After a break from grades in the 2020-21 school year, a report from the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) shows 2021-22 Florida school grades are trending up.
A press release from Governor Ron DeSantis noted that “Florida’s schools performed much better than expected due to policies that kept schools open and kept students in the classroom.”
Read More
After a break from grades in the 2020-21 school year, a report from the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) shows 2021-22 Florida school grades are trending up.
A press release from Governor Ron DeSantis noted that “Florida’s schools performed much better than expected due to policies that kept schools open and kept students in the classroom.”
Read More
Florida state Representative Jason Shoaf is calling for the removal of a Leon County middle school principal after the principal posted on Facebook that parents are “getting in our way.” Shoaf’s call for action is in response to a media report about comments in a Facebook post by Sarah Hembree, the principal of Elizabeth Cobb middle school, is located in Leon County.
On Tuesday, Tallahassee Reports published a story about the Facebook post by Hembree which stated in part, “Today I say – Parents, Quit pushing for stupid bills and getting in our way…schools are going to do what’s best for your students in spite of you..”
The “Quit pushing for stupid bills” statement appears to be a reference to the Parental Rights in Education bill that was recently signed into law by Governor DeSantis.
Hembree added that teachers “want to decide what they teach in their classroom based on the needs of the students in front of them….I am SO TIRED of being told we don’t know what we are doing or that we are messing with parents’ rights.”
Read More
Nadine Smith, the Executive Director of Equality Florida, told a group of Disney executives that Florida’s governor and legislative leaders are seeking to erase and criminalize the existence of gay people through the Parental Rights in Education bill.
The video obtained by a reporter documented comments made during a meeting among Disney officials and activists that was called to address the legislation recently signed by Governor DeSantis.
Referring to the bill, Smith said the actions by the governor and legislative leaders harkened back to the 1950’s and 1960’s. She told the Disney executives that “when they can criminalize your existence and demonize who you are, the next step is to criminalize you and take your kids.”
The comments by the participants in meeting voiced no concerns related to the provisions of bill addressing parental rights and the limitations of gender identity instruction to elementary school students. Instead, the discussion focused on how Disney would promote LGBTQ causes within their programing.
Smith has previously chose to characterize DeSantis as a “coward.”
Read More
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill this week that at least 35 organizations asked him to veto. Now health-care providers have liability protection from being sued by patients and family members over COVID-19-related injuries, deaths and refusal to try available treatment.
The new law provides liability protection to health-care providers that follow “government-issued health standards” that “include the CDC’s COVID-19 guidelines, which many say aren’t working,” the groups wrote in a letter to DeSantis. “Some medical professionals have stated that these CDC protocols have led to unnecessary medicines, ventilation and deaths.”
Shawn McBride, director of The American Freedom Information Institute, Inc. who led the 35-group coalition asking DeSantis to veto the bill, told The Center Square that while DeSantis “signed a bill that may allow CDC protocols to continue in some hospitals, we’ve laid the foundation to help more folks get to medical freedom.”
Read More
Senate President Wilton Simpson, a wealthy Republican from Pasco County whose business holdings include a large egg farm, filed paperwork Friday to run for state agriculture commissioner next year.
Based on his latest financial disclosure, Simpson is one of the wealthiest members in the Florida Legislature with a net worth of $31.5 million as of Dec. 31.
Simpson, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump earlier this year, is the highest profiled candidate to enter the race. Current Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat, is running for governor.
Read More
A federal moratorium on evictions ended on Saturday night, giving landlords the ability to remove tenants who have not paid their rent.
In Florida, a Zillow forecast estimates that there are currently 144,220 households that rent their homes or apartments and may be at risk of getting evicted. This is 9,879 more than last month. The analysis indicates 357,194 renter households in Florida are currently behind on rent, 48,969 less than in June.
Read More
Florida state Representative Anthony Sabatini announced this week that he has filed a bill that will mandate the use of E-Verify by all public and private employers.
Sabatini tweeted, “JUST FILED my first Bill for the 2022 FL Legislative Session. HB 6001 will mandate the use of E-Verify in FL, requiring ALL workers prove that they are legal BEFORE they can work in our State. With 70% of all new illegals coming straight to Florida, we MUST pass this Bill!”
This is his fourth time that Sabatini has filed a bill related to E-Verify since he was elected to the Florida House in 2018.
E-Verify is a web-based system that allows enrolled employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States. E-Verify employers verify the identity and employment eligibility of newly hired employees by electronically matching information provided by employees on the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, against records available to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Read More
U.S. Representative Byron Donalds, from Florida’s 19th congressional district, recently slammed Critical Race Theory in an opinion article from a very personal perspective. Donalds, who is African-American, has a White wife and biracial children. Donalds, like many other critics of CRT, views the movement as tool of the left…
Read More
Recently filed financial disclosure forms filed by state-wide elected leaders show that the net worth of Florida Governor Ron Desantis is significantly less than Florida’s three cabinet members.
The financial disclosure forms, known as Form 6, are required to be filed annually by state elected officials and some state employees. The forms were due to the Florida Commission on Ethics by July 1, 2021.
Desantis reported a 2020 net worth of $348,832 on his Form 6 filed on June 20, 2021. This is up 16.5% from the $291,449 reported for 2019.
Read More
McDONOUGH, GEORGIA — The lawsuit alleging voting shenanigans in Fulton County during last year’s presidential election continued Monday as Chief Judge Brian Amero heard opposing attorneys spar over voters’ rights and who to hold accountable for violating those rights. Amero presides over the case out of Henry County.
Read More
Former U.S. Republican Congressman Doug Collins will not run for governor of Georgia in 2022 and he also will not pursue a U.S. Senate seat that year. Collins tweeted the news Monday.
Read More
Republican officials in two Georgia counties this week formally censured Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on the grounds that they betrayed former U.S. President Donald Trump last November. Conservative activist Debbie Dooley told The Georgia Star News Wednesday that the GOP pushback against those three Georgia officials has only just begun.
Read More
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA-01) this month visited the U.S.-Mexico border and described what he saw as “a complete and total disaster” that threatens national security. Carter, in an emailed newsletter to his constituents, said he joined other members of Congress and toured U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services facilities in Brownsville, Donna, and McAllen, Texas.
Read More
A group directly linked to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated nearly $5.6 million to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office last year. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger spent that money on the 2020 presidential election.
Read More
Georgia officials announced Sunday that SK Innovation will continue to operate its battery manufacturing plant in Jackson County, thus saving 2,600 jobs. Gov. Brian Kemp announced the news in an emailed statement.
Read More
U.S. President Joe Biden may have to decide this week whether to overturn an International Trade Commission ruling against SK Innovation and, thus, save thousands of jobs in northeast Georgia directly tied to the project. More than 2,500 Georgia jobs are at stake at this Electric Vehicle (EV) battery plant in Commerce.
Read More
Buckhead residents who have organized and wish to secede from Atlanta said this week that they are diverse and their ties to that larger city bring crime and one horror story after. Members of this group, the Buckhead Exploratory Committee (BEOC), also said that they are serious about wanting to leave.
Read More
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Wednesday announced that he had referred three counties for investigation after they bucked state law and failed to do their absentee ballot transfer forms from last November’s presidential election. Raffensperger, in a press release, identified those three counties as Coffee, Grady, and Taylor. The three counties account for only 0.37 percent of all absentee ballots cast in last year’s election, he said.
Read More
Former U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan this week and suggested Democrats in the state got the better of them. “Too bad the desperately needed election reforms in Georgia didn’t go further, as their originally approved bill did, but the governor and lieutenant governor would not go for it. The watered-down version, that was just passed and signed by Governor Kemp, while better than before, doesn’t have signature matching and many other safety measures, which were sadly left out. This bill should have been passed before the 2020 Presidential Election, not after,” Trump said in a written statement.
Read More
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy reportedly wants Hollywood to leave Georgia and set up shop in his state. Murphy cited Georgia’s new voter integrity law, SB 202, as the reason.
Read More
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) posted — and then deleted — the following tweet on Easter Sunday: “The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you are Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others we are able to save ourselves.”
Read More
More corporations are speaking out against Georgia’s voter reform law, otherwise known as Senate Bill 202. Officials at Microsoft, American Express, Google and others this week condemned SB 202 as a form of voter suppression.
Read More
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Saturday told Major League Baseball officials and executives at Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines that he will not buckle under to their pressure. Kemp, flanked by several supporters at the Georgia State Capitol, said he will not do away with the state’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202. The governor also told state residents that Democrat and former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is lying about the new law and fundraising off of her lies.
Read More
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday evening said Major League Baseball officials caved “to fear, political opportunism, and liberal lies.” This, after MLB officials announced earlier in the day that they will relocate the 2021 All-Star Game and MLB Draft, originally scheduled for Atlanta, to another location. They specifically cited Georgia’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202.
Read More
Members of a nationwide group pushing for The Green New Deal have planned rallies and demonstrations throughout the country for Wednesday, April 7. The activists in this group, The Sunrise Movement, will hold one rally in Atlanta and another in Knoxville on Wednesday, according to its website.
Read More
Members of the Georgia House of Representatives this week struck back at Delta Airlines and decided not to renew a jet fuel tax credit that they bestow upon the company. The vote, however, was merely symbolic. Delta still has the tax credit.
Read More
Georgia GOP Chair David Shafer on Wednesday tweeted photos of masked and armed individuals standing outside the Georgia Capitol. Their identities remained a mystery Thursday, even to officials at the Georgia Department of Public Safety (GDPS).
Read More
Delta Airlines, according to its website, requires its passengers prove they are who they say they are and present a government-issued ID. Coca-Cola officials, according to their corporate website, mandated that anyone who attended their 2020 annual shareholders’ meeting also present proper identification.
Read More
In Savannah this week, a Russian national and his engineering company have admitted to charges that they violated U.S. national security laws. This, according to a press release that staff at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia published on their website this week.
Read More
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp this week defended the state’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202, this time before a national audience. This, as certain right-leaning news outlets called out Democrats for grossly mischaracterizing the law and what it does.
Read More
A Georgia state senator this week responded to the newly-passed Senate Bill 202 voter reform measure with a bill of her own. Georgia State Sen. Sally Harrell (D-Atlanta) this week filed a bill that she said would give county election supervisors and local elections boards the option to allow out-of-precinct voting on Election Day.
Read More
Georgia U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA-03) is co-sponsoring a bill that proposes to encourage businesses to head back to American shores. Ferguson said America needs this during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read More
A Georgia woman has admitted to creating a fake business and using it to receive funding from a federal COVID-19 small business relief program.
This, according to a press release that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia published this month.
Tracy Kirkland, 40, of Swainsboro, pled guilty to an Information charging her with wire fraud, said David H. Estes, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
“As described in court documents and testimony, in August 2020 Kirkland received a federally guaranteed loan for $66,400 under the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program comprised of funds appropriated by the CARES Act,” the press release said.
Read More
A new Georgia voter integrity law that requires, among other things, voter ID on absentee ballots, has prompted talk that Major League Baseball and the Professional Golfers’ Association might cancel major events in the Peach State. And at least one major Hollywood director said he now wants nothing to do with Georgia.
Read More
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel this week defended Georgia Senate Bill 202, which Democrats nationwide have described as a form of voter suppression. As The Georgia Star News reported Saturday, this new voter reform law requires the following:
Read More
U.S. Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA-10) said recent mass shootings are “a symptom of a profound moral crisis in America – one that cannot be easily solved by simply passing law after law in Washington.”
“George Washington said that ‘religion and morality are indispensable supports’ of a prosperous nation. These two great pillars have been driven from public life, and until they are restored, we cannot remedy the brutal absence of compassion in our society that leads to mass shootings. We must renew our love and faith in both God and each other,” Hice told constituents in an emailed newsletter this week.
Read More
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday published a lengthy defense of the state’s new Republican-sponsored election reform bill, which legislators passed Thursday. According to Kemp’s Facebook page, the new law requires the following:
Read More
KENNESAW, Georgia — Corey Lewandowski, who advises former U.S. President Donald Trump, updated Georgians about Trump’s frame of mind since he left office and the hostile feelings that establishment media figures hold toward the former president’s supporters.
Lewandowski was one of several people who spoke at a launch party at Kennesaw’s Marietta Country Club for the new Freedom WMLB 1690. The station broadcasts to Atlanta audiences through the John Fredericks Radio Network (JFRN).
Read More
KENNESAW, Georgia — Georgia conservatives will only win hearts and minds if they fight, display passion, and testify how their ideas and policies can and will shape and impact voters’ personal lives — for the better. That was the message that several speakers relayed Wednesday night at a launch…
Read More
Democrats who represent Georgia in the state’s general assembly as well as the U.S. Congress said this week that recent mass shootings, including the one in Atlanta, necessitate either more gun control or hate crimes laws. State Sen. Michelle Au (D-Johns Creek), for instance, filed SB 309, a bill this week that would, if enacted into law, mandate a five-day waiting period for anyone who wants to purchase or transfer certain firearms.
Read More
Georgia State Sen. John Albers (R-Alpharetta) this week accused members of The Lincoln Project of telling falsehoods about him— falsehoods that reportedly cost him his job at an Atlanta-based law firm. FOX 5 Atlanta reported that Albers had to resign from the Fisher Phillips Law Firm.
Read More
Members of the Georgia General Assembly filed various bills this week that would, if enacted into law, require law enforcement agencies to speak in languages other than English when working with members of the public. The first bill, SB 308, calls on the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority (GECA) and the state’s 911 systems to have a statewide system of language translation services. The Georgia General Assembly’s website identifies State Sen. Sheikh Rahman (D-Lawrenceville) as the bill’s primary sponsor. Nineteen other state senators, all Democrats, are co-sponsoring the bill.
Read More
U.S. Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA-10) announced Monday that he wants to replace Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and will run for Raffensperger’s seat. Former U.S. President Donald Trump, in a written statement, promptly endorsed Hice’s candidacy.
Read More
Members of The Young Americans Foundation and Campus Reform this week reported that a University of Georgia professor told his students not to cite conservative-leaning news sources, such as FOX News. Both groups identified that man as Scott Connelly, a UGA ecology professor.
Read More
Georgia Power officials announced a new initiative this month to provide drivers of electric vehicles with charging stations around the state.
But in a press release, Georgia Power officials did not describe whether enough people in the state drive electric vehicles to justify the investment.
Read More
Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R-Cumming) this week praised a deal involving a Georgia electric cooperative and a Tennessee-based solar power company, the latter of which has a history of alleged ethics violations. This, according to a press release that members of Duncan’s staff published on his website.
Read More
A new bill in the Georgia General Assembly would, if enacted into law, limit the ability of city housing authorities to operate outside municipal boundaries without authorization. Georgia State Sen. Lindsey Tippins (R-Marietta) is the bill’s primary sponsor, according to the legislature’s website.
Read More
The Georgia Secretary of State official who was the anonymous source for a Washington Post story about former U.S. President Donald Trump — a story that people now discredit — said Tuesday the paper got the story correct.
This, aside from a few minor mistakes, said Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs, the anonymous source, as The Post confirmed last week.
The Post story cited Trump’s phone call late last year with Georgia Secretary of State Chief Investigator Frances Watson. During that call, Trump urged Watson to look for fraudulent mail-in ballots in Fulton County. The paper said Trump’s conduct and words — which the paper now admits it took out of context — constituted criminal behavior.
Read More
Buckhead residents have formed a new group to study whether their upscale commercial and residential district should formally break off from Atlanta and its soaring crime rate and possibly create their own law enforcement agency. This, according to the members of this group, The Buckhead Exploratory Committee, on their website.
Read More