1. Whether Georgia takes action against fantasy sports remains uncertain.
It is not clear whether Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens will take legal action now that his office has decided daily fantasy sports games are a form of illegal gambling. Olens, through a spokesman, declined to comment Wednesday, two days after the state Senate failed to take action on legislation that would have for the first time made daily fantasy sports games subject to state regulation. The Senate's decision came as Georgia Lottery officials received an informal opinion from Deputy Attorney General Wright Banks Jr. that said the games were not authorized under state law. Officials with the state lottery, which operates the few gamblinglike games allowed in Georgia, had already asked daily fantasy sports operators for information about their businesses. Read more.
2. Atlanta fires building department employees after ethics probe.
The city of Atlanta fired five employees Thursday and placed a sixth on administrative leave after determining the workers violated the city's ethical rules, including improperly issuing building permits without visiting the buildings. Additionally, one building inspector resigned prior to being terminated and a former employee who was working as an independent expediter to move permits through the department faces criminal charges for allegedly creating fraudulent building permits and other documents. Some of the violations put people's safety at risk, a report from the city's law department said. Read more.
3. Georgia's Perdue preaches GOP unity, 'whoever our candidate is.'
GOP leaders should listen to Republican voters — including those who cast ballots for billionaire Donald Trump — when it comes to backing the party's presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. David Perdue said Thursday. Without mentioning Trump by name, Georgia's junior senator indicated that the party's efforts of countering Trump — criticizing him or rolling out endorsements for his competitors — won't work with frustrated voters who feel abandoned by elites. Read more.
4. Georgia Tech coach helps Owens actor get stride right.
The message came in a couple of years ago through some track-coaching back channel. Would Nat Page be interested in helping an actor who needs to learn to run like Jesse Owens? For Page, a 20-year assistant track-and-field coach at Georgia Tech, what could be so hard about that? A former U.S. Olympian, Page had been around Owens long before his death in 1980. He understood the Buckeye Bullet's unorthodox sprinting style. He had even competed in the Olympiastadion, the Berlin stadium where Owens claimed his four medals in 1936. Why not? Read more.
5. Romney vs. Trump: Fierce war of words.
In an extraordinary public rebuke of Donald Trump's campaign, Mitt Romney and John McCain, the last two Republican presidential nominees, denounced Trump in forceful terms on Thursday and warned that his election could put the United States and even its democratic political system in peril. Offering himself as a bulwark against Trump's march to the nomination, Romney laid out a precise and lengthy case against Trump, lacerating his business dealings, his erratic pronouncements on national security and demeaning treatment of women, minorities and the disabled. Romney warned that Trump's nomination would be calamitous for the Republican Party and, quoting John Adams, even suggested it could be suicidal for the country. Read more.
