Macon and Bibb County could be quite the sober place on New Year's Day, according to the Macon Telegraph.
The newspaper reports that nearly a third of the community's establishments that sell alcohol could lose their licenses on Jan. 1. From the Telegraph:
The Macon-Bibb County Commission amended the alcohol code last year and set the license expiration date as Dec. 31 to align with the Georgia Department of Revenue…
[A]s of Dec. 6, only 270 of the approximate 400 establishments which sell alcohol in containers or by the drink have applied for renewal, said Bibb County Commissioner Virgil Watkins.
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Our AJC colleagues Mark Niesse and Nick Thieme have turned an eye-popping piece on the impact that the closing of polling precincts across Georgia has had on voting. Click here for the entire piece, with interactive maps, but here's a taste:
The AJC mapped Georgia's 7 million registered voters and compared how distance to their local precincts increased or decreased from 2012 to 2018. During that time, county election officials shut down 8% of Georgia's polling places and relocated nearly 40% of the state's precincts.
Most of the precinct closures and relocations occurred after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 ended federal oversight of local election decisions under the Voting Rights Act.
The AJC's analysis, vetted by two nonpartisan statistics experts, showed a clear link between turnout and reduced voting access. The farther voters live from their precincts, the less likely they are to cast a ballot.
Precinct closures and longer distances likely prevented an estimated 54,000 to 85,000 voters from casting ballots on Election Day last year, according to the AJC's findings.
And the impact was greater on black voters than white ones, the AJC found. Black voters were 20% more likely to miss elections because of long distances.
Without those precinct relocations, overall Election Day turnout in last year's midterm election likely would have been between 1.2% and 1.8% higher, the AJC estimated.
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The morning Tweet from Larry Sabato of Crystal Ball fame:
One message for U.S. Democrats from British election: Make it easy, not hard, for people to vote for your nominee. If your candidate isn't broadly appealing, voters won't ever get to evaluating your policies. #GE2019 #UKElection
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Senate candidate Teresa Tomlinson nabbed a profile this week from the Huffington Post, which asked why she and another contender, Sarah Riggs Amico, weren't getting more national attention.
But then her campaign made a mistake that threatened to overshadow the positive press. Tomlinson tweeted a graphic that made it seem like the Huffington Post headline read this way: "Georgia is in play and Teresa is poised to win it."
That brought a sharp rejoinder from HuffPo Washington bureau chief Amanda Terkel, who responded with the following note on Twitter:
"So... that is not our headline at all. And that quote isn't anywhere in the story. This is something the campaign made to make it look like we said this."
Tomlinson responded that she would remove the HuffPo logo from her campaign website but not the tweet.
"To delete the post would be to attempt to hide the criticism and the conversation," she wrote.
Republican operatives quickly sent a reminder that this was not the first time her campaign had manipulated a headline.
In that case, it involved a Jolt item that was made to read: "Tomlinson picks up some newspaper love" instead of "Tomlinson picks up some newspaper love -- in Virginia."
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Our AJC colleague Eric Stirgus reports that University of Georgia officials have determined that a Clemson University student visiting the Athens campus is responsible for drawing swastikas on student doors inside Russell Hall last month.
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Count state Rep. Trey Kelley, R-Cedartown, out of the running for that open U.S. House seat in northwest Georgia.
On Thursday, Kelly sent a note to House GOP colleagues, informing them that he would not seek to replace the retiring U.S. Rep. Tom Graves next year.
Plenty of names are still out there, including but not limited to: Paulding County School board member Jason Anavitarte, former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, former state Rep. Charlice Byrd of Cherokee County, and state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga.
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Over at Capitol Beat News Service, Dave Williams writes that the state Board of Community Health on Thursday adopted new rules about financial data that nonprofit hospitals will have to make public:
Under the legislation, hospitals must list on their websites the properties they own, their debts, their policies for providing charity care to the indigent and the salaries of their 10 highest paid employees.
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After lobbying from supporters and Democratic lawmakers, Congress is poised to reinstate a crucial block of funding for historically black colleges and universities, along with other minority-serving institutions.
The bipartisan deal includes $255 million in annual funding that was made permanent, and a simplified application process. All that is needed is a signature from President Donald Trump.
HBCUs in Georgia, including Morehouse and Spelman colleges and Clark Atlanta University, stand to reap millions of dollars in new funding through the program.
Half of the Republicans in the U.S. House joined Democrats in approving the measure, including U.S. Reps. Tom Graves of Ranger, Austin Scott of Tifton, Doug Collins of Gainesville and Rick Allen of Augusta.
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A documentary about the life of Georgia congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis is headed to the big screen this spring.
The Wrap reports that "John Lewis: Good Trouble" is planned for a theatrical release. CNN Films has also obtained broadcast rights. The movie will feature archival footage of Lewis, as well as new interviews with him.
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Members of Congress want more info on Sonny Perdue's decision to move two U.S. Department of Agriculture research agencies from Washington to Kansas City, Mo.
Four Democratic members of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, led by U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton of Virginia, wrote a letter to the Government Accountability Office this week requesting a review of the cost-benefit analysis used to justify the move.
"We... have serious concerns that this relocation has generated significant disruptions and will continue to severely disrupt ongoing scientific research while wiping out decades of valuable experience and institutional knowledge," the letter said. "Moreover, the relocation has further drawn into question USDA's commitment to fact-based science free from political interference."
Wexman has been one of the leading critics of the former Georgia governor’s decision to relocate jobs to Kansas City, which he championed as a cost-cutting measure and an opportunity to strengthen connections with Midwest farmers.
Wexman says Perdue did not have the budget authority to relocate the agencies and has attempted to block funding for the move.
