Morning Reads for National Bird Day (January 5)

Good morning, and happy National Bird Day! While you could just watch some birds from your window today and call it good, the American Bird Conservancy hopes you’ll take it a step (or a few more) further and learn more about the issues surrounding all kinds of birds today. I’m setting up a couple of feeders at my house. It’s coincidence, but a happy one!

And now, the news.

Pat Conroy

• Republicans are looking to pass even more restrictive voting laws in this session of the General Assembly. (Alternate link.)
• Teachers in Georgia are hopeful that, with state revenue soaring, Governor Brian Kemp will fulfill his 2018 campaign pledge to raise their salaries $5,000. So far, they’ve seen a $3,000 raise during his tenure. (Alternate link.)
• One of the bipartisan efforts for this year’s General Assembly surrounds the mental health benefits Georgians receive from their insurance.
• Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary resigned yesterday, a day before he was scheduled to face a federal court over fraud charges.
• A Roswell woman has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $6 million in COVID relief money. (Alternate link.)
• Crawford County Magistrate Judge Cary Hays is facing expulsion over an incident caught on video in which he physically attacked a defendant.
• Georgia’s refusal to expand Medicaid has left at least 270,000 Georgians without health insurance. (Alternate link.)

Alice Walker

• There’s a lot of news about the January 6th Committee:
  • Now that the committee has the texts between former President Donald Trump and Sean Hannity, they unsurprisingly want to speak to the latter.
  • With the texts now public, former President Trump has decided to cancel his press conference tomorrow.
  • Sebastian Gorka has sued the committee over the subpoena issued to Verizon for his phone records.
  • Meanwhile, the Biden Administration is working to prevent another January 6th from happening in the future. (Alternate link.)
• NPR has compiled a list of states where election deniers are running for Secretary of State. Georgia has two such candidates.
• Kroger and Walmart have raised the prices on at-home COVID test kits.
• The Biden Administration is facing a legal battle with migrant families whose children were taken away during the Trump Administration. (Alternate link.)
• Recently expelled members of the Nooksack tribe in Washington State are asking for federal intervention from the Biden Administration. (Alternate link.)
• Chicago Public Schools has canceled classes after the teachers union voted to back online instruction. (Alternate link.)
• A teacher in New York has been arrested for allegedly vaccinating a minor without the consent of his parents.
• Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards will posthumously pardon Homer Plessy more than one hundred years after his conviction for riding a whites-only rail car.
• The United States has won its legal battle with Canada over dairy tariffs. (Alternate link.)
• Canada has reached a $40 billion (CDN) agreement-in-principle with First Nations leaders over young people harmed by the country’s discriminatory child welfare system.
• The United States has arrested and charged one of the main suspects in the slaying of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse last July.
• Meanwhile, the current Haitian Prime Minister and acting President Ariel Henry has survived an assassination attempt.
• French President Emmanuel Macron hopes to make life very inconvenient for unvaccinated people in the country. (Alternate link.)
• Sweden has created an agency to combat misinformation ahead of its election.
• Kazakhstan has shut down the country’s internet as part of a state of emergency stemming from massive protests over rising gas prices. Government buildings are also on fire. (Alternate link.)
• North Korea has fired another missile.

Flannery O’Connor

• A dog led New Hampshire police to her owner following a car crash.