On August 14, 1784, Russians invaded settled Alaska, founding the first permanent Russian settlement at Three Saints Bay.
Dentist, gambler, and gunfighter Doc Holliday was born on August 14, 1851 in Griffin, Georgia.
On August 14, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln hosted a group of African-American men at the White House to discuss emancipation of American slaves outside the United States as colonists.
The Second Battle of Dalton was joined on August 14, 1864.
On August 15, 1903, Georgia Governor Joseph Terrell signed legislation requiring that Georgia schools teach elementary agriculture and civics. Two days later, on August 17, 1903, the General Assembly condemned the practice of whipping female inmates.
The Panama Canal opened on August 15, 1914.
The County Unit System of elections was created on August 14, 1917 when Governor Hugh Dorsey signed legislation by the General Assembly.
Georgia Governor Thomas Hardwick signed legislation creating the Georgia State Board of Forestry on August 15, 1921.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935. The road to perdition is paved with good intentions.
On August 14, 1945, the Japanese surrender to the Allies was made public in Japan.
In the afternoon of August 14, Japanese radio announced that an Imperial Proclamation was soon to be made, accepting the terms of unconditional surrender drawn up at the Potsdam Conference. That proclamation had already been recorded by the emperor.
On August 15, 1969, the Woodstock Festival began in upstate New York.
Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppolla was released on August 15, 1979.
Paul Anderson, known for years as the “Strongest Man in the World” for his weightlifting feats, died on August 15, 1994 in Vidalia, Georgia. Anderson was born in 1932 in Toccoa, Georgia. He won an Olympic gold medal in the sport of weightlifting in 1956.
A Special Session called by Governor Zell Miller to address legislative redistricting convened on August 14, 1995, after the United States Supreme Court threw out Georgia’s Congressional redistricting map.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Governor Brian Kemp withdrew a lawsuit he filed against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and issued a statement:
“I sued the City of Atlanta to immediately stop the shuttering of local businesses and protect local workers from economic instability. For weeks, we have worked in good faith with Mayor Bottoms, and she agreed to abandon the city’s Phase One roll-back plan, which included business closures and a shelter in place order. Unfortunately, the Mayor has made it clear that she will not agree to a settlement that safeguards the rights of private property owners in Georgia. Given this stalemate in negotiations, we will address this very issue in the next Executive Order. We will continue to protect the lives and livelihoods of all Georgians.”
In light of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ concession regarding the city’s Phase One roll-back plan and following her refusal in mediation to further negotiate a compromise, the Attorney General’s Office has filed to withdraw our pending lawsuit. The Governor’s current Executive Order expires this Saturday, August 15, at which time he will issue a new order with relevant language.
Kemp said he will instead sign an executive order Saturday that is expected to specify that local governments can’t order private businesses to require masks. It is also likely to remove a provision that explicitly outlawed cities and counties from mandating face coverings, administration officials say.
“Unfortunately, the mayor has made it clear that she will not agree to a settlement that safeguards the rights of private property owners in Georgia,” said Kemp, citing a “stalemate” in negotiations. “We will continue to protect the lives and livelihoods of all Georgians.”
During settlement negotiations, Bottoms agreed to clarify that the “phase one” economic restrictions were voluntary, not mandatory, but both sides clashed over the scope of mask requirements.
Congratulations to Nick Ayers, who has been appointed to the Board of Natural Resources.
State employees will find the State Health Benefits Plan takes more of a bite out of their paychecks. From the Gwinnett Daily Post:
Teachers and state employees will face an average hike of 5 percent in health insurance premiums for 2021 coverage.
That would be the first premium increase in the past three years for non-Medicare members in the State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP), which covers 673,000 state employees, teachers, other school personnel, dependents and retirees. The monthly rate will depend on the health plan option that’s chosen.
The increase would translate to an average premium hike of $11.33 per month, the head of SHBP, Jeff Rickman, told the board of the state Department of Community Health, which approved the increase Thursday.
Gwinnett County will have another transportation referendum on the ballot in November, according to the AJC.
This fall’s vote will be the second time in just a year and a half that Gwinnett residents will have a say about expanding transit in the county. It’s a quick revival after the March 2019 defeat, especially considering it took decades to bring the measure back for a vote following earlier failures in 1971 and 1990.
“We’re definitely excited and supportive of Gwinnett’s efforts,” said Chris Tomlinson, the executive director of the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority. “It’s not only beneficial to Gwinnett, it’s significant to the entire region.”
When Gwinnett voters rejected a plan to bring MARTA to the county last March, just 17% of voters showed up at the polls — more than initially expected for a special election, but fewer than 100,000 people in a county with a population rapidly approaching 1 million. They defeated the measure with 54% of the vote.
But perhaps most importantly, they scheduled the vote for this fall, when a hotly contested presidential election will be on the ballot and voter turnout is expected to break records.
Gwinnett County voters will also weigh in on a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for Education (E-SPLOST), according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
“Our county’s success can be directly tied to the quality of our schools,” Gwinnett Chamber President and CEO Nick Masino said. “The E-SPLOST is not a new tax. Extending it allows our schools to upgrade and provide technology, access and distance learning for all students and helps close the achievement gap.”
The education SPLOST is one of two tax-related measures that will appear on ballots in the county this fall. The county commission recently decided to put a referendum, to institute a penny sales tax to fund transit expansion in Gwinnett, on the November ballot as well.
The Capitol Beat News Service reports that first-time unemployment claims are down in Georgia.
Initial unemployment claims in Georgia fell last week to a level not seen in the 21 weeks since the coronavirus pandemic took hold, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Unemployed Georgians filed 62,335 first-time claims last week, down 11,598 from the week before and less than 50% of the numbers the agency was seeing a month ago.
Georgia’s numbers reflected a nationwide drop in initial unemployment claims to 963,000, the first time that number was below 1 million since mid-March and a decrease of 228,000 from the previous week.
A federal prison in Charlton County – the county’s largest employer – will close permanently, according to The Brunswick News.
Comments ( 0 )