Home Blog Page 632

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California dies at 90

By
Ariana Figueroa
-
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 6: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) attends a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on judicial nominations on Capitol Hill September 6, 2023 in Washington, DC. During the hearing the committee considered five judges for federal vacancies. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (GA Recorder) — U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein died Thursday night in her home in Washington, D.C.

The California Democrat was 90 and had announced in February she would not run for reelection in 2024.

“She left a legacy that is undeniable and extraordinary,” her chief of staff, James Sauls, said in a statement. “Senator Feinstein was a force of nature who made an incredible impact on our country and her home state.”

Feinstein last voted early Thursday but missed votes later in the day. Her death was first reported by Punchbowl News.

President Joe Biden said that Feinstein “was a historic figure and a great friend,” according to White House pool reports.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, holding back tears, said that the Senate is grieving and praised Feinstein for her work as the longest-serving woman in the Senate.

“The sign of a leader is someone who dedicates the whole of their spirit for a cause greater than themselves,” he said on the Senate floor. “Dianne Feinstein was all of this and more — a friend, a hero for so many, a leader who changed the nature of the Senate, and who changed the fabric of the nation, America for the better.”

Her death brings Senate Democrats’ slim majority to 50, and, until her replacement is named, could make it difficult for the Biden administration to continue approving federal judges. Feinstein served on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

As Congress scrambles to avert a looming partial government shutdown, two more Democratic senators — Tina Smith of Minnesota and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan — are isolating from testing positive for COVID-19. More than two dozen Senate Democrats this week have called for Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey to resign following a federal indictment to charges of bribery, although he has said he will not step down.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said that people and the Senate will “remember Dianne’s devoted public service.”

Feinstein was first elected to Congress in 1992. She served as the first woman to chair the Senate Rules Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee. She also wrote the 1994 federal assault weapons law that temporarily led to a 10-year ban on certain semi-automatic weapons.

In May, she returned to the Senate after suffering an extended case of shingles and using a wheelchair, among calls from some Democrats that she retire due to her poor health. She rejected that criticism. “I have returned to Washington and am prepared to resume my duties in the Senate,” she said at the time.

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will pick her replacement until the 2024 election.

“She was a political giant whose tenacity was matched by her grace. She broke down barriers and glass ceilings but never lost her belief in the spirit of political cooperation,” Newsom wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Newsom has promised that if he were to pick a replacement for Feinstein’s seat, it would be a Black woman, as there currently is not a Black woman serving in the U.S. Senate. There are currently three House Democrats running for her seat, Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, and Barbara Lee.

The House Rules Committee met Friday morning on a bill to temporarily fund the government to avoid a partial government shutdown. GOP Chair Tom Cole of Oklahoma held a moment of silence for the California senator. Government funding is set to expire Saturday at midnight.

The top Democrat on the committee, James McGovern of Massachusetts, praised Feinstein’s career, which began in the 1960s.

“She was a great leader, a great fighter for the rights of women, for all people in this country,” he said.

Members of Congress quickly took to social media to commend Feinstein for her work.

“Senator Feinstein was a trailblazer, representing San Francisco and the State of California with a dedication for public service,” Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff said in a statement Friday. “The longest-serving female Senator in history, Senator Feinstein helped pave the way for generations who follow in her footsteps.”

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who worked with Feinstein for years on the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised her work as a member of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control.

“During the time I was Judiciary chairman and she was the ranking Democrat we had a wonderful working relationship,” he said in a statement. “She was a true public servant. Barbara and I send our condolences and prayers to the Feinstein family.”

Feinstein was also the first woman to sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Several senators called Feinstein a “trailblazer.”

Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Feinstein’s career was filled with many firsts.

Feinstein was the first woman to be president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first woman to be mayor of San Francisco, and the first woman elected to the Senate from California.

She became the mayor of San Francisco after Mayor George Moscone was assassinated in 1978.

“She was a pioneer and a strong and dignified leader,” Collins said. “Dianne was the longest-serving woman in the Senate history, had a career marked by many firsts.”

Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray of Washington noted that Feinstein’s last vote was to advance a key spending bill to keep the government funded past the Saturday midnight deadline.

“She voted to make sure that our country would continue to move forward and not shut down,” Murray said. “That was Dianne … she cared about her country.”

Georgia Recorder Deputy Editor Jill Nolin contributed to this report. 

Nearly all national park sites to close during government shutdown

By
Jacob Fischler
-
Great Smoky Mountains National Park (NPS/Victoria Stauffenberg)

(GA Recorder) — Almost all National Park Service sites will be inaccessible during a partial federal government shutdown likely to start this weekend, the U.S. Interior Department said Friday.

The agency will bar access to most of the nation’s 425 parks, recreation areas, national historic sites, and other units, according to a fact sheet from the Interior Department, which oversees the NPS.

“At NPS sites across the country, gates will be locked, visitor centers will be closed, and thousands of park rangers will be furloughed,” the fact sheet reads. “Accordingly, the public will be encouraged not to visit sites during the period of lapse in appropriations out of consideration for protection of natural and cultural resources, as well as visitor safety.”

Units that “by their nature, are physically accessible to the public,” such as the National Mall in Washington, D.C., will remain open. Likewise, areas of some parks that are physically accessible, including park roads, trails, campsites, and open-air memorials, will remain accessible, the department said.

But areas that remain open will operate with “significantly reduced” services, the department said.

Interior had not previously revealed its plans for dealing with a funding lapse, though advocates expected reduced access.

Some state governments have pledged to use state funds to keep parks in their states open.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said she’d use state lottery revenue to maintain access to Grand Canyon National Park.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said Thursday, “the state has identified short-term funding options” to keep its five national parks open. Both states made similar moves during the 2013 shutdown, the last time parks closed for a lapse in funding.

The fact sheet said National Park Service Director Charles F. Sams III would have to approve any such agreement. Interior and the NPS have not said if Sams has approved such plans.

Cox said the department had not authorized his plan.

Agreements between states and the Park Service could take a few days from the onset of a shutdown.

A senior Interior official said Thursday that the NPS and Interior were “prepared to engage in those discussions with states.” The official spoke with reporters by phone on the condition he not be named.

The deadline for Congress to fund government programs is Saturday at midnight. The U.S. Senate is set to vote near the deadline on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded at existing levels.

But the U.S. House — where several far-right members oppose a short-term funding bill — has not shown progress toward a deal that would avoid a partial shutdown.

Procedures to close the parks would begin Sunday and likely continue into Monday, the official said.

The plan to close access to parks is similar to the approach the Obama administration took in 2013 but differs from the Trump administration’s in 2018 and 2019.

Under President Donald Trump, the Park Service used visitor fees to fund operations but also deeply cut services. The approach was “reckless,” according to parks advocates, and incurred lasting damage to park sites.

State Sen. Colton Moore suspended from Republican Caucus

By
Joy Purcell
-
Sen. Colton Moore (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)

A Northwest Georgia state Senator who went on the attack against Senate colleagues over their refusal to call for a special legislative session to oust Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has himself been ousted.

Georgia’s Senate Republican Caucus on Thursday indefinitely suspended Colton Moore from its ranks.

In announcing their decision, Caucus leaders said Moore has a right to his opinion but that he “knowingly misled people across Georgia and our nation, causing unnecessary tension and hostility, while putting his Caucus colleagues and their families at risk of personal harm.”

Although the math was never on his side – it takes three-fifths of each chamber in the General Assembly to call a special session, and that would require Democratic votes – the pro-Trump senator from Dade County insisted on pushing for a special session.

Moore ramped up his pressure campaign by posting fellow senator’s phone numbers online and encouraging his supporters to call them. He allegedly recruited help from a right-wing political action committee to circulate fliers in the districts of senators who refused to sign on to his letter calling for a special session.

One of the key targets of Moore’s hostile tactics is 50th District State Senator Bo Hatchett (R-Cornelia). Moore and his supporters have hounded Hatchett and his family online and in person. He allegedly encouraged at least one out-of-town MAGA supporter to show up at Hatchett’s home in Cornelia at a time when he knew Sen. Hatchett was out of town.

Trump’s response

Only three Republicans signed on to Moore’s plan, representing just 1% of the 236 members under the Gold Dome. Still, Moore persists. He continues to fundraise off the notoriety he’s gained from the media attention and Trump’s own endorsement.

When the former president learned of Moore’s efforts to remove Willis from office, he fired off a video supporting Moore on his Truth Social website.

“Highly respected Georgia State Sen. Colton Moore deserves thanks and congratulations of everyone for having the courage and conviction to fight the radical left lunatics who are so badly hurting the great state of Georgia, and frankly the USA itself,” Trump said.

However, the groundswell of grassroots support did not translate into real-world legislative support.

During a press conference on August 31, Gov. Brian Kemp clearly signaled that Moore’s efforts were futile. While delivering updates on Hurricane Idalia damage, Kemp took time out to hit back against calls to punish Willis at any cost.

“I did want to take just a few minutes to speak to some history that’s trying to repeat itself over the last few days here in Georgia,” Kemp said. “Many of you will recall that in the final weeks of 2020, I clearly and repeatedly said that I would not be calling a special session of the General Assembly to overturn the 2020 election results because such an action would have been unconstitutional. It was that simple. Fast forward to today. Nearly three years later, memories are failing fast. There have been calls by one individual in the General Assembly and that got it outside of these walls by the former president for a special session that would ignore current Georgia law and directly interfere with the proceedings of a separate but equal branch of government.”

Republican House Speaker Jon Burns penned a lengthy letter to his caucus outlining technical and logical deficiencies with Moore’s demands to “defund a duly elected district attorney of this state and her office in an attempt to interfere with the criminal justice system.”

Burns went on to say that trying to remove funding from the DA’s office would have the unintended consequence of harming the ability to prosecute serious crimes like murder, rape and gang crimes — all things that Republicans ostensibly want to see addressed.

He also noted that any attempt to remove funding for one DA would have to be taken from every district attorney in the state, adding that “targeting one specific DA in this manner certainly flaunts the idea of separation of powers, if not outright violates it.”

Moore’s defiance

Beyond the constitutionality of what he is proposing, there is the simple matter of Moore not following the rules. Caucus leaders say they informed Moore that he has violated multiple Caucus Rules on multiple occasions and was given every opportunity to “simply adhere to the Rules going forward, not to abandon his wrongheaded policy position.”

He will remain suspended until he agrees to abide by those rules.

Thursday’s decision to suspend him only impacts Moore’s ability to caucus with his fellow Senate Republicans. It does not preclude him from representing District 53, which he was elected to serve.

Moore goaded his Senate colleagues into taking such action against him earlier this month when he held a rally and press conference at the State Capitol.

“My answer to your question and my answer to my fellow Republicans is, make my day. Vote me out of the caucus,” he said on September 7.

Now that the Caucus has done that, Moore remains defiant. He appears intent on keeping the pledge he made at the rally to continue to make Republicans’ lives difficult up until the legislative session begins in January, at which point he will continue making Republicans’ lives difficult.

“I’m going to continue to call, and I’m sure other colleagues are as well, to call for a special session up until we are in session, and at that point, I will motion to amend the budget and defund Fani Willis, and we will have a roll call vote,” he said.

Stephen Fowler of GPB News and Ross Williams of Georgia Recorder contributed to this report

Alto woman convicted for kicking deputy, striking cop during arrest

By
Joy Purcell
-
Habersham County Judicial Center (Daniel Purcell/Now Habersham)

An Alto woman faces possible prison time after being convicted on two felony counts of obstructing law enforcement officers.

Amanda Ellen Kelly, 41, was convicted on four of five counts brought against her in an indictment handed down by a Habersham County Grand Jury in April. Kelly was also convicted of public drunk and simple battery following a 3-day trial in Habersham County Superior Court. Judge Bill Oliver presided over the proceedings. He directed a verdict of acquittal on one count of pedestrian under the influence.

At trial, the prosecutor presented evidence that Kelly became violent when law enforcement officers tried to restrain her while investigating a report of a domestic dispute in the early hours of February 24, 2022.

Kelly struck an Alto police officer in the chest and kicked a Habersham County Sheriff’s deputy in the leg and face during the incident.

It began with a 911 call

According to information released by the Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, Alto Police Officer Sean Rogers encountered a drunken Kelly walking down Teakwood Drive shortly after midnight on February 24. When he tried to question her, she attempted to walk away. Officer Rogers told her she was not free to leave until she answered questions about the 911 call law enforcement received.

Amanda Kelly (Habersham County Sheriff’s Office)

“She directed loud and profane and abusive language at Rogers and continued to try to leave,” the court report states. “When Rogers grabbed her arm to keep her from leaving, she became violent, striking him in the chest and resisting being handcuffed.”

Rogers was able to take Kelly to the ground and continued to try to place her in restraints. Sgt. Kris Hall of the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office arrived to assist him. The two officers were able to cuff Kelly, “but while seated on the ground, she kicked at Hall’s legs, and when he leaned over to pick up a flashlight, she kicked him in the face,” the document states.

Ultimately, officials determined that no crime was committed in the domestic dispute that generated the call.

Mountain Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney J. Edward Staples represented the state in the case. The trial concluded on September 27. The judge will sentence Kelly at a later date.

Government shutdown won’t affect health care or most veterans’ benefits, VA says

By
Ashley Murray
-
The Department of Veterans Affairs has released guidance on what functions will continue and which will be suspended in a government shutdown that could occur beginning Saturday at midnight.

WASHINGTON (GA Recorder) — Veterans who rely on government health care and other assistance can continue to see their doctors and receive education and pension benefits despite a possible, and likely imminent, partial shutdown that will temporarily cease many federal operations.

The Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday released guidance on what functions will continue and not continue if Congress fails to solve a funding lapse that is set to begin Saturday at midnight.

Services that veterans and families can expect to continue include:

  • Medical care and critical services under the Veterans Health Administration.
  • Education benefit claims processing and payments.
  • Insurance processing and loan guaranty programs under the Veterans Benefits Administration.
  • Payment processing for the Veteran Readiness and Employment program.
  • Compensation and pension processing and payments.
  • Hearings and decisions on benefits cases issued by the Board of Veterans Appeals.
  • National benefits call center services (except for education).
  • Burials.

These services are funded in advance or under multi-year allocations. Any carryover balances from prior years will continue to sustain operations “until those account balances are depleted,” according to the document.

Ninety-seven percent of VA employees are either funded in advance or “required to perform excepted functions during a shutdown.” Of the department’s over 450,000 employees, 15,620 will be furloughed should a shutdown occur.

Several activities under the PACT Act — a 2022 law to extend benefits to veterans who were exposed to toxins — were funded in advance, including under the recent Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Veterans will still be able to contact the VA, including at the 1-800-MyVA411 line, to inquire about coverage for chronic illness and disease after being exposed to open burn pits, Agent Orange, radiation, and other environmental hazards.

VA activities that will cease under a shutdown include:

  • Education call center, otherwise known as the GI Bill hotline.
  • Native American Veterans Direct Loan program.
  • Vendee direct loans.
  • Career outreach, including the Veteran Readiness and Employment and Personalized Career Planning and Guidance programs.
  • Numerous public-facing activities, including digital and traditional veteran outreach, communications with community and faith-based partners, and outreach to tribal governments, Pacific Islanders, and rural veterans.
  • Permanent headstone and marker installations at veterans’ cemeteries.

No deal in sight for 2024

House Republicans have not yet been able to agree on funding the government for the next fiscal year, which begins Sunday.

Any VA activities that do not have advanced allocations and, therefore, must be funded under appropriations for 2024 will stop until Congress approves an agreement.

“We’re working very diligently in preparation for a lapse in funding,” the department’s Secretary Denis McDonough said during a press briefing Friday.

“… However, (during a shutdown) we would not be able to conduct outreach to veterans; our public-facing regional offices would be closed; and many regular operations like career counseling, transition assistance, and cemetery grounds maintenance would not be available,” he later continued.

“So, this is why I’ve been saying that we need a full year appropriation — especially at a time when we’re providing more care and more benefits to more veterans than ever before — and that’s why we’ve been so supportive of the bipartisan budget agreement that was struck several months ago,” McDonough said, referring to the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

The act, which averted a government default on its debts, outlined a funding agreement between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican.

McCarthy, who is working with a slim majority, has not been able to unify far-right party members to adhere to the agreed-upon terms.

Georgia officials, honeybee experts working to take sting out of hornet invasion

By
Ross Williams
-
A map shows the distribution of yellow-legged hornet sightings and trap placements. (Courtesy Georgia Department of Agriculture)

(GA Recorder) — A tiny menace has been buzzing around Georgia’s coastal region and is trying to snatch up the state’s honeybees, but a team of scientists and state and federal employees are working to prevent the dangerous and disrespectful yellow-legged hornet from gaining a foothold in the Peach state.

The hornet, which can grow to about an inch long, was previously known as the Asian hornet, but two nests have so far been discovered near Savannah and destroyed by Georgia agriculture department staff and pest management professionals.

Adult yellow-legged hornets are vegans, living mostly off of sugars through nectar, but when they are young, they crave protein, and for that purpose, the adults have taken to hunting honeybees.

“Both the yellow-legged hornet and the giant hornet are somewhat unusual in that unlike most other wasps and hornets, which are kind of solitary hunters but all from one nest, the yellow-legged hornet and the northern giant hornet will both recruit their sisters once they’ve found the honeybee colony to go as a group and attack it, essentially,” said Lewis J. Bartlett, a professor at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Entomology Department.

A hibernating queen hornet likely inadvertently hitched a ride on a boat that passed through the Savannah port. Scientists will work with the hornets’ DNA to determine how many generations have been born in Georgia, Bartlett said, but signs seem to point toward a recent arrival, which is good news for the effort to eradicate them.

In its native range, which includes much of mainland Asia from the Himalayas into southeast Asia, the hornets stalk outside honeybee nests, waiting to grab the fuzzy little friends and turn them into food for their carnivorous larvae. But Asian honeybees have developed some tricks to avoid that gruesome fate.

“There’s a hypothesis that has some evidence that the Asian honeybees, when they’re returning to the hive, which is where the yellow-legged hornets wait to intercept to them, that they essentially undertake these kind of aerial maneuver tactics, where when returning to the hive, they’ll kind of almost fighter pilot-style try to avoid the hornet,” Bartlett said.

Bees in other parts of the world haven’t developed those tactics, making them easy pickings for the hornets.

The black and yellow honeybee slayers have caused trouble in this way in other regions outside their normal habitat around the world, including in Japan, Korea, and parts of Europe.

Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said his department will continue to hunt the bee-hunting bugs because if the hornets are able to become permanent Georgia residents, they could threaten honey production and native pollinators, which could be detrimental to farmers.

The honeybee is also not native to Georgia, but it’s widely beloved partly for the vital role it plays in supporting the state’s top industry and holds high honors as the state’s official insect.

“While this eradication is a win for our state and our agriculture industry, we’ll continue working around the clock to find any additional hornets, eradicate this invasive pest, and protect our state’s agriculture industry,” he said in a statement. “The public has played a vital role in this effort, and we’re asking Georgians to continue reporting any suspected sightings directly to the Department.”

A dead hornet (Photo courtesy Georgia Department of Agriculture)

Beekeepers on Georgia’s coast are taking that advice to heart, said Tim Davis, a beekeeper, director of the Coastal Georgia Botanical Garden and Chatham County Extension agricultural natural resources agent.

“Beekeepers are being vigilant, and they understand that this can be another new threat to an already difficult thing. Keeping bees is very difficult,” Davis said. “It’s not like it was when I was a kid, you put a hive out there and you get honey. You’ve got to be doing a lot of work, and this just adds that much more pressure to it, so they understand the importance of being out there looking for this.”

Davis said the state agriculture department has set up numerous traps, and some beekeepers and other bee-adoring humans are deploying their own homemade hornet traps.

“Basically, you can use a soda bottle, any plastic two-liter size bottle, and they cut holes of a certain size, and then you place bait in there and hang those in the shade of a tree somewhere near your bees, or anybody can do it, and then the hornets fly in and it’s a little harder for them to get out,” he said.

Since any hornets will be out hunting to feed their young this time of year, protein makes the best bait, and raw fish is the No. 1 choice, based on data from other places where the hornets have made themselves at home.

“They have some sweet baits, which are probably more effective earlier in the year than right now, so we’ve also looked at kind of combining those, making some of those baits from their recipes and adding some fish in there,” Davis said. “The fish works pretty well, although once it dries out, it’s not as attractive.”

Davis, who has spent his career working with invasive species like fire ants, said he is impressed with the cooperation between the state, the federal government and the University of Georgia and described himself as “cautiously optimistic” that their combined efforts will be successful.

“The key to that is always early detection and fast action, and I think we have early detection, and I think what GDA is doing, tracking and tracing and trying to find these nests is what we need to be doing right now,” he said.

Bartlett struck a similar tone, noting that Georgia experts have learned from other countries where the hornet has invaded and have the extra benefit of new technologies, including harmonic radar tags, which can be attached to a captured hornet and followed back to its nest.

“I actually rate our likelihood of containing and eradicating this as very achievable,” he said. “Because we have an army of essentially citizen scientists who are beekeepers, who are more than willing to put out traps, to alert us when one is spotted, and it’s a very densely populated area, and so we’re able then to deploy this community-based effort to find them, and then once we’ve found a worker, there’s many ways we can use that to find where the nest is.”

William Loyd “Bill” Jarrard

By
Now Habersham
-

William Loyd “Bill” Jarrard, age 83, of Clarkesville, Georgia, left this world and opened his eyes in Heaven on Thursday, September 28, 2023.

Born in Toccoa, Georgia, on August 05, 1940, he was a son of the late Rev. James Loyd & Alice Sue Harris Jarrard. Bill was a graduate of North Habersham High School, Class of 1959. He worked in the grocery industry for many years at various stores, including Colonial Stores, Big Star, and Ramsey’s, and was the owner/operator of Appletown Foods for many years. Bill loved his family and serving the Lord. During his life, he was often found singing and praising Jesus during his 40 years of ministry serving as Choir Director, Deacon, Sunday School teacher, and other positions serving the Lord. Bill was of the Baptist faith.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his daughter, Tina Barrett, and his siblings, Joann Bowen, Phillip Jarrard, & Rebecca “Becky” Phillips.

Survivors include his loving wife of 61 years, Mary Frances Hood Jarrard; sons & daughters-in-law, Tracy & Tammy Jarrard, Chad & Cindy Jarrard; daughter & son-in-law, Angela & Sho Kondo; son-in-law, Jerry Barrett; 13 grandchildren; 5 great-grandchildren; sister & brother-in-law, Teresa “Teri” & DeWitt Todd; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives, & friends.

Funeral services are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday, October 01, 2023, at Hillside Memorial Chapel, with Rev. Chris York officiating. Interment will follow in the Victory Baptist Church Cemetery.

The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 1:30 p.m. until the service hour on Sunday, October 01, 2023.

An online guest registry is available for the Jarrard family at www.HillsideMemorialChapel.com.

Arrangements are in the care & professional direction of Hillside Memorial Chapel & Gardens of Clarkesville, Georgia. (706) 754-6256

Work scheduled to begin on Mount Zion Road RCUT in October

By
Joy Purcell
-
This crossover intersection at Mt. Zion Road and GA 365 will be transformed into an RCUT. Work is set to begin in mid-October. (Georgia Dept. of Transportation)

Construction will soon begin on a Restricted U-turn (RCUT) at the Mount Zion Road and GA 365 intersection. The Georgia Department of Transportation is closing the intersection to cross traffic.

Next week, the DOT and contractor Vertical Earth LLC will begin putting up signs alerting drivers to the work. Construction is set to begin in mid-October.

Right in, right out

The state transportation department approved the RCUT under pressure from state and local officials after a July wreck at the intersection killed five people.

Under the new traffic pattern, the entrance and exit to Mount Zion Road will become right in and right out.

Left turns from Mount Zion onto Highway 365 will be restricted. Those wanting to cross over to the opposite side of Mount Zion or turn left onto Highway 365 will have to make a U-turn.

Drivers traveling on Highway 365 will continue to be able to turn left onto Mount Zion from both the northbound and southbound lanes.

Once work begins, traffic delays are expected. The Georgia DOT urges drivers to watch for construction crews and obey the speed limit.

RELATED

Georgia DOT awards contract for construction of GA 365 at Mt. Zion Road RCUT

With two days until shutdown, border security package eyed by U.S. Senate GOP

By
Jennifer Shutt
-
(Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON (GA Recorder) — Republican U.S. senators huddled behind closed doors Thursday, attempting to draft an amendment to the short-term government funding bill that would increase spending on border security and make policy changes.

The provision could help nudge U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to put the broadly bipartisan measure up for a vote in that chamber, though the California Republican has remained noncommittal.

Congress has just two days before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1, adding a sense of urgency to negotiations in both chambers of Congress. If a short-term spending bill is not law by then, the federal government would begin a partial shutdown.

Senate approval of the stopgap spending bill that would keep the government running through Nov. 17 is far from a guarantee. Without the consent of all 100 senators, the chamber cannot vote on final passage of the bill before the Saturday midnight deadline.

Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, said she was open to having discussions on additional disaster relief funding and border security, though she stressed the stopgap spending bill is only meant to keep the government open while Congress works out agreement on the full-year spending bills.

“I know there are colleagues concerned about doing more on border security — something I am willing to continue to discuss,” Murray said. “But time is of absolute essence here and a shutdown would mean the folks who are working at our Southern border would be forced to work without paychecks.”

Thune: ‘A lot of potential options’ on border package

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said he and others were discussing how to get border security provisions onto the stopgap spending bill, though he noted there are “a lot of potential options out there.”

Thune said Senate GOP leaders were unlikely to try to remove $6.1 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine from the short-term spending bill.

“We’re going to have a more fulsome debate on what to do about Ukraine down the road,” Thune said. “And we have a lot of… national security hawks, who care deeply about the message that that sends.”

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul wrote on X later Thursday that he would allow fast approval of the stopgap spending bill if the Ukraine funding were removed.

“To avoid a government shutdown, I will consent to an expedited vote on a clean CR without Ukraine aid on it,” Paul wrote. “If leadership insists on funding another country’s government at the expense of our own government, all blame rests with their intransigence.”

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said a handful of Republican senators are discussing both a spending boost and policy changes for the border security amendment.

“We’re trying to come up with a border package that will, you know, move the ball forward in terms of securing the border and trying to find some bipartisan support for it,” Graham said. “I think that’s going to be necessary to get the House on board.”

The group meeting Thursday included Republican Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama, Susan Collins of Maine, John Cornyn of Texas, Graham, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Thune.

Collins, the top Republican on the spending panel, said it “is imperative that we avert a government shutdown.”

“There’s nothing good that comes from that,” Collins said.

Britt said the group of Republican senators is “working diligently to make something happen.”

“We’re working on a number of options,” she said. “We want to give ourselves the best path possible to keep the government open and shut down the border.”

Votes in the House continue

House Republicans, who have yet to reach a consensus on a short-term government funding bill of their own, were set to vote on some of the dozen full-year spending bills late Thursday night.

Those bills, written below the spending levels McCarthy agreed to in the debt limit deal, have no chance of passing the Democratically controlled Senate or getting President Joe Biden’s support.

The House’s full-year spending bills are also filled with conservative policy provisions that Democrats have repeatedly rebuked.

House Republicans released a short-term government funding proposal earlier this month, though GOP leaders haven’t secured the votes needed to approve the bill. Discussions about how to fund the government in the short term were ongoing Thursday, though without significant progress.

McCarthy said earlier this week the House would probably vote on a stopgap spending bill Friday, but such a vote hasn’t been scheduled.

House Freedom Caucus demands answers

More than 25 members of the House Freedom Caucus sent McCarthy a letter calling on him to answer six questions about funding the government, a signal they aren’t yet convinced they should support a short-term spending bill.

“No Member of Congress can or should be expected to consider supporting a stop-gap funding measure without answers to these reasonable questions,” they wrote. “We remain ready to continue working in good faith with our colleagues across the Republican Conference to advance appropriations; likewise, we expect you to take every step necessary to pass these bills — starting with the four bills now under consideration to fund approximately two-thirds of the federal government.”

The letter was signed by Republican Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania; Barry Moore of Alabama; Paul Gosar of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Byron Donalds, Anna Paulina Luna and Bill Posey of Florida; Andrew Clyde of Georgia; Mary Miller of Illinois; Clay Higgins of Louisiana; Andy Harris of Maryland; Eric Burlison of Missouri; Dan Bishop of North Carolina; Warren Davidson of Ohio; Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma; Jeff Duncan and Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Michael Cloud, Troy Nehls, Chip Roy, Keith Self and Randy Weber of Texas; Bob Good of Virginia; Alexander Mooney of West Virginia; and Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin.

Perry, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, declined to answer questions about the letter while heading to the House floor for votes Thursday afternoon.

Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson, a senior appropriator, said he didn’t know if GOP leaders were working on a deal on a short-term spending bill, but he said members should vote on all dozen of the annual government funding bills.

Arkansas Republican Rep. Steve Womack, a senior appropriator, said House GOP lawmakers need to be “on record as being for something that prevents a shutdown,” though he admitted party leaders have a difficult task ahead given certain personalities.

“I’m also very empathetic with leadership right now because they are trying to do the near impossible when you think about it, and that is appease people who may be … unappeasable,” Womack said.

Womack, however, said he wasn’t happy GOP leaders used a procedural vote on a rule to pull Ukraine aid out of the Defense spending bill and move it into a stand-alone measure. The decisions came after House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to reject an amendment that would have removed the funding from the Defense funding bill.

The decision, he said, was intended to secure the votes to pass the Defense spending measure, but it likely violated a long-held House Republican belief that provisions must be supported by a majority of GOP lawmakers to advance on the floor.

“It’s just another movement of the goal posts,” Womack said. “I know that’s a trite saying now because we say it every day, but it’s just one more example of how the conditions under which we are making decisions continue to evolve.”

Lorene Warren

By
Now Habersham
-

Lorene Warren, age 86, of Demorest, Georgia, passed away on Wednesday, September 27, 2023.

Mrs. Warren was born on December 3, 1936, in Huntington, West Virginia, to the late Kenneth and Etta May Roach. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her loving husband of 61 years, H. Larry Warren; daughter, Deena Warren; brother, Leonard Roach; sisters, Johnonsie Bowen and Hazel White.

Mrs. Warren was a member of the First Baptist Church of Cornelia, where she was a member of the Friendship Sunday School Class and was also a Charter Member of Prime Timers and a church volunteer. Lorene had retired as the Owner and Operator of an H&R Block Franchise with 25 years of dedicated service.

Survivors include her son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Phyllis Warren, of Toccoa; nephews, Bill Cole, of Eufaula, AL; Ken Cole, of Redding, CA; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Charles and Pat Warren, of Demorest; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, October 7, 2023, at the Whitfield Funeral Home, North Chapel, with Rev. Steve Doran and Dr. Nathan LaShoto officiating. Interment will follow in the VFW Memorial Park.

The family will receive friends from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday, October 6, 2023 at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Mrs. Warren’s Memory to the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home, P.O. Box 3029, Palmetto, Georgia 30268.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the Whitfield Funeral Homes & Crematory, North Chapel, at 245 Central Avenue, Demorest, Georgia 30535. Telephone: 706-778-1700.

Ted David Taylor

By
Now Habersham
-

Ted David Taylor, age 77, of Clarkesville, Georgia, went home to be with the Lord on Wednesday, September 27, 2023.

Born in Demorest, Georgia, on May 15, 1946, he was a son of the late Gordon Robert & Amy Patterson Taylor. Ted was a farmer and also worked with Fieldale Farms Corp. with many years of dedicated service. He was of the Baptist faith.

In addition to his parents, Ted was preceded in death by his brothers, Wayne Taylor, Sid Taylor, & Jimmy Taylor, as well as his sister, Edna Palmer.

Survivors include his loving wife of 58 years, Linda Wooten Taylor; daughter & son-in-law, Katrina & Mike Giaquinta, all of Clarkesville, GA; sister, Evelyn Chitwood of Demorest, GA; brother & sister-in-law, Bruce & Cathy Taylor of Demorest, GA; numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives, & friends.

Funeral services are scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Monday, October 02, 2023, at Hillside Memorial Chapel, with Rev. Steve McIntyre officiating. Interment will follow in the Fairfield Baptist Church Cemetery.

The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 01, 2023.

Flowers are accepted, or memorials may be made to Gideon’s International, c/o Habersham North Camp, P.O. Box 1855, Clarkesville, GA. 30523

An online guest registry is available for the Taylor family at www.HillsideMemorialChapel.com.

Arrangements are in the care & professional direction of Hillside Memorial Chapel & Gardens of Clarkesville, Georgia. (706) 754-6256

2 injured in head-on collision just outside of Cornelia

By
Joy Purcell
-
Emergency personnel responded to a head-on collision on Old Athens Highway at Commerce Parkway near MHM Family Gym on September 27, 2023. Two people in this Dodge Charger were injured. (Rob Moore/Habersham County)

The Georgia State Patrol has released the names of those involved in a head-on collision near Cornelia on Wednesday. The wreck sent two people to the hospital. Three young children escaped the crash unharmed.

Around 2:49 p.m. on September 27, law enforcement and emergency personnel responded to the crash on Commerce Parkway off Athens Highway. Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa investigated the wreck.

According to the accident report, 27-year-old Brandy Keller of Alto was driving a Kia Sorento south on Old Athens Highway. Keller attempted to turn onto Commerce Parkway and ran in front of a northbound Dodge Charger driven by 59-year-old Deana Crumbley of Cornelia.

Keller and three young children in this Kia Sorento escaped the wreck uninjured. (Rob Moore/Habersham County)

Crumbley and a passenger in her car, 63-year-old Kenneth Crumbley, suffered suspected serious injuries, state troopers say.

Habersham County EMS transported both of them by ambulance to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Demorest.

Keller sustained a possible minor injury but was not transported to the hospital. Three young children riding in the vehicle with her, ages 5, 3, and 2, also were uninjured.

The investigating trooper charged Keller with failing to yield while turning left.

1...631632633...2,529Page 632 of 2,529
© Copyright 2025 - Now Habersham