Governor Sonny Perdue is in Washington today pleading with Congress to fund Georgia’s health insurance program for poor children. Perdue told lawmakers that Georgia can hold out for only a few months under a plan he announced yesterday. That measure would temporarily reallocate state Medicaid dollars to continue PeachCare coverage for some quarter million children. Perdue has characterized the move as a loan to the federal government. Democratic leaders in Congress recently pledged to provide 750 million dollars to Georgia and 13 other states facing shortfalls for similar programs. But since appropriating that money is tacked onto an Iraq war bill … Mr. Perdue said he is concerned that funding PeachCare will be delayed by the rhetoric of war.
At the state capitol -- a House committee is set to consider a plan to limit fines from so-called “red light cameras.” The bill would mean Georgia cities and counties could charge no more than $35 dollars to violators photographed running red lights. Right now the fine is $70 dollars. Police officers, public safety groups, and pedestrian organizations say reducing the fines would mean more traffic accidents. The bill's sponsors argue that the fine has become another form of a tax that's sometimes abused by governments as a new stream of revenue.
State Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin says he doesn’t have the authority to tell Georgia animal shelters how to euthanize stray animals. Irvin and the state Department of Agriculture face lawsuits over alleged illegal gassing of animals. Irvin told the Associated Press today that although he is responsible for regulating animal shelters, he cannot stop someone from euthanizing an animal in the manner they choose.
The Founder of Habitat for Humanity is launching a new home-building project in Georgia. Millard Fuller’s Chattahoochee Fuller Center Project will build more than 500 homes in western Georgia and eastern Alabama. The targeted towns are Lanett and Valley, Alabama and West Point, Georgia. The goal is to combat poverty in the region which has declined for decades because of closing textile mills.
Two more men are under arrest in connection with the disappearance of a six-year-old Glynn County boy. Police also say they are frustrated by what appear to be another man’s false confession about missing Christopher Michael Barrios. The two men face charges of lying to investigators. Barrios went missing last Thursday from a mobile home park near Brunswick.
A small earthquake shook parts of east Georgia late last night. Some people in Columbia County reportedly heard a loud boom and felt vibrations after 11 o’clock. The quake registered only a 1.8 on the Richter scale. There are many prehistoric earthquake faults in the Augusta-area that on occasion stir ‘seismic activity’.
Three people connected to the Tour de Georgia are recovering after a car accident. The Rome News Tribune reports the tour’s Public Relations Director Jackie Tyson flipped his car on Interstate 75 yesterday afternoon. Also in the car, the Georgia Cancer Coalition’s Judy Stanton and Australian pro-cyclist Nathan O’Neal. Tyson is said to be resting after having had surgery. No word on the other’s conditions.
