The fact-checkers at PolitiFact Georgia can sometimes seem like heartless Grinches, callously outing falsehoods by politicians and other newsmakers.
Truth be told — and that’s our mission — the folks we fact-check often turn out to be correct.
So as we welcome a new year, we happily give a nod to some of the many who spoke the truth in 2015.
Abbreviated versions of some of our favorite True ratings from 2015 can be found below.
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Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
Don Francis on Oct. 28 in an interview with Watchdog.org
Electric car sales in Georgia have dropped dramatically since a $5,000 tax credit was eliminated and a $200 annual registration fee was imposed July 1.
Georgia lawmakers pulled the plug on one of the nation’s most generous state tax credits for electric cars in 2015.
At the same time, they voted to impose a $200 annual registration fee on owners of some plug-in hybrids and all zero-emissions vehicles, making up for the gas taxes these motorists don’t pay and helping fund a backlog of road projects.
The changes were made in the 2015 General Assembly session and took effect July 1.
Within weeks, sales of the Nissan Leaf and other electric cars fell dramatically, Don Francis, the coordinator of the Clean Cities-Georgia Coalition, told Watchdog.org on Oct. 28.
New electric car registrations in Georgia fell 89 percent from 1,338 in June, the last month that the tax credit was available, to 148 in August, Francis said. Admittedly, an uptick in sales took place immediately after lawmakers made the changes.
The $200 registration fee could be rescinded in the 2016 legislative session if some lawmakers have their way.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on July 16 in a radio interview
Caution: Kissing and cuddling chickens can be hazardous to your health.
Raising backyard chickens has been found to have an unexpected downside, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
Salmonella outbreaks are traced to some owners kissing and cuddling their backyard flocks.
We went directly to the source, the CDC. At the time, the federal agency based in Atlanta had been investigating four recent salmonella outbreaks that, as of July 29, had infected 218 people in 41 states.
Megin Nichols, a CDC veterinarian, told us that among the people who became ill between 2008 and 2014 due to baby poultry exposure, 49 percent, or 196 out of 400, reported snuggling and holding baby birds. An additional 13 percent, or more than 50, reported kissing baby birds, she said.
That was cause to sound the alarm.
Various media reports on June 18 in the aftermath of a church shooting
Only five states, including Georgia, do not have a hate-crimes law.
The June 17 church massacre in Charleston, S.C., put the spotlight on the lack of state-level hate-crimes laws in South Carolina and a handful of other states.
But there were conflicting media reports as to how many states don’t have hate-crime laws.
News media outlets, including Newsweek and National Public Radio, reported that five states — Georgia, Arkansas, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming — don’t have hate-crimes laws.
Steven M. Freeman, the legal affairs director for the Anti-Defamation League, identified the same five states.
But it’s clearly complicated. Newsweek first reported five states without hate-crimes laws, then later revised its report to show only three states, Georgia, Arkansas and South Carolina. Michigan provided PolitiFact a copy of its hate-crimes law, countering some reports that it belonged on the no-law list with Georgia.
Freeman said the prosecution of hate crimes is best left to the states, since most crimes are investigated by state or local police. The federal hate-crime law, he said, is meant as “a backstop.”
Georgia did have a hate-crimes law. It was passed in 2000 but declared “unconstitutionally vague” in 2004 by the state Supreme Court.
State Farm Insurance on June 5 in a TV news story
Georgia residents file the most insurance claims for lightning strikes in the country.
Florida leads the nation in deaths from lightning strikes.
But Georgia has the most homeowner claims for damage due to lightning strikes in the country, Channel 2 Action News reported on June 5.
This is based on data from major insurer State Farm that showed Georgia No. 1 in 2014 for lightning-related claims both in number (3,709) and total dollar value ($16.3 million). Texas was second, Alabama third, Louisiana fourth and Illinois fifth.
“This is the third year in a row that Georgia has been ranked No. 1,” a State Farm spokesman said.
Most of the lightning claims were surge- or power-related, he said.
The Insurance Information Institute, in conjunction with State Farm, compiles a list each year of the top 10 states for homeowners insurance losses due to lightning by number of claims.
The institute listed Georgia as highest in 2013, the latest year available, with 11,184 lightning-related insurance claims from homeowners.
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