Archive By Section - State, National

Lawmaker honored for sponsoring bill

Rep. Roger Lane, R-167, who represents Long and McIntosh counties, as well as parts of Glynn and Wayne counties, recently received a 2010 Association County Commissioners of Georgia Legislative Service Award.

Supreme court runoff is Tuesday

Two candidates for Georgia Supreme Court justice suvived through general elections:

Filmaker working this area

SAVANNAH - Tim Arnold enjoys telling stories, though not necessarily about himself.

McIntosh earns preservation recognition

DARIEN - A small coastal Georgia county is getting recognition for preservation efforts that will enable it to earn grants for saving its historic places.

Kingston vying for appropriations gavel

A local politician announced his bid for the chairmanship of the House Congressional committee that controls the nation's purse strings, making him the third Republican to ask for the gavel.

Lawmaker: Area must work to be heard

With elections at the state level over and the top leaders all being from North Georgia, it will a top priority in the coming years to make sure voices in the southern parts of the state are being heard.

Judge weighing air permit for coal plant

ATLANTA - A state judge is considering whether to overturn the air permit that would allow a coal-fired power plant to be build near Sandersville.

Lawmaker wants $1 tax on cigarettes

A local legislator wants to raise the price of a pack of cigarettes in Georgia to help fund health care and draw extra federal funds for the state, but his proposal could go up in smoke.

Kingston sets Medicare Part D workshops

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga. 1st, has announced he will sponsor a series of workshops, including one in Hinesville, during the open enrollment season for the Medicare Part D prescription drug program.

Area lawmaker leader in state Senate

ATLANTA - The Georgia Senate majority announced the unanimous nomination of Sen. Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, for president pro tempore during the Republican caucus elections last Friday. The nomination will go for a vote before the full Senate when the General Assembly convenes Jan. 11. The president pro tempore is the second highest-ranking position in the Senate.

Iraq takes major step toward new government

BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament convened Thursday to vote on key leadership positions in the first step toward forming a new government, after a breakthrough deal that returns Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to office for a second term but falls short of Sunni hopes for greater political power.

Al-Maliki and his top rival Ayad Allawi, who had hoped to take the prime minister's post at the top of a Sunni-backed coalition, sat next to each other in the parliament chamber in an apparent sign of unity after a contentious, eight-month political fight over the formation of the government.

Deal leads sweep of state government

ATLANTA - Former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal led a historic Republican election day sweep, as the GOP claimed all Georgia's statewide seats Tuesday night.

Deal, a former nine-term congressman from Gainesville, soundly defeated former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, who was running to get his old job back after being ousted in 2002.

Georgia's congressional delegation changes

ATLANTA - The Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop conceded defeat Wednesday in their race in Georgia, where Rep. Jim Marshall became the state's only incumbent Democrat ousted from Congress by the GOP.

GOP candidate Mike Keown left a message with Bishop's campaign Wednesday morning after unofficial tallies showed the incumbent Democrat ahead by about 4,500 votes in southwest Georgia's 2nd District, said Andrew O'Shea, Keown's campaign manager.

GOP wins control of House; not Senate

WASHINGTON - Resurgent Republicans won control of the House and cut deeply into the Democrats' majority in the Senate in momentous midterm elections shadowed by recession, ushering in a new era of divided government certain to complicate the final two years of President Barack Obama's term.

House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner, voice breaking with emotion, declared shortly before midnight Tuesday that the results were "a repudiation of Washington, a repudiation of big government and a repudiation of politicians who refuse to listen to the people."

Bryan officiaks hopeful for new WACH clinic

Richmond Hill and Bryan County officials are excited over the pending opening of a new Army-run health clinic in the city.