ATLANTA – Georgia should consider getting rid of the state’s high fee on electric vehicle registrations in favor of an alternative that doesn’t discourage motorists from buying EVs, an auto industry lobbyist said Monday. The General Assembly imposed an annual fee of $200 on non-commercial EVs and a $300 fee on commercial EVs in 2015 to help pay for a landmark $900 million transportation funding bill. At the same time, the state did away with a $5,000 tax credit for EV purchasers.

ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp extended the temporary suspension of the state’s gasoline tax Monday, a reprieve the state can afford due to a bulging budget surplus. The latest extension runs through Nov. 11. The governor also extended a state of emergency for the supply chain he first ordered back in April.

ATLANTA – Democrats and Republicans don’t agree about much in election season. But Georgia’s congressional delegation joined forces Friday to push for a new mission for Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Cobb County. All 16 Georgians in the U.S. House and Senate – eight Republicans and six Democrats – signed a letter urging Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to make Dobbins the future site of upgraded C-130J aircraft.

MONROE, Ga. (AP) — A groom’s car wreck on the way to his wedding didn’t disrupt the ceremony, thanks to a Georgia sheriff’s deputy who offered him a ride.

ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia awarded an all-time high 74,446 degrees during the last fiscal year, up 2.1% over fiscal 2021. “By preparing students for good jobs and helping create the jobs of the future, Georgia’s public colleges and universities are a great value for students and a major contributor to our state’s economy,” system Chancellor Sonny Perdue said Tuesday.

ATLANTA – For the fifth year in a row, Georgia public school students outperformed their peers across the country on the SAT. Georgia’s class of 2022 recorded a mean score of 1052, 24 points higher than the 1028 national score but lower compared to the previous year, when Georgia students posted a mean score of 1077.

ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp has declared a state of emergency in all 159 Georgia counties in anticipation of Hurricane Ian, currently a Category 3 hurricane expected to hit the state on Friday. The state of emergency will take effect at 7 a.m. Thursday in preparation for expected high winds and rainfall over the state as the hurricane moves north.

ATLANTA (AP) — State regulators begin hearings Tuesday on Georgia Power Co.’s request to raise rates by 12% over the next three years. The hearings are likely to see clashes over how much profit the utility should earn and how much solar panel owners should be paid. The five members of the Public Service Commission are scheduled to decide in December on the company’s request for a cumulative $2.8 billion more beginning in January.

ATLANTA – Representatives of water supply systems in Gwinnett, Forsyth, and Hall counties finalized an agreement with the state Monday guaranteeing them water from Lake Lanier through 2050. The long-term deal, first announced last month, closes the chapter on a major portion of the tri-state “water wars” between Georgia, Florida, and Alabama going back to the 1990s.

ATLANTA – Georgia emergency management officials activated the State Operations Center Monday in anticipation of Hurricane Ian, which is expected to reach Florida’s Gulf Coast later this week before potentially moving into Georgia.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia ran a surplus of more than $6 billion in the budget year ended June 30. That means the state’s next governor and lawmakers could spend or give back billions more than this year. The State Accounting Office says Georgia had all that extra money even after spending $28.6 billion in the 2022 budget year. Total state general fund receipts rose a whopping 22%.

ATLANTA – After Gov. Brian Kemp suspended then-state Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck in 2019 following Beck’s indictment for fraud and money laundering, he continued collecting his annual taxpayer-funded salary of $195,000. That situation would be avoided in the future if Georgia voters approve a constitutional amendment on the November ballot prohibiting statewide elected officials and members of the General Assembly from being paid after they have been indicted for a felony and suspended from office.

ATLANTA – A state Senate study committee focusing on veterans nursing homes in Georgia met Thursday to hear about problems Georgia veterans face and what the state can do to help.  Though most veterans' health-care services are spearheaded by the federal government’s Department of Veterans Affairs, states also have an important role to play in helping veterans apply for and manage their benefits.  

ATLANTA – Representatives of state and local law enforcement agencies urged Georgia lawmakers Thursday to raise salaries and benefits to help them surmount the difficulties of recruiting and …

ST. MARYS, Ga. (AP) — A metal boat gangway collapsed on a coastal Georgia dock, injuring 17 people, including six who were sent to local hospitals. A group of Navy veterans was boarding a cruise on Tuesday in St. Marys, Ga., when the gangway collapsed with a loud noise. Those waiting were Navy veterans and relatives having a reunion of crew members of the submarine USS Angler.

MACON, Ga. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say four former correctional officers at a Georgia prison have been sentenced for their roles in the beating of a handcuffed inmate and the subsequent cover-up. The U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday that U.S. District Judge Hugh Lawson sentenced Sgt. Patrick Sharpe to four years in prison; Lt. Geary Staten to a year and two months behind bars and Deputy Correctional Officers Brian Ford and Jamal Scott each to a year and a day.

ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday the award of $30 million in COVID relief funds to organizations working to address housing insecurity in Georgia. The funds will be distributed among eight organizations. 

ATLANTA – The Federal Highway Administration has approved Georgia’s plan for rolling out a network of electric vehicle charging stations, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) …

MACON, Ga. (AP) — When Tracie Revis climbs the Great Temple Mound, rising nine stories above the Ocmulgee River in the center of present-day Georgia, she walks in the steps of her Muscogean ancestors who were forcibly removed to Oklahoma 200 years ago.

SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) — A Georgia woman was fatally injured Monday in a 30-foot fall from a cliff when a fence broke, Scarborough Police said.

The federal government has approved plans from 34 states, Georgia among them, and Puerto Rico that detail how those locations will roll out their part of an ambitious national electric vehicle charging network.

ATLANTA – The state will funnel $130 million in federal COVID relief funds to Grady Memorial Hospital to help offset the impact of the looming closure of Wellstar’s Atlanta Medical Center, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday.

ATLANTA – While Georgia’s unemployment rate remained at 2.8% last month, the number of jobs hit another record high in August, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday. Job numbers increased 15,800 from July to August to more than 4.82 million. The largest gains came in the educational services sector, which added 3,200 jobs; and professional, scientific and technical services, a sector that grew by 3,000 jobs.

ATLANTA – The Georgia Foundation for Public Education announced the awarding of $10,000 grants Wednesday to seven rural schools and school districts.  The latest awards – which will fund projects ranging from virtual reality programming to building a pollinator garden for bees – show that schools across the state aim to deliver unique experiences, often outside of the traditional classroom, to help students learn. 

ATLANTA – Both COVID and monkeypox rates are starting to decline in Georgia, the state’s chief science officer said Tuesday during an update to the state Board of Public Health. “Last week, we saw a 38% decline in [COVID] cases in Georgia,” said Dr. Cherie Drenzek, epidemiologist and chief science officer for the state Department of Public Health.