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James O'Sullivan Metter, Georgia Statesboro, Georgia & Metter, Georgia Mr. James David "Jamie" O'Sullivan, age 51, passed away Monday at his residence. The native of Statesboro was raised in Effingham County. He was a graduate of Effingham County High School and Georgia Southern University. Jamie began his law enforcement Career in 1999 as a police officer with the Savannah Police Department and began his employment with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on March 16, 2007. He was assigned to the State Drug Task Force and the Tri-Circuit Drug Task Force before transferring to the Region 5-Statesboro Regional Office in 2009,...

Actress Alyssa Milano is going after Georgia again on Twitter, this time over the “heartbeat” abortion bill passed by the Georgia state Senate Friday afternoon. “There are over 20 productions shooting in GA” she wrote late Friday, “& the state just voted to strip women of their bodily autonomy. Hollywood! We should stop feeding GA economy.” Milano ( “Charmed,” “Project Runway All Stars”) stars in Netflix’s dark pageant comedy “Insatiable,” which debuted last year. Season two is currently in production and she was on set Friday in Atlanta. She plays Coralee Huggens-Armstrong,the wife of lead Bob Armstrong, played by Dallas Roberts. She is under contract and her...

President Donald Trump and conservatives in Congress earned a historic victory this week by enacting the First Step Act. The landmark bill provides modest yet much-needed prison and sentencing reform modeled on successful reforms already passed in red states. On Tuesday night, senators passed the First Step Act with support from law enforcement professionals, the faith community, business groups, and the White House, by a vote of 87-12. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., deserves credit for bringing the bill up for a vote. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a former federal prosecutor and leading advocate of the legislation, said, “American...

(CNN)A coalition of advocacy groups has launched a lawsuit to block Georgia from enforcing a practice critics say endangers the votes of more than 50,000 people in November and potentially larger numbers headed into the 2020 presidential election cycle. The Campaign Legal Center and Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law argued in the suit, which was filed in a federal district court on Thursday, that the state's "exact match" requirement violates the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The office of Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who is now running for...

ATLANTA (CBS46) - The latest poll has Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams in a statistical dead heat in the race for Governor of Georgia. The big poll -- who likely voters would vote for -- shows it's a tie, for now, so we asked two strategists to look at what the related polling results show to gauge where the race is going. Kemp and Abrams may be polling neck-and-neck in the latest UGA Survey Research Center Poll for WSB-TV, but Gov. Nathan Deal is casting a long shadow. Democratic strategist Tharon Johnson said he's not surprised at the...

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed a new tax bill into law Friday that fellow Republicans changed to punish Atlanta-based company Delta Airlines for dropping a special deal they offered to members of the National Rifle Association. The bill, which focused on allowing tax breaks for corporations bringing the state in line with the new federal tax code, would have allowed a $50 million sales tax exemption on jet fuel. However, following the shooting a high school in Parkland, Florida which claimed 17 lives, Delta decided to drop ties with the organization which led to an angry backlash from prominent Georgia...

Just witnessed FNC/FBN commentator Neil Cavuto dressing down the Lt. Governor of the State of Georgia for going after Delta Air Lines by withdrawing tax relief from aviation fuel used. Cavuto was threatening the Lt. Governor that Delta Air Lines might withdraw from doing business in Atlanta, Georgia as a result of these actions by the Georgia legislature and, move their operations, etc. to the state of New York at the request of the New York State Governor. This tax measure came about as a result of Delta Air Lines attacking the NRA, relative to the recent slaughter of innocent...

Georgia lawmakers voted to nix a tax benefit for Atlanta-based Delta as part of a broader tax package approved Thursday, following the airline's decision to sever ties with the National Rifle Association. The bill -- which includes a sweeping income tax cut -- cleared the state House on an overwhelming 135-24 vote, after being approved in the state Senate on a 44-10 vote. It now heads to the governor's desk. The final version dropped an earlier amendment that would have renewed a jet fuel tax exemption worth $50 million that was taken off the books in 2015. “Businesses have every...

Lawmakers stripped the airline of a $50 million jet fuel tax break to punish it for severing its relationship with the NRA. THE GEORGIA SENATE ON Monday moved to strip a generous tax benefit from Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines after the carrier cut ties with the National Rifle Association over the weekend. Republicans who control the state Senate voted to remove a $50 million jet fuel tax sale exemption out of a larger tax package that has already passed the state legislature, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The move came after Delta faced criticism from conservatives statewide, including Lt. Gov....

Protesters have gathered for a fifth night, this time starting in Buckhead at the Lenox Square MARTA station. Channel 2’s Carl Willis is with the protesters who marched through Buckhead. Around 8:30 p.m., police began arresting protesters marching down Peachtree Road. There is no word yet on what they may be charged with. More protesters continued to march on. By About 9:30 p.m. the group had reached the Governor's mansion on West Paces Ferry Road.

On May 3 Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (R) took the action Everytown for Gun Safety had urged by vetoing campus carry legislation that had been on his desk for over a month. The legislation–HB 859–was passed by the Georgia House on February 22. On February 26, Deal took front and center in defending the bill, even suggesting that those who opposed it were using old arguments that had proven vacuous after other concealed carry expansions.

Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia has vetoed HB 859, which would authorize the carry of concealed weapons by concealed carry permit holder on Georgia campuses. The bill was very popular in the legislature, passing with wide margins. The bill passed the House 113 to 59, and the Senate 37 to 17.From Governor Deal’s statement on the veto at georiga.gov: HB 859 seeks to amend O.C.G.A. § 16-11-127.1, which relates to the carrying of weapons within school safety zones. It would add an exception to the prohibition of carrying or possessing a weapon in such school zones, to “any licensed...

Gov. Nathan Deal said the uproar in North Carolina and Mississippi over new laws that critics say curb gay rights should give supporters of the “religious liberty” measure in Georgia second thoughts, and warned that he’s willing to pull out the veto pen again next year if similar legislation lands on his desk. In his first interview since his veto two weeks ago of House Bill 757, Deal said Tuesday he’s concerned religious conservatives who plan to revive the measure next year will put Georgia through another contentious debate. “I don’t want to go through the same process all over...

The Governor of my home state of Georgia, Nathan Deal, has been soundly, and frequently, taken to task for his recent “Craven Capitulation” on religious liberty. I don’t wish to rehash the merits of the very weak bill Deal rejected (it only protected churches, religious schools, and “integrated auxiliaries”), nor do I wish to highlight again the rampant ignorance and hypocrisy of those who lobbied Deal to veto religious liberty in Georgia. What I would like to do here is give some explanation as to why I believe Deal caved on the defining moral issue of his governorship.

Members of the University of Georgia community continue to add their voices in opposition to House Bill 859, the “campus carry” bill that would allow guns on most parts of the UGA campus. In the past week, parents of children enrolled in UGA daycare facilities and the College of Education faculty Senate have written letters to Gov. Nathan Deal urging him to veto it. They’ve joined the university administration, University Council, Franklin College faculty Senate and numerous individual students and faculty members.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has vetoed religious freedom legislation similar to that adopted by the federal government and nearly half of the states, he announced. He says he would have accepted the legislation if it only protected pastors, but can’t countenance the protection of other religious adherents who are not clergy. As with other religious freedom bills, Georgia’s had faced strong opposition from the media and corporations. The media, which tend to be ignorant, at best, of religious freedom, mischaracterized the bill as “anti-gay.” Corporations that manufacture or market their products in China, Saudi Arabia, and other locations with deadly...

Crane Calls for Special Session to Override Governor’s Veto March 28, 2016 “Today, we saw exactly why our government needs committed conservatives who never stop fighting to protect the Constitution. The announcement by Governor Deal is another example of how the political class is bought and paid for by corporations and lobbyists. Rather than standing up and protecting the 1st Amendment, the political class would rather sacrifice those rights to keep the money flowing. It is fair to note, that Governor Deal voted in favor of the Federal RFRA when in Congress. A RFRA that is far stronger than what...

Gov. Nathan Deal on Monday vetoed the controversial Religious Freedom bill, saying it "contains language that causes me concern." “I do not think we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia of which I and my family have been part of all of our lives,” Deal said.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Monday said he will veto legislation shielding opponents of same-sex marriage, after a groundswell of opposition from companies threatening to boycott the state if it became law.The Republican announced his decision during a news conference in his office at the Georgia Capitol, saying, “I have examined the protections that this bill proposes to provide to the faith based community and I can find no examples of any of those circumstances occurring in our state."Deal added, “I do not think that we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in...

Gov. Nathan Deal said he will veto the “religious liberty” bill that triggered a wave of criticism from gay rights groups and business leaders and presented him with one of the most consequential challenges he’s faced since his election to Georgia’s top office. The measure “doesn’t reflect the character of our state or the character of its people,” the governor said Monday in prepared remarks. He said state legislators should leave freedom of religion and freedom of speech to the U.S. Constitution.