Stadium fever has spread from metro Atlanta to Georgia's coast, though this case doesn't appear as severe as recent outbreaks in Cobb County and downtown Atlanta. From Kelly Quimby and the Savannah Morning News:
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As the clock ticked down to 2015, the "religious liberty" bill made its formal debut.
State Rep. Sam Teasley's proposal, House Bill 29, sticks to the sneak preview we showed you a few days back. The proposal includes language that Teasley hopes clarifies that it only applies to government agencies -- and not business owners.
Teasley and other backers see it as a new line of defense to protect people of any religion from government intrusion on their beliefs, while critics fear it could allow business owners to cite religious beliefs to deny service. Corporate forces have already fired several warning shots telegraphing their opposition.
Teasley, a Marietta Republican, can count on some new support. The Concerned Women for America's Georgia chapter sent word that it would back the effort. Tanya Ditty, the group's state director, said it would allow Georgians to practice their religion "without fear of government retaliation."
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One of our number has the final tally of the cost of the record-shattering U.S. Senate race.
You should read the story, which appears in today's dead-tree and premium versions, all the way through. But here's a particularly interesting snippet on a David Perdue campaign strategy:
A typical television buy is a bet that the voters you want to reach are watching "Wheel of Fortune" or the Falcons game at a specific time, while also sending a lot of other people your message. But this new approach allows campaigns to take their voter file and match it with satellite customers, then send them the ad — regardless of what programs they are watching.
As an added bonus, campaigns only pay for the ads the voters actually watch.
Perdue's top consultant, Paul Bennecke, said the tactic was especially useful for television markets that overlap from Georgia into neighboring states, such as Tallahassee, Fla.
"It's highly cost-efficient because you're only reaching households you want to reach," said Bennecke, who said this was the first time the technology has been employed in Georgia.
"It is feeding them based on them actually viewing the TV spot," he said, "instead of just hoping they are watching the program."
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Another worthwhile read at myAJC.com is Ariel Hart's look at how many Georgia politicians and bureaucrats declare themselves to be unqualified, non-scientists when it comes to climate change. A taste:
"While some are eager to proclaim that human-caused climate change is 'settled science,' there are many others who remain skeptical," Ralston's statement read. "Claiming that the debate is over helps advance a particular agenda and disregards the fact that the only provable result of policies proposed as a result is the export of American jobs to countries with abysmal environmental practices."
To support his view, Ralston cited Dr. Judith Curry of Georgia Tech. Curry believes the Earth is warming — except for a current "pause" — and told the AJC in an interview that, among scientists, "everybody agrees that humans are contributing to warming." However, she chastises other climate scientists for overstating how much humans are to blame and the certainty of likely consequences.
The Legislature convenes Jan. 12. We'll be watching to see how many state lawmakers declare themselves to be unqualified, non-certified public accountants when it comes to tax policy.
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