TODAY’S FEATURED STORY
Critics say Georgia bill intended to ease school library book bans a ‘slippery slope’
parents who believe school materials to be obscene would be able to report them to the school’s principal or their designee, who would have 10 days to determine whether the material is harmful and should be banned. Parents unhappy with the answer could appeal to the school board.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter’s property tax squabble continues
Georgia GOP senators back bill to ban mail-order abortion pills, force exams
Guyton man pleads not guilty to sedition in Jan. 6 insurrection
Ralston unveils comprehensive bill to boost mental health services in Georgia
Georgia corrections prepares to spend $600M to replace older prisons
Price rises for Arbery justice
U.S. Federal Marshals in Georgia are organizing a multiagency safety plan against possible violence during the hate crimes trial for Ahmaud Arbery’s killers.
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georgia
Georgia COVID-19 daily statistics
Potential remedies to stubborn problems in rural health care
What the Kemp budget has for health care — and what it doesn’t
REFERENCE POINTS
Georgia U.S. House District 1 Watch: Buddy Carter
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Georgia U.S. Senate Watch: Ossoff, Warnock
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Georgia Legislature: Daily press releases, announcements
Follow a running list of links regarding Legislative committees, budgets, bills and appointments.
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ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE
How a powerful company convinced Georgia to let it bury toxic waste in groundwater
Georgia Power wanted to leave 48 million tons of coal ash buried in unlined ponds and looked for regulatory loopholes to allow it.
Okefenokee mine project: What is titanium used for?
Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals wants to mine heavy mineral sands from 8,000 acres near the Okefenokee for titanium, a metal that’s both common and extraordinary.
Denied spaceport injunction heads to Court of Appeals
Petitioners filed an appeal late Friday in an attempt to keep alive an effort to block the purchase of land for the proposed commercial spaceport project.
Federal pipeline standards backed by top energy regulator after Colonial Pipeline hack
Spaceport hearing pits Camden officials against county residents
EPA takes on coal ash, placing Georgia Power plans in limbo
‘Don’t Look Up’ illustrates 5 myths that fuel rejection of science
legislature
Kemp unveils record state budget request
2022 brings conflicting priorities for Georgia lawmakers
Kemp calls for teacher pay raises, law against race history education, restoring funds for pre-K
U.S. Ag Secretary commits to help Black farmers get back to land during Georgia stop
Georgia school superintendent expects students back in class, teacher raises in 2022
Bills for access to guns, voting become battlefields as legislature opens
Ga. legislators plan push to insure mental health on par with physical coverage
PUBLIC HEALTH
Most Georgians struggling to afford health care, survey says
What’s next for Georgia as Medicaid waiver requirements rejected?
politics
Your County Officials, Services
Want to give cheers or a complaints or a suggestion? Want to attend council or commission meetings, or just find out about garbage services or complain about potholes? Click on your county to get started.
DATA
Follow News Through Data with 538
Fivethirtyeight.com is a website that tells stories and news through statistical analysis using reliable, credible data to do it. Click here each day for new stories in politics, science, economics and more.
GOVERNING
Find Out What’s on the Agenda
Click here to see this week’s lineup of what’s being proposed and what’s up for discussion on various committees, boards and councils that represent you.
EDUCATION
State lawmakers to take aim at racial history in public schools, partisan school boards
Not getting into it: How critical race theory laws are cutting short classroom conversations
Professors’ free speech rights can clash with public universities’ interest in managing their employees
Georgia to expand personal finance education for high school students
State audit finds high default rate on need-based student loan program
Georgia Board of Regents won’t change names of buildings, colleges with racist links
University System of Georgia enrollment sees slight drop
Georgia’s top federal contracting universities opt for some vaccine mandates after all
The Tide: On Tybee, plastic trash gets a new use
A Tybee volunteer group educates about plastic waste as it turns beach trash into into stylish flower pots.
Coastal Georgia’s state delegation picks Kemp, party unity
Georgia’s state Republicans are quietly lining up behind Gov. Brian Kemp in his re-election primary battle against David Perdue.
New ‘Dirty Dozen’ includes climate change on Georgia Coast
The Dirty Dozen report brings attention to sites that aren’t necessarily the most polluted but are those where politics, policies and issues threaten the health of Georgia’s…
Entangled whale spotted off Cumberland Island with new calf
Before her appearance off Cumberland, Snow Cone was last seen on November 6 in southern New England. North Atlantic right whales migrate from their summer feeding grounds…
The Tide: Savannah bike trail re-opens
The Police Memorial Trail is short, as trails go, just 0.6 miles. Savannah refurbished it over the spring and summer, adding a little height to give adjacent…
Alternative fuels hit the road in Savannah
The Tide: First right whale calf arrives
The Tide: What new infrastructure bill could do for Coastal Georgia
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Making music, changing lives: Youth orchestras help at-risk kids
Incarcerated children said being involved in the program helped them try new experiences — even if they were told they were never going to succeed.
Electoral Count Act of 1887 shows its age – here’s how to help Congress certify presidential election with more certainty
The act allows members of Congress to object to counting votes from a state. They can do that if one member of the House and one Senator write an…
A proposed Texas charter school promised to be antiracist. Then it got caught up in the critical race theory fight.
A planned charter school was on the verge of winning final approval from the Texas Education Agency last August when a final set of requests arrived. Among them: The…
A simple tool has brought health insurance to thousands
Maryland income tax forms have included a box that taxpayers can check to indicate they do not have health insurance. With the taxpayer’s permission, the state comptroller submits the…
FROM THE CURRENT
Some Georgia tax credit scholarships go to anti-LGBT schools
Websites of 100 SSO scholarship schools in Georgia and found 15 with explicitly anti-gay policies. Many others assert religious stances but do not specifically mention homosexuality.
Red flags about Savannah’s concrete industry reveals wrongdoing
Ten years ago a Savannah whistleblower alerted federal authorities to a cartel costing Georgia taxpayers millions of dollars. This month, U.S. attorneys won their first admission of guilt.
Scholarship Tax Credit Program: $600M with Little Oversight
With no data or complaint process to guide, Georgia’s School Scholarship Organizations have shifted more than $600 million from state coffers to scholarships at private schools around the state – including more than 40 in the Savannah area.
Brunswick residents living next to a Superfund site worry about cleanup 40 years later
Brunswick is surrounded by toxic industrial sites that threaten humans, fish and waterways. Residents want more accountability.
Robberies keep violent crime top of mind for many Savannahians
American cities are suffering a gun-fueled crime wave, and Savannah is no different. Violent crime is at a 10-year high, according to Savannah Police Department statistics.
‘It seemed like our lives didn’t matter.’
Generations of Black residents in Brunswick and Glynn County moved away to find opportunity and equality. A Better Glynn wants to improve things at home instead.
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