Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Good morning! We start today with last night’s debate between the candidates in one of Coastal Georgia’s marquee races in the May 21 primary. We then look at student protests — those related to the Israel-Hamas war and another at Georgia Southern in Statesboro to protest the termination of a university program aimed at reducing discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people. We wrap it with a round-up of news ‘or your radar. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com
Former colleagues, current candidates trade barbs
Shalena Cook Jones and Jennifer Parker are former colleagues in the Chatham County district attorney’s office. Last evening, they demonstrated how familiarity can breed — if not contempt — a knowing sense of the jugular, as the two Democratic candidates for DA exchanged barbs last night. It was their only face-to-face debate ahead of the May 21 primary.
Parker, the challenger, said that talented prosecutors fled the district attorney’s office to neighboring jurisdictions during Jones’s tenure because of what she described as her chaotic, opaque, and top-down management of the office. They “want to come back home to Chatham County,” she told an audience of some 75 people at the candidate forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Coastal Georgia.
For her part, Jones, the second woman and first Black woman ever to serve as the county’s district attorney, said opponent had done nothing while serving as assistant district attorney in Chatham County for 20 years to back her promise that, if elected, those “imaginary” attorneys would return.
“Change takes time,” said Jones, defending herself against what Parker and other critics say has been her lack of progress in fulfilling her campaign promise in 2020 to make the criminal justice system more equitable.
Stay tuned in coming days for in-depth coverage of the race for Chatham County district attorney from The Current’s public safety reporter, Jake Shore.
‘Strong message’
1st District Congressman Earl “Buddy” Carter is expected to back legislation being introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives this week that would require the U.S. Department of Education to use a broader definition of antisemitism when enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws.
Declaring that a “strong message” must be sent that antisemitism and threats to Jewish students won’t be tolerated on university and college campuses, Carter said last week that those institutions that fail to protect Jewish students from antisemitic incidents on campus should face a cut-off of federal aid.
Meanwhile, following a police crackdown on antiwar protesters on the campus of Atlanta’s Emory University last week, two Savannah-area state lawmakers — Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook and Sen. Derek Mallow — were among 19 Georgia legislators who signed a letter accusing state officials of creating “an environment where state police feel free — or perhaps are directed — to respond to normal peaceful protests with violence.”
The lawmakers urged “all state officials to immediately deescalate and prevent further harm to our constituents.”
The letter-signing effort was led by Rep. Ruwa Romman (D-Duluth), a Palestinian who was born in Jordan and moved to the U.S. when she was seven years old. In condemning the excessive use of force by law enforcement personnel, Romman said there was “no room” for antisemitism in protests calling for an end to the Israel-Gaza war.
Anti-discrimination program no longer conforms
Students and faculty members at Georgia Southern University’s main campus held a sit-in rally yesterday to protest the termination of a program aimed at reducing discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people.
“By treating LGBTQIA+ services with a Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, you only harm queer students and the campus at large,” said a statement distributed by some of the roughly 200 protesters and supporters at GSU’s Russell Union, The Current’s Justin Taylor and Craig Nelson report.
The protest in Statesboro, as well as at the university’s Armstrong campus in Savannah, follow last week’s announcement by Georgia Southern president, Kyle Marrero, that the program, called Safe Space, would be discontinued because it no longer conformed with state education policy.
Under last year’s revision of the University System of Georgia’s policy on freedom of expression and academic freedom, member institutions are barred from offering training that may include “affirmations, ideological tests, or oaths, including diversity statements.”
Whether the move against Safe Space signals a broader attempt to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at Georgia Southern and at other state universities and colleges wasn’t clear.
10 things for your radar
- One small step: “This is one small step in that process” of preserving Coastal Georgia’s imperiled shrimping industry, declared House Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) last week in Brunswick before Gov. Brian Kemp signs into law a bill making the white shrimp the state’s official crustacean. Among others in attendance: state Reps. Steven Sainz (R-St. Marys) and Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah) and Sen. Mike Hodges (R-Brunswick).
- Justice denied: “In Brunswick, drug cops were convicted. A prosecutor was indicted. But hundreds of people caught in their maw are forgotten,” The Current’s Caitlin Philippo reports in a multipart series on the heretofore hidden victims of misconduct by Glynn County’s disgraced, now disbanded elite antidrug unit.
- Forget it: Kemp says “no” to expanding Medicaid next year, saying it isn’t “good policy” for Georgia.
- It shrunk: Attendance at Orange Crush events on Tybee Island earlier this month was roughly half of last year’s edition, with crime data showing that 57 total arrests were made on Tybee during the week of April 15-21 — 54 of them over Orange Crush weekend.
- Water (1): Savannah receives $30 million from the Biden administration and FEMA to help it tackle flooding and drainage problems in the neighborhoods of Carver Village and Cloverdale.
- Water (2): Bulloch County Chairman Roy Thompson and County Commissioners Curt Deal and Anthony Simmons thank U.S. Senators John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock for $1 million in federal money to upgrade the county’s water infrastructure.
- Water (3): Garden City’s City Council held a workshop to discuss water resources last evening.
- Water (4): Warnock urges more federal and state aid for the Port of Brunswick to help it manage additional traffic following the Baltimore bridge collapse.
- Bring ‘em on: Savannah’s Over the Moon Diaper Bank thanks Ossoff and Warnock for $381,000 to help it supply needy mothers and families with nappies.
- ‘Republican enough’: A federal judge blocks an attempt by the Republican Party in northern Catoosa County to remove four candidates from the ballot in the May 21st primary, after the local GOP said they weren’t Republican enough.
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Georgia Power completes Plant Vogtle nuclear project
The second of two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle entered full commercial operation, years late and billions over budget.
Slideshow: Georgia Southern students protest termination of LGBTQIA+ program
About 200 people at Georgia Southern University participated Monday in a protest against cancellation of anti-discrimination programming.
Georgia Southern students plan protest after cancellation of antidiscrimination program
The training known as Safe Space had been previously endorsed and lauded at GSU, but President Kyle Marrero said last week that he was powerless to continue the program after policy updates by the Board of Regents.
‘Georgia needs you’: Amid doctor shortage, Savannah med school workshop aims to inspire rural teens
Launched in 2016 to help Georgia address its rural physician shortage, MUSM’s teen workshop ushers aspiring doctors through a series of hands-on activity stations.
Mail processing delays disrupting newspapers, threatening elections
A recent survey found that since the Palmetto regional center opened, only 36% of inbound mail is being delivered on time.
Peaceful protests continue at Emory as tensions over Gaza embroil college campuses
Hundreds held a rally on Emory’s campus under a high police presence.
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