Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Following a week during which Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Rome) and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Silt) got the jump on July 4th fireworks, we look at less crude — but no less divisive — issues in Savannah, Atlanta and Washington that affect Coastal Georgians: maternal health care, Georgia’s public school meals program, and state tax credits for Hollywood filmmakers on location in the Hostess City.
A box of chocolates?
From the image of Forrest Gump sitting on a park bench in Chippewa Square to the chase scene starting at Forsyth Park in “The Longest Yard,” Savannah’s landscapes have become an iconic part of American cinema, thanks in part to the lucrative tax credits that the state has extended to Hollywood moviemakers.
The subsidies have put Savannah on Hollywood’s map and made it the third-best small city and town to be a moviemaker, according to rankings published by MovieMaker magazine.
But to paraphrase Forrest Gump (“My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.’ ”), how many chocolates has Savannah actually gotten from it all? How much has it actually benefited financially? State lawmakers want to know, The Current’s Audrey Gibbs writes.
Public school meals saved — for now
Earlier this month, the Georgia Board of Education, using $6.3 million in federal funds, rescued the state program that provides free and discounted meals to K-12 public school students in the state.
The board made the move after Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed a measure passed by the Georgia legislature that would have funded the program.
The rescue means that approximately 70,000 school children in Coastal Georgia and elsewhere in the state will still have access to meals when the school year starts this fall, extending a popular program that U.S. Congress funded during the pandemic, The Current’s Jabari Gibbs reports.
But how far the money will go, and whether it will even last the academic year, isn’t clear.
The sponsor of the legislature’s vetoed funding bill, State Rep. Imani Barnes (D-Atlanta), says the lawmakers will have to take up the issue when it resumes business early next year.
The number of students eligible for free or discounted meals is staggering. Some 79% of McIntosh County’s public-school students qualify for the meals. In Liberty, the number is 70%; Chatham, it’s 69%; Glynn, 60%; Camden, 45%; and Bryan, 32%.
Maternal health care: ‘My mission since day one’?
Before heading into the U.S. House of Representatives’ long summer recess, Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter spent a busy June reflecting on issues that he and the Republican Party consider issues vital to the nation.
Among them: voting in favor of a measure to bar the Department of Energy’s alleged attempts to ban gas stoves and another to censure California Democrat Adam Schiff, former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, for allegedly misleading the American public during congressional investigations into the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia.
Included in the summer legislative push was another issue: maternal mortality rates.
Earlier this month, Carter announced his co-sponsorship of the “Preventing Maternal Deaths Reauthorization Act of 2023,” along with fellow Republican legislators. At the time, his office touted the Pooler congressman as a trailblazer in addressing the problem.
While Carter’s efforts are laudable, a behind-the-scenes look at his legislative effort raises questions about his assertions that he’s considered the issue “my mission since day one in Congress” and that he has been “leading the charge in Congress,” The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
ICYMI
- “Hyundai, others expected to increase Bryan County tax base by $7B” (Coastal Courier, June 22, 2023) “Bryan County Administrator Ben Taylor said the Hyundai plant and related projects, including the Hyundai Mobis manufacturing facility in Richmond Hill and an LG battery plant slated for the Mega-Site, will over time add some $8.5 billion to the county’s tax rolls – a figure six times higher than the county’s 2022 tax base of around $1.5 billion.”
- “Tybee Island city council votes to approve funding ahead of unpermitted event on 4th of July weekend” (WTOC, June 22, 2023) The city has set aside more than $187,000 from its general fund to go toward two additional ambulances, overtime for the police and fire departments, as well as lodging and food for them… and additional fencing and lighting on the island for the weekend.”
- “Opponents fight proposed golf course on Gullah Geechee land” (Axios Atlanta, June 22, 2023) “Elvio Tropeano, the developer and property owner, wants to build the project on 502 acres on St. Helena Island — an island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, near the Georgia border home to significant Gullah Geechee and civil rights history. Tropeano is asking county officials to remove a cultural protection overlay from the island that prohibits certain new developments, like golf courses and gated communities.”
- “County commissioners need to focus on the here and now” (Brunswick News, June 24, 2023) “Glynn County Commissioner David Sweat clearly has his eyes on the present. Unfortunately for Brunswick and the Golden Isles, he was the only Glynn commissioner of the six attending a planning retreat on St. Simons Island this week to focus on pressing issues. The five others present — all but Commissioner Walter Rafolski, who was unable to participate — skipped over the present and spoke of a future time, future populations. This distant vision may go a long way in explaining the unending wave of violent crime that has been sweeping over this coastal region.”
- “‘I Underestimated the Depth of Outrage’: A Year in Post-Roe America” (Politico, June 23, 2023)“Neither side in the abortion debate seemed to be fully prepared for a post-Roe legal environment. With strong mistrust on both sides, it has been hard for politicians with opposing views on abortion to agree on legislation that will accomplish a goal that all of them ostensibly support — protecting women’s lives and health in cases that do not involve abortion.” (Note: Daniel K. Williams is a professor of history at the University of West Georgia and the author of “Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement before Roe v. Wade”)
- Related stories:
- “Biden can barely say the word, but ‘abortion’ is set to define his 2024 pitch” (Politico, June 22, 2023)
- “The one issue Republican presidential candidates don’t want to talk about” (Politico, June 22, 2023)
- “Echoing history, reliance upon travel rises for abortion care post-Dobbs” (Georgia Recorder, June 21, 2023)
- “A National Survey of OBGYNs’ Experiences After Dobbs” (Women’s Health Policy, June 21, 2023)
After veto, Georgia finds funding to fuel free school meals program
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp raised eyebrows earlier this year when he vetoed a bipartisan measure that would have funded free and reduced-price meals to all undergraduate students in the state. Earlier this month, however, the state school board filled that void by approving federal funds to revive the initiative. The state agency’s decision means that approximately 1,686,318 school children around the state, including thousands in Coastal […]
Nearing summer recess, Carter touts efforts on maternal health care
Carter’s newer support for improving maternal mortality doesn’t match voting records so far.
ACLU lawsuit alleges ‘pervasive racial discrimination’ at Georgia school district near Savannah
The plaintiffs allege that they posted on social media about acts of racial animosity that they personally experienced or witnessed, after which the defendants sought to discipline them or remove the posts, while at the same time failing to discipline the white students who perpetrated the acts.
Coastal Georgia’s ever-growing film industry prospers
As state officials work to evaluate the benefits from the lucrative tax credits that have put Savannah on Hollywood’s map. It’s earned the ranking of third-best small city and town to be a movie maker, according to MovieMaker magazine.
GBI head steps down
Register stepped down after less than a year in the job. He will remain at GBI through July.
Gang crackdown, other legislation takes effect July 1
Law requires judges to impose prison sentences of at least five years on those convicted of recruiting gang members. It also mandates tougher penalties for recruiting to a gang anyone under age 17 or with a disability, requiring at least a 10-year sentence.
Coastal Georgia’s Fort Pulaski seeks public comment on climate resiliency plan, amid sea-level rise
The Civil War-era seaside fort and adjoining park are grappling with the effects of climate change, prompting federal officials to adapt.
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