The COVID-19 pandemic has played parents against school authorities. A high-level murder trial took place on the Georgia coast that stirred up racial tensions. And fierce battles over a revision of the state’s electoral law were fueled by unsubstantiated allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Before we turn the calendar to 2022, when election year gimmicks are sure to take flight, here’s a rundown of the Georgia recorder Milestones from 2021 that will be remembered by millions for a long time to come.
COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination regulations cause outrage
The COVID-19 virus often dictated the news in 2021, touching Georgians in many ways. The expanded availability of vaccines and testing in the spring indicated a return to normal, only to remove that illusion created by the Delta and Omicron variants.
Critical Care Registered Nurse Amanda Earley, who cares for patients in the intensive care unit, was the first WellStar Health System employee to receive the COVID-19 vaccine last December. Photo courtesy of WellStar Health System.
Everyone in the first few months of the year Adults were eligible to receive the miraculous new vaccines and more people returned to their normal routines. The vaccines have drastically reduced the chances of the virus spreading and the chances of getting seriously ill if infected.
Even so, with many Georgians either rejecting the vaccines or reluctant to get a vaccination, hospitals were overcrowded with unvaccinated patients taking beds as new coronavirus varieties spread.
Georgia now has colleges and universities and many public school systems struggling with mask guidelines, Vaccination regulations for employees and setting standards for the vaccination status of students and employees.
The Republican governor and attorney general of Georgia also have legal action against Combat the Biden government’s vaccine mandates for federal contractors and healthcare workers.
The murderers of Ahmaud Arbery found guilty
An almost entirely white jury in Glynn County in November issued a guilty verdict against the three white men on trial for the black man Ahmaud Arbery was shot to death in February 2020 while jogging through their Braunschweig neighborhood.
Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, is hugged by a supporter after the jury convicted Travis McMichael in the Glynn County Courthouse trial of McMichael, his father Greg McMichael and his neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan. AP Photo / Stephen B. Morton, Pool
Gregory and Travis McMichael, along with their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, are expected to find out on January 7th whether they will be subject to the mandatory life sentences about to serve for the murder of a 25 year old will come considering the probation.
The convictions mark the culmination of 18 months of pressure from the Arbery family to seek justice. Arbery’s murderers were spared arrest for weeks after police responded to the bloody gunfire in the street in the Satilla Shores neighborhood.
The racial makeup of the jury and the background of the prosecution of one of the defendants begs the question of whether the three white men can be tried in the deep south.
Months before the trial began, Georgia lawmakers largely overturned the Citizens Detention Act that local prosecutors originally used to justify Arbery’s death. His murder also sparked support for a state hate crime law in 2020.
In a federal trial scheduled for February 7th heavily endowed US Department of Justice Arguments will boil down to whether Arbery was targeted for being black.
Georgia’s historic runoff election in the US Senate
Democrats Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock became Georgia’s newest US Senators and surrendered control the federal government in historic runoff elections on January 5th against incumbent GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
The high-stakes battles broke congressional election records, with campaign spending totaling more than $ 700 million. The races caught the nation’s attention as then-President Donald Trump and his most ardent supporters spread baseless tales of a stolen presidential election and likely drove GOP voters away from the January election.
Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff wave to the crowd from a joint campaign rally before the January 5 runoff election. Photo courtesy Jon Ossoff on behalf of the Senate
Georgia’s new senators arrived in Washington DC as the Senate began a second round of impeachment hearings on allegations instigated by Trump Deadly uprising in the US Capitol 6th January
The victories of Ossoff and Warnock gave the Democrats a slim electoral lead in the Senate and helped President Joe Biden to a great victory Infrastructure package.
Warnock is campaigning again with an election in November, a year after he returned to the pre-election period of Senator Johnny Isakson, who resigned in 2019 due to health complications, in an election in November. Isakson died in December.
Georgia’s controversial electoral law
When the Republicans in Georgia carried out the controversial vote revision Senate Act 202 in March it is triggered a wave of lawsuitsincluding the US Department of Justice, which claims the law disenfranchises blacks and other marginalized groups.
Republicans have been criticized by more than two dozen constituencies for adding provisions that limit the number of postal ballot boxes, shorten the deadline for applying for postal ballots, add new postal ballot requirements, allow the state to run local election boards, and more Restrictions.
In signing the controversial Georgia Voting Bill, senior Georgia Republican MPs joined in, along with Governor Brian Kemp. Photo from the office of Governor Brian Kemp
Democrats and proxies railed against the law as an unreasonable reaction unsubstantiated claims of widespread electoral fraud in the 2020 election after Trump’s embarrassing defeat in the presidential election and Democrats have captured two seats in the US Senate.
Republican civil servants argue that redesigning electoral and electoral laws is important in restoring confidence in an electoral system Trump repeatedly said it was rigged and shouted critics Allegations of discrimination exaggerated.
The vote of blacks became a key factor in determining the election result after a record 5 million Georgians were elected in the November 3 general election, including 1.3 million by postal vote.
The new law had his first test run with local elections in November ahead of a busy 2022 election cycle led by races for governor, state secretary and the U.S. Senate.
Although the Heritage Foundation put its stamp on Georgia’s new electoral law, the impact among GOP members will continue to flow into the upcoming primary with former US Senator David Perdue at Trump’s urging against Governor Brian Kemp in the Republican primary.
And in the starting blocks, the Democrat Stacey Abrams is waiting for the winner of what is certain to be a brutal GOP fight, which as expected has announced that she will wear her party’s standard after narrowly losing to Kemp in 2018.
Rivian’s $ 5 billion investment in electric vehicle manufacturing
At the risk of skewing current developments, one of the biggest economic development announcements of all time for Georgia is the late entry into the most notable milestones of 2021.
Governor Brian Kemp steps out of a Rivian truck at a press event Thursday announcing the electric vehicle maker will build a factory in Georgia. Jill Nolin / Georgia recorder
Eastern Georgia is set to host an electric vehicle plant, part of a $ 5 billion investment that is expected to create 7,500 jobs over several years after the proposed severing of the ribbon in about two years.
The governor and other state officials call Car factory in Rivian one of the largest single private investments in the history of the state. The plant will be built on 2,000 acres between Counties Morgan and Walton and is expected to produce 400,000 clean energy vehicles per year.
Georgia’s undisclosed tax incentive package was attractive enough to scoop a win over Fort Worth, Texas, which offered the start-up $ 440 million in tax breaks.
In a year tarnished by COVID spikes, bipartisan snipers, and struggles over basic democratic principles, the December news of a new auto plant bows to a, uh, unprecedented year.
