www.thecentersquare.com – By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-05-16 13:42:00
A Georgia House study committee will revisit the issue of legalizing gaming, following strong public support in a May 2024 primary ballot where over 81% voted “yes” on a referendum to allow voters to decide. Rep. Marcus Wiedower introduced a bill for legalized sports betting in 2026, but it faced opposition and didn’t pass. Critics, including the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, warned of negative societal impacts like addiction and bankruptcy. The new committee, chaired by Wiedower, will evaluate the economic benefits and potential societal harms of legalizing gaming in Georgia .
(The Center Square) — A Georgia House study committee will take another look at legalizing gaming.
Lawmakers have batted around the idea for several years. Republicans asked on the May 2024 primary ballot if voters would support a referendum letting the voters decide whether or not to legalize gaming and more than 81% said “yes.”
Rep. Marcus Wiedower, R-Watkinsville, introduced a measure during this year’s session of the General Assembly that would have put legalized sports betting before voters in November 2026 but it never made it off the House floor. The bill would not have approved casinos or other brick-and-mortar gambling.
The resolution had steep opposition, including the Georgia Baptist Mission Board and the Georgia Faith and Freedom Coalition.
“Study after study shows the numerous problematic outcomes of this–reduced on the job productivity, bankruptcy, divorce, suicide attempts, you know the list,” Mack Parnell, executive director of the Georgia Faith and Freedom Coalition, told the House Higher Education Committee during the session. “In the legislation, there’s mitigation efforts, which leads me to wonder that if in the legislation where you are legalizing something, you to have mitigation efforts, why would you be endorsing that.”
Sports betting is legal in 39 states and the District of Columbia, according to the American Gaming Association. Tennessee and Florida allow sports betting.
Wiedower will chair the study committee that will explore how gaming would contribute to the economy and workforce when weighed “against what social and societal ills may come to Georgia if gaming is approved by the citizens of this state,” according to House Speaker Jon Burns.
The committee on gaming is one of 16 study committees approved by Burns. Rep. Tim Fleming, R-Covington, will chair the Blue Ribbon Committee on Election Procedure which will study Georgia’s election laws and boards. The Peach State has been at the center of election controversy since the 2020 election which former President Joe Biden won in Georgia.
Biden’s Georgia win was one of the key arguments used by President Donald Trump and his supporters to claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Trump and several others are facing charges in Fulton County over allegations they tried to interfere with the election.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents a factual overview of the ongoing discussion in Georgia regarding the legalization of gaming, including legislative efforts, public opinion polling, and viewpoints from both supporters and opponents. It reports on the positions of different stakeholders—such as Republican lawmakers advocating for a referendum, religious groups opposing it, and statistics about sports betting legality—without using emotionally charged language or explicitly endorsing any side. The mention of election controversies and legal challenges related to the 2020 presidential election is presented as background information pertinent to the broader political context, again without editorializing. Overall, the tone and content aim at neutral, informational reporting rather than promoting a particular political ideology or agenda.
www.youtube.com – FOX 5 Atlanta – 2025-06-21 11:17:53
SUMMARY: Multiple headlines highlight dramatic events across the U.S. In Utah, a festival shootout killed three, including an eight-month-old baby. Oregon deputies rescued a lost three-year-old girl in the forest. Louisiana police released video showing six crashes at one intersection over three months. In Texas, escaped animals Poncho the pony and Seabiscuit the donkey were found roaming streets. Wisconsin deputies reunited a six-year-old girl running into traffic with her mother. Washington officers used a lasso to arrest a chainsaw-wielding suspect. Pennsylvania police broke up an illegal car rally that turned into a fireworks display. SpaceX’s Starship suffered a major test explosion, with no injuries reported.
A nationwide roundup of bizarre and dramatic moments: a deadly festival shootout in Utah claims the life of an 8-month-old, a toddler is rescued from an Oregon forest, and Louisiana police release shocking crash footage from a single intersection. Meanwhile, a fake flight attendant scams 120 free flights, a dog stares down a bear in a California home, and Washington deputies lasso a chainsaw-wielding suspect in a lake.
FOX 5 Atlanta delivers breaking news, live events, investigations, politics, entertainment, business news and local stories from metro Atlanta, north Georgia and across the nation.
www.youtube.com – FOX 5 Atlanta – 2025-06-20 21:05:18
SUMMARY: Eagle Scout Harris Hill from Whitewater High School built a drone obstacle course for the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office as his Eagle Scout project. Designed based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology model, the course helps deputies improve their drone piloting and camera skills. Drones have become vital tools for law enforcement in tasks like accident investigations, finding missing persons, and tracking suspects. The new course aids deputies as they navigate the learning curve of drone operation. Harris, a high school junior aspiring to be a naval aviator, enjoys supporting law enforcement and has impressed Sheriff Barry Babb with his contribution.
Drones have become an important tool for law enforcement these days. An Eagle Scout in Fayette County is helping deputies improve their piloting skills by building them an obstacle course to train on.
FOX 5 Atlanta delivers breaking news, live events, investigations, politics, entertainment, business news and local stories from metro Atlanta, north Georgia and across the nation.
The Trump administration violated the law by restoring firearm and explosives purchase rights to 10 convicted individuals, including Mel Gibson, according to six senior congressional Democrats. They argue the Justice Department’s move to shift authority from the ATF to the attorney general breaches separation of powers and longstanding budget provisions barring the ATF from restoring gun rights to felons. Congress has consistently prioritized crime investigation over reinstating firearm rights to serious offenders due to risks, especially concerning domestic violence. Citing a 1980s study showing dangerous criminals regaining gun rights and subsequent re-arrests, Democrats urge DOJ to revoke the rule and restore bans on these 10 individuals.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s decision to restore 10 convicts’ ability to legally purchase firearms and explosives violated the law, according to a letter six high-ranking congressional Democrats released Friday.
The Justice Department publication of an interim final rule moving the authority to restore some convicts’ gun rights from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to the attorney general also violated the separation of powers and a decades-old provision in the department’s annual funding bill, according to the 12-page letter.
The Democrats wrote that while Congress did delegate the authority to “oversee restoration of federal firearm privileges applications” to the ATF several decades ago, lawmakers have included language in nearly every government funding bill since 1993 barring the ATF from spending any money to process those applications.
The prohibition followed then-President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, trying to move the authority from the ATF to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“Given the pervasiveness of gun violence in our nation, this Administration should not be circumventing Congress’ authority to prioritize restoring firearm privileges to individuals convicted of serious or violent crimes,” the Democrats wrote.
The letter was signed by House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.; Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash.; House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md.; Senate Judiciary ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee ranking member Grace Meng, D-N.Y.; and Senate Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee ranking member Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment from States Newsroom.
Mel Gibson case
The DOJ under President Donald Trump has so far restored 10 individuals’ ability to legally purchase firearms, including the actor Mel Gibson, who “pleaded no contest to a charge of domestic violence” in 2011, according to Reuters.
Federal law bars several types of people from legally buying firearms, including anyone sentenced to more than one year in prison, which typically coincides with felonies, and those who commit domestic violence.
The six Democrats wrote that the “intersection between firearms and domestic violence remains a key concern, demonstrating the need to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.
“Research has shown that the presence of firearms significantly increases the risk of death or serious injury for victims of domestic or dating violence. The Supreme Court has recognized that the danger of a domestic abuser with a gun serves as a limitation on the Second Amendment.”
The Democrats wrote that for decades Congress has prevented the ATF from restoring prohibited people’s ability to legally purchase firearms. The annual DOJ appropriations bill also bars moving the ability to approve those applications away from ATF to any other federal agency.
“The concerns that originally led to these provisions — recidivist crime, limited investigative resources, and difficulty in assessing applicants — remain unchanged,” they wrote. “Congress made an explicit policy choice to prioritize investigating crime, rather than to waste funds on evaluating whether to restore firearm rights to previously convicted felons.”
Study cited
The letter says a study from the Violence Policy Center that looked at restorations during the late 1980s is one of many reasons Congress prohibited the ATF from restoring some felons’ ability to legally purchase firearms.
The study, which reviewed 100 ATF case files obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, showed the federal government had restored the ability of “terrorists, murderers, rapists, drug dealers, gun traffickers, and child molesters” to legally purchase firearms and explosives.
“The FOIA-obtained records also showed that of those granted relief between 1985 and 1989, 47 individuals were later re-arrested for serious offenses such as attempted murder, first-degree sexual assault, kidnapping, child molestation, illegal possession of a machine gun, trafficking in cocaine, LSD, and PCP, and illegal firearms possession or carrying,” they wrote.
The letter ends with Democrats calling on the DOJ to withdraw the interim final rule and “vacate the wrongfully granted restoration of federal firearms privileges to the 10 individuals.”
Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jill Nolin for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
This article reflects a Center-Left perspective by highlighting concerns raised by Democratic lawmakers regarding the Trump administration’s policy on restoring gun rights to certain convicted individuals. The framing emphasizes legal and safety risks, particularly related to domestic violence and recidivism, aligning with a viewpoint that favors stricter gun control measures. While the article reports statements and evidence from Democrats, it refrains from overt partisan language or broad ideological attacks, focusing instead on legislative and public safety arguments. This results in a critique that leans left-of-center without being overtly partisan or ideological.
