Laken Riley Bill update; Ga.'s Jan. 6 pardons

(GEORGIA NEWS NETWORK)

*A bill named after a Georgia nursing student is continuing to move forward in Washington. Georgia Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff voted with the majority of the U.S. Senate to pass the Laken Riley Act Monday with a few changes, so it will go back to the House sometime this week. The legislation mandates federal detention of undocumented immigrants accused of certain crimes. Riley was killed by a Venezuela man while jogging near the University of Georgia intramural fields last February.

*Several dozen people with Georgia ties are being pardoned connected to the January 6 Capitol riot. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday that wipes away charges for what could be nearly 1,600 in total, with close to 50 tied to the Peach State. Trump’s pardon was a promise he made on the campaign trail.

About the Author

Ken Stanford is Online News Editor for GLORY 97.5, a position he has held since August 2022.

Ken was born in Moultrie, Georgia, and says he knew from the time he was 5 or 6 he wanted to be a “radio announcer.” That dream was realized when he was hired by Moultrie radio station WMTM in 1960 at the age of 15 as a weekend disc jockey. A 1963 graduate of Moultrie (now Colquitt County) High School, he has spent his whole career in Georgia working for stations in Atlanta, Marietta, and Gainesville – most recently as News Director for 40 years at WDUN in Gainesville. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force Reserves.

Ken retired in 2011 but came out of retirement last year to help GLORY, on a part-time basis, beef-up its online news presence.

He is the recipient of many Associated Press awards and is a former judge of state and national Associated Press broadcast news contests. In 2005, he was presented with the Georgia Associated Press Broadcasters Association’s President’s Award for Excellence in Journalism and in 2019 was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.

He lives in Gainesville with his wife of 52 years, the former Sandra McKnight of Clio, Alabama, and they have one child, a daughter, Lisa, who lives in Cumming with her family.