The COVID-19 pandemic is sparking an unprecedented boom in housing sales and remodeling across the country as many Americans seek more space in which to live, work and learn at home. The historic levels of consumer demand over the last year has pushed finished lumber prices to all-time highs and Georgia’s massive timber industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people is struggling to adjust. The latest Georgia Today podcast with guest Ryan Dezember, a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, explores the lumber boom's impact on the state’s critical timber industry and its growers, and what all this could mean for home prices.
Klobuchar during a virtual panel Thursday with state lawmakers said that she met this week with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-N.Y.), along with Manchin and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, to discuss crafting a bill to protect and expand voting rights, as well as require states to use independent commissions for redistricting.
The federal government is at last rolling out a loan program meant to help farmers reclaim portions of property lost when the land changed hands over generations, leaving the ownership rights unclear.
A nationwide moratorium on evictions has been in effect during the pandemic as a public health measure imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But that moratorium ends July 31. GPB’s Rickey Bevington speaks with expert Mike Carnathan about what this tsunami of evictions could mean.
Georgia’s COVID case numbers jumped by 4,800 in the state figures reported Thursday, continuing a recent upswing that’s apparently fueled by the Delta variant.
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.
Another controversial part of Georgia's sweeping new voting law would allow state officials to temporarily take over local county elections boards, with Republicans eyeing Fulton County as the first target. An analysis of the measures and statements by election officials suggest that a takeover of Fulton is unlikely to happen any time soon — if at all.
While Georgia’s redistricting process is inherently partisan, there are measures that experts say can be employed to make the process fair and transparent. But a Georgia News Lab/GPB News review finds the state falls far short of those measures.
As the once-a-decade process of redrawing Georgia’s legislative and congressional districts gets underway, government accountability groups and members of the public are calling on lawmakers to increase transparency and public input in the process.
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.
The original lawsuit, filed last summer, claims the Georgia Public Service Commission’s statewide at-large districts dilute the voting strength of the state’s Black residents and that the state should move to regional districts represented by one commissioner.
The push and pull between the state and local officials during the pandemic is familiar: Last year, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp blocked local leaders from imposing their own facial covering requirements. This year, his power to do so is more limited.
New numbers from Georgia’s Department of Public Health show nearly all new COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state in the past seven months were among unvaccinated people.
Historically, the LGBTQ community has faced higher-than-average unemployment rates and workplace cultures that are often difficult to navigate. COVID-19 has only deepened those difficulties for those seeking work. So the city of Atlanta and Goodwill of North Georgia are now taking a step to connect LGBTQ Atlantans with more job opportunities by partnering up for the city's second annual virtual LGBTQ Opportunity Fair.
Workers at the Clarkston Community Health Center are in a fight against vaccine hesitancy. Immigrants, many refugees, make up more than half of the residents in this city of about 13,000 people. The population is at high risk of contracting the virus and, community leaders say, among the hardest to convince to be vaccinated.
