Monday, Oct. 7, 2013 | 4:40 a.m.

Subscribe | Today's paper | Customer care

Hi, (not you?) | Member Center | Sign Out

Georgia Legislature closing day updates

100 items

Results 1 - 20 of 100next >

Mistake delays massive Internet boost for Georgia schools

Education officials have pulled the plug this year on the biggest Internet expansion in Georgia school history, after a mistake nixed any chance to get what they need most to flip the switch: Money. At stake is a chance to bring all 180 school districts up to speed in an ...

Keith Berger (front), Don Hall, and Andrew Fuqua, members of Dunwoody Cycling, take their regular Friday ride. Cyclists from across the state are outraged over a proposal to force bike owners to pay annual registration fees and limit how and where they can ride. The proposed legislation is the brainchild of Gainesville lawmakers, who say they are getting complaints from locals and folks in North Georgia, who say cyclists are clogging mountain roads and causing safety issues. The bill, which will have a public hearing Monday, would make bike owners get license plates and pay $15 a year registration fees, or $48 for a permanent license. It would also all but eliminate pelotons, big group rides, and allow state and local officials to limit where bikers can ride.

Cyclists angry over license plates for bikes

Georgia cyclists have their Spandex in a wad over a plan to require license plates on bicycles and annual registration fees to pay for them. The legislation, which is up for a public hearing Monday evening, comes from Gainesville-area lawmakers who say they’ve received numerous complaints about cyclists clogging roads ...

Ethics attorney says chairman pressured her to settle Deal cases

Ethics commission Chairman Kevin Abernethy pressured the agency’s attorney to quietly settle cases against Gov. Nathan Deal, the attorney said in a sworn statement obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Abernethy vigorously denied the claims made by Elisabeth Murray-Obertein, the commission’s staff attorney. She made the accusation in an affidavit filed ...

Debt ceiling hike a tough call for Senate hopefuls

It’s the stuff ominous political television ads are made of: “Congressman X voted to increase the debt to $17.8 trillion.” In less than two weeks, the federal government — shutdown or no — is set to exhaust its congressional authority to borrow money. A vote to increase the debt ceiling ...

Ethics lawyer says chairman pressured her to settle Deal cases

Georgia ethics commission still considering parameters of independent probe

The state ethics commission has yet to formally ask Attorney General Sam Olens to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of inappropriate conduct at the agency. “We are still working through the precise parameters of it,” commission Chairman Kevin Abernethy told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Meanwhile, another investigation is just ...

Indicted Sen. Balfour posts bond

State Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville, posted a $5,000 bond Tuesday and was released from the Fulton County jail after being charged last week with 18 counts of filing false expense claims and theft.Balfour’s indictment is based on allegations that he charged the state for expenses on days he did not ...

Lake Lanier is at its highest level in nearly two years, a mere cloudburst away from full pool. The water level was posted as being 1,069.46 feet on Wednesday, March 27, 2013 1.54 feet below the full pool of 1,071.

Florida files water lawsuit against Georgia in U.S. Supreme Court

Florida formally took its water dispute with Georgia to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi filed suit seeking injunctive relief against Georgia’s upstream water use in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basins, accusing Georgia of taking too much water for Metro Atlanta at the ...

Holly LaBerge before her appointment as executive director of the state ethics commission in August 2011, she was a lobbyist for the state Public Defenders Standards Council. She reportedly said that the governor owed her after the commission cleared him of major ethics violations in July 2012.

Ethics panel calls for independent investigation

The state ethics commission on Monday called for an independent investigation in response to a pair of lawsuits pending against the commission as well as its deepening personnel problems. The commission wants Attorney General Sam Olens to appoint a special outside attorney to lead the investigation. Olens’ spokeswoman said he ...

The head of Georgia’s ethics commission is accused of improperly intervening into an investigation of Gov. Nathan Deal, raising serious questions about the independence of the state panel charged with keeping watch over Georgia’s elected officials. Current and former commission employees told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday that Holly LaBerge ordered documents removed from the official state investigative file on Deal and met with top aides to the Republican governor while the probe was ongoing.

Ethics commission calls for special investigation

The state ethics commission on Monday called for an independent investigation in response to a pair of lawsuits pending against the agency as well as its deepening personnel problems. The commission wants Attorney General Sam Olens to appoint a special, outside attorney to lead the investigation. The commission faces whistleblower ...

Danielle McCollum (right) and Shakira Tucker got married in Massachusetts this summer and returned to Atlanta to change their last names on their driver’s license. But McCollum was turned away by a driver’s services bureaucrat, and she’s launched a petition to force the state to allow the name change. Ironically, Shak was able to change to her last name to McCollum-Tucker, but was later told it was a “mistake.”

What’s in a name? Now, a gay rights controversy.

A married gay couple’s visit to a driver’s licensing office highlights Georgia’s struggles with same-sex marriage after a landmark Supreme Court decision and creates an unlikely flash point in the gay rights debate. It happened this month when newlywed Danielle McCollum visited the state Department of Driver Services office in ...

Changes to Georgia’s social studies curriculum won’t come quickly

Georgia’s current social studies curriculum will remain in place at least until the 2015-2016 school year, the chairwoman of the state Board of Education said Thursday.Gov. Nathan Deal in August asked the state board to review the social studies program while taking a look at the new set of standards ...

Suit: Grady County court forced hundreds to pay unauthorized fees

A southwest Georgia county has been collecting unauthorized court costs from hundreds of criminal defendants, many of whom could not afford to hire their own lawyers, a federal lawsuit alleges.The lawsuit seeks to stop Grady County State Court from collecting “administrative costs” from defendants. In 2011 and 2012, the county ...

Insurer uses full-court press to regain state contract

You may have seen the commercials during last weekend’s Falcons’ game: “Sadly, the freedom to choose is being taken away from many Georgians by a small group of politicians in Atlanta,” the announcer intones after images of free, smiling Americans sharpen and then fade. The ad says that Georgia’s workers, ...

Gov. Nathan Deal talks to reporters Thursday about allegations that the head of the state ethics commission intervened on his behalf during an investigation.

Watchdogs continue to press Deal case

A Washington-based watchdog group has sued the Department of Justice for refusing to turn over documents related to its involvement in the investigation of Nathan Deal’s 2010 campaign for governor. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wants a federal judge to order the Justice Department to produce records of ...

Senate panel studies wrongful convictions

A state Senate committee held its first meeting Tuesday to examine how authorities handle issues involving people who are wrongly convicted of crime in Georgia. Committee Chairman Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, won his chamber’s approval earlier this year to look at what he calls “expungement reform.” He expects recommendations by next ...

Registration drive for Georgia voters Tuesday

Civic organizations including the League of Women Voters of Georgia will hold a voter registration drive Tuesday, including a 9:30 a.m. rally at the state Capitol in Atlanta.The drive coincides with a nationwide push to register voters in advance of the Nov. 5 election. The deadline to register to vote ...

AJC poll: Support for gay marriage in Georgia is growing

More Georgians now support gay marriage than oppose it thanks to burgeoning support from younger residents, according to a poll commissioned by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But even the staunchest backers say they are years away from reviving a push to legalize same-sex unions in Georgia. The poll found that 48 ...

Ethics agency often mired in politics

Two years ago, Stacey Kalberman gave her replacement as director of the state ethics commission some advice: watch out. The job is political and you can get yourself fired, she told Holly LaBerge, the commission’s current director. LaBerge, who recounted the conversation in a deposition taken this summer, said she ...

Kent Alexander, a former federal prosecutor who has resigned from the state's ethics commission, said in sworn testimony that the communication between Holly LaBerge and Deal’s office prior to LaBerge’s hiring in August 2011 was “problematic.”

Ex-ethics official had concerns

The lone Democrat on Georgia’s ethics panel was kept in the dark as two Republican commissioners consulted with Nathan Deal’s office to replace the agency’s director in the midst of investigating the governor, according to new legal documents reviewed Friday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Kent Alexander, a former federal prosecutor ...

100 items

Results 1 - 20 of 100next >

Georgia Legislature closing day updates

About us

Advertising

Take a break

Services

Marketplace

Affiliates

News and updates

Entertainment

Sign In / Register

Sign in with your existing account

Sign in with your email

New User?

Sign In / Register

Welcome Back {* welcomeName *}

Sign In / Register

Welcome back. Please sign in

You're Almost Done!

Select a display name and password

Tell us about yourself

Create a New Account

Select a display name and password

Tell us about yourself

Create a New Account

Thank you for registering!

Thank you for registering!

Create a new password

Email sent

Create a new password

Sign in to complete account merge

Resend Email Verification

Your Verification Email Has Been Sent