Tag Archives: local

Georgia lawmakers heard testimony Friday that caused one Republican senator to express concern that there’s little oversight of how Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis uses her $36.6 million budget. State Sen. Bill Cowsert, a Republican representing Athens and chairman of the committee, questioned Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts and Fulton County Chief Financial Officer Sharon Whittmore about how the …

A legislative committee on Thursday advanced a bill to allow state inmates, for the first time, to speak by phone or video conference at their parole hearings. The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill after adding an amendment to give victims and law enforcement officials the option to also participate by electronic means instead of driving to Montgomery for the …

Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, is facing renewed criticism from her GOP challengers for refusing to take a stand against the Biden administration’s agenda, which they claim will harm Alaska’s “resource development” and “economic prosperity” in the United States. The current frustrations with Peltola, the only Democrat to hold statewide office in Alaska, came after she voted “present” on a bill …

U.S. Rep. David Scott faces multiple Democratic primary opponents in his quest for a 12th congressional term in a sharply reconfigured suburban Atlanta district. But with early voting underway ahead of the May 21 primary elections, the 78-year-old is ignoring challengers and trying to glide to renomination. Attacks on Scott are in some ways a microcosm of Democrats’ concerns about …

A dayslong filibuster in the Missouri Senate ended Thursday after a Republican faction allowed a vote on a more than $4 billion Medicaid program they had been holding hostage. Senators gave initial approval in a voice vote to a bill that will renew a longstanding tax on hospitals and other medical providers. The measure needs a second vote of approval …

Missouri voters on Wednesday got a step closer to getting to decide whether to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, after a group behind the effort said it turned in nearly double the required number of signatures. The ballot measure backed by Missouri Jobs with Justice would raise the minimum wage from its current $12.30 an hour …

A large staffing firm that performed COVID-19 contact tracing for Pennsylvania and exposed the private medical information of about 72,000 residents will pay $2.7 million in a settlement with the Justice Department and a company whistleblower, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday. The Pennsylvania Department of Health paid Atlanta-based Insight Global tens of millions of dollars to administer the state’s contact tracing …

A Republican who spent years as one of Ohio’s highest profile politicians has been threatened with jail time for violating the terms of his 2020 divorce agreement. Josh Mandel, a former two-term state treasurer who ran three times for U.S. Senate, was sentenced to seven days behind bars, as was his ex-wife, Ilana Mandel, after an Ashland County court magistrate …

A three-judge panel ordered Wednesday that two county commissioners in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle be removed from office over a month after they were arrested for purposefully jilting their duties by skipping public meetings. Circuit Court Judges Joseph K. Reeder of Putnam County, Jason A. Wharton of Wirt and Wood Counties and Perri Jo DeChristopher of Monongalia County wrote in …

A new congressional map giving Louisiana a second majority-Black House district was rejected Tuesday by a panel of three federal judges, fueling new uncertainty about district boundaries as the state prepares for fall congressional elections. The 2-1 ruling forbids the use of a map drawn up in January by the Legislature after a different federal judge blocked a map from …