(GA. NEWS NETWORK)
*A DeKalb County judge has denied District Attorney Sherry Boston’s request to remove Superior Court Judge Yolanda Parker-Smith from all criminal cases. The judge ruled Boston failed to show Parker-Smith could not remain fair and impartial despite pending judicial misconduct charges. The Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission has accused Parker-Smith of threatening to jail Boston and two assistant district attorneys in 2023. The misconduct case remains pending.
*Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is criticizing the Fulton County Commission for rejecting his proposal to extend six Tax Allocation Districts (TADs) for 30 years. Dickens says the commission backed a more than one-billion-dollar plan to renovate the Fulton County Jail instead of investing in underserved neighborhoods. County commissioners say they opted out because of their own financial obligations.
*State Democrats rallied the partisan faithful Saturday at the party’s state convention in Savannah. Speeches by the top-of-the-ticket candidates touched on issues long core to the party’s platform -Medicaid expansion, reproductive rights, gun control, voting access – but office seekers focused heavily on the cost-of-living increases Americans are facing under Republican leadership, the AJC reports. The time has come “to put some Democrats in charge,” declared party chairman Charlie Bailey.
*Gwinnett County’s brief earthquake Wednesday morning was not an earthquake after all. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) later determined the magnitude 2.3 event was caused by a quarry blast. The tremor was detected around 11:00 and was initially logged as a small quake. USGS officials later reclassified it after determining the source was a blast north of Lilburn near the Vulcan Materials quarry.