The Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice has been removed from his post. Avery Niles, who was appointed as Commissioner by then-Governor Nathan Deal in 2012, was removed as head of the agency on Wednesday. According to reports from the agency, Niles submitted a resignation from the post to take effect on September
Better late than never. A U.S. District Judge has ruled that a previous Savannah ordinance requiring tour guides to pass a test and be licensed was unconstitutional. The ruling came down Monday from Judge William T. Moore Jr. despite the fact that the ordinance was reversed by the council in 2015 after the lawsuit was
Georgia’s executive branch has taken meaningful early steps to curb sexual harassment in the workplace, affecting approximately 80,000 government workers and the citizens who interact with them. On Gov. Brian Kemp’s first day in office, he signed an Executive Order that will change the state’s sexual harassment policies. On Wednesday, Gov. Kemp announced he would
In December, the Senate Study Committee released its findings regarding a potential takeover of the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. The Senators supported a state takeover, citing management structural issues with a city managed airport, a federal bribery scandal engulfing Atlanta and a Federal Aviation Authority probe into Atlanta’s misuse of airport funds. Now, those Senators are gearing
Recently, Fox 5 Atlanta’s Dale Russell published an article on City of South Fulton Solicitor LaDawn Jones and her voter registration “incentive.” In it, Russell described how Jones offered defendants in municipal court a reduced fine if they registered to vote or had already voted. From the article: “On her Twitter feed, Ms. Jones linked
With political theater controlling the culture in Washington, it can be nice to know the quieter work of government can still be done. The Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018 passed the Senate on Monday, September 24th, 2018 and heads to the White House. This bill seeks to improve volunteer
Recently, a professor at Emory Law School was accused of using the n-word during class while discussing a case. The school did not fire the professor, but they did order-in some Starbucks-type unconscious bias training. Pressure by students on this issue forced the school to deal with a deeper issue that using the n-word makes
This week’s Courier Herald column: Our judiciary remains one of the least understood branches of government in our republic. For those of us that are non-lawyers it is difficult to follow the politics of a system where some members are appointed, some are elected, and most of their work product is hard to understand. Then,
This week’s Courier Herald column: The surprise retirement announcement from Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has served to remind us once again that there is a third and equal branch of government to the ones that get most of the coverage in political columns such as this. His announcement came as the court ended its
This week’s Courier Herald column: Sunday was Father’s Day, and I spent the morning giving my niece a driving lesson. She’s been doing quite well, and is almost ready for her driver’s test next month – even if her mother and grandmother are not. She’s not terribly interested in politics at her age, but she
