Family Promise assumes operations of Habersham Homeless Ministries

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November 21, 2024

homeless shelter — One of the shelters at Habersham Homeless Ministries. (Nora Almazan/Now Habersham)

Family Promise of White and Habersham has assumed operations of Habersham Homeless Ministries. The nonprofit has scheduled an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony on December 3 to celebrate a new beginning for the ministry.

A news release from Family Promise said, “We would like to thank Habersham Homeless for all of the contributions they have made to the Habersham community over the years. We look forward to continuing to serve the community. This will allow us to extend our mission and continue providing vital services to families and individuals facing Homelessness in both White and Habersham Counties.”

With this change, Family Promise will expand its reach, ensuring that those in need in Habersham County have access to shelter, resources, and support systems that promote long-term stability, the group.

Those in need of assistance must meet the following criteria:

Must have children OR be a single woman
Must be employable
No current domestic violence
Pass a drug screening
No violent felonies
No unstable emotional/mental history
Must have a driver’s license and transportation

For more information on obtaining help from or volunteering with Family Promise, call 706-865-7725.

Judge denies bond for Cornelia murder suspect

By

Staff Report

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November 21, 2024

A Habersham County Superior Court judge has denied bond for the suspect accused of murdering a Cornelia woman last month.

Angel Rivera-Sanchez is charged in the death of 25-year-old Minelys Rodriguez-Ramirez. The accused went before a judge on Wednesday, Nov. 20, and his attorneys tried to get him released on house arrest. Mountain Judicial Circuit Court Judge Russell “Rusty” Smith ruled against that request based on information indicating the suspect was attempting to flee the country before he was taken into custody.

Rodriguez-Ramirez was shot

At Wednesday’s bond hearing, Rivera-Sanchez appeared in court virtually from the Habersham County Detention Center.

During the proceeding, the prosecution outlined the case against him, citing two possible scenarios for how the young mother of one died. In one scenario, Rivera-Sanchez and Rodriguez-Ramirez struggled over a gun, and it discharged. The second scenario centered on the possibility that someone else shot her.

“The defense lawyer is the one who said Mr. Rivera-Sanchez claims he did not shoot Ms. Rodriguez and that he saw someone else shoot her,” Staples told Now Habersham in an email Wednesday. “…Mr. Rivera-Sanchez told GBI Ms. Rodriguez had been wounded by a gunshot while they were struggling over a pistol and that he thereafter shot her, too, in his version of events, to end her suffering.”

Defense attorney Gustavo Corzo and Public Defender Jeanne Tiger represented Rivera-Sanchez in court.

Corzo raised concerns about Rodriguez-Ramirez’s TikTok presence and her OnlyFans account. The defense also claimed there was another person relevant to the case that Rivera-Sanchez could identify if he saw him, but he did not know the person.

Corzo recommended Rivera-Sanchez be placed on house arrest with an ankle bracelet in Hall County. The victim’s family strongly opposed that.

Timeline of events

Minelys Rodriguez-Ramirez with her daughter, Jonielys. (David Rodriguez-Ramirez)

Known as “Mimi” by family and friends, Rodriguez-Ramirez was a fitness enthusiast and mother of a 9-year-old daughter. She disappeared during a trip to Walmart in Cornelia on Oct. 22. Her family reported her missing the following day.

Six days later, on Oct. 28, agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) arrested Rivera-Sanchez in Atlanta and charged him with murder. They returned him to Habersham County and booked him at the county jail. The next day, on Oct. 29, authorities found Rodriguez-Ramirez’s remains. She was located in the woods off Furniture Drive – which runs parallel to the Cornelia Walmart. The Department of Natural Resources was called to assist in retrieving her body.

New details emerge

The GBI Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy, but the family says they have not been provided with any details. Carmen Ramirez expressed frustration over learning for the first time in court that her daughter had been shot.

“We had not been told anything about the autopsy or the cause of death,” she said. “They just keep saying it’s an open investigation.”

Ramirez spoke at Wednesday’s hearing along with Rodriguez-Ramirez’s older sister, Kelly Triumph, of New York. Both asked the court to deny the alleged killer’s bond.

“Nobody has the choice to kill anybody or to be in a place where somebody is killing somebody and do nothing,” said Ramirez.

Triumph spoke of the toll her sister’s death has had on the family, especially her young daughter.

Minelys Rodriguez-Ramirez’s mother, Carmen Ramirez, and fiancé Julio Tovor at their home in the days after her disappearance. (Nora Almazan/NowHabersham.com)

“While we were in Puerto Rico taking her remains, we spent the night with her daughter, and she will not sleep, crying for her mother,” she said. “Like my mom, I do not think that this individual should be let out of jail on bail. Because even if he didn’t pull the trigger, he admitted that he saw who did it, and he did nothing to help her.”

Rivera-Sanchez’s immigration status has been a topic of heated political and community debate. Judge Smith said that while a person cannot be denied bond based solely on their immigration status, information that Rivera-Sanchez was attempting to leave the state, if not the country, at the time of his arrest made him a potential flight risk. Judge Smith denied the bond and ordered the 24-year-old construction worker to remain in custody at the Habersham County Detention Center.

Questions remain

In addition to their frustration over the lack of details about her death, Rodriguez-Ramirez’s family has expressed concern over how the initial investigation was handled. The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately request assistance from the GBI. The state’s top investigative agency was brought in on Oct. 25, two days after Rodriguez-Ramirez was reported missing.

“Initially, we had a missing person case, which we routinely handle on our own,” Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell told Now Habersham. “When we realized that the data involved started moving faster than we could extrapolate it, they [the GBI] reached out to us and we discussed ways they could help us in the investigation.”

That investigation, according to authorities, remains active and ongoing. Because of that, ADA Staples told Now Habersham he could not provide more specific information regarding the circumstances surrounding Rodriguez-Ramirez’s death.

“The autopsy has been performed by the State Crime Lab, but the report is not completed, and I have not been briefed on the findings,” he said. Staples added that his briefing from law enforcement did not relay “any other information from the defendant about where the offense occurred or how many times Ms. Rodriguez was shot. For those reasons, I cannot answer your questions about the number of wounds or where they were inflicted.”

Investigators are asking anyone with information about this case to contact them. The GBI phone tip line is 1-800-597-8477, and tips may also be submitted through the GBI’s online tip line.

GBI Director of Public Affairs Nelly Miles says once the investigation is complete, the case will be handed over to the Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

Piedmont, College of Athens ink education transfer deal

By

Joy Purcell

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November 21, 2024

Piedmont and College of athens 2 — Piedmont University President Marshall Criser, front right, and College of Athens President Dr. Marcia Wilbur celebrate their schools' collaboration with other members of their staff.

Piedmont University and College of Athens have announced a new articulation agreement to make it easier for students to pursue education degrees. Under the agreement, College of Athens students who earn an associate degree will be guaranteed transferability to Piedmont University’s Athens Campus, where they can pursue a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education or Special Education.

Piedmont University President Marshall Criser says this partnership reflects the schools’ shared values to meet critical workforce needs in the state.

“This partnership accelerates seamless pathways, ensuring College of Athens students have a clear route to achieve their academic and professional goals,” says Criser.

The agreement also allows students who complete a bachelor’s degree at either institution to seamlessly continue their studies in graduate education programs at Piedmont University that lead to Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC) certification.

“College of Athens is honored to collaborate with another Christian college to provide a teacher certification opportunity for those students who wish to serve in public schools,” says College of Athens President Dr. Marcia Wilbur.

Although the agreement does not guarantee admission, it offers a framework for students to follow and helps them align their courses with Piedmont’s degree requirements.Representatives from both institutions will conduct regular reviews of the agreement to ensure it remains current and relevant to student needs.

US regulators seek to break up Google, forcing Chrome sale as part of monopoly punishment

By

Michael Liedtke

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November 21, 2024

Earns Alphabet — FILE - Audience members gather at Made By Google for new product announcements at Google on Aug. 13, 2024, in Mountain View, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada, File)

U.S. regulators want a federal judge to break up Google to prevent the company from continuing to squash competition through its dominant search engine after a court found it had maintained an abusive monopoly over the past decade.

The proposed breakup floated in a 23-page document filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice calls for sweeping punishments that would include a sale of Google’s industry-leading Chrome web browser and impose restrictions to prevent Android from favoring its own search engine.

A sale of Chrome “will permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet,” Justice Department lawyers argued in their filing.

Although regulators stopped short of demanding Google sell Android too, they asserted the judge should make it clear the company could still be required to divest its smartphone operating system if its oversight committee continues to see evidence of misconduct.

The broad scope of the recommended penalties underscores how severely regulators operating under President Joe Biden’s administration believe Google should be punished following an August ruling by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta that branded the company as a monopolist.

The Justice Department decision-makers who will inherit the case after President-elect Donald Trump takes office next year might not be as strident.The Washington, D.C. court hearings on Google’s punishment are scheduled to begin in April and Mehta is aiming to issue his final decision before Labor Day.

If Mehta embraces the government’s recommendations, Google would be forced to sell its 16-year-old Chrome browser within six months of the final ruling. But the company certainly would appeal any punishment, potentially prolonging a legal tussle that has dragged on for more than four years.

Google didn’t have an immediate comment about the filing, but has previously asserted the Justice Department is pushing penalties that extend far beyond the issues addressed in its case.

Besides seeking a Chrome spinoff and a corralling of the Android software, the Justice Department wants the judge to ban Google from forging multibillion-dollar deals to lock in its dominant search engine as the default option on Apple’s iPhone and other devices. It would also ban Google from favoring its own services, such as YouTube or its recently-launched artificial intelligence platform, Gemini.

Regulators also want Google to license the search index data it collects from people’s queries to its rivals, giving them a better chance at competing with the tech giant. On the commercial side of its search engine, Google would be required to provide more transparency into how it sets the prices that advertisers pay to be listed near the top of some targeted search results.

Wary of Google’s increasing use of artificial intelligence in its search results, regulators also advised Mehta to ensure websites will be able to shield their content from Google’s AI training techniques.

The measures, if they are ordered, threaten to upend a business expected to generate more than $300 billion in revenue this year.

“The playing field is not level because of Google’s conduct, and Google’s quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired,” the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations. “The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages.”

It’s still possible that the Justice Department could ease off attempts to break up Google, especially if Trump takes the widely expected step of replacing Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, who was appointed by Biden to oversee the agency’s antitrust division.

Although the case targeting Google was originally filed during the final months of Trump’s first term in office, Kanter oversaw the high-profile trial that culminated in Mehta’s ruling against Google. Working in tandem with Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, Kanter took a get-tough stance against Big Tech that triggered other attempted crackdowns on industry powerhouses such as Apple and discouraged many business deals from getting done during the past four years.

Trump recently expressed concerns that a breakup might destroy Google but didn’t elaborate on alternative penalties he might have in mind. “What you can do without breaking it up is make sure it’s more fair,” Trump said last month. Matt Gaetz, the former Republican congressman that Trump nominated to be the next U.S. Attorney General, has previously called for the breakup of Big Tech companies.

Gaetz faces a tough confirmation hearing.

This latest filing gave Kanter and his team a final chance to spell out measures that they believe are needed to restore competition in search. It comes six weeks after Justice first floated the idea of a breakup in a preliminary outline of potential penalties.

But Kanter’s proposal is already raising questions about whether regulators seek to impose controls that extend beyond the issues covered in last year’s trial, and — by extension — Mehta’s ruling.

Banning the default search deals that Google now pays more than $26 billion annually to maintain was one of the main practices that troubled Mehta in his ruling.

It’s less clear whether the judge will embrace the Justice Department’s contention that Chrome needs to be spun out of Google and or Android should be completely walled off from its search engine.

“It is probably going a little beyond,” Syracuse University law professor Shubha Ghosh said of the Chrome breakup. “The remedies should match the harm, it should match the transgression. This does seem a little beyond that pale.”

Google rival DuckDuckGo, whose executives testified during last year’s trial, asserted the Justice Department is simply doing what needs to be done to rein in a brazen monopolist.

“Undoing Google’s overlapping and widespread illegal conduct over more than a decade requires more than contract restrictions: it requires a range of remedies to create enduring competition,” DuckDuckGo said in a statement.

Trying to break up Google harks back to a similar punishment initially imposed on Microsoft a quarter century ago following another major antitrust trial that culminated in a federal judge deciding the software maker had illegally used his Windows operating system for PCs to stifle competition.

However, an appeals court overturned an order that would have broken up Microsoft, a precedent many experts believe will make Mehta reluctant to go down a similar road with the Google case.

U.S. House ethics panel Republicans vote against disclosure of Gaetz report

By

Ashley Murray

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November 20, 2024

WASHINGTON (States Newsroom) — Republicans on a U.S. House ethics panel Wednesday opposed the public release of a long-awaited report on Matt Gaetz, a former House member who is now the nominee for U.S. attorney general, according to the panel’s top Democrat, Susan Wild.

The outgoing Pennsylvania congresswoman told reporters that the evenly divided 10-member House Committee on Ethics took a vote but split along party lines. The report contains findings on whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other allegations involving gifts and privileges.

President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement last week that he intends to nominate Gaetz to the nation’s highest law enforcement position set off a maelstrom on Capitol Hill over whether the ethics panel should release its report after Gaetz abruptly resigned his Florida seat, effectively halting the probe.

Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest said after the lengthy closed-door meeting that “there was not an agreement by the committee to release the report.”

Guest, a Mississippi Republican, told reporters the panel would meet again but did not provide details.

Wild vehemently disputed Guest’s statement to a group of reporters shortly afterward, calling it “inaccurate.”

“I do not want the American public or anyone else to think that Mr. Guest’s characterization of what transpired today would be some sort of indication that the committee had unanimity or consensus on this issue,” Wild said.

Committee inquiry since 2021

Gaetz, who denies all allegations, has been under the committee probe since April 2021. The former congressman was also investigated by the Department of Justice for sex trafficking but was never charged.

ABC News reported Wednesday that it obtained financial records reviewed by the Ethics Committee showing that Gaetz paid two women, who were later witnesses in both the ethics and Justice Department probes, roughly $10,000 between 2017 and 2019.

An attorney for one woman who testified before the committee told NBC News Friday that his client witnessed Gaetz having sex with a minor at an Orlando house party.

House Democrats urged the ethics panel to release the report. Democratic Reps. Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Sean Casten of Illinois introduced resolutions on the House floor late Wednesday to force the panel to release its findings.

Several Democrats wrote Tuesday to Guest and Wild that “there is precedent for the House and Senate ethics committees to continue their investigations and release findings after a member has resigned in a scandal.”

“Given the seriousness of the charges against Representative Gaetz, withholding the findings of your investigation may jeopardize the Senate’s ability to provide fully informed, constitutionally required advice and consent regarding this nomination,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter led by Casten and signed by dozens of others.

The nomination for U.S. attorney general requires vetting by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and a favorable confirmation vote on the Senate floor. Republicans will gain control of the chamber in January.

Vance accompanies Gaetz to meetings

On the other side of the Capitol, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance ushered Gaetz to private meetings with Senate Republicans.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s ranking member, released a statement Wednesday morning following his “very good meeting” with Gaetz.

“This process will not be a rubber stamp nor will it be driven by a lynch mob,” the South Carolina Republican said. “My record is clear. I tend to defer to presidential Cabinet choices unless the evidence suggests disqualification. I fear the process surrounding the Gaetz nomination is turning into an angry mob, and unverified allegations are being treated as if they are true.”

A half hour before his meeting with Vance and Gaetz, GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told reporters the House should “follow the rules” regarding releasing the Gaetz ethics findings.

“Now I don’t know exactly what the House rules are. I’m told that if a member resigns, the report is not made public, but I also have read there have been exceptions to that. So the short answer is, I don’t know,” said Kennedy, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Having said that, the Judiciary Committee staff properly vets all of our nominees, and it’s been my experience in Washington that this place leaks like a wet paper bag,” Kennedy continued. “So I would assume that anything that’s out there will likely be made public. I’m not predicting that, but I’m not gonna faint with surprise if that happens.”

Prince Avenue uses second quarter surge to power past Indians

By

TFS Athletics

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November 20, 2024

The Indians’ first-quarter lead was erased in the second when Prince Avenue Christian put up 21 points to pull ahead for good in a 57-44 final at Tallulah Falls on Wednesday.

Brian Neely had seven points in the opening quarter, knocking down a three in the process. In the second, Kayra Aksu had all nine TFS points, connecting on his second and third 3-pointer of the game.

Aksu finished with a team-best 17 points. Neely had eight, Hayden Bootle five, Neyo Bain and Marquise Rolle four each, Judah McIntosh three, Armando Landecho Cedeno two, and one for Todor Stanimirovic.

The Indians drop to 3-2 on the season.

James, Wood combine for 25 as girls drop second straight

By

TFS Athletics

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November 20, 2024

The Lady Indians came up just short as visiting Prince Avenue Christian won 47-40 on Wednesday night.

TFS trailed 24-18 at the break, but closed the gap to just three points heading into the final period.

Haygen James and Breelyn Wood combined for 25 points, with the former dropping 13 in the tough loss. Lia Sanjur had nine, LB Kafsky four, and Linda White and Asia Molodynska one apiece.

TFS is now 2-3 overall.

Planned central Georgia national park gains momentum before Congress adjourns

By

Jill Nolin

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November 20, 2024

Earth Lodge at Ocmulgee National Historical Park is seen here in a photo taken in 2015. (National Park Service photo)

(Georgia Recorder) — A proposal to turn a prehistoric American Indian site in central Georgia into the state’s first national park advanced out a U.S. Senate committee Tuesday.

But the bipartisan group of Georgia lawmakers who are behind the measure creating Ocmulgee Mounds Park and Preserve are running short on time to get it across the finish line in Congress’ lame-duck session.

The bill’s sponsors celebrated the incremental step of advancing it out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Tuesday.

“This is historic and unprecedented progress toward establishing Georgia’s first National Park, but more work remains ahead,” Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is the lead sponsor in the Senate, said in a statement.

The proposal would establish the boundaries of the park and preserve for Ocmulgee Mounds and the surrounding area near Macon, where support has long been building for the project. Efforts to preserve Ocmulgee started nearly a century ago.

The site was occupied by many different American Indian cultures for thousands of years. The mounds were built around 900 A.D., and artifacts found in the area date back as far as 8,000 or 10,000 BC.

But in the 1830s, the Muscogee people were one of five tribes forcibly removed from their land during the Trail of Tears to what is now Oklahoma.

A House version of the park proposal also received a hearing Tuesday, another sign of late momentum. Congressman Austin Scott, a Tifton Republican and lead sponsor in the House, tried to address concerns that often accompany a proposed expansion of public lands.

“The language prioritizes public hunting and fishing access while protecting the state’s rights and regulation and private property rights in middle Georgia,” Scott said.

The south Georgia congressman also touted the potential benefits of the proposal. He argued the park would bolster national security by helping to protect the encroachment zone near Robins Air Force Base.

And he said it would be a relatively small addition to the nation’s public lands – and involve only willing sellers – yet would have a significant impact on central Georgia’s economy.

The Ocmulgee Mounds are already designated as a national historical park, but that differs from a national park. While historical parks are focused on preserving American history, national parks also preserve the land and natural beauty around them.

“Georgia is composed of roughly 38 million acres. Only about 5% of Georgia land is in the federal registry, so it is a very small expansion of property in the state of Georgia, in a state where we don’t have much federal land,” Scott said.

Macon-Bibb County Mayor Pro Tempore Seth Clark traveled to Washington to testify at Tuesday’s hearing. Clark said the U.S. Department of Defense has become “one of our strongest partners in this project.”

“There is no viability of middle Georgia’s economy without a robust mission-ready base in middle Georgia,” Clark said during brief remarks Tuesday.

Georgia is home to other National Park Service sites, such as the national military park in Chickamauga, but Ocmulgee – already a national historical park – would be the state’s first national park.

Kemp, Ossoff push Congress to send relief to Georgia farmers hit hard by Hurricane Helene

By

Jill Nolin

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November 20, 2024

Discarded stumps and roots, right, and a load of salvaged timber in a Treutlen County pine stand damaged by Hurricane Helene. (Grant Blankenship/GPB News)

(Georgia Recorder) — Georgia leaders from both sides of the aisle are urging Congress to act on disaster relief as the clock winds down on the current term.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp sent a letter Tuesday to congressional budget leaders expressing the “urgent need” for federal aid, specifically asking for block grant funding for agricultural relief.

Based on what Kemp called an early estimate, the governor wrote that Georgia will be requesting more than $12 billion in federal aid to help the state recover from “unprecedented damage.” About half of that evolving request is for the state’s hard-hit agricultural industry.

“Hurricane Helene wrought unparalleled damage across our state, leaving thousands of families displaced, businesses shuttered, and our farmers facing catastrophic losses,” Kemp wrote.

“Georgia’s agricultural sector, a cornerstone of our economy and cultural identity, was hit particularly hard. Specialty crops, livestock operations, and small farms have suffered widespread devastation, many without sufficient insurance coverage to recover independently,” he added.

And on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, appealed directly to federal appropriators as they began to vet a nearly $100 billion disaster funding request from the White House, pushing them to approve disaster funding before the calendar flips to 2025. He appeared with North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, in a bipartisan show of urgency.

“We must refuse the temptation to delay or to get dragged into politics,” Ossoff said. “We must swiftly pass disaster assistance by the end of the year. My constituents and Americans in every state hit by this terrible storm and hit by natural disasters for the last several years are counting on all of us.”

Helene ripped through the southeast in late September, devastating communities in the storm’s path and causing 34 deaths in Georgia – making it the deadliest storm to hit the state in more than a century.

And state officials warn that the storm threatens to leave a lasting mark on Georgia’s prized agricultural industry without timely federal aid. Pecan growers, poultry producers and tree farmers are among those left reeling in the wake of the storm.

Ossoff highlighted some of the more eye-popping agricultural losses: damages to 1.5 million acres of timberland, nearly 400,000 lost pecan trees, about 300 poultry houses destroyed, and a loss of about one-third of this year’s cotton crop.

“The numbers are staggering, but this isn’t about numbers,” Ossoff said. “It’s about families and rural communities, and without our help, the simple fact is that many of these family farms will fold, and they may fold soon. They’re staring at devastated farmland and orchards, they’re deep in the red, and they’re under immense stress.

“If they go under, our rural communities go under, the local tax base funding schools and infrastructure is destroyed, and the rural way of life in Georgia risks disappearing altogether,” he said.

McMahon pick reignites Democrats’ objections to Trump education plan

By

Shauneen Miranda

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November 20, 2024

Then-U.S. Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon speaks at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he will nominate McMahon to be his Education secretary. (Photo by Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA 2.0)

WASHINGTON (States Newsroom) — Congressional Democrats largely reserved judgment Wednesday on President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of Linda McMahon as his nominee for Education secretary, even as they raised concerns about Trump’s plans to eliminate the department.

In interviews Wednesday, Democrats in the U.S. Senate mostly did not raise the sorts of objections to McMahon — the co-chair of Trump’s transition team, Small Business Administration head during Trump’s first term and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment — that they did for other Cabinet selections.

Sen. Tim Kaine, who sits on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, dubbed Trump’s pick “troubling in some sense.”

But the Virginia Democrat complimented an op-ed McMahon wrote for The Hill that expressed support for expanding Pell Grant eligibility to include short-term workforce education programs.

“That’s something that I’ve been long pushing, and so that’s something at a nomination hearing that I’m definitely going to talk to her about,” Kaine told States Newsroom.

Fellow HELP Committee Democrats Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, and Tina Smith of Minnesota were noncommittal about their votes on McMahon’s confirmation.

“I don’t know that much about her, but I’ll be interested to hear what she says,” Hickenlooper said.

Baldwin said she would provide the Senate’s advice and consent role on the nominee “when that time comes.”

Luján compared McMahon to Trump’s other Cabinet picks.

“It’s similar to his other picks as well, which are concerning many of my Republican colleagues, who are going to be in the majority.”

Smith said she “can’t really speak to that … other than to say that his job is to put forth the nominees that he wants to do this job.”

“And my job is to thoroughly vet them to make sure that they have the qualifications and that they’re fully prepared and ready to enforce the laws of the country,” she added.

Agenda sparks concern

If confirmed, McMahon would play a key role in the education agenda Trump has promoted, including eliminating the department entirely.

Trump’s pledge to get rid of the department is unlikely to find enough support in Congress.

Kaine said Trump “will not get the votes to do that — even among Republicans.”

And the process of abolishing the 45-year-old agency could create a series of logistical and legal complexities for the billions of dollars in funding the department provides, particularly for low-income K-12 schools, special education and federal student aid.

But the policy agenda has raised more concerns with Democrats than McMahon’s nomination.

Rep. Bobby Scott, ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said that with her not having a long history working in education, he will wait to pass judgment on McMahon’s nomination until she’s been fully vetted by the Senate.

“However, I am staunchly opposed to President-elect Trump’s education agenda, which seeks to abolish the Department of Education, eliminate funding for low-income and rural K-12 schools, scrap the expansion of school meals, and make it more difficult for student borrowers to repay their loans,” the Virginia Democrat said.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, said in a statement to States Newsroom that she wrestles “with how (McMahon) will lead the Department of Education when Donald Trump plans to eliminate it.”

“Schools across the country, including those in rural communities, rely on federal funding to help them meet the needs of their students, especially low-income students and students with disabilities,” the Oregon Democrat said.

Alex Floyd, the Democratic National Committee’s rapid response director, said Trump “wants to defund the Department of Education and send our tax dollars to his ultra-rich billionaire backers — like Linda McMahon,” in a Wednesday statement.

“McMahon was already a disaster at the Small Business Administration, so it’s no wonder Trump picked her to lead a department he is hellbent on destroying,” Floyd said.

Report: McMahon lied about education background

Lawmakers raised few objections about McMahon’s relatively slim experience in education policy, even after a Washington Post report Wednesday that McMahon claimed on a questionnaire for a seat on the state’s education board she had a bachelor’s in education that she did not have.

McMahon was on the Connecticut Board of Education for just over a year and a member of the Board of Trustees at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.

She is also chair of the board of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank. In his announcement, Trump said that while serving as chair of the board, McMahon has been a “fierce advocate for Parents’ Rights, working hard at both AFPI and America First Works (AFW) to achieve Universal School Choice in 12 States, giving children the opportunity to receive an excellent education, regardless of zip code or income.”

GOP response

Meanwhile, congressional Republicans, including the House education panel’s chairwoman, Virginia Foxx, praised Trump’s decision.

The North Carolina Republican said in a Wednesday press release McMahon is “a fighter who will work tirelessly in service of the students — not the so-called elite institutions, or the teachers unions or the federal bureaucracy.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, ranking Republican of the Senate HELP committee, said in a statement that McMahon’s experience running the SBA “can obviously help in running another agency.” The Louisiana Republican said he looks forward to meeting with her.

North Carolina GOP Sen. Ted Budd, who also sits on the HELP panel, told States Newsroom that McMahon is “highly qualified, and I look forward to the process.”

Habersham Tax Office: Consulting firm’s property review will bring more accurate appraisals

By

Brian Wellmeier

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November 20, 2024

A consulting firm’s sweeping reassessment of property values in Habersham County is still about six months away from completion, according to county tax officials.

After a Habersham County Board of Tax Assessor’s meeting Tuesday, Chief Appraiser Joan Church said McCormick & Associates is still in the groundwork phases of reevaluating properties across the county. She said minor delays from Hurricane Helene briefly stalled the conversion and data entry process, which is now scheduled for completion by Dec. 1.

Last year, Habersham County agreed to pay McCormick just over $1.1 million for three years to reassess residential, industrial and commercial properties countywide.

A breakdown of those funds includes $50,000 for the supervision of new software installation and $75,000 for commercial property assessments, as well as almost $1 million to reassess all other property. The reappraisal project came after a state review of tax assessment procedures in Habersham County discovered various communication issues and miscalculations by employees and former board members.

‘Greater uniformity’

Habersham County Board of Tax Assessors and County Manager Alicia Vaughn discuss reappraisal project Tuesday, Nov. 19 (Brian Wellmeier/Now Habersham)

Habersham County’s Tax Assessor’s Office is now confident assessments will be readjusted to accurately reflect true property value after McCormick’s review, officials said Tuesday. As part of the firm’s reappraisal effort, Church said McCormick will look at older properties that “haven’t seen sales activity in years.”

And while past board members believed commercial property evaluations in particular were undervalued, Church says the countywide reexamination will bring greater “uniformity in the data,” with some values up and others down.

“We’re about a one-fourth of the way through the parcels,” Church said. “(McCormick) has been visiting (properties) in the county, going parcel to parcel. Hopefully, as soon as they’re able to start (entering data), it won’t take that long to get an idea of where we are.”

With assessment notices due to go out in July of 2025, both Church and board members hope to see the project wrapped up by May. “We’re hoping that we will have it done before then,” Church said.

New software

The tax assessor’s office also could soon see installation of WinGap software, a computerized property appraisal system they believe will optimize the process of calculating property values.

WinGap, a widely-used system specific to Georgia, would replace Habersham’s previous system BI-Tek.

“We’re excited because it’s going to give us the most up-to-date technology. WinGap makes (Habersham) compatible with the state agency (the Department of Revenue) that oversees Church’s office,” Habersham Tax Assessors Board Chairman Bill Terry said. “Joan Church and her office are doing a fantastic job.”

Impact on tax digest

Habersham County Chief Appraiser Joan Church (Brian Wellmeier/Now Habersham)

Over the summer, preliminary figures for Habersham’s latest 2024 digest suggested a 12% rise in growth – including residential, industrial and commercial property – compared to last year.

Those numbers also estimated a value of $1.4 million in revenue from industrial property, plus a total of $3.7 million from commercial property, since last year. Total values for industrial property was just over $1.4 million and $3.3 million for commercial property the previous year. Projections in the 2024 digest estimate an additional $470,000 in revenue compared to 2023.

If values of commercial and industrial properties rise after reassessment, the county could see a significant boost in potential revenue and even greater digest numbers next year.

Habersham County Manager Alicia Vaughn told board members on Tuesday that she feels the county is “in a good place, especially considering everything.”

“The fact that we are doing this countywide reassessment…I feel like we’re in a much better place than a lot of counties are,” she said.

Man convicted of killing Laken Riley sentenced to life in prison without parole

By

Staff Report

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November 20, 2024

Jose Ibarra verdict — Jose Ibarra, 26, listens as Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge Patrick Haggard delivers the verdict in his murder trial on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (livestream image)

Jose Ibarra, the man accused of killing former University of Georgia student Laken Riley, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Judge Patrick Haggard handed down the sentence Wednesday in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court after finding Ibarra guilty on ten counts, AP reports. Ibarra, 26, waived his right to a jury trial, leaving the judge to decide his fate.

Judge Haggard convicted Ibarra of one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, and one count each of kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing an emergency call, evidence tampering, and being a peeping Tom.

Riley’s family and friends tearfully remembered her and asked the judge to sentence Ibarra to the maximum penalty. Her mother called him a “monster,” and her father called him a “truly evil person.”

Ibarra did not react as an interpreter relayed their words to him.

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DNA evidence

Riley’s killing added fuel to the national debate over immigration when federal authorities said Ibarra illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 and was allowed to stay in the country while he pursued his immigration case. However, Ibarra’s immigration status was not mentioned during the trial.

In her closing argument, prosecutor Sheila Ross told the judge that “Laken Riley herself has given you all the evidence you need” to find Ibarra guilty on all counts. She argued the physical evidence was sufficient and corroborated by forensic, digital, and video evidence to “twist this very powerful knot that this defendant cannot get out of. There is no way out for him.”

Pointing to that evidence, Ross said Ibarra killed Riley “because she would not let him rape her.”

During questioning and closing arguments, the defense tried to create doubt about Jose Ibarra’s guilt by suggesting that his brother, Diego Ibarra, could not be excluded as a suspect. However, prosecutors offered enough compelling evidence to counter that claim.

The District Attorney’s Office presented evidence that Ibarra’s DNA was found under Riley’s fingernails. Also, they said DNA from Riley and Ibarra was on a jacket that police found in a trash bin in his apartment complex. Security footage taken at the complex showed a man throwing away the jacket. Ibarra’s brother and another roommate identified the man as Jose Ibarra.

Prosecutor: Ibarra was ‘hunting females’

Prosecutors told the court that Ibarra was “out prowling and hunting females” on the day Riley was murdered, Feb. 22, 2024.

Surveillance video played in court shows a man wearing clothes that appear to match those seen in a selfie Ibarra snapped on his phone earlier that morning. The man was seen lingering outside the apartment of a female graduate student. That student told police someone tried to get in the front door while she was in the shower and peered through her window. When he couldn’t get into the apartment, he turned to the running trails and looked for a victim, Ross said.

Ross said that Riley’s running clothes were displaced by an attempted sexual assault, not by dragging her into the woods near Lake Herrick, where she was found.

Defense attorney Kaitlyn Beck told the judge that the evidence is circumstantial and does not definitively prove Ibarra’s guilt.

“Because the evidence is subject to more than one interpretation, it is not beyond a reasonable doubt,” she said.

Beck tried to cast doubt on a method of DNA testing used to test some of the evidence. She noted that when a fingerprint found on Riley’s phone was entered into a database, Ibarra didn’t come back as a match and that a specialist visually matched the prints.

She said there was “doubt based on what was tested and on what was not tested” because investigators did not test some of the evidence they had gathered.

Over the course of the four-day trial, which began Friday, Nov. 15, prosecutors called more than a dozen law enforcement officers, Riley’s roommates, and a woman who lived in the same apartment as Ibarra. Defense attorneys called a police officer, a jogger, and one of Ibarra’s neighbors on Tuesday and rested their case Wednesday morning.