On July 20, 1864, the Battle of Peachtree Creek took place in Atlanta.
Sir Edmund Hillary was born on July 20, 1919 in Auckland, New Zealand. He and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first to summit Mount Everest on May 29, 1953.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to set foot on the moon.
When the lunar module lands at 4:18 p.m EDT, only 30 seconds of fuel remain. Armstrong radios “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” Mission control erupts in celebration as the tension breaks, and a controller tells the crew “You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we’re breathing again.”
At 10:56 p.m. EDT Armstrong is ready to plant the first human foot on another world. With more than half a billion people watching on television, he climbs down the ladder and proclaims: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Aldrin joins him shortly, and offers a simple but powerful description of the lunar surface: “magnificent desolation.” They explore the surface for two and a half hours, collecting samples and taking photographs.
They leave behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and a plaque on one of Eagle’s legs. It reads, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”
Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton gave the speech nominating Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis for President on July 20, 1988 at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. Dukakis accepted the nomination the next day.
Clinton’s performance was widely panned.
[Clinton] bombed so badly that there was speculation it might spoil his political future.
The prime-time speech would be a perfect opportunity for Clinton to regain some of the ground he’d lost to Gore and to reestablish himself as the one to watch from the party’s moderate/Southern wing.
But he blew it. The speech he delivered was long – 33 minutes, or twice the expected length – and mechanical. It only took a few minutes for convention delegates to tune him out, as the din of their conversations began drowning him out on television. Eventually, the broadcast networks began cutting away from his speech, with commentators noting the crowd’s complete lack of interest. The lowlight came when Clinton uttered the words “In closing,” prompting a spontaneous round of sarcastic cheers from the audience. His home state paper summed it up this way:
ATLANTA Gov. Bill Clinton’s big national moment his prime time speech Wednesday night in nomination of Michael Dukakis was an unmitigated disaster.
The Los Angeles Times has a great contemporaneous take on the speech.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
The City of Stockbridge announced that Mayor Jayden Williams is under investigation for alleged misuse of city funds, according to WSB-TV.
City Council approved a resolution to restrict Williams’ access to city property and money.
Now he’s in the spotlight, accused of misusing city money.
The council called an emergency meeting to discuss what’s next.
As soon as council showed up for the emergency meeting Friday, they went into executive session.
When they came back out, they voted unanimously to restrict the mayor’s power.
The resolution they approved says Williams can still carry out his mayoral duties, but he cannot operate out of his office. He is banned from any non-public areas of city buildings.
He has until Monday to return all his city credit cards, fuel cards, any city vehicles or property.
Council said the city manager has to approve any of his future spending and coordinate any communication he has with city employees unless it happens during a public meeting.
During the emergency meeting, the Mayor Pro Tem Elton Alexander read the resolution in its entirety.
It explained why council thinks these restrictions are necessary.
“The city has determined that certain temporary administrative measures are necessary to protect city operations, safeguard city employees and ensure appropriate stewardship of public resources,” Alexander said.
Accusations of misuse of city money are connected to staff suspicions that the mayor used city credit cards for personal reasons.
In a statement Saturday, city leaders said the actions to restrict the mayor does not confirm any wrongdoing.
An independent investigator will have to determine that after reviewing credit card statements and receipts.
Attempts to call, e-mail and reach Mayor Williams at his front door have been unsuccessful. Channel 2 Action News is waiting for his response.
Here is the full statement from the City of Stockbridge:
“On July 17, 2026, the Stockbridge City Council adopted a resolution implementing temporary administrative measures concerning Mayor Jayden Williams pending the outcome of an independent investigation previously authorized by the Council.”
“The resolution is intended to protect City operations, safeguard public resources, and ensure the continued, orderly administration of municipal government while the investigation proceeds. The measures include the temporary suspension of City-issued purchasing card and fuel card privileges, the use of City-owned vehicles, restricted access to non-public City facilities, the return of City-issued property, and the coordination of communications with City staff through the City Manager’s Office. These administrative actions remain in effect until modified or rescinded by the City Council.”
“It is important to emphasize that these actions do not constitute a finding of misconduct or wrongdoing. The Council’s resolution expressly states that these measures are administrative in nature and are designed solely to preserve the integrity of City operations during the investigative process. The Mayor retains all constitutional, statutory, and charter rights afforded under Georgia law while the investigation remains ongoing.”
“The independent investigation was initiated following information presented to the City Manager, Finance Department, and City Attorney. The formal notice issued by the Office of the City Attorney makes clear that the allegations are preliminary, that no final findings have been made, and that an independent, neutral investigator will determine whether the actions under review complied with applicable law, City policy, and the Stockbridge Charter.”
“The City of Stockbridge remains committed to transparency, accountability, due process, and maintaining the public’s trust. To protect the integrity of the investigation and ensure a fair process for all parties involved, the City will not comment on the specific allegations or evidence while the investigation is pending.”
“City services will continue without interruption, and the City Manager and staff remain focused on delivering the high-quality municipal services our residents, businesses, and visitors expect.”
“Further public information will be released when appropriate and consistent with applicable law and the investigative process.”
— City of Stockbridge
The suspension will be in place pending the outcome of an “independent investigation,” the city said in a news release. Williams must turn in all city property, purchasing cards and access badges by Monday at noon, according to the city resolution.
The mayor and council gathered for a specially called meeting Friday in which they entered executive session for about three hours before voting to restrict Williams’ administrative powers and authorize an independent investigation, citing “considerable evidence” presented to the city manager, finance department and city attorney.
Williams graduated from Clark Atlanta University in December 2025 — the month before he was sworn in as mayor, the AJC previously reported. He grew up in Henry County and graduated in 2021 from Dutchtown High School. He has served as a youth mayor for the city of Stockbridge and as chair of the city’s planning commission.
Georgia ranks 8th in the nation in access to air conditioning, according to the Savannah Morning News.
A new analysis by Hard Rock Bet, using U.S. Census Bureau data, estimates that 36,333 occupied households in Georgia do not have air conditioning.
While that may sound high, Georgia actually ranks among the states with the best access to air conditioning, placing No. 8 nationally for household AC coverage.
According to the analysis, Fulton County has the largest estimated number of households without air conditioning, with 3,657 homes.
The counties with the highest estimated number of households without AC are:
• Fulton County: 3,657
• DeKalb County: 1,999
• Cobb County: 1,762
• Gwinnett County: 1,291
• Chatham County: 1,189Among Georgia counties with more than 100,000 occupied households, Hall County had the highest estimated share of homes without air conditioning.
The highest percentages were:
• Hall County: 1.3%
• Muscogee County: 1.1%
• Bibb County: 1.1%
• Chatham County: 1.0%
• Richmond County: 1.0%The report estimates that 99.09% of occupied households in Georgia have air conditioning, giving the state the eighth-highest household AC coverage in the country.
Only Florida, Delaware, Oklahoma, Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska and Missouri ranked higher.
Most of the 2500 noncitizens identified by the feds as Georgia “voters” were not actually registered to vote, according to the AJC.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security claims to have found about 2,500 noncitizen voters in Georgia, according to a report released during President Donald Trump’s speech Thursday on election security.
But it’s not that simple.
Most of the people flagged by DHS had applied to become registered voters but were in a “pending” status, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Other Georgians on the federal list were registered to vote but later moved to pending after the state received the DHS notification.
Georgia has 8.1 million registered voters as of Friday. But only about 150 registrants identified as possible noncitizens by DHS had previously voted, the secretary of state’s office said.
“As a national leader in election integrity, we continue to urge the Trump administration to restore access to the SAVE database so every state can verify citizenship and maintain accurate voter rolls, as Georgia does,” Raffensperger said in a statement after Trump’s speech.
Noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare. In Georgia, previous citizenship audits conducted by Raffensperger’s office have found minuscule numbers of noncitizen registrants. In 2024, the office found 20. Only nine of those had actually voted in a Georgia election.
The owner of Toast on Lenox was dragged into an online dispute over a photo with Republican Rick Jackson, according to the AJC.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, Jackson shared a photo with Toast co-owner Tamara Young and praised her story as a successful entrepreneur. “Grateful for the time, conversation, and amazing food!” he wrote.
The post stirred up more heat than Toast’s kitchen. Some viewed it as a slight to Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms and threatened to boycott the restaurant, prompting Toast to clarify that Jackson had visited as a customer — not as an endorsed candidate.
“Like many other business owners, we often take photos with customers, public figures, entertainers and athletes, who visit our restaurant,” Toast said in a statement. “The photo that was shared was simply a picture taken during his visit to our establishment.”
That clarification didn’t end the uproar. Bottoms accused Jackson of using the restaurant as a political prop, writing that he was “playing in our faces” and contrasting the post with her own record of supporting minority- and women-owned businesses.
Jackson spokesperson Garrison Douglas accused Bottoms of trying to “cancel Georgia small businesses based on who they let through the door,” and said Jackson would fight for Georgians regardless of party affiliation. His GOP allies quickly amplified him.
If the episode feels familiar, that’s because something similar happened during the overheated 2018 race for governor. Back then, Monday Night Brewing faced a backlash after hosting an event for Republican Brian Kemp’s campaign, even though its founders said it was not an endorsement. A Flying Biscuit Cafe co-owner also walked back his support for Kemp, while the Atlanta Braves faced boycott threats after co-hosting a fundraiser for him.
Eight years later, the players have changed, but the underlying question hasn’t: When every photo is viewed through a partisan lens, can a business simply welcome a politician through its doors without appearing to take sides?
Senate Bill 431 by State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick (R-Marietta) will expedite school registration for foster kids, according to The Imprint via the Savannah Morning News.
As Georgia students soon head back to the classroom, a new law requires schools to take no more than three business days to enroll new students living in foster care.
Senate Bill 431, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in May, attempts to provide stronger support to foster youth by mitigating disruptions caused by school transfers. A study cited in a 2023 federal report found that more than 30% of such students experience five or more school changes by the age of 18.
The educational interruptions can lead to disciplinary problems, poor academic achievement and failures to graduate high school. Getting children quickly into school, lawmakers said, can help bring a bit more stability to their frequently chaotic lives.
“This is a big issue for foster kids,” bill author Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick told The Imprint last year.
The new law builds on a 2025 school safety bill that attempted to streamline the enrollment process for foster children. While that bill addressed another major problem caused by frequent transfers — missing school records — it failed to establish clear enrollment timelines.
If a school fails to comply with the three business day enrollment requirement mandated by the new legislation, the school must provide guardians with contact information for regional and state education officials to remedy the matter. The Department of Education can initiate corrective action plans when schools don’t comply.
At a Senate committee meeting last August, several foster youth testified before lawmakers about school-related challenges that underscored the need for reforms.
Kyra Stoute, now a student at Georgia State University, recounted being held back a grade in high school because her credits hadn’t been properly transferred.
Deven Rudy-Johnson, a coordinator for the foster youth advocacy group Georgia Empowerment, told lawmakers about another student who was unable to enroll in school for a month and a half after transferring from one county to another.
“These young people want to learn, they want to graduate, they want to go on and be successful,” Rudy-Johnson said Monday. “And the state has a responsibility to do everything it can to make sure they have that chance.”
The University of Georgia School of Public Health, along with the Georgia Farm Bureau and the Georgia Farm Foundation, is surveying farmers about their finances, according to GPB News.
The Farm Profitability Survey from the University of Georgia’s School of Public Health, the Georgia Farm Bureau and the Georgia Farm Foundation includes questions about operating margins, cash flow, and debt, among others, because Georgia farmers have reported financial stress as a top concern, said researcher Stephanie Basey, whose done previous farmer wellbeing studies.
“We have this rare opportunity to capture their experience,” Basey said.
Questions are informed by what farmers themselves have identified as top priorities, said Whitney Sangster with the Georgia Foundation for Agriculture, the charitable arm of the Georgia Farm Bureau.
“We really want the hard data because we can sit here and say farmers are struggling, they’re suffering, but we don’t have the hard data to back that up,” Sangster said.
Nationwide, input costs for crops and commodities have risen sharply. That’s something Matt Berry, who runs a cattle farm in South Georgia’s Sumter County, has experienced firsthand.
“We can make some of the highest yields you’ve ever seen,” Berry said. “And if our input costs are not in line, we still come up on the bottom end of a loss.”
And payments from the federal Farmer Bridge Assistance Program only scrape the surface of what’s needed, Berry said. He’s taken up hay harvesting to help make up for those losses.
Getting data from the Profitability survey goes further than just helping researchers, Berry said. It has the potential to better connect farmers in his community and elsewhere.
“When we hear this information, we realize that we’re not the only one feeling what we feel, we’re not only one facing what we face,” he said.
With the vast majority, over 80%, of Georgia farms run by individuals and families, one question Basey has is about the sustainability of generational farming.
“If farms are struggling right now, do farmers even want to pass their farms off to their families?” she said.
Flowery Branch voters will elect a new City Council member for Post 3 in November, according to AccessNorthGA.com.
Voters in Flowery Branch will head to the polls this fall to fill the unexpired Post Three seat on the City Council in a special election scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The Post 3 Councilor for Flowery Branch, William McDaniel, stepped down effective June 30 after deciding to move out of the city.
On Wednesday, July 15, the Flowery Branch City Council voted to approve the resolution for the special election.
If no candidate receives the required number of votes to win outright, a runoff election will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 1.
Candidates interested in running for the seat may qualify at Flowery Branch City Hall, 5410 Pine Street, beginning Monday, Aug. 10, through Wednesday, Aug. 12. Qualifying hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day. The qualifying fee is $216.
Early voting will be available Oct. 13 through Oct. 30 at Flowery Branch City Hall. Polls will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays during the advance voting period.
Voters who plan to cast absentee ballots may begin requesting them on Aug. 17 through the Hall County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville.
On Election Day, Nov. 3, voters will cast their ballots at their regular Hall County polling locations.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson will join 45 colleagues in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, according to WTOC.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson has been selected to join the 10th class of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, an international leadership program designed to help mayors strengthen local government and address their communities’ most pressing challenges.
Johnson is one of 46 mayors from 15 countries chosen to participate in the nine-month program, which is offered through Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School and the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard.
The program begins this week with a multi-day convening in New York City. In August, two senior City of Savannah officials will also join the initiative.
During the program, Johnson and his leadership team will work with Harvard faculty, policy experts and fellow mayors to develop strategies for improving city government, using data-driven decision-making and strengthening collaboration across departments.
The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative has now served 447 mayors and more than 3,000 municipal leaders worldwide, including many of the largest cities in the United States and abroad.
After completing the program, Savannah will remain eligible for additional resources, including executive education opportunities for city staff, technical assistance and the potential placement of a Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellow to help advance one of the city’s priority initiatives.
13WMAZ spoke to central Georgians about federal proposal for permanent Daylight Saving Time.
On Tuesday, the United States House of Representatives passed the “Sunshine Protection Act,” which would put the entire country on daylight saving time and eliminate switching the clocks twice a year. That means less daylight in the morning, but brighter evenings.
It’s a change Rebecca Husted said she’s ready for. She said switching the clocks twice a year can put her land in Jones County in a bad mood, from herself to her horses.
“It’s hard to dredge yourself out of the bed, or it’s hard to get yourself into the bed depending on the time change,” Husted said. “It seems like it really affects us, but it also affects our horses. Because the horses, they don’t know anything about a time change, and all of a sudden they’re like waiting for food and it’s not coming for an extra hour.”
Husted said that’s one of the reasons she is in support of the act. However, she said it’s not only about keeping her horses in good spirits. As a Gray volunteer firefighter, she hopes more daylight in the evening will mean fewer drowsy-driving accidents.
“People get injured, people die, all those things for that two-week period right after you have a time change,” Husted said.
Other experts closer to Central Georgia said they can see both sides.
Kitty Robinson works as a therapist with Arena Counseling in Monroe County. She argues later sunrises could negatively affect our Circadian Rhythm, and stresses the importance of sunlight in the morning.
However, she also said more daylight at night may encourage people to be more active and connect with others.
Robinson said that we can’t control the clock; we can control what we do with our time.
“Making sure that we have like a set bedtime every day and a set wake time. That really impacts the Circadian Rhythm as well. Having a good nighttime routine, making sure that you are getting sunlight as early as you can in the morning,” Robinson said. “There’s so many things we can control, and so whatever way it lands, let’s focus on what we can control and try to set ourselves up for wellness from really from a holistic perspective.”
The “Sunshine Protection Act” now moves to the Senate for consideration. Under the proposed legislation, states could opt out of the permanent change if they do so before it takes effect nationwide.
Georgia will build the first new state psychiatric hospital in years, according to Georgia Recorder.
After spending 16 years moving away from a psychiatric care system centered on institutionalization, state officials are preparing to build Georgia’s largest state hospital in decades.
More than 700 Georgians in the criminal justice system are currently waiting for a spot in a state psychiatric facility, according to Kevin Tanner, commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. That’s why state lawmakers made room for $409 million in the budget for a 300-bed forensic state hospital, which will be built near Georgia Regional Hospital, located in south DeKalb County, during the 2026 legislative session earlier this year.
The waiting list is putting pressure on county jails across Georgia. According to Tanner, the hospital will serve only forensic patients — people who have a mental illness or disability and have been charged with or convicted of a crime. When lawmakers announced the hospital project at a February press conference, several sheriffs were standing alongside them.
Tanner said patients come to state hospitals in two main ways. In Georgia, when a judge decides that a person charged with a crime isn’t fit to stand trial because of a psychiatric condition or a disability, they order the person into a state-run long-term hospital. Similarly, some individuals with a mental illness or disability are found not guilty because of their mental state — courts also order these people into state care.
But when state hospitals are at capacity, forensic patients who cannot be admitted are forced to remain in local law enforcement custody, usually waiting months for their court-mandated place in a state hospital.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, along with other local law enforcement across the state, sees the effects of this backlog every day.
According to Sills, one Putnam County inmate with a psychiatric illness sat in her 5-by-10 foot cell for over a year while waiting for a state hospital bed before she was admitted to Central State Hospital in June.
Sills, who’s been sheriff for nearly 30 years, said he worries long-term detainment threatens the civil rights of the patients.
“It is my belief … that it is unconstitutional to keep a person in a penal institution if they are mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial,” he said. “I’m holding this person here, in my opinion, in violation of the Constitution of the United States.”
While Sills said he’s pleased about the new hospital, he is skeptical that just 300 beds will solve the issue facing county jails and hopes more facilities for forensic patients will be built in the future.
Tanner said the shortage is motivating the department to finish the new hospital as soon as possible. While a facility of this scale typically takes 36 months to be completed, he said the department hopes to expedite the process.
“We need the bed capacity today,” Tanner said. “As soon as we can get the hospital open, the better it will be for the system.”
Tanner said the department has already secured Atlanta architectural firm Jericho Design Group and Batson-Cook Construction to work on the project.
The new hospital has been in the works for several years, Tanner said. A 2023 capacity study predicted that without an additional facility, the state would be unable to accept any more patients by 2034, since many spend the rest of their lives in a state hospital.
For now, the facility will only serve forensic patients. But Tanner left open the possibility for the hospital to treat other types of patients in the future.
“We’ll design the hospital to be able to house either population, but for the foreseeable future, it will be just a forensic population,” Tanner said. “We don’t want to design a hospital that couldn’t be used for adult mental health patients when needed.”
An April settlement addresses long wait for forensic healthcare
Tanner and other state government officials have been under pressure to address the backlog from mental health and disability advocates along with county sheriffs.
In April, the department reached an agreement with the Georgia Advocacy Office and the Southern Center for Human Rights to reduce the amount of time forensic patients spend waiting in jails.
“This agreement is a critical step toward prioritizing treatment over incarceration and restoring dignity and due process for people with mental illness who are arrested swiftly and then stranded in jail simply because the system did not respond in time,” said Atteeyah Hollie, deputy director of the Southern Center of Human Rights, in an April press release.
By the time the agreement expires in late 2029, the department must have each forensic patient evaluated within 30 days and admit them to an appropriate restoration program within another 30 days.
For county officials like Sills, the Putnam County sheriff, the department will also be required to provide training, education and other support related to engaging with forensic patients.
While the new hospital did not emerge from the April settlement, Georgia Advocacy Office Litigation Director Devon Orland said the two are related and the hospital will be a temporary solution to some issues cited in the agreement.
Georgia’s complicated legacy of institutionalization
Funding the hospital created buzz when the state Senate first unveiled it in February. Additionally, a week prior, a federal judge released the state from part of a 2010 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which Tanner hailed at the time as a “historic moment.”
The settlement had originated from a landmark court case: in 1999, the Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead v. L.C. that unjustified institutionalization of people with disabilities violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The two Georgia plaintiffs were unlawfully held at Georgia Regional Hospital.
The court’s decision led to what is known as the Olmstead settlement agreement between the federal government and Georgia, which has guided expansive reforms to the state’s mental health and disability care for nearly two decades. The settlement mandated that Georgia develop a network of more localized health services for these patients, often referred to as a community-based care system, rather than relying on institutions.
Now, after a federal judge decided to release Georgia from part of the agreement in February, there will be less oversight over how the state provides services for people with behavioral health issues.
While some lawmakers tied the new hospital announcement to the release, Tanner clarified to the Recorder that the agreement did not govern forensic services and the hospital could have been built regardless.
However, the commissioner said the media attention created a “springboard” for the project.
“I’m obviously not in the minds of policymakers and legislators,” Tanner said. “But I do feel like there is a general feeling that it’s good timing to be able to build a hospital now that we’re out of the settlement agreement.”
Advocates encourage more investment in community care
Rena Harris, chief program officer of the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, said she understands the struggle local sheriffs are facing and why they lobbied lawmakers for the hospital.
While she agreed the shortage must be addressed, Harris added she hopes emphasis will remain on providing in-community care for all patients, including forensic ones.
“I would encourage mental health experts and legislators to work together to produce treatment options that are evidence-based in settings that are evidence-based,” Harris said. “I wouldn’t recommend people getting mental health treatment in jails, and I wouldn’t recommend people getting mental health treatment in large institutional settings either, because the goal is to exist in the community.”
Harris explained that risks often arise in larger facilities, including patient abuse, neglect and exploitation. She said sometimes patients are warehoused — a practice where people are only given basic care in institutions and don’t receive the necessary restorative treatment for their conditions.
Looking at the bigger picture, Orland with the Georgia Advocacy Office said increasing institutional bed capacity could become problematic if proper community care options aren’t also funded.
“We need to build the infrastructure in the community, or we’re going to have to keep building more and more beds, and people are going to be tucked away instead of receiving the support they need,” she said. “Building beds is not the solution, and it can become the problem.”
Orland said it’s important to continually evaluate care systems to ensure adequate in-community care like housing vouchers, mobile crisis units and local health centers are always available and funded.
Tanner, who has led the agency since 2022, acknowledged these concerns and said balancing different types of care is part of his strategy to quell the looming need for state psychiatric beds.
Along with the new hospital, the department has multiple smaller behavioral health crisis centers in the works located in Augusta, Savannah, Dublin, north Fulton County and Clayton County. Crisis centers have typically no more than 30 beds and are intended for short-term care, but can facilitate more long-term services for patients, according to the department’s press release.
Tanner said he thinks the 300-bed hospital will be a “bright place of healing.”
“We’re continuing to build out community-based care with community service boards, with the local crisis centers,” he said. “But at the same time, if someone needs that hospital-level care, we want to make sure it’s available to them — not to institutionalize them, but to keep them just long enough, so that then we can transition them back to community.”
Orland said she feels encouraged that the hospital is only part of the plan to reduce the forensic patient backlog.
“I think we are all hopeful that the commissioner is focused on building a meaningful community-based mental health system, and that this is just a piece of trying to reduce the number of people that are waiting in jails,” Orland said. “We hope that remains true in the future.”
Augusta City Commissioners will hear a proposed data center ordinance, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
A draft ordinance governing data centers will be discussed at an Augusta Commission meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
Data centers typically are large facilities that house computer servers meant to provide the large processing needs required for artificial intelligence. Augusta officials are considering a data center ordinance to set a clear framework for future data center development while examining potential impacts on residents.
The proposed ordinance establishes standards intended to encourage investment while ensuring new development aligns with the city’s long-term planning goals, according to the City of Augusta website.
The draft ordinance was developed through a planning process that includes technical research and industry best practices, noted city officials, who say the regulations would provide a transparent and consistent review process for developers, residents and decision-makers.
Dalton City Council meets today, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen.
Dalton Board of Education meets tonight, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen.
Rome City Board of Education meets Tuesday, according to WRGA News.
The Rome-Floyd County Development Authority also meets on Tuesday, according to WRGA News.
The Georgia Ports Authority will receive $21 million dollars in federal funding, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be used to install 58 miles of fiber-optic communication and equip approximately 500 freight vehicles with on-board units. The aim is to increase efficiency and connectivity between freight vehicles at the ports.
The announcement was made by U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, who secured the funds.
Warnock emphasized the importance of maintaining smooth supply chains and community connectivity.
“This is the kind of progress I had in mind when I worked with my colleagues in the Senate to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.” Warnock said in the announcement.
Ossoff highlighted the bipartisan effort behind the funding.
“We’re delivering these resources to upgrade infrastructure across metro Atlanta and coastal Georgia to keep families safe, support business and commerce, and keep our state moving.” he said.
Comments ( 0 )