Hear Georgia NOW

Category: Featured

  • Atlanta ovarian cancer support group helps women find hope and community

    Atlanta ovarian cancer support group helps women find hope and community

    Atlanta ovarian cancer support group helps women find hope and community

    An Atlanta support group for women with ovarian cancer has helped women find community across the country.

    Kim Airhart was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2020, and she said she was blindsided.

    “I went and had a couple different opinions with some different doctors and finally was able to discover the fact that I had, in fact, almost a stage 4 diagnosis,” Airhart said. “It was all over my abdomen, my spleen, my liver.”

    After finishing treatment, she decided to start Harts of Teal to raise awareness and offer support and resources to people facing similar struggles.

    “I felt like the Lord was just placing it on my heart for me to start to try to give back,” she said.

    Sandra Griffin participates in the support group, and she was diagnosed in 2020. She said she encountered Harts of Teal at the group’s annual color run, and the experience changed her life.

    “I tell people sometimes that I would never choose to have cancer, but I have received so many blessings as a result of it,” Griffin said. “Harts of Teal is one of the very biggest ones because it’s people, people like me.”

    The organization will hold its annual Enduring Hope Color Run on June 6 in Fayetteville.

  • Georgia primary results set up high-stakes runoffs for governor, Senate

    Georgia primary results set up high-stakes runoffs for governor, Senate

    Georgia primary results set up high-stakes runoffs for governor, Senate

    The election results are in from the May primary and general elections, and several candidates will face off in a June runoff election.

    In the races for governor and U.S. Senate, both Republican primaries resulted in a runoff while Democrats secured their spot on the ticket.

    Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic primary for governor with 56% of the vote.

    Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Rick Jackson received the most votes in the governor’s race with Jones receiving 38% and Jackson receiving 33% of the vote.

    Ben Taylor, an Atlanta News First political analyst, said he could not think of a time in Georgia political history when a candidate like Rick Jackson made such headway in an election.

    “It is quite unprecedented, and the key thing to remember is that not only are we heading to a runoff in the governor’s race but very likely in the Senate race as well,” he said.

    U.S. Rep. Mike Collins received the most votes in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate with 41% of the vote, and Derek Dooley came in second with 30% of the vote. Sen. Jon Ossoff ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

    Taylor said Ossoff is a prolific fundraiser and now has more time to win votes.

    “He’s going to be able to work with the Georgia Democratic Party to sort of organize a statewide campaign, get out the vote efforts, things like that, and that’s the kind of thing you can do when you’re not running in a runoff and you’re not having these interesting fights with each other,” he said.

    Ossoff and Bottoms can now work together to garner support while Republicans battle it out in the runoff, he said.

    The runoff will take place on June 16, and early voting will run from June 8-12.

    Other Primary Races

    U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson and Nikema Williams won their Democratic primaries, and U.S. Reps. Rick Allen, Andrew Clyde and Clay Fuller also won their Republican primaries.

    State Rep. Jasmine Clark won the Democratic primary for Georgia’s 13th District.

    The ticket for attorney general was also decided with Democrat state Rep. Tanya Miller facing state Sen. Brian Strickland in the November general election.

    Both Democrats and Republicans will need to have runoffs for the Georgia Secretary of State seat and the lieutenant governor seat before those races are decided.

    It looks like Fitz Johnson narrowly defeated Brandon Martin on the Republican ticket for District 3 of the Public Service Commission with 50.19% of the vote. This means Johnson will once again face Peter Hubbard in the general election.

    Nonpartisan Races

    Georgia Supreme Court justices Sarah Hawkins Warren and Charlie Bethel kept their seats defeating challengers Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin. Bethel narrowly defeated Rankin with 51% of the vote.

  • Judge reverses order allowing GOP observers in Georgia election “bunker”

    Judge reverses order allowing GOP observers in Georgia election “bunker”

    Judge reverses order allowing GOP observers in Georgia election “bunker”

    A judge has voided a previous decision, which would have allowed Republican congressional observers into the room where Georgia’s vote totals are received on election night.

    Georgia Republicans escalated a dispute on Monday with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, also a Republican who is running for governor. The group filed a lawsuit insisting State Election Board observers and poll watchers be allowed in the state’s Election Night Reporting Room, also known as “the bunker.”

    Although Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville originally granted the temporary suspending order Tuesday morning, he reversed the decision hours later. The reason he gave was that the petitioners did not comply with Georgia law when seeking the injunction.

    State Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, who is running for lieutenant governor, U.S. House candidate Christopher Mora and Cobb County District 1 Commissioner Keli Gambrill filed the lawsuit, claiming that the order was necessary for transparency.

    Raffensperger pushed back against the claims and defended Georgia’s election process.

    “For a guy who constantly lectures everyone about election integrity, you’d think Senator Dolezal would know that votes are not counted in the Secretary of State’s Emergency Operations Center,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “The real fight to safeguard the ballot box happens at the local level — inside county election offices and tabulation centers across Georgia.

    “But facts clearly aren’t getting in the way of Dolezal’s desperate search for press attention and votes. So buckle up, Greg. This isn’t my first rodeo.”

  • Georgia advocates push youth-focused solutions to homelessness crisis

    Georgia advocates push youth-focused solutions to homelessness crisis

    Georgia advocates push youth-focused solutions to homelessness crisis

    Georgia advocates are fighting for a unique response to homelessness among young adults due to their situation being different than older adults.

    Advocates and service providers shared strategies for helping young people experiencing homelessness at the Atlanta Thrive Summit held earlier this month.

    Bidemi Animashaun is the youth project manager at Partners for HOME, which oversees part of Atlanta’s homeless response system. She said she experienced homelessness twice in her early 20s while in college.

    “I was having this issue where I was unhoused and essentially my institution and the systems that were supposed to catch me failed me,” Animashaun said. “So I could only imagine what was also happening to other young people who weren’t in school. How were they navigating that situation?”

    Her experience encouraged her to pursue a political science degree, and she now leads the Atlanta Youth Action Board to produce an annual resource guide for unhoused youth. She said solutions need to be tailored to young people’s needs.

    Around 50% of young people aging out of foster care will experience homelessness within six months, according to Covenant House Georgia.

    Amanda Jaquez is a senior associate with the Atlanta Civic Site of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. She said housing is the place to start.

    “Housing is foundational,” Jaquez said. “If you don’t have safe, stable housing, you’re not gonna achieve any of your other educational, financial stability, or health goals.”

    Young adults face unique barriers and need help navigating complex systems, she said.

    The Georgia Department of Community Affairs website has resources for unhoused people and links to organizations that can help.

  • Voting Rights ruling sparks new generation of civil rights activists

    Voting Rights ruling sparks new generation of civil rights activists

    Voting Rights ruling sparks new generation of civil rights activists

    The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act has sparked a new generation of advocates fighting to protect voter access.

    Immediately following the decision, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock called the ruling a slap in the face.

    “Make no mistake, this ruling harkens back to the darkest days of the Jim Crow era when Black Americans were kept out of rooms of power,” he said.

    Now, a group of civil rights leaders and activists are organizing around a single mantra: Same fight. New generation.

    “We have to respond as quickly as possible,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson told CBS News Atlanta. “The real question,” Johnson told The Associated Press, “is how do we as a country really address the effort to shrink us backwards into a 1950s reality?”

    Several groups gathered in Alabama over the weekend for a rally and tribute to the Civil Rights Movement in response to the Supreme Court ruling. The ultimate goal is to protect diverse political representation by winning more elections and influencing policy fights.

    Although organizers acknowledged the challenge of engaging voters on issues such as redistricting and gerrymandering, they also said the recent decision has increased engagement.

    Johnson said that an organizing call in Mississippi had around 8,000 participants last week, and state Capitols have been filled with citizens advocating for voting rights.

  • Truck safety advocates renew calls for rules after Collins probe

    Truck safety advocates renew calls for rules after Collins probe

    Truck safety advocates renew calls for rules after Collins probe

    A ProPublica investigation into U.S. Rep. Mike Collins’ trucking business safety record sparked a renewal of safety advocates calling for stronger trucking regulations.

    The investigation found that crashes involving truckers that worked for the company have killed five people and injured more than 50 others over the past 25 years. It also found that the company has a higher rate of unsafe driving and speeding violations per mile than the majority of trucking companies with substantial miles.

    While Collins, a candidate for U.S. Senate, has focused on revoking commercial driver’s licenses for people who are not citizens, Zach Cahalan, the executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition, said the focus should be on proven safety technology.

    “One being speed kills. We know 20% of fatal crashes occur at speeds 70-plus miles an hour,” he said. “The technology to limit the maximum speed of large trucks has been available for 20-plus years, off the lot and not required to be used.”

    Speed-limiting technology has long been required in Europe, Cahalan said, but Collins has opposed federal rules requiring speed limiters on trucks.

    Cahalan said automatic emergency braking would be another proven technology to help limit fatalities.

    “That technology is a game changer. It is poised to do the greatest good, to cut in half, roughly, the number of fatalities that occur when a large truck strikes the rear of a passenger vehicle,” he said.

    However, Collins has claimed that the technology is expensive and doesn’t work very well. A proposed mandate for the technology has been delayed by the Trump administration.

  • Georgia sees record early voting turnout ahead of primary Election Day

    Georgia sees record early voting turnout ahead of primary Election Day

    Georgia sees record early voting turnout ahead of primary Election Day

    Election Day for the primaries and nonpartisan races is tomorrow, and Georgia voters have already turned out in force during early voting.

    Georgia voters broke the record for early voting turnout in a primary election. Nearly 1 million people turned out to vote before polls closed Friday compared to about 857,000 in 2022.

    More Democrats have cast their ballots than Republicans so far with about 580,000 voters requesting Democratic ballots compared to 430,000 Republican ballots. In 2022, more Republicans had cast their ballots by the end of early voting.

    Candidates are making their last pitch to voters ahead of Election Day. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is running for governor on the Democratic ticket, told people in Macon that the state needs a strong leader.

    “The challenges that we are facing in this state are not challenges that I have ever experienced in my lifetime,” she said.

    Derek Dooley, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, spoke in Sandy Springs explaining the reason he is running for the seat.

    “It’s gonna take a new leadership to go up there for the right reasons and that’s why I’m doing it,” he said.

    The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, and voters must cast their ballots at their assigned polling place. Voters can find their precinct on their My Voter Page at mvp.sos.ga.gov. 

  • Kemp extends Georgia gas tax suspension through Memorial Day weekend

    Kemp extends Georgia gas tax suspension through Memorial Day weekend

    Kemp extends Georgia gas tax suspension through Memorial Day weekend

    Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order Friday to extend the gas tax suspension for another two weeks.

    The suspension will run from May 20 until June 3 saving Georgians 33.3 cents per gallon of gasoline and 37.3 cents per gallon of diesel.

    “As Georgia families prepare for the Memorial Day travel weekend, they should not feel blindsided by prices at the gas pump,” Kemp said in a news release. “Along with our partners in the legislature, we’ve remained committed to giving hardworking Georgians relief wherever able, and this action is another fulfillment of that promise.”

    AAA reports that the average cost of a gallon of regular gas in Georgia is around $4, and more than 39 million Americans plan to travel by car this Memorial Day weekend. The national average for gas is around $4.50 per gallon.

    Driver Gary Lowe told Fox 5 Atlanta that the suspension on the gas tax helps, but it’s not enough.

    “We pay less than most of the U.S. here in Georgia, but, you know, obviously, this is not where you want the gas prices to be higher. We like to see them much lower,” he said.

    Lowe said he believes gas prices will go back down once the war in Iran ends.

  • Kemp signs bill making some Metro Atlanta offices nonpartisan

    Kemp signs bill making some Metro Atlanta offices nonpartisan

    Kemp signs bill making some Metro Atlanta offices nonpartisan

    Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill this week that would make some elected offices nonpartisan in Metro Atlanta counties.

    House Bill 369 was reengineered to change elected offices in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties to be nonpartisan. This means when voters go to the polls starting in 2028, candidates for district attorney, county commissions, and other elected offices will not have Democrat or Republican by their names.

    Calls from both sides of the aisle requested that Kemp veto the bill saying that it would make elections more confusing for voters.

    Emory University political science professor Zachary Peskowitz said many voters cast their ballots for a specific party.

    “Those parties are important in structuring political competition. They provide a lot of information to voters about what candidates stand for, particularly in these local, county elections, where there’s not a lot of media coverage. Voters aren’t always super knowledgeable about the particular candidate’s experience and qualifications and issue positions and the like,” Peskowitz said.

    Mary-Pat Hector, a DeKalb County voter and the CEO of the nonprofit RISE, said the law would have included all Georgia counties if the creators believed it was good policy.

    “These are counties that have historically been democratic. These are counties that are predominantly African American. And this contributes to a more concerted effort to suppress black voters,” she said.

  • Kemp calls special session on Georgia maps, ballot deadline fix

    Kemp calls special session on Georgia maps, ballot deadline fix

    Kemp calls special session on Georgia maps, ballot deadline fix

    Gov. Brian Kemp signed a proclamation Wednesday calling the state legislature in for a special session to consider redrawing the state’s political maps and finding a solution to a looming election deadline.

    The Georgia General Assembly will reconvene on June 17, the day after the runoff elections for the May primaries. The session will focus on redrawing district maps after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act.

    Any maps redrawn during the special session will not take effect until the 2028 election cycle.

    Republicans have praised the decision while Democrats issue warnings about discrimination.

    Josh McKoon, Georgia Republican Party Chairman, told Fox 5 that the maps need to change.

    “The Supreme Court decision is clear,” he said. “That we can’t have these racially gerrymandered maps anymore. They’re illegal.”

    State Sen. Nikki Merritt, chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, said at a news conference Thursday that the decision is an attempt to silence Black voters.

    “This is an attack on metro Atlanta; this is an attack on Black political power,” she said. “This is an attack on the growing coalition of voters reshaping Georgia’s future.”

    State Sen. Harold Jones II, the Minority Leader in the Senate, told Fox 5 the decision is a direct attack on minority communities.

    “We are now in a fight that we thought was over, we thought was fought in the 50s and 60s, and that’s our fight,” he said.

    Before the Supreme Court decision, a special session was likely to be called to address a July 1 deadline that requires the elimination of QR codes on Georgia ballots. Because the state legislature did not address the issue during the 2026 legislative session, election officials have no guidance as to how to comply with the 2024 law.