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.