Georgia Trend Daily – June 27, 2024
June 27, 2024 Capitol Beat News
Poll shows strong opposition to mining near Okefenokee Swamp
Dave Williams reports that a new poll shows overwhelming public opposition to an Alabama company’s plans to mine titanium near the Okefenokee Swamp. The survey of 600 Georgia voters, conducted last week by Washington, D.C.-based Hart Research Associates, found widespread bipartisan opposition to issuing state permits to Twin Pines Minerals for the project.
June 27, 2024 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Bridging the Gap: CareSource’s Commitment to Oral Health in Rural Georgia
Dr. Judy Greenlea Taylor reports that as a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, CareSource understands the importance of oral health in fostering the whole health of an individual. Oral Health often remains an overlooked aspect of health care access, particularly in our state’s rural communities.
June 27, 2024 Georgia Ports Authority
Port of Brunswick sets all-time record in May, grows Ro/Ro volumes by 26 percent
Staff reports that the Port of Brunswick handled an all-time record of 86,577 units of Roll-on/Roll-off cargo in May, an increase of more than 18,000 units or 26 percent compared to May 2023. Overall, auto processors moved just over 23,000 auto exports and 54,550 auto imports in May.
June 27, 2024 State Affairs
Georgia’s alternative to Medicaid expansion is complex, costly, experts say
Tammy Joyner reports, by now, state officials who oversee Georgia’s work-for-Medicaid program were projected to have about 100,000 people enrolled in Pathways to Coverage, the first of its kind in the country. As of March 31, the most recent date for which data is available, 4,392 people had enrolled in the program, Gov. Brian Kemp’s alternative to expanding Medicaid.
June 27, 2024 Milledgeville Union-Recorder
Grants expanding childcare hours at local centers
Carly Henderson reports, state grant funds are expanding access to childcare during nontraditional hours at two local facilities. The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) awarded 13 Expanding Parents’ Access to Nontraditional Delivery (EXPAND) grants to childcare providers, nonprofit organizations and government organizations.
June 27, 2024 Capitol Beat News
Land preservation group acquires properties near Ocmulgee Mounds
Dave Williams reports that a nonprofit organization dedicated to land conservation has acquired two parcels of land in Middle Georgia that will support efforts to establish the Ocmulgee Mounds as Georgia’s first national park. The “Branson Tracts” occupy 931 acres in Bibb and Twiggs counties.
June 27, 2024 The Current
GB-911 to receive funding from Glynn County in effort to retain workers
Jabari Gibbs reports, starting next week, the staffers at the Glynn-Brunswick 911 Center are going to be making more money, part of a tiered payment incentive plan approved by the county commissioners to address retention issues at the emergency agency. According to Cara Richardson, director of the GB-911, the new starting salary will be $43,000 on a step-tier program.
June 27, 2024 Albany Herald
Ossoff introduces $64 million infrastructure security bill for Albany Marine base
Staff reports that U.S Sen. Jon Ossoff is introducing legislation to upgrade national security infrastructure at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany. This week, Ossoff introduced legislation to authorize construction of a new consolidated communication facility at the Albany Marine base.
June 27, 2024 WABE
Rural communities in Georgia are losing access to maternity care – can training more doulas help?
Jess Mador reports, Georgia has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the country, according to an analysis by health policy and research organization KFF. And Black Georgians are more than twice as likely as white women to die related to pregnancy.
June 27, 2024 GPB
Georgia prisons will soon have a new healthcare provider after contract was brought into question
Sofi Gratas reports, a Fulton County Judge dismissed a case against the state of Georgia this week that put into question the legality of a contract for a new health care provider in the state’s prisons. The Georgia Department of Corrections’ new contract with Centurion Health will go into effect July 1.
June 27, 2024 Marietta Daily News
Cobb Elections Explores Charging for Voter Challenges
Jake Busch reports that the Cobb Board of Elections could begin charging those challenging voters’ eligibility. The board discussed that prospect at this week’s meeting, a week after Eugene Williams, a Cobb resident who has tried on multiple previous occasions to have voters removed from the rolls, challenged the registration of 2,472 voters.
June 27, 2024 Georgia Recorder
Anticipation builds ahead of Georgia’s Biden-Trump CNN debate over different visions for America
Jill Nolin and Ross Williams report, the big show in Atlanta may be Thursday evening, but the days leading up to the first presidential debate have been filled with a flurry of campaign events that put on display how each side plans to win a state that narrowly backed President Joe Biden in 2020. On the Democratic side, Republicans took centerstage on the eve of the debate and issued dire warnings about the threat to democracy if former President Donald Trump is put back in the White House.
June 27, 2024 Capitol Beat News
Georgia Senate committee to look at ways to regulate artificial intelligence technology
Dave Williams reports that a Georgia Senate study committee on Wednesday set a broad framework for determining how the state should regulate emerging artificial intelligence technology to protect the public without stifling innovation. On Wednesday, the new Senate study committee agreed on a broad range of policy areas AI will affect that need to be addressed in any legislation Georgia lawmakers come up with, including health care, public safety, education, and transportation.
June 27, 2024 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
PG A.M.: Eyes drawn to Kemp ahead of Atlanta presidential debate
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Van Brimmer report, for months, Gov. Brian Kemp has stoked a mystery of sorts in Georgia politics by refusing to say whether he cast a ballot for former President Donald Trump or one of his rivals in the state’s presidential primary. “I didn’t vote for anybody. I voted, but I didn’t vote for anybody,” he said, revealing he cast a blank ballot. “I mean the race was already over when the primary got here.”
