Monday on Political Rewind: Concern about the resurgence of COVID-19 in Georgia is growing as the summer break draws to a close. Meanwhile, congressional leaders in Washington, D.C. allowed the end of an federal eviction moratorium over the weekend.
Friday on Political Rewind: How do we come to terms with debates over the very nature of U.S. history? Clint Smith’s debut work of nonfiction and offers a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in making sense of our country’s legacy.
Thursday on Political Rewind: Georgia Republicans have begun taking steps to a possible takeover of Fulton County elections. A letter signed by two dozen state senators supports a performance review of the county’s election chief. Also: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s moratorium on evictions during the pandemic is set to end this Saturday, potentially unleashing a wave of pent-up evictions around metro Atlanta.
Wednesday on Political Rewind: Congressional hearings in Washington, D.C., continue as a U.S. House panel investigates the Jan. 6 insurrection. Meanwhile, data show that the Center for Disease Control’s new guidance on wearing masks to fight the spread of the highly contagious delta coronavirus variant should apply to people in all but a small handful of counties in Georgia.
Tuesday on Political Rewind: Voting rights advocates remain concerned Republican legislators are angling to use Georgia’s new voting law to take over operation of Fulton County elections. However, critics of past chaos in the county’s elections say change is needed. Meanwhile, as cases of COVID-19 propelled by the dangerous delta variant spread in the state, Savannah Mayor Van Johnson has once again issued a mask mandate for the city.
Monday on Political Rewind, we are joined by New York Times and internationally bestselling author Karin Slaughter. Her newest novel, False Witness, incorporates many timely issues into its narrative. Published in 120 countries with more than 40 million copies sold across the globe, Slaughter’s novels include Cop Town and Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, and Pieces of Her.
Friday on Political Rewind: Vaccination rates in Georgia remain stubbornly low, even as the coronavirus is establishing a foothold again across the country. Hospitalizations are up in the state too, with the vast majority of patients being unvaccinated. What role are misinformation and partisan politics playing in the continuing spread of the virus? And how is this affecting other national topics, such as immigration? Our panel weighs in.
Plus, all five candidates for mayor of Atlanta took aim at what they say is a destructive campaign to create a new city of Buckhead.
Thursday on Political Rewind: Speaker of the House David Ralston has unveiled a sweeping $75 million proposal to confront escalating crime, especially in metro Atlanta. The plan includes bonuses for local law enforcement officers and an increase in funding for law enforcement agencies — as well as for an expansion of mental health services. Democratic House members said they’ll work with Ralston on his plan even as they recognize it’s part of a GOP effort to use crime-fighting as a wedge issue in the 2022 election cycle.
Meanwhile, the guessing game over the possibility of a big-name Republican emerging to challenge U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock continues this week, and the effect of COVID on U.S. life expectancy is discussed.
Tuesday on Political Rewind: Gov. Brian Kemp says he’ll ask the General Assembly to pass laws to fight crime during a special session of the legislature later this year. The session’s primary mission will be to redraw political maps based on new census data. But Kemp has the power to add measures to combat violent crime, especially in Atlanta, to the agenda.
Plus, we look at the outcome of the U.S. Senate field hearing examining Georgia’s new voting law.
Monday on Political Rewind: Sen. Amy Klobuchar is in Atlanta today to hold a field hearing on the impact of Georgia’s new election law on voters of color. It’s unlikely that any Republicans on the committee will attend the hearing, which Klobuchar hopes will shine a spotlight on the need to pass a federal voting rights act.
Meanwhile, Georgia Republicans are doing a bit of counterprogramming today. At the same time of the Klobuchar event, GOP House leaders are holding a committee hearing to look at rising violent crime in Atlanta. And Gov. Brian Kemp has scheduled a conference call with reporters to defend the new election law.
Friday on Political Rewind: Debates about access to health care have been a dominant theme in politics here in Georgia and across the country for decades. Author Elinor Cleghorn presents us with a new and deeply troubling look at health care and medical treatment. In her new book, Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World, she tells the harrowing story of how medicine has failed women throughout history.
Thursday on Political Rewind: Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia legislators will face a happy problem as they begin determining how to spend state revenues over the next year. Despite the pandemic, Georgia tax collections reached a record $3.2 billion in the recently ended fiscal year.
Wednesday on Political Rewind: In a fiery speech in Philadelphia, President Joe Biden reasserted his contention that Republican-backed election bills passed in Georgia and other states amounted to "Jim Crow 2.0." Meanwhile, Texas Democratic legislators have blocked the GOP effort to pass a controversial election bill by fleeing to Washington and denying state House leaders the quorum needed to pass legislation.
Tuesday on Political Rewind: With the first pitch in Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game set to be thrown in Denver tonight — not Cobb County — Republicans have launched a blistering campaign blaming Democrats for the move. MLB moved the game in response to the state's new election law, which league officials insist discriminates against minority voters.
Monday on Political Rewind: The latest campaign financial reports in races across the state reveal once again the staggering sums of money that now are commonplace in political campaigns. After releasing his first campaign ad late last week, Gov. Kemp traveled to Perry, Ga., over the weekend to launch his bid for reelection. Meanwhile, GPB and the AJC reviewed the use of drop boxes in 2020 voting.
