In the hustle of daily life, it’s often difficult to sit down and read or watch the news. The news is often dark and negative, but it’s still a fundamental part of our everyday lives. Here are some important news stories from the past week that you might have missed.
Georgia State Parking v Student Government update:
After a tense week of back and forth, the University department and the Student Government on the Atlanta campus finally reach another agreement, but students aren’t so ecstatic.
“Isn’t that what they said last time, SGA says one thing, and they do another,” Alex Smith, a Political Science major, said. “SGA does this every year, [and] it seems like it’s all pretty words with no action behind it.”
SGA will announce plan details at their biweekly Atlanta Senate meeting on Thursday, October 14th, at 7:15 pm.
Capital Police Whistleblower:
Many Americans were horrified by the January 6th insurrection. On that day, many asked themselves, where is the national guard?
A high-ranking Capitol Police official anonymously pointed the finger at Capital Police leadership in a 16-page letter to congress. The letter claims that two assistant chiefs did not share vital intelligence with other leadership members and did not act as the violence increasingly got out of hand.
Navy engineer charged with attempting to sell military secrets:
The United States accused Jonathan Toebbe of trying to sell information about the design of United States nuclear-powered submarines. He tried to give these secrets to a suspected foreign agent who was an undercover FBI agent.
The government further accuses him of selling this information for at least a year to a foreign power. However, the nation’s name was not listed in the court filings.
Local Elections are heating up in Georgia:
As November quickly approaches, local elections are ramping up, here are just some from Atlanta.
Atlanta Public Schools – School Board – 9 Open Seats – November 2
City of Atlanta – Mayor, City Council and Municipal Court Judge – November 2
Fulton County – ESPLOST – Local Ballot Measure – November 2
You can determine your voter status and make changes to your Georgia voter registration at https://www.mvp.sos.ga.gov/MVP/mvp.do.
Atlanta Mayoral Debate – Fights over crime and corruption:
The top five candidates for Mayor of the City of Atlanta met on Sunday for a debate hosted by WSB-TV and the Atlanta Police Foundation. The critical points of the discussion were public safety and corruption, which aimed at some of the contender’s records.
Former Mayor Kasim Reed vowed to repair the relationship between Atlanta Police and City Hall. Reed also stressed that due process would be apparent should an officer be involved in a situation. He also promised a $200 million budget boost to cover overtime work.
Felicia Moore wasn’t far behind in her approach to the sky-rocking crime rates; the current City Council president said she would hire more officers and create a communication line between City Hall and the Police Department.
The current Councilperson explained a more community-based system explaining his plan to handle generation poverty. They said in an interview, “We need to restructure our public safety system…. We can’t arrest ourselves out of this problem.” Students here at Georgia State resonated with that message.
“That is the key issue most of the candidates are forgetting about, crime has gone up the past year or two, and nobody is asking why, only how to fix it,” Criminal Justice major Carmela Jones said. “Crime is going up, for multiple reasons, the big one being that people are out of work and can’t feed themselves or their family. And companies aren’t paying enough for rent and food.”
COVI-19 prevention pills headed to the FDA:
The FDA was asked on Monday by Merck, a New Jersey-based drugmaker, to approve its COVID-19 treatment pill. If approved, it would only be weeks before the pills would hit the market.
The drug would mark the first non-injection COVID-19 vaccine option. These pills would those who have not gotten the vaccine another treatment option. However, this option would only be available if approved by the FDA.
College Football gets shaken up this week:
This week reminded sports fans just how crazy college football can bring. The Bulldogs are ranked as the number one team in the country for the first time since 2008.
The last time UGA ranked number one during the regular season was 1982, almost 45 years ago.
Both the USA Today coaches poll and the AP Sports media poll place the team in the top spot after Alabama lost to Texas A&M. Georgia is rolling at 6-0 after their 34-10 smackdown against Auburn on Saturday.
Speaking of smackdowns, the Georgia State Panthers laid one on ULM in their 55-21 win. This victory marks the first win of the season and the most points in the program’s history.
The last time was during the team’s first season in 2010 against Savannah State. The team is on bye-week as they prepare for the Homecoming game against Texas State on October 23rd.
