Here's what's trending in politics in Georgia and around the nation.
1. KKK request for cross-burning denied
The Ku Klux Klan's request to burn a cross on Georgia's Stone Mountain has been denied. The group requested a permit to burn the cross on top of the mountain, the place where the second KKK was founded in 1915. The Stone Mountain Memorial Association said in a statement that denying the request to burn the cross "is in the best interest of all parties."
2. President shuts down business councils
President Donald Trump disbanded two of his business councils Wednesday in the wake of remarks he made about the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. According to The Associated Press, members of one of the panels had already decided to disband on Tuesday.
3. Court: Arkansas doesn't have to fund Planned Parenthood
A federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday that Arkansas can block Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood. According to a story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the ruling comes two years after the state contract with Planned Parenthood was terminated following the revelation of videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group.
4. Bannon says ethno-nationalists are 'clowns'
Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist, said in an interview with The American Prospect that "we gotta crush" the movement that produced the protesters who sparked the violence in Charlottesville over the weekend. "Ethno-nationalism -- it's losers. It's a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more. …These guys are a collection of clowns."
5. Alabama AG sues Birmingham over Confederate monument
Alabama's attorney general has sued the city of Birmingham and Mayor William Bell after Bell ordered a Confederate monument in a downtown park be obscured. Attorney General Steve Marshall filed the suit after Bell ordered a 52-foot-tall obelisk honoring Confederate soldiers be covered in wooden panels. Alabama legislators passed a law earlier this year that prohibits the removal of historic structures. Marshall said the panels violated, "the letter and spirit of the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act."
6. Phoenix mayor asks Trump to stay away
Politico is reporting that the mayor of Phoenix is asking the president to postpone a planned rally in that city scheduled for next week. Mayor Greg Stanton called for the rally to be delayed because the country is “still healing from the tragic events in Charlottesville.”
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