previous TSPLOST, approved by voters in 2020, expired June 30.
County officials expect that tax will have collected about $25.284 million when the county receives the final funds from that tax from the state.
The proposed TSPLOST would run from April 2025 to March 2031 and would be expected to raise an estimated $39 million.
Hogan and officials from the cities agreed earlier this year to maintain the same distribution of funds from the 2020 TSPLOST for the new TSPLOST, with the county to receive 90% of the sales tax proceeds, Chatsworth 8% and Eton 2%, based on the percentage of total road and street miles in each.
The Bulloch County Board of Education is considering a partial rollback of the property tax millage rate, according to WTOC.
That potential new rate is 7.932 mills. That’s down from last year’s millage rate of 8.478 mills.
While this tentative millage rate is lower – there will still be a property tax increase.
The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System has 187 teacher vacancies as the school year begins, according to the Savannah Morning News.
About 80, or nearly 43 percent, of the vacancies are for elementary school teachers. Special Education (SPED) teacher vacancies make up another 55 openings.
Approximately 200 new teachers were added to SCCPSS last year through its new teacher orientation programs according to Kurt Hetager, chief public affair officer. “We’re always looking to hire and add to the great workforce of our great public school system,” he said at the July 22 SCCPSS Media Day.
As the district works to fill as many vacant positions as possible before school starts, nearly 1,000 new and returning teachers attended the district’s 2nd Annual Teaching and Learning Conference this past Tuesday and Wednesday.
Gwinnett County Public Schools is down to 20 teacher vacancies, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
GCPS Chief Human Resources Officer Cathy Hardin told the county’s school board on Thursday that the district only has 20 teacher vacancies. A number that small right before the start of a school year, she said, is better than the district has seen in years.
“This is fewer vacancies than we saw pre-pandemic,” Hardin said. “We’ve actually gone back as far as 2016 and this is the lowest number that we’ve seen pre-school opening this close to the opening date of school.”
The district will begin the 2024-2025 school year on Aug. 5, which means officials don’t have much time left to fill the remaining teacher positions before students return to class.
“We continue to recruit and hire for the remaining 20 vacancies as well as non-classroom positions, and we are coordinating coverage plans,” Hardin said. “HR directors are working with principals who still may have one position or so to fill and we are working through those coverage plans with principals and staff to ensure that we continue to prepare for our students to arrive on (Aug. 5).”
The number reported on Thursday is down significantly, however, from the 71 vacancies GCPS Superintendent Calvin Watts told reporters about on July 19.
About 1,500 new teachers went through orientation last week, part of more than 1,700 new employees joining the district for this school year.
Muscogee County School District parents will have an app to track school buses, according to WTOC.
With the new school year approaching, many children will be commuting to and from school by bus. To enhance safety and convenience, the Muscogee County School District is launching an app that allows parents to track their child’s bus location in real-time.
“Transportation continues to be a challenge across the nation and we are not, at this point, fully staffed with bus drivers, but we are in a much better place than we were at the start of last school year,” said Travis Anderson, chief operations officer.
Due to the nationwide shortage of bus drivers, the Muscogee County School District is using technology to assist parents. The district will be rolling out the Stopfinder app, which allows Muscogee County parents to track when their child’s bus will arrive and depart.
“If you’ve already registered for transportation, you will start to receive an invitation to sign up for the parent app, which will help you know when the bus is coming and to make sure your child is at that bus stop on time and ready to be picked up,” Anderson explained. “And if you have not signed up for transportation, please do so, so we can get your bus pass and get you ready for school.”
The app will allow you to have multiple children on the app and it will also allow you see the pickup time and the drop off time.
Tifton City Council voted to name Larry Lawrence as acting City Manager, according to the Tifton Gazette.
During a called meeting Monday, council members unanimously appointed Lawrence to the position to fill the role occupied by Emily Beeman until she concludes the administrative leave she was placed on July 19.
Lawrence currently serves as the city’s chief financial officer and will continue to serve in this role alongside his new duties. The city council additionally appointed city clerk Jessica White to operate under him as deputy city manager.
Mayor Julie Smith asserted that both city employees will have their salaries appropriately adjusted to compensate for their additional work. Optimistic that they would be able to serve the city well, she thanked them for stepping into their respective positions.
Tybee Island City Council is considering beach safety measures, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Sandbars, ridges of sand created by currents in coastal rivers and waters, often look enticing to beachgoers. Because they’re often found near shore in shallower waters, boats anchor at low tide for parties and beachgoers wade out to them, thinking they’re safe.
On Georgia’s coast, those conditions can change in just a matter of minutes, as tides can rise and fall by as much as 9 feet. Those fast-moving currents can knock an adult and even the best swimmer off their feet, dragging them into deeper waters. Drownings usually happen in these areas, and given recent drownings, Tybee Island officials are looking at more options for safety initiatives surrounding sandbars.
AWR Strategic Consulting’s Alan Robertson gave a presentation at the July 25 Tybee Island City Council meeting to give council “context with which to consider how to improve public safety” on the south beach and the sandbar area on the south end. Robertson suggested that more signage could be placed, some at the three entrances to the south end, but that it would be hard to invest enough time and manpower to prevent people from getting in the water.
Mayor Brian West asked if they should just close the beach past a certain point, and Owens said that closing it seasonally is something that has been considered and was the only thing they hadn’t tried.
“We do have temporary signs that we take out, those signs say, ‘Danger, do not walk past this point,’” said City Marshal Walter Hattrich. “We also have the entirety of our ordinance relating to the sandbar in both English and Spanish that we take out every day, but it’s hitting a moving target every single day because of the tide. So, we’re trying to delineate that the best we can with a dozen temporary signs.”
Two people came up to speak about the recent drownings during the public comment portion of the meeting, including Sandy Stoeffler who runs the Tybee Sandbar and Water Safety Initiative Facebook group.
Brunswick’s finance committee passed on two grant requests without recommendation to the full city council, according to The Brunswick News.
Brunswick Mayor Cosby Johnson said he would prefer to discuss the applications with the full city commission. Commissioner Felicia Harris also wanted more time to review the applications because she could not read the applicants’ handwriting.
The finance committee is made up of Johnson, Harris and the city’s finance director, a position that is currently vacant. It does not have the final say on financial matters but makes recommendations to the full commission.
The committee also recommended approval of a $48,000 “governmental relation services” contract, effectively lobbying at the state government level from Peachtree Government Relations.
If the commission approves the contract, City Manager Regina McDuffie said PGR would advocate the Georgia General Assembly, Gov. Brian Kemp’s office and other state agencies on the city’s behalf.
Don Bolia, Tyler Lewis and Janelle Adams represented the agencies.
Bolia said PGR had helped secure $15.5 million in state funding for a mental health facility in Chatham County and worked on behalf of other communities to get their road projects pushed up the Georgia Department of Transportation’s priority list.
The United States Department of Agriculture announced $3.1 million in grants to Georgia farms and small businesses, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $3.1 million dollars would go to farms and small businesses in rural Georgia from grants that mainly stem from the Inflation Reduction Act.
The money will go directly to the pockets of farmers and a few small businesses from northern Georgia to the coastal islands in an effort to increase their income, grow their businesses and address climate change while lowering energy costs.
“We are hard at work, continuing what we’ve always done, which is supporting rural small businesses and farmers as they create jobs for their communities and drive economic prosperity,” USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said at a press conference in Maine.
“As part of this latest investment through the Inflation Reduction Act, today we’re proud to announce 24 farms and small businesses across Georgia will receive $3.1 million to lower their energy costs and invest in new energy infrastructure,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer.
The awards in Georgia range from $16,000 to $332,000.
“Delivering clean energy investments that will help farmers and business owners in rural Georgia lower their energy costs and save money is a win-win for our economy and our environment,” Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock said in an email. “This is exactly the kind of progress I had in mind when we worked to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, and I’m glad to see the benefits of that law continue flowing to Georgia communities surrounding Columbus and across our great state.”
President Biden signed prison legislation proposed by Georgia U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Atlanta) and U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Suburbia), according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Albany Herald.
The measure requires the Justice Department’s Inspector General to conduct comprehensive inspections of the federal Bureau of Prisons’ 122 correctional facilities and provide recommendations to fix any problems it uncovers. The bureau will have 60 days to respond to all inspection reports with a corrective action plan.
The new law also establishes an independent ombudsman to investigate the health, safety, welfare, and rights of incarcerated people and staff. The ombudsman’s office will create a secure hotline and online form for family members, friends, and representatives of incarcerated people to submit complaints.
“The human rights crisis behind bars in the United States is a stain on America’s conscience,” Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said after the president signed the Federal Prison Oversight Act. “The United States Congress will no longer tolerate the ongoing and widespread abuse of those who are in the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ custody.”
Macon-Bibb County fire department divers located a 26-year old drowning victim at Amerson Park, according to the Macon Telegraph.
The Macon-Bibb County Fire Department Dive Team and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources found the 26-year-old’s body at 5:28 p.m. Monday, a day after he drowned.
Witnesses reported a man was swimming in the Ocmulgee River, but then “went under and did not return above water,” a press release said.
The search is over for a 26-year-old drowning victim at Amerson River Park. He has been identified as Daniel Romain, a New Jersey native and an active member of the Air Force.
“I saw a group of four tubers coming and I said, ‘Hey y’all are fixing to miss your exit,’” [Carl Duck] said.
Duck says the group got stuck by a tree bank. He says he was able to help grab two of them out of the water, but the next was tricky. He used his water bottle to help pull out the next person.
According to the Department of Natural Resources, six people have drowned at Amerson River Park since 2021. This would mark the seventh. 25 people have drowned at Lake Lanier since 2021.
He says when you’re in the river, you have to be extra cautious.
Another 26-year old drowning victim was located in Haig’s Lake in Dalton, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
The man had taken off his life vest before swimming into open water, police said.
A 26-year-old man drowned while swimming after a loose kayak on a north Georgia lake, police say.
Officers were called Saturday, July 26, about a possible drowning at Haig Mill Lake Park in Dalton, according to the city’s police department.
Authorities said the man was kayaking with his brother-in-law and took off his life vest near the dock. At some point, he swam into the open water, “possibly trying to retrieve a kayak that had drifted away.”
Officers, with help from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Georgia State Patrol dive team, searched for the man for hours. His body was found sometime after 11 p.m., authorities said.
Comments ( 0 )