The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia, Atlanta move closer on coronavirus restrictions
Going to mediation, Bottoms says she’ll work with Kemp.
Gov. Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Keshia Lance Bottoms are headed for mediation in their legal dispute over response to the coronavirus pandemic.
There’s no certainty that they will reach a settlement, but the two leaders already appeared to be moving in that direction before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jane Barwick ordered mediation in the suit Kemp filed against the city over its move to reinstitute restrictions aimed at the virus that were tougher than his own executive order.
Bottoms said on “The Tonight Show” that she and Kemp had had “a very good conversation” about the suit.
“We discussed where we disagree and hopefully we can figure out a way to agree to disagree without having to play this out in court,” Bottoms told Jimmy Fallon.
The new talks between Kemp and Bottoms — made possible after the litigation hit a speed bump earlier in the week when two Fulton judges recused themselves — focused on things they have in common.
“At the end of the day, we want the same thing. We want people to be safe. We want to stop the spread of COVID-19,” Bottoms said. “And it certainly doesn’t help when we’re having to fight one another.”
Now the state and city will talk some more about the lawsuit targeting Bottoms’ July 10 decision to revert to “phase one” guidelines that encouraged new limits on restaurants and other businesses to contain the disease. The suit also cast the city’s mask requirements as
“void and unenforceable.”
Barwick has also set a hearing for 10 a.m. Tuesday to weigh the merits of the case.
That could include consideration of a brief filed in support of the city by the Georgia Municipal Association, which says the suit could affect roughly 100 of the 537 municipalities in its membership that have adopted mask mandates.
The GMA brief argues that under the Georgia Constitution, the state is usurping power that the Legislature bestowed upon local governments.
It states, “The Georgia General Assembly … intended for local governments to have the ability to enhance guidance from the Governor through supplementation, so long as the supplementation by the local governments is consistent with the Governor’s executive orders.”
Collins: No to bill to remove bases’ names
The U.S. House voted this past week to rename military installations bearing the monikers of Confederate generals, but that was a line U.S. Rep. Doug Collins would not cross.
The name changes — which in Georgia would affect Fort Benning and Fort Gordon — were a factor behind his vote against the National Defense Authorization Act, a massive military funding bill.
“Congressman Collins believes that erasing our nation’s history by renaming military bases, monuments and statues is a slippery slope, and we have to draw the line somewhere,” said a spokeswoman for the Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Gainesville.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, also voted against the bill but gave no indication that renaming figured in his opposition. He said his concerns involved limits on President Donald Trump’s power to respond to security threats.
“The NDAA is very important for the 1st District, but unfortunately, I had too many concerns in this version of the bill,” he said.
The other five members of the state’s congressional delegation who voted against the bill — Republican U.S. Reps. Rick Allen of Evans, Drew Ferguson of West Point, Jody Hice of Monroe and Barry Loudermilk of Cassville, plus Democratic U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson of Lithonia — did not respond to requests seeking reasons for their “no” votes.
Trump has threatened to veto the bill if it calls for renaming the 10 U.S. installations named after Confederate military leaders.
Stocks rebound lifts teacher pensions
Thanks to the coronavirus, it’s been a tough year for the state’s finances, including a cut of nearly $1 billion in funding for K-12 education. But there’s now some good news for teachers: Their pension system has bounced back.
In the early days of the pandemic, the state’s Teacher Retirement System was hardly asymptomatic. As stock markets took a plunge, the TRS saw its assets drop from $83 billion at the end of 2019 to $65 billion.
“There was a sick feeling in my stomach,” TRS Executive Director Buster Evans told his board this past week.
Evans is no longer in need of an antacid: The system ended fiscal 2020 on June 30 with its assets back up to $81 billion. Now, only a few weeks later, they total nearly $84 billion.
Along with the teachers and retired educators, taxpayers should be happy. The pensions are funded through a combination of employee contributions, money from taxpayers and investments. And when the TRS sees its assets drop, that could force the state to pay hundreds of millions of dollars extra in a year to shore up the pension’s finances.
Second straight year of rise in abortions
Abortions increased in Georgia in 2019 by more than 2,100 — in excess of 7% — according to the state Department of Public Health.
It marked the second year in a row that the state saw a rise in abortions.
State records, published in the DPH’s vital statistics database, show 30,656 abortions were performed in 2019 at a rate of 9.2 abortions per 1,000 females between the ages of 10 and 55. That’s an increase of 2,122 over the 28,544 abortions performed in 2018, at a rate of 8.6 abortions per 1,000 females. That was an increase of almost 4% over 2017.
The number of abortions performed in Georgia has trended downward over about 25 years, but a similar spike appeared in 2016, when the number of procedures jumped by nearly 3,000.
The abortion count has dropped by nearly 8.5% since 1994, which experts credit to increased access to various forms of birth control.
The number of births also increased slightly in Georgia, from 126,051 in 2018 to 26,250 in 2019.
Stat of the week: $880 million
That’s the total the state of Georgia incurred in costs related to COVID-19 through June 30. The number came out in a report to the federal government, which is picking up the tab through the CARES Act that Congress passed in March.
About 40% of the expenses involve funding that will go to local communities to meet the challenges of the pandemic. That money has yet to be allocated.
The state said nearly $400 million in costs were incurred during the first four months of the pandemic to cover medical and public health expenses. That figure includes expanding bed capacity, boosting medical staffing, accelerating testing, and acquiring masks and other equipment.
About $5 million was spent in areas such as improving teleworking capabilities of public employees and distance learning.