Photograph by Steve Eberhardt. (APN) ATLANTA — Four women were arrested when they visited the office of State Sen. Josh McKoon (R-Columbus) to talk with him and deliver a message about SB 129, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) bill, that he introduced. McKoon refused to meet with the women. They planned to stay until he agreed […]
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With additional reporting Allie McCullen, Special to Atlanta Progressive News (APN) ATLANTA — In 2016, Georgia voters will be asked whether to amend the state constitution “to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance.” That’s the ballot language codified by SR 287, one of two pieces of legislation that […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Yesterday, Thursday, March 26, 2015, the House Judiciary Civil Committee voted to amend SB 129, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) bill, to expressly state that eradicating discrimination is a compelling government interest, thus prohibiting religious freedom being used as a justification for discrimination. LGBTQI equality advocates celebrated the amendment, introduced by State Rep. Mike Jacobs […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — On Monday, March 16, 2015, the Supreme Court of Georgia issued their opinion, approving the construction of the new Atlanta Falcons Stadium, using a renewal from the City’s hotel/motel tax and related bond financing. The ruling affirms an order issued in May 2014 by Fulton Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville validating the bonds. The intervenors […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — The full Georgia House and a Georgia Senate committee have passed a bill that would make raccoon trapping legal in most north Georgia counties. The full House passed the bill on February 20, 2015, in a vote of 144 to 18. Several Democrats and a few Republicans opposed the measure. The Senate Natural Resources and […]
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This article is the first in a two-part series. Atlanta Progressive News traveled to San Antonio, Texas, in order to learn about the social services model they employ in dealing with mentally ill citizens. (APN) SAN ANTONIO, Texas — When San Antonio, Texas, police officer Ernie Stevens heard about the police shooting of Anthony Hill in DeKalb County, Georgia, […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — The House Education Committee will soon decide whether to advance Gov. Nathan Deal’s controversial proposal to allow the state to take over and privatize struggling schools. At a hearing on Wednesday March 18, 2015, State Representatives and members of the public expressed both deep concern and some enthusiasm over the proposal, which, as Atlanta Progressive News […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — The Georgia Senate Health and Human Services Committee, after over four hours of testimony, finally passed an amended Senate version, similar to HB 1, with bipartisan support. The bill provides immunity from prosecution in the State of Georgia for patients who use cannabis oil, up to five percent THC in the oil, who received a doctor’s […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — On Tuesday, March 17, 2015, hundreds came to Liberty Plaza, across from the State Capitol, to oppose, SB 129, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) bill. People from as far away as Columbus and Macon joined with folks from the Atlanta area to express their concerns to legislators that SB 129 could be a license to discriminate […]
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With additional reporting on the police reports by Matthew Charles Cardinale. (APN) ATLANTA — On Saturday, March 14, 2015, friends of Anthony Hill from his apartment complex in unincorporated DeKalb County, and from the surrounding community, held a memorial service on the spot where he was killed by DeKalb County Police. Hill was killed by DeKalb Police on […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Three proposed cityhood referenda bills–Tucker, La Vista Hills, and South Fulton–are zooming through the General Assembly. All three bills have passed the Georgia House in advance of last Friday’s Crossover Day, which was March 13, 2015, and are up for consideration by the Georgia Senate. The cityhood bills were introduced on Monday, March 02, 2015; passed […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — On Friday, March 13, 2015, the Georgia Senate passed SB 185, a medical cannabis research bill, which provides for clinical trials of cannabidiol-containing products to treat Georgia residents under 18 who have medication-resistant cases of epilepsy. It passed the full Senate by a vote of 54 yeas and one nay. The only nay was State […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — This week, on March 11, 2015, in a 38-17 party line vote, the Georgia State Senate passed SR 80, a resolution to force Advanced Placement U.S. History (APUSH) out of Georgia schools. Advanced Placement (AP) classes enable high school students to take college level courses and receive college credit. They are administered by the College Board, […]
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(APN) DECATUR — On Wednesday night, March 11, 2015, approximately two hundred people marched through the streets of Decatur and held sit-ins stopping traffic, as they protested the killing of Anthony Hill. For the second time in less than eleven weeks, DeKalb police have shot and killed another innocent Black man This time, they shot a naked, unarmed veteran […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — When HB 29 and SB 129 were introduced in the Georgia House and Senate this year, respectively, advocates of LGBTQI equality immediately waxed hyperbolic, calling it the Hate the Gays bill. Atlanta Progressive News ran a lengthy analysis in early January 2015 explaining that the bill was more broadly encompassing and more substantively complex than its […]
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