Georgia Trend Daily – Dec. 29, 2020
Dec. 29, 2020 Gainesville Times
Gov. Kemp touts next chapter in virus fight as vaccine distribution in nursing homes begins
Nick Watson reports that nursing home staff members in Gainesville were receiving some of the first COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated to long-term care facilities Monday, Dec. 28. Gov. Brian Kemp spoke Monday morning outside of PruittHealth’s The Oaks at Limestone on Flintridge Road about the beginning of an “exciting and important chapter” regarding the vaccine rollout.
Dec. 29, 2020 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Sports Desk: The Right Stuff
Loran Smith writes, the life of Alpharetta native Maria Taylor, one of the nation’s leading sports analysts and a dual-sport athlete, has flowed seamlessly as a river, with few troubled waters. That brings pause as one considers where we might find her at her next station in life.
Dec. 29, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Holiday travel: Hundreds of Delta flights canceled due to weather, pilot staffing issues
Kelly Yamanouchi reports that Delta Air Lines canceled hundreds of flights Christmas week due to a storm at its Minneapolis hub and because it didn’t have enough pilots for its reconfigured air fleet.The Atlanta-based carrier and its regional operation, Delta Connection, canceled 325 flights in the two days before Christmas amid the storm that brought snow and high winds to Minnesota and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Dec. 29, 2020 Brunswick News
Salvors encouraged by start of second cut on Golden Ray
Larry Hobbs reports that three days into the effort to tear the stern off the shipwrecked Golden Ray with an anchor chain, things are running fairly smoothly, salvors report. This second cut into the half-submerged shipwreck in the St. Simons Sound began around noon on Christmas Day, according to Unified Command.
Dec. 29, 2020 GPB
Want A COVID-19 Vaccine? Georgians Can Call Hotline To Find Out When
Ellen Eldridge reports that a hotline now exists for Georgians with questions about the COVID-19 vaccines and the state’s distribution plan for them. Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey said those at the front of the vaccine line are residents and staff in long-term care facilities.
Dec. 29, 2020 Marietta Daily Journal
Owens sworn in as Cobb County’s new sheriff
Aleks Gilbert reports, Democrat Craig Owens, was sworn in as Cobb County’s new sheriff during a ceremony at the Cobb Police Training Center in Austell. When he takes office Jan. 1, he will be the first Black sheriff in the county’s history.
Dec. 29, 2020 Saporta Report
Rhode Island senator visits Georgia coast, reminds voters of sea level rise
David Pendered reports that a Rhode Island senator is back in Georgia today to share one message with Georgia voters. “Think about the coast as you cast your vote,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat.
Dec. 29, 2020 Dalton Daily Citizen-News
Trump returning to Dalton; rally will be the first visit by a sitting president in 28 years
Charles Oliver reports that President Donald Trump’s appearance in Dalton next Monday will mark the first time a sitting president will have visited Dalton since President George H.W. Bush toured a Shaw Industries facility and held a rally at the airport while campaigning for reelection in August 1992. Dalton resident Margie Witt, who said she likes Trump, said she’s thinking about going to the rally.
Dec. 29, 2020 New York Times
Relief Package Grows as Campaign Issue in Georgia Senate Races
Stephanie Saul reports that the $900 billion pandemic relief package that President Trump belatedly signed Sunday night gained steam on Monday as an issue in the Georgia Senate runoffs, with the two Republican incumbents seeking to ride the tailwinds of the stimulus bill and claim credit for helping to bring aid to the state.
Dec. 29, 2020 Politico
Judge blocks voter purge in 2 Georgia counties
Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report that a federal judge in Georgia on Monday ordered two counties to reverse a decision removing more than 4,000 voters from the rolls ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff elections that will decide control of the U.S. Senate. The judge, Leslie Abrams Gardner — the sister of former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, a prominent ally of President-elect Joe Biden who has led voter registration efforts across the state — concluded that the counties appeared to have improperly relied on unverified change-of-address data to invalidate registrations in the two counties.
Dec. 29, 2020 The Center Square
Criminal records expungement expansion in Georgia takes effect Jan. 1
Nyamekye Daniel reports that millions of Georgians will start the new year with a second chance. A new law that increases the number of criminal records that can be sealed takes effect Friday. The law, the result of Senate Bill 288, allows certain misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies to qualify for expungement.
Dec. 29, 2020 Capitol Beat News
Standard or daylight time? General Assembly may ask Georgia voters
Dave Williams reports that Georgia Sen. Ben Watson doesn’t care whether the Peach State observes standard time all year or daylight saving time. Watson, R-Savannah, a physician, just wants Georgians to pick one or the other because studies show switching back and forth every six months causes heart disease and sleeping disorders.
Dec. 29, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
House approval of $2,000 stimulus, veto override sets up tough decisions for Loeffler, Perdue
Tia Mitchell reports that U.S. House votes Monday evening to increase the size of individual stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000 and rebuke President Donald Trump with a bipartisan override of his veto of an annual military spending bill sets the stage for a pair of tough decisions for U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. As early as Tuesday, the two incumbents could face a vote on whether to endorse Trump’s call for heftier payments or stand firm on the spending measure they approved just last week.
