The sale of Coca-Cola Company from the Candlers was announced in the Atlanta Constitution on August 22, 1919.
More than 3000 demonstrators disrupted the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 1968.
In 1972, it was the Republicans’ turn, as demonstrators struck outside the Republican National Convention.
Nolan Ryan recorded his 5000th career strikeout against Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A’s on August 22, 1989.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Georgia voters may now apply for absentee ballots for the November General Election, according to the AJC.
All registered voters in Georgia are eligible to vote from home, but the General Assembly last year shortened the period to request and return absentee ballots. The law prevents voters from requesting absentee ballots until 78 days before Election Day, a decrease from the 180-day period previously allowed.
After requesting a ballot, voters will have to wait for election officials to put them in the mail. The voting law prevents county election offices from sending absentee ballots to voters until 29 days before Election Day, a change from 49 days previously. That means ballots will be mailed Oct. 10.
The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 28, which is 11 days before Election Day.
Completed absentee ballots must be received by election officials before polls close on Election Day on Nov. 8.
A new website, available at securemyabsenteeballot.sos.ga.gov, allows voters to download and print an absentee application, then upload the signed form. The Georgia voting law requires a “pen and ink” signature, a mandate that made it impossible to request an absentee ballot entirely online.
The United States Supreme Court reversed a decision of the 11th Circuit United States Court of Appeals, putting PSC elections on hold again, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The Supreme Court on Friday postponed the upcoming vote, vacating a federal appeals court decision that would have allowed elections to continue as litigation played out. Plaintiffs, four Black residents and registered voters of Fulton County, argue that the way public service commissioners are elected unjustly dilutes Black votes and violates the Voting Rights Act.
The court’s order, which was unsigned and didn’t have any noted dissents, means that the case will go back to appeals court for reconsideration.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office later on Friday announced that it will not pursue legal action to keep the PSC vote on the ballot.
“With preparations for the General Election … well underway, it is time to end any uncertainties that threaten to disrupt the administration of Georgia’s elections and risk further confusing Georgia’s voters,” Raffensperger said in a statement quoted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other media outlets.
Its election isn’t quite like others in the state. The five seats are filled by commissioners serving six-year terms and who are voted on in a statewide, at-large election. The candidates must reside within the boundaries of the districts they are running in, but the voters electing them do not.
The suit argues Black voters are always outnumbered in the at-large elections, particularly in the majority-Black district which encompasses metro Atlanta.
The PSC vote for November has been an on-again, off-again whirlwind for those following. Three days after the Aug, 5 decision by Atlanta Judge Steven Grimberg to delay the vote, the case was appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. That court ruled the show would go on in November.
Courts did not offer a timeframe on when the election will move forward.
The high court said the appeals court should review the case through the lens of a different legal framework and reconsider whether a stay, which would allow this fall’s elections to continue as planned, is appropriate.
But late in the day Friday, the state withdrew its motion for an emergency stay, which had asked the court to allow elections in the PSC races to be held as planned while the appeals case moves forward at the 11th circuit.
In its filing, attorneys representing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — the state’s top elections official — said ballot printing for the Nov. 8 elections would start Monday and that pursuing the motion to stay risked jeopardizing its preparations.
“With preparations for the General Election … well underway, it is time to end any uncertainties that threaten to disrupt the administration of Georgia’s elections and risk further confusing Georgia’s voters,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “While we will continue the State’s appeal of the merits of the order, no decision will be reached in time for November’s elections.”
The lawsuit centers on whether Georgia’s system of statewide elections for PSC commission seats dilutes the power of Black voters.
Nearly one-third of Georgia voters are Black, but the state’s white majority typically elects Republicans. Only one Black candidate has ever won a Public Service Commission election in the body’s 143-year history.
United States District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood upheld Georgia’s Medicaid waiver application after the Biden Administration denied it, according to the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.
U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood said the Biden administration’s decision to revoke approval of the work requirement and a related Georgia proposal to charge some Medicaid recipients monthly premiums was “arbitrary and capricious on numerous, independent grounds.”
She called the revocation “unlawful” and set it aside.
The work requirement was approved by then-President Donald Trump’s administration, but the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Centers announced last year that it was revoking approval of that part of the plan and the premium requirement. That prompted Georgia officials to sue.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp — who proposed the Medicaid plan at issue — hailed the ruling, saying in a Tweet that his plan would “better serve Georgians than a one-size-fits all Medicaid expansion.”
Wood said the agency failed to consider or weigh the possibility that rescinding approval would “mean less Medicaid coverage in Georgia.”
She also said CMS wrongly measured the Georgia plan against a full Medicaid expansion and “failed to explain why it changed its mind about the key issues underlying the approval.”
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals pressed pause on the lower court order requiring United States Senator Lindsey Graham to testify in Fulton County, according to the Associated Press via WTVM.
U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May last Monday denied Graham’s request to quash his subpoena and on Friday rejected his effort to put her decision on hold while he appealed. Graham’s lawyers then appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Sunday, a three-judge panel of the appeals court issued the order temporarily pausing May’s order declining to quash the subpoena. The panel sent the case back to May to decide whether the subpoena should be partially quashed or modified because of protections granted to members of Congress by the U.S. Constitution.
Once May decides that issue, the case will return to the 11th Circuit for further consideration, according to the appeals court order.
Governor Brian Kemp, First Lady Marty Kemp and others called for Georgians to help support lower income families and children, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
Gov. Brian Kemp, First Lady Marty Kemp, Department of Human Services Commissioner Candice Broce, and Promise686 CEO Andy Cook are calling on Georgia residents to mobilize and engage in an online platform where generous Georgians can financially support or volunteer their time to meet the needs of vulnerable children. These children, and the families caring for them, face tangible needs such as clothing, cribs, diapers, car seats, laundry assistance and similar requests.
“The people of Georgia value life at all stages, and Marty and I are urging all who are called and able to serve in this way to get involved in this initiative,” Kemp said. “Our ultimate goal is to have Georgians in every county helping serve these specific needs of our most vulnerable.”
“It is always inspiring to see people across our state step up and support their fellow Georgians,” Marty Kemp said. “We’re excited to see individuals and organizations in every corner of the Peach State do their part to provide the resources families and children in their own communities need to get on their feet and pursue their dreams.”
Interested individuals and organizations can learn more about enrolling at promise686.org/georgia. DHS and Promise686 will initiate a growth strategy to increase community responders, effective immediately.
Democrat Stacey Abrams campaigned for Governor in Richmond Hill, according to WTOC.
“The reality is we need to have a Coastal Georgia Resilience Commission. It’s not enough to have good jobs when you don’t also bring opportunities for people to enjoy the benefits of that success. I want to make sure gentrification doesn’t take Coastal Georgia the way it’s taken metro Atlanta. That’s why I want to create what’s called a circuit breaker, that says that if your property values rise faster than your income, you still get to stay where you are and reap the benefits of what’s going on,” Stacey Abrams said.
Abrams also touched on gun violence. She told those in attendance if elected she plans to work to reverse Senate Bill 319, which allows Georgians to carry a concealed handgun in public without a license.
“We have to recognize, no it’s not just about mass shootings. It’s about being in a parking lot and being afraid to get to your car. It’s about driving down the street and having someone reach out of his window and shoot into your car because he thinks you cut him off. Those are stories that are happening every day in Georgia because of a culture of gun violence,” Abrams said.
“Our teachers do not make a good living in this state because we don’t invest enough in their futures and in who they are. If we raise their pay, we raise their standard of living and we raise the standards in our schools, and we actually get her help because we are losing teachers at an alarming rate.”
The Abrams campaign opened a headquarters in Albany, according to WALB.
While Abrams wasn’t there for the celebration, she had this to say to her supporters.
“Getting ready to make the next 79 days the best 79 days. The doors you’re going to knock the calls you’re going to make, the conversations you’re going to have and the lives we’re going to change together,” she said. “Thank you for who you are. Thank you got your commitment to this mission. Thank you for being a part of One Georgia.”
“We know a lot of time again the concerns are Atlanta and other parts of the state may overshadow us here down in Southwest Georgia and I think it says to voters down here that she will be a governor who will see Southwest Georgia and address the concerns that we have,” said Demetrius Young, Albany Ward 6 City Commissioner.
“And we want that engagement to be focused on the future of the state of Georgia. There are so many issues that we’re concerned about and especially the economic development of Southwest Georgia,” Freddie Sims, State Senator for District 12.
Abrams is targeting black voters who voted in the GOP Primary, according to the Associated Press.
[Governor Brian Kemp’s] decision to defy Donald Trump and ratify Joe Biden’s presidential electors in 2020 has won Kemp credit with some Democrats. That goodwill showed up in Georgia’s May primaries, when a notable number of Democratic-leaning voters cast Republican ballots to help Kemp trounce his Trump-endorsed challenger.
Now, heading into the general election, Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams needs those voters in her column. And she is unvarnished in arguing that Kemp is due nothing from voters for refusing to subvert a free and fair American presidential election.
“Let me be clear,” Abrams says near the end of her half-hour campaign pitch. “Not committing treason does not make you a hero.”
“It’s a base-plus strategy for Republicans, and a base-plus strategy for Democrats,” said Tharon Johnson, a Democratic strategist, explaining the shared pressure on Kemp and Abrams to win the narrow middle.
On the other hand, an Associated Press analysis of early voting records from data firm L2 found that more than 37,000 people who voted in Georgia’s Democratic primary two years ago cast ballots in May’s Republican primary, an unusually high number of so-called crossover voters.
“It is wrong to suggest that Brian Kemp is some form of anti-Trump moderate,” Abrams told reporters. “He is not. He is not simply a fiscal conservative. He’s a hard-right, religious extremist who is using the law of Georgia to implement his belief system.”
“We saw what happened” with Democrats’ wins in 2020 and 2021, Kemp said of the GOP base during a recent stop in Rabun County, where he got 80% of the vote in 2018. “We have to unite, and we have to get all our folks out,” he warned. Then, he promised, “We’re going to go after that middle.”
Dougherty County is 90 workers short for the November election, according to the Albany Herald.
As of Friday the number of poll workers was nearly 100 short of what is needed to staff all 26 precincts in the county, Dougherty County Elections Supervisor Ginger Nickerson said.
“We need 256 or more to ensure that we have adequate staffing, that will mean the precincts are adequately staffed,” Nickerson said. “I think we’re looking for at least 90 additional workers. We have not been able to attract new people, and of course, had some people who did not return.”
A worst-case scenario would require combining some precincts, a scenario that Nickerson’s office is hoping to avoid. In 2020 three precincts were combined with the Westover High School precinct.
“We need for our citizens to step up and assume these roles,” Nickerson said. “It is imperative. We need sufficient staff to have all of the precincts open. It’s better if all 26 are open so people walk into their precinct without driving to another location.”
The pay for a long day (polls are open 7 a.m.-7 p.m.) ranges from up to $130 for a clerk to $270 for a supervisor.
Whitfield County and its municipalities reached agreement on splitting Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) revenues, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
“All the cities and towns have now signed off on it, so that’s official,” [Whitfield County Commission Chair Jevin Jensen] said during a public hearing on the 2022 property tax rate. “We got a 4-0 vote from every city and town. Of course, we approved it last week.”
The LOST agreement determines how revenues from that tax are divided among local governments. The LOST, which had to be initially approved by voters, is a 1% tax on most goods sold in a county that is used by local governments to fund operations. It is different from the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), which can only be used for specific capital projects approved by voters and cannot be used for operations.
Under the agreement, Whitfield County will continue to receive 60.457% of LOST revenues, Dalton 36%, Cohutta .72%, Tunnel Hill .929% and Varnell 1.894%, which is what each was receiving under the previous agreement.
He said now the county and the cities will focus on completing the Service Delivery Strategy agreement. That agreement spells out which services each government provides and is aimed at avoiding duplication of services. State law says it must also be updated every 10 years.
The current service delivery agreement is actually 39 separate agreements, covering areas ranging from ambulance service to zoning.
Whitfield County Commissioners are considering the property tax millage rate, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
Members of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners presented a tentative plan to cut the county’s maintenance and operations property tax rate by 1.1 mills to 6.212 mills, or about 15% from the 2021 rate, on Thursday.
Board of Commissioners Chairman Jevin Jensen said the proposed tax cut is larger than the .933 mills that would be required to roll back revenue gains from the increase in the tax digest this year.
Whitfield County officials said the assessed value of residential properties rose an average of 22% this year. Commercial and industrial assessments rose an average of 15%. Assessments are set by the county Board of Assessors. Members of that board are appointed by the Board of Commissioners. But the assessors are independent of the county and have to follow rules and regulations set by the state.
County officials have noted that even if the county rolls the tax rate back 100% or more, property owners whose assessments rose more than average will see a tax increase, and since residential property assessments rose, on average, more than commercial and industrial, residential property owners are more likely to see an increase.
The commissioners and state Rep Kasey Carpenter, R-Dalton, have said they are working on a proposal that would automatically adjust each homeowner’s homestead exemption each year to offset the impact of reassessment.
The plan must be approved by the state legislature, which won’t meet again until January, so it would not affect this year’s property taxes but could take effect before next year’s assessments are done.
Carpenter said about 20 Georgia counties have such a system where homestead exemptions automatically adjust to changes in assessments, so he is confident the legislature will approve the law.
“Hotspot” cameras in Augusta are helping public safety, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Chief Deputy Patrick Clayton with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said the implementation of 25 video cameras in April have led to dozens of arrests, including an arrest within 24 hours after the killing of a transgender woman on Boy Scout Road on July 20.
“We’ve already recovered 30 stolen cars and out of those stolen cars, we made 18 different arrests,” Clayton said. “In another 12 incidents, just since April, we had 12 other crimes that we either solved or we made arrests in.”
Those incidents also included multiple armed robberies and multiple hit-and-run accidents. A child molestation suspect who was wanted in five states was also located and arrested using the cameras.
The additional 25 cameras will be set up this week, according to Clayton.
“[Those arrests] are just so far, without the other 25 cameras,” he said. “It’s already bearing some great fruit.”
“We identified hotspot areas – areas where we know we have the highest incidence of crime, and we put them on those areas,” he said. “We have put a couple at choke points, where people have to come through to get downtown.”
Adding cameras at choke points can prevent crimes from occurring, Clayton said.
“For example, if there’s somebody going down there and they’re driving a stolen car or they are a known gang member, that means they’re probably up to no good,” he said. “There are analytics on the cameras that help us to investigate past crimes, and they also help us in trying to prevent future crime.”
Tybee Island City Council may extend its moratorium on new Short Term Vacation Rentals, according to WTOC.
This has prevented people from registering new properties as an STVR. Since it initially went into effect, city council has extended the moratorium twice and next week they could vote to extend it for a third time.
Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions says she does anticipate that the council will move forward with some type of extension.
As a reminder, the city put the moratorium in place while they work to write new STVR rules. Mayor Sessions says the goal is to find a balance between the number of STVRs on the island and the residents’ quality of life.
The moratorium is on the agenda for next Thursday.
Mayor Sessions says there will be two readings of the proposed STVR ordinance after next week’s meeting. The first will be on Sept. 22. The second reading and the final vote will be on Oct. 13.
Albany City Commissioners are considering adding elected officials to the county pension plan, according to the Albany Herald.
While exact wording of a draft amendment to make elected officials available for pension consideration is not officially set, if the ordinance passes it would come with an initial cost of $109,000 in retroactive pay to “catch up” and an annual cost to the city of around $13,800, according to Albany Chief Financial Officer Derrick Brown.
Brown said Ward I Albany City Commissioner Jon Howard, the longest-serving member of the board, is pushing for the amendment to add elected officials to the city pension plan, an action that Brown and Albany City Attorney Nathan Davis said is “more common than I expected.”
“In doing research on the proposed amendment, I found (adding elected officials to pension plans) is a lot more typical than I expected,” Davis said. “I found a long list of cities that include their elected officials in their plan.”
“It’s a little more common than I initially thought,” the city’s top financial official said. “The issue was first brought up at the commission’s (February) retreat, and I’ve provided additional feedback — like costs — through March and April. I got with our actuary and our pension board, and Nathan came up with a draft amendment.
“I’m not supportive of anything that gives (prospective commission members) an additional financial reason to stay in office too long,” Ward IV Commissioner Chad Warbington said. “What this amounts to, essentially, is a salary increase with the retroactive pay. When we ran for office, we knew what the pay was. I don’t think this is why the people elected us.”
Brown said that, after the initial payment of $109,000, the city would add a $13,800 annual contribution to keep elected officials in the plan, while commissioners would pay $900 to the plan annually and the mayor $1,500.
“It concerns me that the draft amendment now makes participation mandatory,” Warbington said. “My first objection is that a pension is an archaic form of benefit. There are much better products. Plus, I don’t think we’ve talked about this to the point that we’re ready to vote on it.
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