Blog Topic: Government

In the Loop: CCSD Announces Staff Shakeup

By Blake Aued | April 8, 2019 3:17pm

The Clarke County School District has leadership vacancies at six schools to fill after moving several principals to the central office.

The district announced the moves late Friday, a day after the Board of Education met in closed session to discuss personnel.

According to Director of Public Relations and Communications Mary Walsh Wickwire:

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In the Loop: Jared Bybee Will Resign From the Clarke County School Board

By Rebecca McCarthy | April 1, 2019 4:04pm

Photo Credit: Thinc UGA

Come June, Jared Bybee will no longer be the president of the Clarke County Board of Education. His family and he are moving to southern California, where his wife has accepted a job with the University of California, Irvine.

Bybee was first elected to the board in 2016. His colleagues voted him president in January 2018.

“Being on the board has been a ton of work, but very rewarding, and I’ve learned a lot from my colleagues on the board even when we disagreed,” Bybee said. “Even after seeing all the complicated innards of how it all works, I remain steadfast in my optimism for CCSD and the direction we are headed.”

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In the Loop: What Should ACC Do About the Murmur Trestle?

By Blake Aued | March 29, 2019 4:48pm

With the construction of Firefly Trail finally underway after nearly 20 years, Athens-Clarke County finally has to make a decision about what to do with the Murmur trestle.

In 2000, CSX started to remove rails and demolish trestles along an abandoned rail line running from Winterville to downtown Athens. One of those trestles, near Poplar Street, was featured on the back cover of R.E.M.’s album Murmur. Fans rallied, and ACC purchased the trestle and halted the demolition, but not before it was halfway gone.

As many cities have done with unused railroads—see New York’s High Line or the Silver Comet Trail west of Atlanta—ACC decided to convert the flat, level rail bed into a walking and biking trail. Sales tax collections, planning and federal approval took over a decade. The first leg of the trail, between East Broad Street and Dudley Park, opened last year. Initially, there was not enough money for a new bridge over Trail Creek, but that’s changed since voters approved a 1 percent sales tax for transportation in 2017.

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In the Loop: Georgia House Passes Abortion Bill

By Ashlyn Webb | March 29, 2019 4:14pm

A bill severely restricting abortions in Georgia passed narrowly with a 92-78 vote on the House floor on Friday. It takes 91 votes to pass a bill.

Now, House Bill 481 heads to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk to be signed into law.

Kemp is expected to sign the legislation. In his 2018 campaign, he vowed to his supporters to sign “the strictest abortion law in the nation.”

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In the Loop: Bill Would Make Confederate Monuments Harder to Move

By Ashlyn Webb | March 29, 2019 12:22pm

Photo Credit: Nicole Adamson/file

Athens' Confederate monument, erected in 1872, now sits in the Broad Street median downtown after being moved twice before.

Athens' Confederate monument, and others, will be harder to move if the state legislature passes a bill granting monuments greater protection.

Reps. Houston Gaines (R-Athens) and Marcus Wiedower (R-Watkinsville) voted in favor of Senate Bill 77. Rep. Spencer Frye (D-Athens) voted against the bill, which passed 100–71.

SB 77, sponsored Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), increases the punishment against those who damage or destroy a monument. Those found guilty of damaging a monument could be fined up to three times the costs to repair or replace it, according to the bill.

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In the Loop: Protest at UGA as Lawmakers Prepare for Abortion Vote

By Ashlyn Webb | March 28, 2019 10:29am

Photo Credit: Savannah Cole

About 100 people protested HB 481, the anti-abortion "Heartbeat Bill," on campus Wednesday.

The Georgia House of Representatives could vote soon on what will be one of the strictest—if not the strictest—abortion laws in the country today.

On Friday, the Georgia Senate moved forward House Bill 481. The “Heartbeat Bill” bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. That’s when supporters claim a fetal heartbeat can be detected, although doctors dispute that. The current law bans most abortions after 20 weeks.

Both Athens-area senators, Bill Cowsert (R-Athens) and Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville) voted in favor of the bill. Two Athens representatives, Republicans Houston Gaines and Marcus Wiedower, have stated they will vote to approve the bill as they did the first time around. Democrat Spencer Frye is the only Athens legislator expected to vote against it.

Senate tweaks to the bill mean the House must approve it again to send it on to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature, but time is running out. Before Day 38 of the 40-day session, HB 481’s sponsor, Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth), said the bill is three votes shy of passage.

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In the Loop: Georgia Senate Passes Strict Anti-Abortion Bill

By Blake Aued | March 22, 2019 8:39pm

A still from "The Handmaid's Tale." Protesters at the capitol today dressed as characters from the Hulu show, based on a Margaret Atwood novel about a dystopian society where men force women to conceive and bear children.

The Georgia Senate passed one of the nation's most restrictive abortion bills today.

The largely party-line vote was 34–18, with both of the Athens area's senators, Bill Cowsert (R-Athens) and Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville) voting in favor of it.

The bill—dubbed the "Heartbeat Bill" by supporters—bans almost all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The bill criminalizes physicians, according to the Georgia Medical Association , and some critics say it could make women who use a morning-after pill legally culpable as well.

Kemp is almost certain to sign the bill—he supported it during his campaign—setting up a potential legal battle. The American Civil Liberties Union has already said it will sue if Kemp signs the bill into law.

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In the Loop: Voting Machine Bill Passes on Party-Line Vote

By Lee Becker | March 21, 2019 1:49pm

Oconee County’s three legislators in the Georgia General Assembly last week voted in favor of House Bill 316, which selects new voting machines and responds to allegations that voters last year were denied access, absentee ballots were not counted and vote tallies were incomplete.

The vote on the House bill was partisan, and Sen. Bill Cowsert from the 46th District, Rep. Houston Gaines from House District 117, and Rep. Marcus Wiedower from House District 119, all Republicans, sided with the Republican majority.

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In the Loop: Athens Republicans Vote for Abortion Bill, Against Hate Crimes Bill

By Lee Becker | March 12, 2019 12:44pm

Rep. Marcus Wiedower (R-Watkinsville).

Oconee County’s two representatives in the Georgia General Assembly cast their votes late Thursday night with the House majority in favor of a bill that prohibits most abortions after a doctor can detect a heartbeat in the womb and with the minority against a hate crimes bill.

House Bill 481, officially called the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, passed narrowly at 10:45 p.m. on Thursday with 93 representatives, almost all Republicans, voting in favor, and 73 voting against.

The bill required 91 votes for passages in the 180-seat House of Representatives, where Oconee County’s Houston Gaines and Marcus Wiedower are joined by 105 other Republicans.

House Bill 426, which would amend existing Georgia Code to provide criteria for imposition of punishment for defendants who select their victims based upon certain biases or prejudices, also passed narrowly with 96 voting in favor and 64 voting against.

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In the Loop: Voucher, Bail, Home Design Bills Don't Make It Past Legislature's Crossover Day

By Blake Aued | March 11, 2019 1:52pm

Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens).

The Senate voted down a bill last week creating a voucher program for private-school students when several Republicans either sat it out or crossed party lines, and a rumored revote never came to pass. SB 173 is most likely dead for the session, along with the similar House Bill 301.

Crossover Day—the last day for a bill to pass either the House or the Senate and be eligible to pass in the other—came and went Thursday without a vote on HB 301 or HB 340, which would have restricted local governments’ ability to reform the cash bail system. SB 164, another bill aimed at bail reform sponsored by Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens) died as well.

HB 302, prohibiting local governments from regulating the design of houses, appeared to be on the fast track after passing out of committee, but also did not come up for a vote. However, all of these bills could be resurrected by attaching their language to bills on similar topics that did make it through Crossover Day. And they will get another chance next year.

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