Sunday Reads – Sept. 26
Rearranging the voting districts, state news in the national spotlight and The Lorax. What more do we need? Information, of course.
Reapportionment gets official date
Gov. Brian Kemp officially set the legislative special session for Nov. 3 to decide on the new maps for state legislative and Congressional districts. It’s fair to say the decennial reapportionment is one game that’s already in progress, and it’s not just the legislators showing their cards. FairDistrictGa, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group partnered with the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, presented its analysis of Georgia’s 2020 Census numbers this week. The groups’ data show that if districts were drawn based on the mathematical benchmarks set by the group, areas that vote along Democrat lines would have a slight edge. The group presents another public discussion called “Myth vs. Fact” at 7 p.m. Monday to help citizens learn more to help them evaluate and understand the draft maps as they become public. They’ll present the benchmarks they’ve set and will explain them so you can make up your own mind. Here’s the link if you are curious.
A local Lorax, a new trail and trees
In Savannah, renovations to Police Memorial Trail are nearly finished, and it’ll have great shade from the hot sun thanks to in part to an anonymous poet who became the voice of the trees there. It’s a 0.6-mile public walking and biking trail running nearly parallel to the Truman Parkway, just south of Victory. The quiet Lorax, a nod to the Dr. Seuss character, left signs with poems on older trees along the trail site in hopes of saving them from construction crews. It worked for nearly all.
Eventually, the trail will meet up with the already finished Truman Linear Trail that runs south from Derenne Avenue to Lake Mayer. That linkage will be a healthy start to realizing the 30-mile protected Tide to Town trail designed to link all parts of the city and county with an urban network for walking and biking.
And to honor the spirit of The Lorax, we leave with this quote from the book, which warned us about taking our environment for granted: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
The state of things, specifically Georgia
There are several updates this week on national issues that bring focus to our state.
- A U.S. Court of Appeals heard arguments Friday about Georgia’s “heartbeat” abortion law. It’s distinctive from the one recently in passed in Texas but has the same effect, critics say: It creates a virtual ban on abortions in the state. After the arguments, justices discussed whether to hold their opinions until after the U.S. Supreme Court announces how it will rule on a Mississippi law with some of the same characteristics.
- Georgia ranks third among states without expanded Medicare for enrollment on the health insurance exchanges facilitated by the Affordable Care Act. The ACA was set up to provide health insurance for people who do not have job- or government-based coverage. More than 550,000 people are enrolled while Gov. Kemp continues to pursue a separate waiver plan to provide insurance for fewer than 50,000 through private insurers. An estimated 1.4 million Georgians do not have health insurance. Also in the news this week: a story from Georgia Health News looking at how the state is managing Medicaid managed care coverage. A look at contracts for the companies contracted for care shows little oversight and no enforcement of quality standards of care.
- Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told an elections forum this week that a “huge disinformation campaign” around the elections process in 2020 “..destabilized many segments of American society.” Critics blasted him afterwards to say his support of the new Georgia voting law enabled the damage.
Speaking of voting and new law…
The Current, along with The Savannah Tribune, one of the oldest Black-owned and operated publications in the United States, will co-host an online voter education event to inform voters from Savannah to Brunswick how to vote safely and effectively in local elections Nov. 2 under Georgia’s new election law.
The event will be held two evenings — Tuesday, Oct. 5 and Wednesday, Oct. 6 — from 6:30-7:30 p.m. and will feature a panel of experts from
- Georgia Secretary of State’s office,
- Chatham County Board of Registrars,
- Glynn County Board of Elections,
- ACLU of Georgia, and
- League of Women Voters of Coastal Georgia..
This event is free and open to the public, but advanced registration is required. Click on this link to sign up.
Our own news: We turned 1!
This week we’ve been celebrating our first birthday — that’s a big deal for a little nonprofit startup like The Current. Your support has proven we can be rooted in and funded by the communities we serve. We believe that by working together, we can improve our quality of life, make a positive impact on our community, and empower our friends and neighbors with accurate, truthful information.
So thanks for reading and helping us bring in-depth journalism to the coast. There’s a lot more to come! You can help us celebrate now by clicking here or on that yellow button at the bottom of this newsletter or by sharing this newsletter with a friend.
And for your second cup…
We see them everywhere: on trucks one or two at a time, on ships by the thousands, in big-box store parking lots waiting for loading or unloading, made into restaurants and public spaces like Starland Yard in Savannah. But yet, there’s a shortage of those 20-foot-equivalent container units. And that’s probably going to affect your ability to get your Christmas gifts on time.
Enjoy.
Advocates see Democrat gains as Kemp calls special redistricting session Nov. 3
Lawmakers are now set to gather at the Capitol for a special session Nov. 3 to fulfill their once-a-decade duty of updating district lines to fit with the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.
A trail revived, its trees survive
When Savannah started renovating Police Memorial Trail, a 0.6-mile biking and walking path tucked between the Casey Canal and a remnant of woods south of Victory Drive, an anonymous tree lover got nervous.
Federal appeals court hears arguments On Georgia’s ‘heartbeat’ abortion ban
Georgia’s law under constitutional review would ban most abortions once a doctor could detect fetal cardiac activity — usually around six weeks of pregnancy. Critics say many women don’t even know they are pregnant until further […]
Health insurance exchange enrollment hits record level in state
Georgia had the third-highest number of people signing up for coverage during this year’s special enrollment period for the federally run health insurance exchanges. The state’s 147,000 enrollees were exceeded only by Florida and Texas among the […]
Raffensperger decries ‘disinformation campaign’ over 2020 election
Raffensperger said that election integrity was crucial more than ever, pointing to how Trump pressed him to turn over Georgia election results, as well as the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Shipping container shortage might affect your holiday shopping
A recent shortage of these containers is raising costs and snarling supply chains of thousands of products across the world. The situation highlights the importance of the simple yet essential cargo containers that, from a distance, […]
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