On July 17, 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman set up headquarters in Fulton County on Powers Ferry Road near the Chattahoochee River. Late that night, Confederate General Joseph Johnston was replaced by newly-commissioned Gen. John Bell Hood.
For nearly three months, Johnston and Sherman had maneuvered around the rugged corridor from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Although there was constant skirmishing, there were few major battles; Sherman kept trying to outflank Johnston, but his advances were blocked. Though this kept losses to a minimum, there was also a limit to how long Johnston could maintain this strategy as each move brought the armies closer to Atlanta. By July 17, 1864, Johnston was backed into the outskirts of Atlanta. Johnston felt his strategy was the only way to preserve the Army of Tennessee, but Davis felt that he had given up too much territory.
On July 19, 1879, Griffin, Georgia native John Henry “Doc” Holliday killed Mike Gordon after Gordon shot up Holliday’s saloon in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
The greatest political journalist to ever put pen to paper, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, was born on July 18, 1929. That makes tomorrow “Gonzo Day.” You have been warned.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for a third term at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on July 18, 1940.
President Harry S. Truman signed the second Presidential Succession Act on July 18, 1947
The original succession act designated the Senate president pro tempore as the first in line to succeed the president should he and the vice president die unexpectedly while in office. If he for some reason could not take over the duties, the speaker of the house was placed next in the line of succession. In 1886, during Grover Cleveland‘s administration, Congress removed both the Senate president and the speaker of the house from the line of succession. From that time until 1947, two cabinet officials, (their order in line depended on the order in which the agencies were created) became the next in line to succeed a president should the vice president also become incapacitated or die. The decision was controversial. Many members of Congress felt that those in a position to succeed the president should be elected officials and not, as cabinet members were, political appointees, thereby giving both Republican and Democratic parties a chance at controlling the White House.
In 1945, then-Vice President Truman assumed the presidency after Franklin Roosevelt died of a stroke during his fourth term. As president, Truman advanced the view that the speaker of the house, as an elected official, should be next in line to be president after the vice president. On July 18, 1947, he signed an act that resurrected the original 1792 law, but placed the speaker ahead of the Senate president pro tempore in the hierarchy.
Georgia-born Ty Cobb died on July 17, 1961.
The Beatles premiered The Yellow Submarine on July 17, 1968 in London.
The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed by Congress on July 17, 1984. From the New York Times:
President Reagan, appealing for cooperation in ending the “’crazy quilt of different states’ drinking laws,” today signed legislation that would deny some Federal highway funds to states that keep their drinking age under 21.
“We know that drinking, plus driving, spell death and disaster,” Mr. Reagan told visitors on a sweltering afternoon. “We know that people in the 18-to-20 age group are more likely to be in alcohol-related accidents than those in any other age group.”
“’It’s a grave national problem, and it touches all our lives,” he added. “With the problem so clear-cut and the proven solution at hand, we have no misgiving about this judicious use of Federal power.”
Under the law Mr. Reagan signed today, the Secretary of Transportation is required to withhold 5 percent of Federal highway construction funds from those states that do not enact a minimum drinking age of 21 by Oct. 1, 1986. The Secretary is required to withhold 10 percent of the funds for states that do not act by Oct. 1, 1987.
The President said he was “convinced” that the legislation would “help persuade state legislators to act in the national interest to save our children’s lives, by raising the drinking age to 21 across the country.”
A senior White House official said after the ceremony that it was not clear that the new law would compel states to raise their drinking ages, even with its incentives and penalties.
He said some states, such as Florida, were proving resistant to the changes because people considered it unfair to allow residents to vote and serve in the armed services at the age of 18 but not to drink in public.
On July 18, 1988, the Democratic National Convention opened at the Omni in Atlanta. That night, actor Rob Lowe would shoot a videotape in a hotel with two hairdressers, one 22 and one 16. Several weeks later, the era of the celebrity sex tape began.
The 1996 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony was held on July 19, 1996 and competition started the next day.
The Georgia State Quarter was released on July 19, 1999.
On July 18, 2000, United States Senator Paul Coverdell died of a cerebral hemorrhage. I remember where I was when I heard the news.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Governor Brian Kemp held a press conference at the Georgia State Capitol this morning to provide a COVID-19 update.
Governor Kemp filed suit yesterday asking a judge to block orders by the Mayor of Atlanta, according to the AJC.
The state filed a lawsuit challenging Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ July 10 decision to revert to “phase one” guidelines that push restaurants to close dining rooms and urge residents to leave home only for essential trips. It also casts the city’s new mask requirements as “void and unenforceable.”
“This lawsuit is on behalf of the Atlanta business owners and their hardworking employees who are struggling to survive during these difficult times,” Kemp said in a statement. “These men and women are doing their very best to put food on the table for their families while local elected officials shutter businesses and undermine economic growth.”
The legal complaint, filed in Fulton County Superior Court, came one day after Kemp signed a statewide order that explicitly bans cities and counties from enforcing mask mandates. Atlanta and a dozen other cities have adopted such requirements, defying an order from Kemp that encourages but not mandates them.
From the Associated Press via the Valdosta Daily Times:
Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, in a suit filed in state court late Thursday in Atlanta, argue that Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has overstepped her authority and must obey Kemp’s executive orders under state law.
“Governor Kemp must be allowed, as the chief executive of this state, to manage the public health emergency without Mayor Bottoms issuing void and unenforceable orders which only serve to confuse the public,” the lawsuit states.
Bottoms said Thursday during a video news conference that the city’s order is still in effect.
The state asks a judge to overturn Bottoms’ orders that are more restrictive than Kemp’s, block her from issuing any more such orders, instruct the City Council not to ratify Bottoms’ actions or adopt any ordinances inconsistent with Kemp, to force Bottoms not to make any public statements claiming she has authority that exceeds Kemp’s, and to require city officials to enforce “all provisions” of Kemp’s existing orders.
Governor Kemp signed House Bill 1114 by State Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta), which seeks to lower maternal mortality rates, according to the AJC.
House Bill 1114 will extend the amount of time low-income Georgia mothers can receive Medicaid benefits, the public health program that provides care to the poor and disabled, from two months to six after the birth of a child. Nearly $20 million was set aside in the state’s budget to fund the extension.
House Health and Human Services Chairwoman Sharon Cooper, a Marietta Republican and the legislation’s sponsor, was giddy after the governor signed the bill.
“I’ve worked on a lot of legislation, but some of them are special,” Cooper said. “This one is special. … Let’s put it this way: It’s the right thing to do, and I’m glad we’re doing it.”
“With that piece of legislation we’re going to enhance access to quality and timely care for mothers on Medicaid,” Kemp said.
Gov. Kemp also signed HB 578 by State Rep. Katie Dempsey, (R-Rome), and HB 888 by State Rep Lee HAwkins (R-Gainesville), according to the Rome News Tribune.
Dempsey sponsored House Bill 578, which lets the state Department of Human Services conduct criminal background checks on student volunteers and interns. She’d been working on it for two years at the request of DHS officials.
[Senator Chuck] Hufstetler and Rep. Lee Hawkins, R-Gainsville, teamed up on the surprise billing legislation, pushing identical bills. Hawkins’ HB 888 was the one that made it through under the wire and Hufstetler carried it in the Senate.
“This will get the patient out of the middle of surprise bills — a position that often leads to massive charges and bankruptcy,” Hufstetler said following the signing.
Kemp, who combined the signings with the grand opening of the hospital’s new emergency room, said the new laws signal “an historic step forward” in terms of healthcare.
“And frankly, it couldn’t come at a better time — as our state and country face the greatest public health challenge we have seen in the 21st century,” he added.
“When we began 2020, none of us could have predicted that we would face a pandemic and grapple with unprecedented threats to the lives — and livelihoods — of all Georgians,” Kemp said.
Some local leaders are frustrated by Gov. Kemp limiting their ability to enforce mask mandates, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Athens-Clarke County Commissioner and Mayor Pro Tem Russell Edwards, a prime mover in the area’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, also expressed outrage about Kemp’s order.
“For Governor Kemp to fail to mandate life-saving measures on the very day that both of the hospitals in his hometown are in total diversion simultaneously makes no sense to me,” Edwards said. “Science proves that masks save lives. Why undermine local efforts to require masks? It’s maddening.”
Augusta Commissioner Dennis Williams could not comprehend the logic behind Kemp’s order.
“The governor is the leader of the state, but you wonder why he would suspend everything,” Williams said. “It wouldn’t hurt anybody to wear the mask or have a local ordinance — what harm does it do? It may help people stay alive.”
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson had a tantrum. From the Savannah Morning News:
“As you know last night Gov. Brian Kemp attempted to invalidate Savannah’s mask requirement by stripping local authority to enact policy from municipal governments across the state including Atlanta, Augusta, Rome, Hinesville and the governor’s hometown of Athens-Clarke County,” Johnson said. “He has overstepped.”
“We believe in this case we are under a public health emergency,” Johnson said. “We believe it’s very clear that we have the right and the responsibility to address an emergency. Those are some of the (legal) grounds we are standing on.”
“An apolitical public health crisis has become political,” [Augusta Mayor Hardie] Davis said. “Gov. Kemp’s ‘Bridge Too Far’ approach on a mask requirement, and now the disregard for the local governance of cities and municipalities is beyond concerning.”
“It is no secret that COVID-19 cases continue to rise at an extraordinarily high rate across the state of Georgia and in Augusta-Richmond County,” Davis said. “Hospital beds are filling in communities, and state efforts are being placed on the reactivation of a field hospital for the overflow of patients infected with COVID-19.”
Glynn County Commission issued a proclamation asking locals to wear masks, according to The Brunswick News.
“There’s a lot of concern out there with people with constitutional rights and thinking they’re being forced to wear a mask,” said commission chairman Mike Browning. “But we’ve been and are seeing this spread throughout the country.”
“Follow the guidance,” Browning said. “You may save yourself, you may save someone else.”
Guyton City Council has adopted a new mask mandate, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The ordinance says everyone age 11 and over must wear “a face covering or mask” that covers the nose and mouth in any building open to the public in the city. Violating the ordinance would be subject to a fine up to $1,000.
Seth Clark, in a runoff for Macon-Bibb County Commission District 5, says his opponent is unfit for office, according to WMGT-TV.
Clark calls [runoff opponent Carlton] Kitchen “unfit” public office due to his background that includes:
• aggravated stalking
• violent stalking
• middle and high school bans“I think the information that is found in those public records shows that my opponent is totally unfit for office,” Clark said. “I couldn’t stay silent when I saw them. [I] did my homework to make sure that they were true and they are real and I thought that my neighbors deserve to know that this happened.”
41 NBC News reached out to Carlton Kitchens a number of times for a statement, but he did not respond.
Newton County voters will choose a new Superior Court Judge in the runoff election, according to The Covington News.
All Newton County voters can cast ballots in the nonpartisan race for Superior Court judge in the Alcovy Judicial Circuit featuring Monroe attorney Jeffrey Foster and Covington attorney Robert H. Stansfield.
The nonpartisan election will decide who will replace Superior Court Judge Eugene Benton, who announced he will retire at the end of this year.
But only Democratic voters in two districts in Covington and northern Newton County will choose their party’s nominees for seats on the school board and board of commissioners.
Incumbent Fulton County Sheriff Ted Jackson meets Pat Labatt in a runoff election, according to the Rome News Tribune.
Jackson led in the five-person primary with 44.12% of the vote, and Labat advanced to the runoff with nearly half as many votes (23.17%). Myron Freeman (17.64%), Walter Calloway (9.13%) and Charles Rambo (5.95%) rounded out the field.
Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler announced that unemployment claims are receding, according to the Gainesville Times.
Georgia’s jobless rate dropped in June to 7.6%, the Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday, July 16. A year ago, the rate was 3.5%.
“June was the first month to show positive numbers in all major indicators since the pandemic started,” Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said. “Although it is nice to see the pendulum move in the right direction, we are not naïve to the fact that we may see another tick up in claims over the next few months.
“I think we are going to continue to see big drops in the unemployment rate as Georgia continues to open back up,” Commissioner Mark Butler said. “We have to remember that the recent unemployment was not caused by an economic catalyst, but instead by a medical emergency. Those jobs are still out there for the most part.”
Butler added, “There’s no doubt there’s going to be some industries it’s going to take a little bit longer to recover, but Georgia, I do believe, is ready to go back to work.”
The Clarke County Board of Education delayed school reopening until September 8, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
School officials need the time to build a solid plan that takes into account multiple scenarios to ensure everyone stays safe, said Clarke County School District Chief Academic Officer Brannon Gaskins during a called meeting Thursday night.
The delay gives administrators more time to plan with teachers and parents as coronavirus cases continue an upward trend in the county, state and across the country, Gaskins said. Teachers will still report at the end of this month, but instead of starting classes right away they will learn how to teach in the new world they and their students are about to enter, he said.
Schools and teachers must prepare not only for a school year that could begin virtually, in-person or something in between, but also for the possibility of having to shut down an entire school or system if necessary, he said.
Atlanta Public Schools pushed reopening to August 24, according to 11Alive.
Atlanta Public Schools has decided on virtual learning at least for the first nine weeks — and they’re planning to push the start date back to August 24th.
This was the first major decision for Atlanta Public Schools’ new Superintendent Dr. Lisa Herring.
Students can enroll in the Atlanta Virtual Academy, referred to as “Ava” where they’ll be taught by Ava teachers. Students can also stay with virtual learning from your home school. This option gives you the flexibility to go back to in-person learning if and when that happens.
Since the start date has been pushed back two weeks, Dr.Herring said they’ll use that time to make sure students, teachers, and parents are ready.
“Distribution or refreshing of devices for virtual learning, distributing instructional materials and personal protective equipment to students, ensuring we have current contact information for our students and families and assessing the social and emotional well-being,” Dr. Herring listed.
They plan to distribute 6,000 to 10,000 devices and hotspots. They are also creating parent technology institute to offer a little help since the sudden switch to technology proved to be a struggle back in March.
Fulton and Cobb County school systems will also begin the year as online-only, according to AccessWDUN.
Fulton County Schools Superintendent Mike Looney cited the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in the county in his announcement that the district was revoking the in-person learning option.
“I have been very clear all along that the reopening of Fulton County schools was predicated on the level of community spread that our schools would be facing when we resumed school,” Looney said in a video message posted on the district’s website. “Unfortunately, that data continues to move in the wrong direction.”
Cobb County Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said virtual learning was not a substitute for face-to-face instruction, and the district would bring students back to classrooms “as soon as humanly possible.”
All teachers will be trained in effective remote learning practices, and the district will provide as many tablets and laptops “as possible” to students who do not have devices at home, Cobb County school officials said in a news release.
Atlanta Public Schools and two other large districts in the state, DeKalb and Clayton, have previously said they will offer only online instruction when classes resume.
Gwinnett County schools will stay the course, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
The county’s school board heard a presentation on the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic at its meeting Thursday night. That meeting was held the same day that school systems in Cobb, Fulton and Douglas counties announced they would start the 2020-2021 academic year with virtual learning for all students because of the pandemic. Marietta’s school board is expected to vote Friday on a proposal to begin that city school system with only virtual learning as well.
Some Gwinnett school board members said on Thursday, however, that they felt it was better to get students back into schools. Board member Carol Boyce said she felt younger students in particular would be adversely affected by not getting to experience the school environment.
“I feel very strongly that we should go ahead and get back to school as quickly as we can, and deal with the repercussions perhaps,” Boyce said at the end of the meeting. “You know, obviously somebody may get sick. We may have to deal with that.”
“But, I feel very, very confident that our people are doing the best job that I can and that safety measures are being taken into consideration in the best possible way that they can be.”
Board member Everton Blair has opposed sending children back to classrooms too soon, and has even suggested delaying the start of school until around Labor Day. On Thursday, he said there were too many risks involved with sending children back to school in August.
“People are making short-term decisions with long-term implications that they may not even know,” he said. “And yes, we’re going to do everything we can to make our buildings safe, but there are still too many unknowns with this.”
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