*A new plan to increase literacy skills for students in the Peach State has started. The Georgia Department of Education has announced the implementation of new literacy coaches in various schools across the state. Literacy program coordinator, Amy Denty, tells Atlanta News First that early intervention is key to raising good readers. Sixty literacy coaches will be placed lowest-performing elementary schools.
*The Secretary of Agriculture is calling for immediate action from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp concerning the need to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP) in Georgia. Tom Vilsack’s letter indicates that Georgia is “severely out of compliance with Federal requirements” related to processing new applications on time; federal law requires benefits be issued to eligible recipients within 30 days in the majority of cases. The secretary’s letter also indicates that Georgia had an Application Processing Timeliness rate of 84.9% in Fiscal Year 2022, which should be above 95%.
*Several football players from Georgia are celebrating a Super Bowl win. Former UGA wide receiver Mecole Hardman caught the winning touchdown in Sunday night’s 25-22 overtime win by Kansas City against San Francisco. Other former Bulldogs winning a Super Bowl ring are linebacker Robert Beal and defensive end Malik Herring.
(Georgia News Network contributed to this report.)