Latest news with #GeorgiaRecorder
Axios
7 days ago
- Politics
- Axios
Atlanta rallies counter Trump's birthday parade
Protesters are taking to the streets and community hubs nationwide on Saturday in what organizers expect will be the largest single-day anti-President Trump rally since the start of his second administration. Why it matters: The widespread "No Kings" movement, which includes multiple events in metro Atlanta, will run counter to Trump's multimillion-dollar military parade in D.C. "No Kings is a nationwide day of defiance," organizers wrote. "From city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, we're taking action to reject authoritarianism." More than 100 pro-democracy advocacy groups are partnering to organize the No Kings events. What they're saying:"Donald Trump wants tanks in the street and a made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday," the No Kings website said. "A spectacle meant to look like strength. But real power isn't staged in Washington. It rises up everywhere else." Context: The day of action comes as Trump deploys National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, where anti-ICE protests have escalated. Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said the state would crack down on protestors if Saturday's demonstrations turn destructive or violent, Georgia Recorder reports. "In Georgia, if you engage in violence for the purpose of changing public policy, you can be charged with domestic terrorism," Carr, who's seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2026, said in a statement. "The penalty for domestic terrorism is 5-35 years in jail." By the numbers: Millions of people are estimated to protest in more than 1,800 rallies across all 50 states and commonwealths including Puerto Rico, organizers said. Some international rallies are also planned in countries including Colombia, Malawi, Italy, Portugal, Germany and the United Kingdom. Catch up quick: Trump proposed a military parade on his 79th birthday and the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary. The Army predicts it will spend $25 million to $45 million on the plan, an estimate that doesn't include Secret Service or law enforcement. D.C. is not known for having military parades, but Trump has been vying for one since his first term.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘No Kings' organizers in Georgia want peaceful protests but are armed with deescalation tactics
"No Kings" organizers are expecting a large crowd for a protest outside the Georgia Capitol they are working hard to keep peaceful Saturday. Pictured is a 2023 protest over abortion rights at the same location. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder Five years ago, an Atlanta protest that began peacefully ended in chaos with burning police cars and tear gas canisters. With mass protests over the Trump administration's policies set to take place around the country Saturday, Georgia's leaders say they will be prepared if violent elements overtake peaceful protests. Around two dozen protests are scheduled across Georgia with hundreds across the country. But organizers of the planned 'No Kings' event in Atlanta say they've taken every step to ensure a morning of peaceful demonstration. 'This is a permitted rally,' said Laura Judge, an activist with the Indivisible Georgia Coalition, one of the main organizers of the Atlanta event. 'We went and we talked with local officials and law enforcement to make sure that this is a safe and permitted, peaceful rally. But, you know, we went above and beyond to ensure that there is safety and de-escalation.' Judge said that means over 100 volunteers, including 28 medics and 37 marshals trained in de-escalation, conflict prevention and crowd safety techniques. Medics will be specifically trained to assist older attendees and with disabilities, and the staff will include a law enforcement liaison to assist with communicating with police. Georgia's top leaders have warned against violent escalations. Gov. Brian Kemp vowed 'heavy accountability,' and Attorney General Chris Carr issued a statement threatening to charge offenders with domestic terrorism, which comes with a prison sentence of up to 35 years. 'Our attorney general just put a statement out about how protests should look,' Judge said. 'And while we're committed and we want all our attendees to be peaceful and use their First Amendment rights, we don't want anyone having that threat of being arrested or being detained when we have done everything, we have checked all the boxes to do what is right using our First Amendment.' Organizers of Columbus' event recommended an unusual response in case of unexpected behavior. 'In the rare event that individuals outside our organization come to the event and behave in ways that are contrary to our peaceful values, we strongly encourage attendees to sit, hold hands, and listen to to instructions from our trained de-escalators,' reads a post from Indivisible Columbus on social media. 'We are 100% committed to and united in peace.' Speaking at a virtual meeting for nationwide participants Thursday, Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin called for spirited but peaceful protests, saying that violence would play into the hands of their political opponents. 'When some bad actors engage in property destruction or violence, the Trump team says, 'see, there, now we need to escalate further,'' he said. 'And that's Trump's plan, rinse and repeat. It's straight from the authoritarian playbook.' Britt Jacovich, deputy communications director at the liberal MoveOn advocacy group, echoed Levin's sentiments. 'Trump wants chaos on camera, and so we shouldn't give him any footage to use,' she said. 'We win by showing the truth. We are joyful, proud, nonviolent, in every corner of the country.' Judge said problems caused by outside agitators are always a concern for protesters, but volunteers have been trained to deal with potential criminal elements. 'I believe it's important that at least the organizers and the volunteers are all on the same page knowing who we go to and who we need to work with when things are escalating like that so that we're not branded as these agitators,' she said. 'Because that is not the purpose, our purpose is to show the power belongs to the people and we're allowed to speak up and we should not just automatically be branded as agitators or instigators.'
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Hundreds of CDC workers are reinstated but majority of fired public health staffers left in limbo
Supporters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrate outside the center's entrance in Atlanta during a rally in April. These rallies have happened weekly since the mass layoffs first started at the CDC in February. Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder Fired workers of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and their supporters are pushing for more public health jobs to be restored after a portion of the center's terminated workforce was reinstated this week. Many of the more than 460 workers reinstated are assigned to the National Center for Environmental Health or the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention, according to the Associated Press. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans to slash 10,000 jobs in late March, including 2,400 jobs at the CDC. The reinstated workers received a two-paragraph memorandum Wednesday from Tom Nagy, chief human capital officer with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, that said they were no longer part of the previously announced reduction in force, according to a copy of the memo obtained by the Georgia Recorder. 'You will not be affected by the upcoming RIF,' the memo says. Emily G. Hilliard, press secretary for the federal agency, did not respond to specific questions about the number of jobs reinstated or which CDC programs were targeted. 'Under Secretary Kennedy's leadership, the nation's critical public health functions remain intact and effective,' Hilliard said in a statement Thursday. 'The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services—whether it's supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases.' Sarah Boim, a former communication specialist at the CDC who is a leader of the group Fired But Fighting, said some of the reinstated staffers were already back at work Thursday. Boim said the restored jobs are not enough, but she said she is skeptical that more people will be brought back since the newly reinstated group represents about 20% of the job losses at the CDC – which would mirror what Kennedy said earlier would need to be reversed because of 'mistakes' made by the Department of Government Efficiency. Lawsuits challenging the terminations at the CDC and other federal agencies are also working their way through the courts. Boim said the saga has left laboratory scientists and others sidelined from their work while collecting administrative pay. 'It's mind boggling — the level of inefficiency and chaos that this whole process has sown,' she said. 'I would like people to know that their money was going to pay for people with critical jobs to not do their jobs.' Georgia Democrats who have pressed for the Trump administration to reverse course on the CDC cuts cheered the news Thursday but pressed for more fired CDC workers to be brought back. 'The rehiring of hundreds of dedicated health workers, many of whom call Georgia home, is welcome news for those of us who believe that public health is vital to our wellbeing and safety — not a political game,' U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock said in a statement. Warnock participated in a rally outside the CDC in April. Those rallies have been held every week since the mass layoffs started in February, with one held Tuesday despite the rain after Kennedy fired members of a key vaccine panel. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fulton County judge indicates he will likely uphold decision to remove PSC candidate from ballot
A Fulton County judge is likely to rule Daniel Blackman ineligible from the June 17 Democratic primary for District 3. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder (file) Georgia polling stations could soon have signs telling voters that a Democratic candidate for the Georgia Public Service Commission may appear on the ballot but is disqualified. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville is likely to officially rule Daniel Blackman ineligible from the June 17 Democratic primary for District 3, which includes Fulton, Clayton and DeKalb counties. Blackman was disqualified last month by an administrative law judge and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for failing to meet residency requirements. Glanville ruled from the bench Tuesday, saying the decision to disqualify Blackman 'properly considered the petitioner's failure to update his voter registration until April of 2025.' A formal ruling is expected from the judge by the end of Wednesday. If Blackman is officially deemed ineligible, counties across the state will have to post signs warning voters that their votes for Blackman won't count. Early voting is underway now and ends Friday. That would leave three other Democrats in the race, including Keisha Sean Waites, a former Atlanta City Council member and Georgia House representative; Peter Hubbard, founder of the Center for Energy Solutions; and Robert Jones, who worked in energy regulation in California. Blackman had been considered a frontrunner in the race. He served as the Environmental Protection Agency's Southeast regional administrator under the Biden administration, and he's a former PSC candidate who came close to winning a seat on the commission back in 2020. Blackman has remained on the ballot while appealing the May 27 ruling from Administrative Court Judge Dominic Capraro, who concluded that Blackman voting in Forsyth County in the Nov. 5 general election was proof that Blackman was not a legal resident of Fulton County. The Democratic primary winner will face appointed Republican Commissioner Fitz Johnson in November to fill serve a one-year term. There will be another election in 2026 when Georgians will elect a commissioner for the district to a full six-year term. State attorneys argued that Blackman's evidence that he lives in Fulton County was uncorroborated and that there was proof that he continued to live at his family home in Forsyth County. Under state law, a commission member must live in one of five districts for at least 12 months before an election. Blackman has said his wife and children remained in Forsyth to finish the school year while he relocated to an Atlanta residence. Blackman's attorney Matthew Wilson argued that Blackman met state requirements as a commission candidate, including registering address changes 30 days in advance of an election. 'He told others his intent was to move to Fulton County and remain there for an indefinite period of time, starting October 2024,' Wilson said at Tuesday's Zoom court hearing. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Charlton County, ICE contract to expand processing center moves forward
Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter, a Pooler Republican, said he helped broker the contract between Charlton County and the federal government. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder (file) Georgia's Charlton County is set to become home to the largest immigrant detention facility in the United States following an agreement between county officials and the federal Department of Homeland Security. Under a $47 million contract reached Friday by county and federal government officials, the D. Ray James Correctional Facility in Folkston, 45 miles southwest of Brunswick, will be merged with an immigrant processing center in the city that is operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Coastal Georgia Congressman Earl 'Buddy' Carter, who said he helped broker the contract, praised the deal. The expansion will add 'roughly 400 jobs and economic growth to the First Congressional District,' Carter said in a press release. Continued Carter, who last month announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Jon Ossoff: 'I'm proud to have worked with Charlton County to get the D. Ray James Correctional Facility expansion over the finish line, which will bring jobs and economic growth to our region, and I will continue to support our brave ICE agents as they seek to restore law and order.' Folkston, a city of about 4,500 people, will also receive approximately $600,000 a year in revenue from water and sewer services to the facility, the congressman said. The Folkston processing center currently holds just over 1,100 beds. Its merger with the correctional facility will bring the center's total capacity to nearly 3,000 beds. In a June 5 press release from the county's Board of Commissioners, County Administrator Glenn Hull said the county does not manage the correctional facility and would not do so following the merger. 'This expansion would increase capacity and enhance federal operations already in place,' Hull wrote in the press release. 'Charlton County's role remains strictly administrative and supportive.' Both facilities are owned and managed by The Geo Group, a private prison corporation. The Geo Group contributed $7,500 to Carter's campaign in 2024 through PACs, $5,000 of which was donated directly to Buddy PAC — Carter's Leadership PAC. This story is available through a partnership with The Current.
