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Flowery Branch man charged with molesting young girl

By
Staff Report
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Thanh Dat Nguyen (Hall County Sheriff's Office)

A Flowery Branch man faces criminal charges associated with the ongoing sexual assault of a girl under the age of 10.

Thanh Dat Nguyen, 25, was arrested Thursday, October 12, on felony charges of aggravated sexual battery and child molestation.

The investigation determined the criminal assaults occurred multiple times between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2021, the sheriff’s office says.

Hall County Sheriff’s Office investigators became aware of the crimes earlier this year when the victim disclosed the assaults to someone at her school.

Nguyen and the victim were known to one another. Nguyen remains in the Hall County Jail with no bond.

North Georgians speak out in defense of private river rights

By
Jerry Neace and Joy Purcell
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A large crowd turned out Thursday in Clarkesville for a public meeting to discuss public fishing access and river property rights. (Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)

More than 200 people turned out in Clarkesville Thursday to weigh in on the simmering debate over public access to Georgia’s rivers.

The House Study Committee on Fishing Access to Freshwater Resources held a public hearing at Habersham EMC. The committee is working on legislation to clarify the rules balancing the public’s right to fish and private property rights.

Recent legal challenges brought the question into view after the state conceded that a private landowner could claim exclusive fishing rights on a popular stretch of the Flint River in southwest Georgia. The move alarmed proponents of public access, who worried other landowners would try to follow suit.

The issue landed in front of state lawmakers near the end of the 2023 legislative session. Using late-session maneuvers, they passed a bill designed to protect the public’s access to fishing on navigable waterways. The law asserts the state owns all navigable stream beds and, as such, can protect public access for fishing, hunting, passage, navigation, commerce, and transportation “pursuant to the common law public trust doctrine.”

Committee members listen as members of the public voice their views during the meeting at HEMC on October 12, 2023. (Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)

“The recent events of the litigation that took place has thrown this question of ‘where I can fish, where I can’t fish’ into ambiguity,” said House Study Committee Chair James Burchett (R-Waycross). “It’s not understood.”

Burchett said his goal is to provide clarity on the issue as it pertains to water and stream bed rights. In public meetings, such as the one held October 12 in Clarkesville, the committee is examining inconsistencies in the law and possible ‘fixes’ as they strive to balance the public’s interest with that of private property owners.

‘Unintended consequences’

Pat Hanington of Clarkesville is among those who oppose the new law as it currently stands.

“They have basically took away the ownership from people who have had property on both sides. This law that was signed into effect says that they no longer have the right to control the stream, even if they own both sides of it and to the center line of it. That’s scary to me,” said Paula Hanington of Clarkesville. “If that can happen by the stroke of the pen, what will be next?”

District 10 State Representative Victor Anderson hosted the meeting in Clarkesville. (Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)

District 10 State Representative Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia) hosted Thursday’s meeting. He said bringing it home to Habersham was important to him because of the area’s connection to the upper Chattahoochee River and the Soque River. He said he wanted to make sure that “South Georgia politics don’t have unintended negative consequences on North Georgia.”

“When the resolution was first adopted and the committee was going to be put in place, even before I knew I would have an opportunity to serve on it, I went to the chairman of the committee and I said, ‘I need to have a meeting in Clarkesville, Georgia,” he told Now Habersham. “I need to have a meeting in Habersham County so that the people in our district and up this way that live on property and the rivers in this area have an opportunity to be heard.'”

Seeking clarity

They were heard, and one of the things many of them asked was for the state to keep the Soque and Chattahoochee listed as non-navigable waterways.

“Here it’s pretty straightforward [in] Habersham. [The] Soque River is a very straightforward river. Customarily [it’s] a private waterway, non-navigable, and it’s kept up by the private individuals,” Rep. Burchett told Now Habersham, pointing out that only a “very small portion” of the Soque is publicly accessible.

However, Burchett said that level of clarity does not exist in other parts of the state.

“One of the things that we uncovered in Gay, Georgia, is that on both sides of the issue – private property owners and the public fisherman – they just want to know where. Where can I go, where can I go, and where can I not go?”

House Study Committee Chair James Burchett (R-Waycross)

Burchett said his goal is to provide clarity on the issue.

“What I would like to see is a clear delineation; this river from this section to this section is navigable and can be publicly fished. This river from this section to this section is non-navigable and can not be fished. This river is entirely non-navigable. This river is entirely navigable. That’s what we’re looking for.”

Anderson left the nearly five-hour-long session on Thursday pleased with the turnout and how things went.

“Our people showed up. They had a consistent message, and that message was heard by the committee.”

Other meetings are planned for October 18 in Fannin County and October 25 in Bulloch County.

Ohio’s Jordan the latest U.S. House GOP nominee for speaker

By
Jennifer Shutt and Ashley Murray
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U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, a Georgia Republican who unsuccessfully sought the nomination for speaker of the House, talks to reporters on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON (GA Recorder) — U.S. House Republicans on Friday put forward their second nominee this week for speaker, though lawmakers departed Capitol Hill for the weekend without unifying enough to hold a floor vote and with a highly uncertain outcome when they return.

Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan won the conference nomination in a closed meeting, defeating Austin Scott of Tifton, Georgia, who announced his bid shortly before the meeting began.

But Jordan is at least 50 votes shy of being able to win the speaker’s gavel during a floor vote and Republicans said they weren’t entirely sure he could secure the votes. That raises the strong possibility they will hit the two-week mark on Tuesday lacking a functional U.S. House of Representatives.

House Democrats also blasted Jordan as an extremist on Friday evening, pointing out he refused to certify the 2020 election results and linking him to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Jordan, a founder of the far-right House Freedom Caucus and the aggressive chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has been backed by former President Donald Trump in his campaign for speaker; Jordan has said he had nothing to do with the Capitol insurrection.

Scott said following the second ballot that he has endorsed Jordan for speaker and that his fellow Republicans should accept the process is to now back Jordan on the floor.

“This is not about Jim Jordan. It’s not about Steve Scalise. It’s not about Austin Scott,” he said, referring to himself in the third person and to Rep. Steve Scalise, the first nominee picked by Republicans earlier in the week. “This is about the United States of America and having a speaker in the House.”

Scott, who was publicly a candidate for speaker for less than four hours, said his frustration was not with Jordan but with the people who refused to vote for Scalise after Republicans nominated him on Wednesday. 

Scott launched his campaign against Jordan to have an “honest debate about different issues and things that needed to be sorted out.”

“I didn’t have prep time, or a whip list, or make phone calls asking for support,” Scott said. “I never even told the Georgia delegation I was running because I didn’t have time. I was also trying to get in touch with my wife.”

Scott eventually did talk with his wife and she replied, “go for it,” he said.

Jordan vs. Scott

House Republicans voted first on whether to nominate Jordan or Scott, a 124-84 vote.

After Jordan won the nomination, a second ballot asked Republicans if they would support him on the floor. That ballot came back with 152 yes votes and 55 no votes, according to Florida Rep. Kat Cammack. The victor will need 217 votes on the floor.

Jordan plans to work through the weekend to get the votes he needs to become speaker, but Cammack conceded the process could devolve into exactly what happened with Scalise this week.

“The fact remains that you have got a very, very thin margin,” Cammack said. “And he’s going to have to basically get all of those (no votes), including some of those people who swore up and down that they never would support him. So they have to really get into those weeds.”

The House returns at 6 p.m. Eastern on Monday, though no votes have been scheduled.

Turmoil as Scalise drops out

The speaker nomination vote came just two days after the party elected Louisiana’s Scalise as their nominee. But he withdrew Thursday evening after failing to get  commitments for the 217 votes needed to win a floor vote.

“I did not recommend that Steve Scalise dropped out of the race. I think there were tactics that he could have used to get there,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota.

“But listen, I respect Steve Scalise. His decision, he felt like remaining in the race was more likely to divide the conference than to unify it right now,” Johnson said. “I would tell you, Jim Jordan has the best chance to unify this conference of any other leader we’ve got.”

Johnson delivered the nomination speech for Jordan on Friday.

“Jim Jordan is gonna give us the best opportunity to get things done during the 118th Congress. This is an unruly bunch,” Johnson said.

Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma nominated Scott.

Florida Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, who opposes Jordan, said it’s not personal, but he questions whether Jordan can get his supporters to follow him on legislative deals if he couldn’t get them to back Scalise when he was the speaker nominee.

“He supported Scalise and yet the folks that are his closest group, he couldn’t get them to follow him,” Díaz-Balart said.

“This is not trying to figure out how to negotiate appropriation bills, how to deal with the debt limit, how to deal with national security issues,” Díaz-Balart said. “This is, frankly, I hate to say this, kind of the simplest thing we do.”

“And if you can’t get your own people to follow you on a very simple thing like this then I think you have an issue of leadership,” Díaz-Balart added.

Díaz-Balart also said he thinks Jordan has a numbers problem and likely cannot get the backing he needs to win on the floor.

“My issue here is very simple,” Díaz-Balart said. “I think it’s a very difficult math equation for him to overcome. I think he clearly deserves the opportunity to try to figure out how we can move forward. And let’s see where that goes.”

No speaker since Oct. 3

The House has been without a speaker for nearly two weeks after eight House Republicans and Democrats voted to remove California Rep. Kevin McCarthy from office.

Internal disagreements about the direction of the House Republican Conference and years of personal grievances have prevented the group from unifying around a candidate since then.

Scalise called together his fellow lawmakers twice on Thursday, once to try to coalesce everyone around him as their nominee and a second time to bow out of the race.

House Republicans again gathered behind closed doors Friday morning to debate whether they should change their internal party rules to require a speaker nominee to, in a closed conference meeting, garner the 217 votes needed to win on the floor before holding a vote in full view of the American people.

They once again decided to keep party rules as they are, requiring a simple majority of the conference to vote for a nominee for speaker.

They broke for lunch and then huddled again Friday afternoon to hear from Jordan, who lost to Scalise in conference earlier this week, and Scott.

Until Republicans elect a speaker, the House will remain at a standstill with five weeks until a mid-November funding deadline and as war rages in Israel and Ukraine.

Jordan’s background

Jordan, 59, was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1995 to 2000 before moving to the state’s Senate from 2001 to 2006. He was sworn in as a member of Congress in 2007.

He is chair of the Judiciary Committee and is one of the party’s leading critics of the Biden administration and Democrats in general. But he would need to step aside as chairman if elected speaker.

Scott, 53, was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1997 to 2010 before being sworn in as a member of Congress in 2011.

Scott is a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, House Armed Services Committee and House Committee on Agriculture.

With the Republican stalemate dragging on, several members of the party have begun discussing voting to give Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry of North Carolina the authority to bring up bills and resolutions on the floor.

The role of speaker pro tem, established after 9/11 to ensure continuity of government, has been broadly debated by experts and lawmakers since McCarthy  was removed as speaker.

Some have argued that the speaker pro tem should have more authority than McHenry has been exercising, while a House procedure expert said during an interview Thursday the role was meant to be limited to a caretaker for the institution that facilitates the election of the next speaker.

Vote next week?

Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma said Jordan still has several members to convince before taking the vote to the floor.

“When you can only lose four and you’ve got 55 saying no, that’s big,” Hern said. “(Jordan’s) asked everybody to come forward over the next few days. And right now it looks like we’re gonna be adjourned and vote on Tuesday.”

Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon said “a bipartisan path is going to be the only way out.”

McCarthy, when asked if he was concerned about the current attendance problem, said he was “worried about the small majority.”

“You see how eight can partner with all the Democrats and cause all sorts of chaos,” McCarthy said.

Florida’s Anna Paulina Luna said Republicans shouldn’t be going home for the weekend.

“We should not be leaving town. We have no speaker, we should not be out,” she said.

When asked why the Republicans decided to return home for the weekend, Johnson said “There are lots of concerns about attendance. I think you just get a lot of funerals and weddings scheduled on Saturday. This is a human element.”

Democrats blast Jordan, call for moderates to join them

Late Friday afternoon, just as Republicans were exiting their meeting, House Democratic leaders rallied against Jordan and urged Republicans to take a bipartisan path.

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Pete Aguilar of California tied Jordan to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and called him unfit for leadership.

“The House Republican civil war continues to rage on, miring the Congress in chaos, dysfunction and extremism,” Jeffries said. “House Republicans have chosen to triple down.”

“House Republicans have selected as their nominee to be speaker of the people’s House the chairman of the chaos caucus, a defender in a dangerous way of dysfunction and extremist extraordinaire.”

Jordan, a close ally of former President Donald Trump who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results, represents a dangerous element of the Republican Party, Clark said.

House Republicans who voted for Jordan for speaker were “siding with an insurrectionist against our democracy,” she said.

The Democratic leaders didn’t explicitly call for Republicans to support their candidate for speaker, Jeffries, but said moderate Republicans should work with them on the issues facing the chamber.

“Traditional Republicans can break away from the extremism, partner with Democrats on an enlightened, bipartisan path forward so we can end the recklessness and get back to work doing the business of the American people,” Jeffries said, a theme he’s voiced repeatedly all week.

Samantha Dietel and Jacob Fischler contributed to this report. 

U.S. stresses support for Israel as 1 million residents of North Gaza ordered to evacuate

By
Jacob Fischler
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who will travel with a congressional delegation to Israel to demonstrate his support, speaks with reporters inside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

(GA Recorder) — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will lead a bipartisan congressional delegation to Israel, the New York Democrat’s office said Friday as Israel ordered around 1 million people to leave the northern half of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip amid war with the militant group.

The visit by Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, comes as civilian casualties rise on both sides of the conflict. Schumer and officials in President Joe Biden’s administration continued to pledge unconditional support for Israel, even as concerns over civilian casualties grew.

Schumer will travel to Israel this weekend to show “unwavering support” for the Middle East ally, a spokesperson said in a written statement.

“Leader Schumer will meet with the new unity government including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, as well as President Isaac Herzog,” the spokesperson wrote. “Sen. Schumer will discuss what resources the United States can provide to support Israel on all fronts.”

Sens. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, Jacky Rosen, a Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst also led a congressional delegation to the region this week, meeting with Israeli leaders to affirm U.S. support following Hamas’ surprise attack on Oct. 7.

“I was proud to bring bipartisan support to Israel in the face of aggression,” Ernst said in a Wednesday news release.

Four U.S. House members, Republicans Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa and Darrell Issa of California and Democrats Donald Norcross of New Jersey and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, were on the trip with Ernst, according to the release.

Safe passage from Gaza not yet secured

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday that the Biden administration continues to “provide support to our strongest ally in the Middle East,” Israel. Kirby said he was not aware of any consultation between the administration and Israeli leaders before the evacuation order.

U.S. officials continue to work with Israel and neighboring Egypt on creating safe passages for civilians to take out of Gaza, but have not yet established them, Kirby said Friday, repeating a line he’s used throughout the week.

Despite safe passages not being secured, Israel’s military warned people to leave North Gaza within 24 hours, a situation the United Nations said will have “devastating” consequences.

“The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said in a release late Thursday.

News media have reported hundreds of civilian deaths from Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, which began after the militant group Hamas launched a brutal surprise attack Oct. 7, estimated to be the deadliest day in Israel’s history. More than 1,000 Israelis, most of them civilians, have died in the conflict so far.

The Biden administration is having ongoing conversations with Israeli leaders about adhering to international laws of war, Kirby said, declining a reporter’s invitation to condemn Israel for civilian deaths in Gaza.

“We don’t want to see any more innocent lives lost or suffered as a result of the conflict,” he said. “We want to make sure humanitarian assistance continues to flow into Gaza and for the innocent Palestinian people that are there. We routinely — and will continue to — talk to our Israeli counterparts about issues regarding the law of armed conflict and respect for innocent human life.”

Kirby also declined to answer if the U.S. has any parameters for an Israeli counteroffensive.

He noted Hamas was the aggressor in the war and has not shown any regard for civilian lives, even in Gaza, while Israel has. Hamas uses Palestinian people in the territory as “human shields,” he said, and puts civilian assets in danger by headquartering in schools and hospitals, he said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to reporters in Tel Aviv on Friday, alongside Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and pledged “ironclad support” for Israel.

“I am here in person to make something crystal-clear: America’s support for Israel is ironclad,” Austin said.

Asked about the difficulty of the evacuation order, Gallant said it was essential to avoid civilian casualties as Israel retaliates against Hamas, which he characterized as similar in its brutality to the terror group ISIS.

“The camouflage of the terrorists is the civil population,” he said, according to a transcript provided by the Pentagon. “Therefore, we need to separate them. So those who want to save their life, please go south. We are going to destroy Hamas infrastructures, Hamas headquarters, Hamas military establishment, and take these phenomena out of Gaza and out of the Earth. They cannot live among human civilized people.”

Israel does not target civilians, he added.

Biden speaks with families

No new American deaths were reported in the conflict since Thursday, keeping the total at 27, with 14 still unaccounted for, Kirby said.

Biden spoke with family members of some of the Americans who are unaccounted for, Kirby said.

The administration is “also focused on ensuring the safety of communities here at home,” Kirby said. Biden and senior officials have met with Jewish and Muslim community leaders across the country this week “who fear outbreaks of violence against them as a result of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.”

Domestic intelligence agencies had no credible threats of violence in the U.S., Kirby said.

Charter flights begin

As Kirby briefed reporters shortly after noon Friday, he said the first State Department charter flight out of Europe was en route to a European destination he declined to name.

With commercial air travel out of Israel largely suspended, including by all major U.S. airlines, the State Department will continue to organize flights out of the region for U.S. citizens and their immediate families.

A few flights from Atlanta to Tel Aviv via Delta Air Lines had seats available for next week, but return trips were less certain according to offerings on the company’s website.

Wasserman Schultz and 31 other House Democrats wrote a letter to U.S. carriers Friday asking them to resume flights out of Israel.

The lawmakers noted several difficulties would complicate airline operations, but said the federal government could help.

“Some of these barriers may seem too complex or too difficult, but as long as there are Americans in need and a way to operate safely – we must try,” they wrote.

Georgia’s controversial 2021 voting law overhaul survives preliminary legal challenge

By
Stanley Dunlap
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Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging Georgia’s 2021 election law overhaul were unsuccessful on Oct. 10 in their attempt to temporarily block several rules for absentee and provisional voting. The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Georgia in downtown Atlanta. (Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder)

A Georgia federal court judge declined this week to temporarily block the state’s controversial election rules, which several voting rights and civil rights organizations claim will disenfranchise Black voters throughout the 2024 election.

U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee on Wednesday ruled that U.S. Department of Justice and voting rights groups were unable to support their claims that Republican lawmakers intentionally discriminated against Black voters in 2021 by signing into law new ID requirements for mail-in voting, adding restrictions on absentee drop boxes, shortening the deadline to request absentee ballots and ramping up criminal penalties for passing out refreshments to voters standing in line.

Boulee wrote in a 62-page ruling that the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses and other evidence did not warrant a court-ordered injunction.

“This court cannot find that plaintiffs have presented enough evidence to show that the Legislature foresaw or knew that SB 202 would have a disparate impact on minority voters,” he wrote.

Barring an imminent reversal of Boulee’s court ruling, the rules state lawmakers created in the sprawling 2021 election legislation will remain in effect for the 2024 election cycle.

The plaintiffs in Kemp v. Sixth District of the American Methodist Episcopal Church are Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Georgia Muslim Voter Project, Georgia Advocacy Office, which works on behalf of people dealing with disabilities, and several other organizations. They allege that Republican state officials crafted rules intended to make it harder for Black voters, people with disabilities, and other marginalized groups to cast their ballots.

The motions seeking a temporary injunction were filed on the plaintiffs’ behalf by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Justice Department, American Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Defense Fund.

The case is a consolidation of several election lawsuits filed in the aftermath of Georgia Republican lawmakers passing the omnibus SB 202 in March 2021. Following the contentious 2020 presidential election, several unsuccessful legal challenges were filed by Donald Trump supporters alleging widespread fraud, with claims ranging from illegal ballot stuffing to rigged electronic voting machines as the reasons for Democratic nominee Joe Biden winning by nearly 12,000 votes in Georgia.

The coalition of plaintiffs contend that the state’s restrictions on absentee ballots, so-called line warming and provisional ballots are a violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which protects voters from discrimination on the basis of their race and color.

Alaizah Koorji, assistant counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, said in response to Boulee’s decision that Black voters will continue to face obstacles because of provisions “designed to dilute Black political power.”

“This was a preliminary decision by the court, and we will remain steadfast in challenging voter suppression to ensure Georgia’s voting laws comply with the Voting Rights Act and U.S. Constitution,” Koorji said.

Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the court’s denial of the preliminary injunction indicates that the DOJ is unlikely to prove in court that the new election law is discriminatory.

Raffensperger has promoted the new ID requirements as an objective way to make elections more secure. And the earlier deadline for absentee ballot requests will prevent more Georgians from not receiving their ballots until after Election Day, he said.

“The court confirmed what we’ve been saying all along,” he said. “SB 202 strengthens election integrity while increasing the opportunity for Georgia voters to cast a ballot.”

New rules put in place after 2020 election

With the 2020 election cycle coinciding with pandemic public health emergency, state election officials approved an emergency rulemaking absentee ballot drop boxes available to voters.

At the time, local election officials were able to determine on their own authority how many drop boxes that can be accessed around the clock as long as they were kept in secure containers and monitored by video surveillance.

Atlantans Diane Latham (L) and Holly Frew handed out bottled water and snacks to voters during 2020 primary early voting at Fulton County’s College Park library precinct. That kind of line warming activity is no longer allowed after a federal judge upheld a provision of Georgia’s 2021 election overhaul. (John McCosh/Georgia Recorder)

The 2001 election law overhaul requires each county to provide at least one drop box for elections, but it also limits the maximum number of boxes and restricts access indoors during early voting hours.

The method of determining voter eligibility on absentee ballots after SB 202 replaced the signature verification process with a requirement that voters provide their driver’s license or other state ID number. The law also shortened the window to request the absentee ballots from the Friday before Election Day to a cutoff at 11 days prior.

The plaintiffs allege the practice of volunteers passing out food and water to voters caught the attention of Republicans after it became a popular way of voter engagement in Black communities during the 2018 and 2020 elections.

Republicans sought to impose restrictions on absentee ballots following a sharp rise in the 2018 and 2020 elections by Black voters casting absentee ballots, the plaintiffs allege in their complaint.

During a Sept. 26 Atlanta federal court hearing, Augusta Democratic Sen. Harold Jones testified about a rushed 2021 Legislative session in which nearly 50 election bills culminated with a 90-plus page SB 202 being presented with only five days left to pass legislation.

In Wednesday’s court order, Boulee references the late Republican House Speaker David Ralston’s warning in 2020 that sending absentee ballot applications to every registered voter would be harmful to conservative’s chances.

Boulee also wrote that Democratic lawmakers were in favor of several provisions in SB 202 that required more election staff and voting equipment be made available if a line builds up at a polling place. Hours-long lines at multiple Georgia polling places caused voters at many precincts to wait well beyond the 7 p.m. standard closing time to cast a ballot.

“The court is not convinced that plaintiffs have shown that the Legislature failed to consider alternatives that would lessen any potentially discriminatory impact,” the judge said. “Indeed, the evidence before the court suggests, at least in regard to other portions of SB 202, that alternatives were considered and even implemented.

Israel warns 1.1 million to leave northern Gaza

By
Joy Purcell
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U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz in Tel Aviv on Friday, October 13, 2023. Netanyahu and Gantz entered into an alliance to form a national emergency government to guide Israel in its war with Hamas. (Prime Minister of Israel/Facebook)

Israel’s military has called on civilians in Gaza to evacuate the northern part of the territory and head south. The unprecedented evacuation of 1.1 million Palestinians comes ahead of a potential ground invasion by the Israeli military against the ruling Hamas militant group.

The evacuation order includes Gaza City, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The Israeli military dropped thousands of leaflets over the region Thursday, warning residents to flee. The U.N. warned that such a mass evacuation — with just a 24-hour deadline — would be calamitous.

Hamas, which staged a shocking and brutal attack on Israel nearly a week ago and has fired thousands of rockets since, dismissed the evacuation order as a ploy and called on people to stay in their homes, AP reports.

“Forget about food, forget about electricity, forget about fuel. The only concern now is just if you’ll make it, if you’re going to live,” Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza City, told reporters.

Israel has amassed more than 300,000 reservists along its southern border — but has not confirmed whether it is planning a ground assault.

RELATED U.S. Citizens to be flown out on charters

U.S. support for Israel

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Thursday, October 12, 2023. (Israeli government photo)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Israel Thursday and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived Friday to affirm the United State’s support for Israel in the conflict. Speaking at an October 13 press conference, Austin said America’s support for Israel is “ironclad.”

He reiterated President Joe Biden’s warning to those who might seek to widen the conflict.

“For any country, for any group, or anyone thinking about trying to take advantage of this atrocity to try to widen the conflict or to spill more blood, we have just one word, don’t. The world is watching and so are we, and we aren’t going anywhere,” said Austin.

He added, “We will stand with Israel even as we stand with Ukraine.”

Meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day, Secretary Austin said that, in many ways, the Hamas terror group is worse than ISIS.

“As you know, I was the guy that initially put the ISIS campaign together and I know a lot about ISIS, and this is worse than what I saw with ISIS,” the Times of Israel reported Austin as saying.

Hostages

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have bombarded Gaza round-the-clock since a weekend attack in which Hamas fighters stormed into the country’s south and massacred hundreds in their homes and neighborhoods and at a music festival. Militants also took some 150 people hostage.

The White House confirms that 27 Americans were killed in Israel, and 14 U.S. nationals are still missing. Hamas said Friday that Israeli airstrikes killed 13 hostages in the past day. It said the dead included foreigners but did not give their nationalities.

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari denied that, telling Al-Jazeera Arabic that “we have our own information and do not believe the lies of Hamas.”

Israel said Thursday it would allow no supplies into Gaza until Hamas frees the hostages.

The war has already claimed over 2,800 lives on both sides and sent tensions soaring across the region. Israel has traded fire in recent days with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, sparking fears of a wider conflict.

 

With violence raging in Israel, U.S. citizens to be flown out on charters

By
Jacob Fischler
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023 with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (U.S. State Department photo)

(GA Recorder) — As the death toll in Israel rises, the Biden administration will provide charter flights to help U.S. citizens leave the country and continued Thursday to pledge unconditional support for the Middle East ally in the aftermath of an attack by the militant group Hamas.

The number of Americans killed in Hamas’ attack that began Saturday has grown to 27, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a White House briefing. Fourteen Americans are unaccounted for, Kirby said.

“Five more families have now gotten the worst possible news any family can conceive of getting,” he said.

Israel has begun retaliatory airstrikes and appears to be readying a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is based, according to reports.

With violence raging, some commercial airlines, including U.S. carriers, have canceled international flights out of Israeli airports. As more U.S. citizens have sought to return from Israel while commercial flights are being reduced, the State Department will arrange charter flights out of the country starting Friday for U.S. citizens and their immediate family members, Kirby said.

The administration is also looking into other options to help Americans exit the region “by land and by sea,” Kirby added.

“We’re working hard on this,” he said. “We know there’s a demand signal out there and we’re going to try the best we can to meet it.”

The State Department is also working with Israeli counterparts to free hostages held by Hamas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a news conference in Israel.

‘We stand with Israel’

Blinken met Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog and pledged continued support.

“I think it’s almost impossible for any of us to comprehend on a human level with what Israel has experienced at the hands of Hamas these last few days,” he said at an event with Herzog, according to a transcript from the State Department. “But we are determined to be with you as you defend your people and defend the values that join us together.”

At a news conference following his meetings with Israeli leaders, Blinken said the U.S. alliance was unshakable.

“We stand with Israel in its determination to do everything possible to ensure that what happened on Saturday never happens again,” he said.

The U.S. will continue to provide military assistance to Israel, including missiles for its Iron Dome defense system. The administration will make a funding request to Congress for further aid, he said.

“We’re working closely with Congress to ensure Israel has what it needs to do what it must,” Blinken said.

At the White House briefing, Kirby said he had no update on a funding request for Israel aid the administration plans to send to Congress. The U.S. House is currently embroiled in a prolonged fight over who will preside over the chamber as speaker, paralyzing action. The Senate is scheduled to return next week.

No peace talks in sight

The conflict — and the brutality involved — could be prolonged, Kirby warned.

“We all need to be prepared for the fact that there’s going to be additional gruesome images coming out, and there’s going to be some pretty tough reports for all of us to swallow,” he said. “This is not over.”

Steven A. Cook, a senior fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington think tank, said during a panel discussion Thursday that formal peace talks were nowhere in sight.

“The prospects for a peace process as we have come to know it in recent decades are near zero,” he said. “Obviously, at this moment, the Israelis have no appetite for this and have said that they will resist international pressure.”

Pulling Israel into a prolonged war, which has already seen deaths of Palestinian civilians, will likely erode the international support Israel has seen since the brutal surprise attack last weekend, Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said.

“It will eventually draw some degree of international criticism and certainly regional criticism of Israel,” Takeyh said. “This is all good news from (Hamas’) perspective.”

“As the days have gone on and the Israelis have been very clear that they would like to clear Gaza, it strikes me that this is perhaps a strategic goal of Hamas is to draw the Israelis in,” Cook said.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with Cabinet and national security advisers Thursday to address security threats on American soil, “including Jewish, Arab, and Muslim communities, following the attacks in Israel,” the president said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Gaza civilians

Some progressive Democrats in Congress have called for Israel to halt military actions that hurt civilians in Gaza, an area of about 2 million people.

Israel has cut power to Gaza and has stopped the provision of supplies to the area. That move violated international law, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, said in a Thursday tweet.

“We cannot starve nearly a million children to death over the horrific actions of Hamas, whose disregard for Israeli, Palestinian, and human life overall could not be more clear,” she wrote. “We must draw a line.”

The Biden administration is holding ongoing conversations with Israeli leaders to prioritize civilian safety, Kirby said.

“It’s just part of the conversations that we’ve been having with our Israeli counterparts about the prosecution of these military operations that Palestinian people are likewise innocent civilians,” he said. “They didn’t ask Hamas to come in and do this and I think it’s always on the president’s mind, the protection of civilian life.”

Kirby declined to answer a question about whether Israel’s actions violated international law, repeating that the administration is working to provide humanitarian aid.

Iran funding

Kirby said Thursday he could not confirm media reports that the U.S. and Qatar agreed to rescind Iran’s access to a $6 billion fund meant for humanitarian aid.

The U.S. approved the funding, which comes from Iranian oil sales and is to be controlled by U.S.-approved humanitarian groups, this year in exchange for Iran releasing U.S. prisoners. Many members of both parties in Congress called for freezing those assets in response to Hamas’ attacks.

Though Iran has funded Hamas and other militant groups, U.S. officials have not confirmed that Iran was involved in this attack.

None of the money in the $6 billion fund has been accessed, Kirby and Blinken both said Thursday.

Scalise drops out of race for U.S. House speaker

By
Jennifer Shutt and Ariana Figueroa
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U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise speaks to reporters as he leaves a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on October 12, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (States Newsroom) — Louisiana Republican Rep. Steve Scalise withdrew from the race for U.S. House speaker on Thursday evening, just one day after his colleagues nominated him for the role.

“Our conference still has to come together and it’s not there,” Scalise told reporters. “I was very clear we have to have everybody put their agendas on the side and focus on what this country needs. This country is counting on us to come back together, this House of Representatives needs a speaker and we need to open up the House again.”

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan was the only other declared candidate for speaker. He was narrowly beaten by Scalise during the conference vote Wednesday and quickly pivoted to backing Scalise while encouraging those who supported him to back Scalise as well.

After announcing he would withdraw his nomination, Scalise did not say whether he would back Jordan for speaker.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of people that look at it,” Scalise said of future candidates for speaker. “But it’s got to be people that aren’t doing it for themselves and their own personal interests.”

While Scalise got a majority of the 221 votes during the closed-door conference meeting, more than a dozen Republican lawmakers said they wouldn’t vote to elect him speaker on the floor.

Scalise announced his decision to step aside following the second meeting of the House Republican Conference on Thursday. The group met for about three hours in the afternoon and then regrouped in a room in the Capitol building’s basement around 7:30 p.m. Eastern.

Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene and Virginia’s Bob Good repeatedly said they wouldn’t back Scalise during a floor vote.

The U.S. House has been without a speaker for more than a week after eight GOP lawmakers and Democrats voted to remove California Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the post after just nine months.

The chamber has been essentially frozen since then, with North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry filling the role of speaker pro tempore.

The pro tem job, created following the 9/11 terrorist attacks to ensure continuity of government, is not clearly defined in House rules.

A House procedure expert told States Newsroom during an interview on Thursday that the chamber could temporarily elect McHenry, or any other House member, to the role if they wanted to begin moving resolutions or bills.

Some House Republicans have begun suggesting the party do just that if they cannot elect a speaker on the floor soon.

Report of person with rifle at hospital turns out to be a teen with an airsoft gun

By
Joy Purcell
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(NowHabersham.com)

Law enforcement descended on Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Demorest on Thursday after receiving a report of a suspicious person with a rifle. The caller believed the subject was about to enter the hospital with the weapon.

Units from multiple agencies responded to the call and quickly assessed the situation.

“We made contact with a juvenile who was putting together an airsoft rifle that he had left in his vehicle prior to entering the hospital,” the Demorest Police Department said on its Facebook page.

Demorest Police Chief Robin Krockum says the juvenile was a 16-year-old boy.

Officers from Demorest PD and hospital security responded, along with personnel from Clarkesville PD and the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office.

Demorest thanked its officers and the other agencies for their quick response.

Teen injured in Rabun County wreck

By
Staff Report
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(NowHabersham.com)

A wreck Wednesday evening in Rabun County injured two people, including a teen who was sent to the hospital with suspected serious injuries.

The accident happened around 6:52 p.m. on October 11 on GA 15/US 441 at Yorkhouse Drive near Mountain City.

Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa investigated the crash. According to the GSP report, Dalysse McCracken, 16, of Lakemont, was driving a Honda CRV. As she attempted to cross into the southbound lanes of Highway 441 from a gas station parking lot, troopers say McCracken pulled into the path of a northbound Nissan Pathfinder.

The Pathfinder struck the Honda on the driver’s side.

Emergency personnel transported McCracken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville with suspected serious injuries.

The Nissan driver, Katherine Preston, 40, of Franklin, North Carolina, sustained possible minor injuries. She was not transported to the hospital, according to GSP. Her 12-year-old passenger, Wyatt Preston, was uninjured.

Sutton returns to Cleveland City Council

By
Dean Dyer, WRWH Radio
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Cleveland Municipal Judge Garrison Baker administers the oath of office to Annie Sutton during a ceremony on October 11, 2023. (Dean Dyer/WRWH.com)

Cleveland’s Ward 2 city council seat is no longer vacant following a swearing-in ceremony Thursday for Annie Sutton.

The council appointed Sutton to fill the remainder of Rebecca Yardley’s term through the end of this year. Yeardley resigned the seat on August 31 because she was moving out of the city.

A native of Cleveland, Sutton served on the city council for almost 20 years before deciding to run for mayor in a special election in 2020. Josh Turner defeated her by 36 votes.

Cleveland Municipal Judge Garrison Baker administered the oath of office to her at a special ceremony on Thursday afternoon, October 12. Sutton feels she will have no trouble filling the position with her past service on the council.

“I already know about the finances, the streets, just Cleveland in general,” she said.

Sutton will begin serving a full four-year term on the council in January. She was the only candidate to qualify for this year’s November election and will automatically assume the seat at the first of the year.

The Baldwin City Council made a similar appointment this week.

Councilmembers appointed Erik Keith to fill the unexpired term of former city councilmember Larry Lewallen. Lewallen resigned last month with three months left in his term. He was not seeking reelection.

Keith was the only candidate to qualify to run for Baldwin’s Post 1 seat. He was sworn into office on October 10.

Keith will be sworn in for a full four-year term in January.

What a-corny fall!

By
Tyler Penland
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Acorns are abundant this year because the oak trees got an early start.

If you’ve stepped outside during a breeze lately, you’ve probably heard the sound of acorns falling. That woodsy autumn sound as they drop through the leaves, strike branches, and fall with a thud to the ground is a clear sign of the changing seasons. And this season, there are a lot of acorns falling across the region.

Local oak trees have produced these small green and brown head bruisers in large numbers this year, but why?

An old wives’ tale says lots of acorns foretell a harsh winter ahead. The thinking is that, during a harsh winter, fewer acorns will survive to sprout in the spring, so the trees over-produce to compensate.

But that isn’t why oak trees are producing copious amounts of acorns this year. Acorns are far better tellers of the past than the future.

Last winter, North Georgia saw a very mild, calm winter. With the exception of the extreme cold outbreak around Christmas, we saw no significant frozen precipitation, and temperatures were largely warmer than average. Thanks to this, the oak trees were able to produce leaves a little earlier and thus produce acorns earlier, as well. Since the oak trees had more time, they made more acorns!

 

Soon these oak trees will change colors and drop not only their seeds but also their leaves.

Current long-range weather forecasting indicates a colder and wetter than average winter. So, while the weather and the science behind it explain this year’s bumper acorn crop, you can never completely dismiss a good old wives’ tale.

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