Insurance Commissioner Returns Money

Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has returned $120,000 that was funneled into his gubernatorial campaign by two insurance firms.

The Republican detailed the returns in a campaign filing submitted late Tuesday night. The move comes after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that the two Georgia insurance companies sent the money into Oxendine's campaign through 10 Alabama-based political action committees. Georgia law forbids public officials from taking money from the companies they regulate.

Oxendine has said in a statement that he had requested an advisory opinion from the state ethics officials days before the newspaper's story ran in May. He had called the story a "hit piece."

Georgia's Preparedness Questioned

Georgia's preparedness to prevent and contain public health threats has been questioned in an examination by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. The paper examined Georgia's public health system by reviewing documents from the state, federal agencies and nonprofit groups. It says the information depicts a system that lacks sufficient money and, at times, basic competencies.

Georgia recently tied for sixth-worst among 56 states and territories when federal officials evaluated readiness for public health emergencies and it ranks 39th among the states in public
health spending per resident. In another troubling ranking, the state's public health laboratory could identify the sources of fewer than four in 10 foodborne illness outbreaks from 2004 to 2006. That was the 35th-lowest rate in the country.

Some Kids Not Immunized In School Year

A new report shows Georgia schools enrolled children who were missing required vaccinations or having no records at all in the 2008-09 school year. Data obtained by the Atlanta Journal Constitution shows across the state, more than 8-thousand kindergartners and 6th graders missed key vaccine doses when audits were done last fall-already a few weeks into the school year. Those vaccines are required under Georgia’s school immunization law. The records show more than 60 schools were not properly immunized.