On May 2, 1886, Jefferson Davis left Atlanta, headed to Savannah.
Savannah officials had successfully solicited Davis to attend a variety of special ceremonies and events being planned in Savannah. On the way, the train stopped briefly in Forsyth and Macon, where the ex-Confederate president was greeted by crowds and spoke briefly from the back of his train. Although he didn’t leave the train, Davis would return to Macon the following year for a more formal visit.
On May 2, 1939, Lou Gehrig benched himself as the Yankees took the field against the Detroit Tigers, ending his streak of 2,130 consecutive games.
The Weather Channel began broadcasting from Cobb County, Georgia on May 2, 1982.
United States forces killed Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
State Senator Josh McKoon has a new ad out online in his campaign for Secretary of State. From the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
“It takes a serious issue — and I have been at this for 10 months now — that a lot of people in this state are talking about and has a little fun with it,” McKoon said. “Everybody I have talked to — Republicans, Democrats and Independents — is interested in the security of our current voting machines.”
McKoon said there is a message in the humor.
“The message is, elect me and I am going to change that,” he said.
“We are definitely looking at a TV buy,” McKoon said. “This ad will probably be in that mix.”
Governor Nathan Deal has announced more than 1,495 new jobs and $229 million in investments in the month of April 2018.
Governor Deal will sign the distracted driving bill on Wednesday, according to the Gainesville Times.
Georgia’s new distracted driving law will take effect July 1 after Gov. Nathan Deal signs the “Hands-Free Georgia Act” into law on Wednesday, May 2.
It will be a crime to operate a phone with any part of the body while driving when House Bill 673 hits the streets in July — no more getting away with shooting that quick text at a light or skimming that email at 60 mph.
The cost of distracted driving will be on display on Wednesday, when Deal will sign the bill at the Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport during a ceremony attended by the families of the five Georgia Southern nursing students killed by a tractor-trailer in 2015 on Interstate 16. The driver of the truck admitted to using his mobile phone to text prior to the crash but denied using it when the crash occurred. He was sentenced to five years in prison as part of a plea deal.
The Georgia State Patrol and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety plan a 90-day grace period for drivers beginning in July, during which drivers will be given warnings while a public information campaign advertises the changes in the law, [bill sponsor State Rep. John] Carson said.
Former Congressman and short-term Trump Administration Secretary of Health and Human Service Tom Price says that repealing the individual mandate of Obamacare will hurt some Americans, according to USA Today.
“There are many, and I’m one of them, who believes … you’ll likely have individuals who are younger and healthier not participating in that market, and consequently, that drives up the cost for other folks within that market,” Price said during the World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C., according to The Washington Times.
Price, who resigned last fall over criticism of his use of private airplanes, had said when he was in office that he was against the individual mandate. He said the requirement was “actually driving up the cost for the American people in terms of coverage,” according to The Fiscal Times.
Price’s comments come the same day the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation that studies health care and says it is focused on helping the most needy members of society, came out with a study that found since 2016 4 million working-age people no longer have insurance coverage. The foundation said the drop in coverage was not connected to a repeal in the individual mandate but instead due to weaknesses with the current health care law that remain unfixed and the Trump Administration’s cuts to advertising and outreach related to getting people signed up for Obamacare.
Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle made a campaign bus tour stop last week in Tifton, according to the Tifton Gazette.
Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle made a campaign stop in Tifton April 26 during his second “Cagle Country Bus Tour.”
“We’ve got to make sure that economic prosperity is felt everywhere,” he said. “There are too many communities, particularly in rural Georgia, that are losing population. I’m going to be a governor that’s going to focus on bringing the kind of jobs that are necessary to rural Georgia but also helping existing companies expand.”
Cagle said that the best way to do that is to focus on workforce development.
“We’ve got to make sure we have education aligned with industry needs,” he said. He spoke about his vision for an educational system that is multi-leveled and supports all job types, with the College and Career Academy model he supported as lieutenant governor as an example.
“Every single job is adding value to a person’s life, to society as a whole and to industry growth,” he said.
Declining access to healthcare in rural areas is something that can be halted and reversed if jobs are brought back to those areas, according to Cagle.
“We have to help our hospitals be financially sustainable going forward,” he said. “Part of that is having more people at work that have insurance that can actually pay.”
Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams has been on her own bus tour, according to the Albany Herald.
As with other Democrats running for state office, Abrams said if elected her top priority will be the expansion of Medicaid.
“If we expand Medicaid in the state of Georgia and draw down $30 billion over the next seven years, that will not only restore heath care, it will also restore rural hospitals throughout south and southwest Georgia,” Abrams said. “We are now in the phase where we put in 5 percent and draw down 95 percent. But that is the state’s responsibility in cooperation with local governments.
“But we have the money to do it, and in every state that has expanded Medicaid — and is in a situation like Georgia — has actually made money and helped improve heath care.”
Abrams’ South Georgia organizer, Shakya Cherry Donaldson, briefly addressed the crowd before the candidate’s arrival.
“Our time is now,” Donaldson said, “We have the numbers. If everyone goes to the polls and votes, we will win.”
Secretary of State Brian Kemp said critics of his latest TV ad can “get over it,” according to Curt Yeomans with the Gwinnett Daily Post.
“Their overreaction is insane but I’m not surprised,” Kemp said in an email to supporters. “These same activists freaked out during my time as Secretary of State when I sued the Obama Justice Department twice — and won — to implement our citizenship check laws and stood up to left-wing groups that wanted to undermine Georgia elections.”
“Well, I have a message for folks on the left: I’m conservative. Get over it!”
“Most are offended by my arsenal of firearms,” Kemp told supporters. “Others think I’m being too protective of my daughters.Some are questioning the legitimacy of my southern drawl and a liberal lawyer/blogger is even considering a criminal investigation.”
State Senator David Shafer has received a new round of endorsements in his campaign for Lieutenant Governor, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
One is former Republican National Committee chairman and governor Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. The other is former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III.
Barbour’s endorsement of Shafer was announced Tuesday. The state senator led the Georgia Republican Party while Barbour chaired the party’s national committee in the 1990’s. Barbour was later elected as Mississippi’s governor in 2003 and served two terms in that office while Shafer was elected to the Georgia Senate in 2002.
“He was at the forefront of our effort to elect a Republican majority in Georgia and he has fought for our conservative principles as a member of the State Senate,” Barbour said. “David Shafer is the strongest candidate for our Party and the best candidate to advance our conservative values. I am proud to endorse him for lieutenant governor of Georgia.”
Meese was attorney general under President Ronald Reagan. He sent Shafer a letter last week, encouraging the senator’s candidacy, saying “If you are elected, I know that you will do an outstanding job.”
“Ever since your election to the Georgia State Senate in 2002, you have fought for limited government, lower taxes, stronger families and our basic freedoms,” Meese wrote in the letter. “Your record clearly shows that you are a Reagan Republican.”
Newt Gingrich has endorsed Ken Shigley for Georgia Court of Appeals. From a press release:
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has endorsed Ken Shigley in his race for Georgia Court of Appeals judge, joining a chorus of support from conservative leader including Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren, former Georgia GOP chair Sue Everhart and former Congressman Lynn Westmoreland.
“Ken Shigley is the best candidate for the Georgia Court of Appeals,” said Gingrich in Shigley’s new TV ad. “He knows the law — has the experience, temperament and wisdom.”
In addition to the Gingrich ad running on Fox News Channel, Shigley is launching a $200,000 media buy to renew his original ad on metro Atlanta TV that started Monday.
Everhart points out that Shigley’s opponent in the May 22 race is a lifelong Democrat. “He has run for office four times as a Democrat,” she said. “I think the voters deserve to know the truth. I support Ken Shigley.”
“I appreciate the support of these great leaders who have devoted much of their lives to serving Georgians,” Shigley said. “As a judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals, I will demonstrate conservative values by applying the law not making the law, limiting myself to two terms and will not get a judicial pension under current law.”
Candidates for Mayor of Columbus spoke in a forum at Columbus State University, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Fighting crime, balancing the city budget and improving recycling were among top issues at a mayoral candidates forum Tuesday at Columbus State University
Supporters gathered in University Hall to hear pitches from Danny Arencibia, Zeph Baker, former school board member Beth Harris, former Councilor Berry “Skip” Henderson, Charlie Roberts and Winfred Shipman. Sponsored by WRBL and PMB Broadcasting with CSU as a partner, the forum gave candidates a chance to answer questions for voters just three weeks before the May 22 election.
After 2017 ended with 35 homicides, the candidates were asked how the next mayor of Columbus would deal with a violent trend that hasn’t been seen since 1980.
Four Republicans are running for Tift County Commission District Four, according to the Tifton Gazette.
The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine broke ground on a new campus in Moultrie, according to the Statesboro Herald.
PCOM already has a campus in suburban Atlanta, and it hopes to start admitting med students in Moultrie in August 2019.
“Our mission is driven to educate primary care physicians in underserved areas in both rural and urban areas,” said Dr. Jay Feldstein, president of PCOM. “South Georgia is underserved.”
While rural areas in Georgia account for 18 percent of the population, only 7 percent of Georgia’s physicians currently practice in rural areas.
Among Georgia’s 159 counties, there are 79 without an OB/GYN, 63 without a pediatrician and six with no physician of any kind, according to the House Rural Development Council.
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