Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff seeks more control over postmaster general after mail meltdown
As the U.S. Postal Service faces delivery slowdowns, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat from Georgia, has proposed legislation to impose stricter oversight on who leads the agency.
Biden signs bill strengthening oversight of crisis-plagued US Bureau of Prisons after AP reporting
President Joe Biden has signed into law a bill strengthening oversight of the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons after The Associated Press exposed systemic corruption and abuse in the prison system.
Congress OKs bill overhauling oversight of troubled federal Bureau of Prisons
Congress has passed legislation overhauling oversight and bringing greater transparency to the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons, following reporting from The Associated Press that exposed systemic corruption in the federal prison system and increased congressional scrutiny.
In one affluent Atlanta suburb, Biden and Trump work to win over wary Georgia voters
Georgia is the election battleground that yielded the closest margin of any state in the 2020 election between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump.
The FBI should face new limits on its use of US foreign spy data, a key intelligence board says
A White House advisory board is calling for major changes in how the FBI uses a controversial foreign surveillance tool.
Congress OKs bill forcing feds to fix broken prison cameras
Congress has passed legislation requiring the federal Bureau of Prisons to overhaul failing and outdated security systems in the wake of rampant staff sexual abuse, inmate escapes and high-profile deaths.
Prisons chief: Official who beat inmates deserves 2nd chance
The director of the federal Bureau of Prisons is defending her decision to rally behind a high-ranking agency official who climbed the ranks after beating Black inmates, saying Tuesday that she feels he’s shown contrition and deserves a second chance.
The story so far: AP's investigation into federal prisons
An ongoing Associated Press investigation has uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Justice Department’s largest law enforcement agency, the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Why AP called the Georgia Senate runoff for Warnock
There weren't enough uncounted votes in Republican-leaning areas for Republican challenger Herschel Walker to make up his runoff election night gap with incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Ga. Senate runoff between Warnock, Walker has bitter closing
The extended Senate campaign in Georgia between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger, football legend Herschel Walker, has grown increasingly bitter ahead as their Dec. 6 runoff nears.
Walker, Kemp campaign in Ga. together for the 1st time
Fresh off his commanding re-election victory, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Saturday is playing the role of dutiful Republican soldier campaigning for the first time alongside Senate hopeful Herschel Walker after spending months steering clear of his ticket-mate.
Senate: Migrants subject to unnecessary medical procedures
A Senate investigation has found that U.S. immigration authorities didn’t do enough to adequately vet or monitor a gynecologist in rural Georgia who performed unnecessary medical procedures on detained migrant women without their consent.
New US prisons chief pledges truth, reform for ailing system
The outsider brought in to reform the ailing federal Bureau of Prisons has pledged to hold accountable any employees who sexually assault inmates and reform the agency’s archaic hiring practices.
At debate, Walker denies past support for US abortion ban
Georgia’s Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker is denying his previous support for an outright national ban on abortion, though he has insisted at various points throughout the campaign that it was a proposal he endorsed.
Senators push new oversight to combat federal prison crises
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation Wednesday to overhaul oversight and bring greater transparency to the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons.
Abrams' strategy to boost turnout: Early voting commitments
Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is launching an intensive effort to get out the vote by urging potential supporters to cast in-person ballots the first week of early voting as she tries to navigate the state’s new election laws.
Georgia's shifting politics force GOP to look beyond Atlanta
Georgia's Republican Party once relied on votes in Atlanta's close-in suburbs, but today the GOP increasingly relies on the mountains of north Georgia for its votes.
Abrams aims to win back Dems who voted in Ga.'s GOP primary
Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams have little wiggle room in their rematch this fall in the closely contested state.
Prisons chief deflects blame for failures, angering senators
With just days left in his tenure, the embattled director of the federal prison system faced a bipartisan onslaught Tuesday as he refused to accept responsibility for a culture of corruption and misconduct that has plagued his agency for years.
Senate panel subpoenas federal prisons director to testify
The outgoing director of the Bureau of Prisons has been subpoenaed to testify before a Senate committee examining abuse and corruption in the beleaguered federal agency.
Shortened Georgia runoff poses hurdles for voters, officials
Amid criticism of other voting changes, few noticed in 2021 when Georgia lawmakers shortened the period between an election and a runoff from nine weeks to four weeks.
In Georgia, 2 Black candidates to compete for Senate seat
Georgia still struggles with its history of slavery, segregation and racial injustice, but voters in the Deep South state have for the first time selected two Black candidates to represent the major parties in a U.S. Senate race.
Abrams-Kemp slugfest promises to be pricey, long and ugly
The governor's race in Georgia between Republican incumbent Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams promises to be a brutal battle that will further amp up the state's charged political environment.
Bill pushes feds to notify families of sick, dying inmates
New legislation in the Senate requires the Justice Department to establish guidelines for the federal Bureau of Prisons and state correctional systems to notify the families of inmates if their loved one has a serious illness, a life-threatening injury or if they die behind bars.
Perdue suit pushing election fraud claims dismissed by judge
A Georgia judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by former U.S. Sen. David Perdue that alleged fraudulent or counterfeit ballots were counted in the state’s most populous county during the 2020 general election.
GOP works to get out the vote after calling elections rigged
Republicans who embraced discredited conspiracy theories about Donald Trump's 2020 defeat and preached skepticism about elections now need their supporters to trust the system enough to vote for them.
Perdue invokes Trump election lies in Georgia GOP primary
Former U.S. Sen. David Perdue is building his campaign around Donald Trump and veering to the right as he tries to unseat Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in a May 24 GOP primary.
Georgia's Kemp and Perdue clash over elections in debate
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and top Republican challenger David Perdue are bickering over who was to blame for 2020 and 2021 Republican election losses in their first of three debates Sunday.
Kemp, Perdue spar over planned Georgia electric car plant
A planned $5 billion electric vehicle plant that has been billed as the largest economic development project in Georgia’s history is drawing opposition from an unusual source: former Republican U.S. senator David Perdue.
Senate launches group to examine embattled US prison system
The U.S. Senate is launching a bipartisan working group of lawmakers to scrutinize conditions within the Bureau of Prisons following reporting by The Associated Press that uncovered widespread corruption and abuse in federal prisons.
Walker's past could let Warnock keep Senate seat, rivals say
Herschel Walker’s Republican rivals for U.S. Senate in Georgia say reports by The Associated Press about the former football great's past leave the GOP vulnerable to losing the race if the party nominates him.
Georgia’s Perdue sues over 2020 election, pushes fraud claim
Georgia Republican David Perdue is furthering his embrace of debunked claims that Georgia’s 2020 presidential election was wrongly decided as he runs for governor.
Medicaid issues, not Medicare's, get fixes in Biden budget
Medicaid issues are turning up as winners in President Joe Biden’s social budget framework even as divisions force Democrats to hit pause on far-reaching improvements to Medicare.
Agonizing choices as Dems debate shrinking health care pie
Democrats are fretting about how they’d divide a shrinking pie amid signs that negotiations over President Joe Biden’s massive domestic policy bill could yield a smaller serving of health care spending.
U.S. voting rights events reflect multiracial reform agenda
In the nation’s capital on Saturday, multiracial coalitions of civil, human and labor rights leaders are convening rallies and marches to urge passage of federal voter protections that have been eroded since the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Senators seek Medicaid-like plan to cover holdout states
Three Democratic U.S. senators from states that have refused to expand Medicaid want the federal government to set up a mirror plan to provide health insurance coverage to people in those states.
Democrats seizing growing power to run for statewide offices
Boosted by President Biden's win and two U.S. Senate victories, high-profile Democratic candidates in Georgia are running for statewide office in a way unseen in years.
Augusta Nationals plays through debate over Ga voting law
While a tempest brews outside Magnolia Lane over Georgia’s voting rights law, Augusta National would prefer to keep the focus on blooming azaleas, pimento cheese sandwiches and tricky greens.
EXPLAINER: What does Georgia's new GOP election law do?
The sweeping rewrite of Georgia’s election rules that was signed into law by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp represents the first big set of changes since former President Donald Trump’s repeated, baseless claims of fraud following his presidential loss to Joe Biden.
Shooting victim's husband says police detained him for hours
(AP Photo/Ben Gray)ATLANTA – A man who survived the shooting that killed his wife at an Atlanta-area massage business last week said police detained him in handcuffs for four hours after the attack. Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said in an emailed statement Monday afternoon that his office would not have any further comment on the case and is focusing on the investigation and prosecution. In all, seven of the slain victims were women, six of them of Asian descent. Gonzalez said they put him in handcuffs and detained him for about four hours, according to the website. “Only when they finally confirmed I was her husband, did they tell me that she was dead," he said.
Rallies in Atlanta, nation against hate after spa shootings
A 21-year-old white man is accused of killing eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, at three Atlanta-area massage businesses Tuesday. Hundreds of people of all ages and varied racial and ethnic backgrounds gathered in Liberty Plaza in Atlanta, and in similar rallies across the country, waving signs and chanting slogans. Otis Wilson, a 38-year-old photographer who's Black, said people need to pay attention to the discrimination those of Asian descent face. They moved to Atlanta four years ago and got involved in community organizing, last summer pulling together an event to support Black women victimized by police violence. AdHunt, who's Black, joined Saturday's rally to “show Black and Asian solidarity,” adding “I think it’s amazing.
'Speak out:' Biden, Harris decry racism during Atlanta visit
President Joe Biden speaks after meeting with leaders from Georgia's Asian-American and Pacific Islander community, Friday, March 19, 2021, at Emory University in Atlanta, as Vice President Kamala Harris listens. We cannot be complicit.”“They’ve been attacked, blamed, scapegoated and harassed; they’ve been verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed," Biden said of Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. But Biden and Harris instead spent much of their visit consoling a community whose growing voting power helped secure their victory in Georgia and beyond. As the fastest-growing racial demographic in the U.S. electorate, Asian Americans are gaining political influence across the country. The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, typically dominated by Democrats, has its largest roster ever, including Asian American and Pacific Islander members and others who represent significant numbers of Asian Americans.
Biden to meet with Stacey Abrams on trip to Georgia
FILE - In this April 3, 2019, file photo, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams speaks during the National Action Network Convention in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)During his visit to Atlanta on Friday, President Joe Biden will meet with former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who has been widely credited with helping flip the former Republican stronghold blue. But Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will still meet with Abrams and thank her for her work, the White House confirmed on Thursday. AdThe meeting will come as Republicans in the Georgia state General Assembly push several proposals to make it harder to vote in the state. Ad“Stacey, you’re changing Georgia,” Biden said.
Warnock: GOP voting restrictions resurrect ‘Jim Crow era’
“We are witnessing right now a massive and unabashed assault on voting rights and voter access unlike anything we have seen since the Jim Crow era,” Warnock said Wednesday. Democrats cast their legislation as a way to render most of the state GOP moves moot. AdBoth the Voting Rights Act restoration and the wider bill face an uphill path in the 50-50 Senate as long the current filibuster rule requires major legislation to get 60 votes to pass. His bid will test whether Democrats have staying power in Georgia after decades of Republican dominance in federal elections. AdIn that same era, Warnock said, his mother worked in tobacco and cotton fields — generations after the Civil War and the 13th Amendment had ended slavery.
'We can do big things,' Schumer says as Senate approves aid
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., leaves the chamber just after the Senate narrowly approved a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Saturday, March 6, 2021. Senate passage sets up final congressional approval by the House next week so lawmakers can send it to President Joe Biden for his signature. Ad“Lessons learned: If we have unity, we can do big things,” Schumer told The Associated Press in an interview after the vote. The outcome “gives us optimism about doing more big things in the future — because it worked,” he said. He and Schumer spoke often as the Senate leader steered the pandemic aid to approval.
LeBron James going to All-Star with elections on his mind
Golden State Warriors guard Brad Wanamaker, right, shoots as Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)LeBron James is going to Georgia this weekend for more than the NBA All-Star Game. “Look what we made happen, what our voices made possible,” James says in the 51-second spot. Ad“We’ve already been engaged to some degree in Georgia, which is Ground Zero for this wave of voter suppression efforts,” Tyler said. “This isn’t the time to put your feet up or to think posting hashtags and black squares is enough,” James said to conclude the ad.