Hello a little late today! This morning involved my spending a good deal of time with the long-suffering, yet amazingly patient IT folks at work, which got me a little behind. But here I am, so all is well!
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is also the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. There’s a ceremony, put on by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC, at 1 PM, which can be viewed here.
Let’s get on to the news.
Pat Conroy
- Governor Kemp says Georgia needs more vaccine doses.
- To wit, all of the appointments Publix announced for its second shipment of the vaccine were filled within an hour.
- Yesterday, Rep. David Clark was removed from the state House floor yesterday after refusing to take a COVID test, and yes, he made national news for it. (Alternate link.)
- The House plans to restore around 60% of the funds it took out of the education budget last year and possibly add some money back to public health as well. (Alternate link.)
- Georgia Pre-K teachers will get $1,000 bonuses this year from federal coronavirus aid.
- The NAACP has filed a lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Corrections due to the conditions in the privately-run Coffee Correctional Facility. (Alternate link.)
- The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested a former officer from the Twiggs County Sheriff’s Office for stealing from the county’s evidence room.
Alice Walker
- President Biden has pledged that 300 million Americans will be vaccinated against COVID by the end of summer.
- He will also pause oil and gas leases through an executive order he’s expected to sign today. (Alternate link.)
- The Justice Department has rescinded the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy.
- The Health and Human Services Department’s inspector general alleges that millions of dollars intended for biomedical research were misdirected to unrelated expenditures for years under both the Obama and Trump Administrations. (Alternate link.)
- Amanda Gorman will recite a poem at the Super Bowl this year.
Flannery O’Connor
- Reddit users played the stock market – in more than one way.