No tax break on Super Bowl tickets,
no Super Bowl. That's what Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said of the coming effort to waive the
and perhaps other pricey sporting events.
"What a Super Bowl does isn't something just for fat cats and rich people," Reed told Atlanta Magazine's Max Blau. "You're in hotels—you see the cooks, the waitresses, the doormen…There are people who get up and go to work everyday at all of the hotels."
He added: “We have a decision to make. Either we want to win a Super Bowl or we don’t. Atlanta should be competitive.”
No measure has been introduced yet, but the effort also has the backing of both Gov. Nathan Deal. The NFL said in a statement that it requires any city hosting the game to exempt sales tax on tickets “in order to benefit the attendees who would otherwise have to incur it.”
Expect a fight from critics who view it as a giveaway to a multi-billion-dollar corporation.
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U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, unloaded on pharma boogeyman Martin Shkreli during a Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday.
The pharmacist called out the ex-Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO and one of his former top deputies for infamously hiking the price of a drug used by many AIDS patients from $13.50 to $750 per dose soon after purchasing the rights.
Carter said he was “disgusted” by the drug price increases and invoked his firsthand experience of working with financially-troubled patients in his rebuke of Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals.
“I’ve spent my adult life dispensing medications to help people get well. I find it repulsive what you’ve done,” Carter told Shkreli and others testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
“Perverse business practices were employed to exploit a patient group trying to do nothing more than extend their lives,” he said.
As for Shkreli? He took the Fifth and refused to answer any questions from lawmakers. But afterward he took to Twitter to respond:
A video of the marathon hearing can be found here. Highlights from Carters remarks can be found here.
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A buzzing formation of cropdusters kicked off a "farmers for Donald Trump" rally in Sasser, Ga., on Thursday. A cardboard cut-out stood in for the candidate, who's in New Hampshire. WALB in Albany has the video:
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Tea partier Debbie Dooley has felt compelled to explain why she joined some other hard-right conservatives in endorsing Donald Trump. From her dispatch:
As one who has recently changed her views on issues after in depth investigations, I truly believe Donald Trump is now embracing conservative ideology and will be a strong fighter for conservative principles. He has a track record of winning and has already won in relegating Republican establishment darling Jeb Bush to underdog status despite hundreds of millions of dollars in his war chest.
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State Rep. Tom Rice, R-Norcross, chairman of the House Motor Vehicles Committee, announced Thursday that he will not seek re-election, ending a 20-year career at the state Capitol.
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