Depending on where they live, the ability of Sabbath-observant Jews in Georgia to cast their ballots on Sundays during early, in-person voting may be imperiled by legislation now before the General Assembly.
In the aftermath of the 2020 general election, the Republican-controlled state House and Senate are considering measures that would limit absentee voting, restrict the use of ballot drop boxes, alter the days and hours of voting, and change other regulations.
One provision of a bill passed 97–72 by the House on Monday would require counties to offer two days of early voting on weekends, but counties would have…
One week from today, another million or so Georgians will become eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, even as demand for vaccinations continues to outstrip the supply of vaccine.
Gov. Brian Kemp announced last Thursday that — effective March 8 — the top priority group would expand to include teachers and staff in public and private K-12 schools as well as in pre-K programs and day care centers; adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their caregivers; and parents of children with complex medical conditions.
Kemp called this action “another step to protect the most vulnerable and get Georgia back…
Can we put Georgia on pause?
In all the years that I helped manage national news coverage for an Atlanta-based cable network, Georgia never warranted the sustained attention it has received the past year or so.
State Rep. Josh McLaurin recently pleaded on Twitter: “Georgia respectfully requests a brief timeout from national attention. A few minutes will do fine.”
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In truth, a few minutes won’t cut it, not by a long shot. It’s exhausting just looking back.
Start on Jan. 21, 2020, when the Atlanta-based…
The Davis Academy is coping with a COVID-19 outbreak that has sidelined roughly 20 percent of its faculty and forced changes in which grades of the K-8 school will stay home for distance learning and which will hold classes on-campus.
The language in communications from school administrators to families during February suggested that some parents have not been truthful in reporting exposure to COVID-19 or in following the school’s protocols to prevent exposure and spread of the virus.
As of today, the Jewish day school reported 14 new COVID-19 cases, 12 among middle school students and one in the lower…
David Schoen provided the most Jewish moment of the second impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump, though at the time he was too engrossed in his task at hand to recognize or appreciate its impact.
The attorney from Atlanta was telling a jury comprised of 100 senators that the House had denied Trump due process in a “rushed” impeachment, that Trump’s remarks to a Jan. 6 rally constituted speech protected under the First Amendment, and that the Constitution did not give the Senate the right to try a president no longer in office.
Several times during his opening…
Few civilians are as revered by the military community as actor Gary Sinise.
Well known from his portrayal of Lieutenant Dan, in the 1994 film “Forrest Gump,” Sinise credits his initial awareness of the psychic and physical trauma experienced in combat to the Vietnam veteran brother of his then-future wife. Though not one himself, Sinise’s efforts on behalf of veterans have earned him plaudits.
Sinise is teaming up with The Home Depot co-founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank — both of whom have made hundreds of millions of dollars in philanthropic donations over the years -to care for veterans and…
I was enjoying a party in a crowded hotel room, where people were sitting on the beds and leaning against the furniture, when I suddenly realized that no one — myself included — was wearing a mask.
I woke with a start. It was just a bad dream.
In the wide-awake world, the hosannas that greeted November’s announcements of COVID-19 vaccines gave way to disenchantment, as gilded pronouncements were tarnished by the logistical challenges of getting vaccine into arms. To borrow from political analyst David Axelrod, trouble results “when the details meet the narrative.”
The day after the House of Representatives acted to punish Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican congresswoman from northwest Georgia’s 14th District disabused any notion that she might change her style.
Greene posted on Twitter Friday morning: “I woke up early this morning literally laughing thinking about what a bunch of morons the Democrats (+11) are for giving some one like me free time. In this Democrat tyrannical government, Conservative Republicans have no say on committees anyway. Oh this is going to be fun!”
The “+11” referred to the Republicans who joined Democrats in the 230–199 vote Feb. 4 that…
Criminal defense attorney David Schoen is preparing for the highest profile case in a 30-plus years career that has seen him defend numerous high-profile clients and others lesser known but no less important.
Beginning Feb. 9, the Atlanta resident and Orthodox Jew will be one of two attorneys representing former President Donald J. Trump in his impeachment trial before the U.S. Senate.
Trump was impeached Jan. 13 by the House on a charge of inciting insurrection, stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob that earlier that day had attended a rally at which Trump spoke.
In its early years, the Jewish community of northwest Georgia felt the winds of political division. As supporters of the Confederacy, residents of Rome watched Union troops under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman put its downtown to the torch.
A noteworthy piece of rebuilding was the founding in 1875 of Rodeph Shalom, in Hebrew “pursuers of peace.” Descendants of its founders are among the Rome congregation’s 15-member families 145 years later.
The flames swirling today were sparked by Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican who represents Rome and Georgia’s 14th District in the U.S. House. Greene, who was elected…
