New playground at Jasper City Park

By Beau Evans
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service
    Gov. Brian Kemp placed Georgia under a state of emergency Monday afternoon following a pair of fatal shootings near a burned-down Wendy’s in Atlanta that has been a focal point for recent protests against police brutality and racial injustice.

   The emergency order came hours after Kemp sounded a warning that his administration “won’t hesitate to take action” in the wake of the shooting deaths and after protesters damaged the state Department of Public Safety headquarters in Atlanta around 1 a.m. Sunday, according to the Georgia State Patrol.

“The market dictates everything,” says Dobbs

By Mark Millican

Progress contributor

Known as the “Gateway to the Mountains,” Pickens County offers tourists and other visitors their first glimpse of scenic north Georgia coming up Highway 515, also known as the Zell Miller Parkway. It's certainly not a news flash, but people shopping for vacation cabins and second homes are also looking around at the forested peaks, valleys and streams.

The continuing influx of buyers looking for stick-built homes and cabins, plus old houses being refurbished and put back into the market, have led to “very vibrant changes” in the assessment of properties, said Chief Appraiser Roy Dobbs.

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Gov. Brian Kemp signs the landmark Hate Crimes Bill passed in the session.

By Beau Evans
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service

Georgia lawmakers just wrapped up this year’s wrangling of bills at the state Capitol, managing to push through several pieces of legislation in a hectic two-week period marked by fears over coronavirus.
    Hundreds of bills fell by the wayside as the COVID-19 pandemic rushed into Georgia starting in mid-March. Lawmakers in the General Assembly took a three-month hiatus, then returned earlier this month to pass landmark legislation on hate crimes, a tax on vaping, cuts to standardized tests – and much, much more.
    Below is a roundup of key bills the General Assembly passed before the close of the 2020 legislative session last Friday night:

Chamber press release

The 2020 Marble Festival planned for the first weekend in October has been cancelled, Pickens Chamber President Amberle Godfrey announced late Tuesday.

A Chamber of Commerce press release, stated: “Protecting the safety of our community, our citizens, and our families is paramount in the minds of the Pickens County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. While our community safety measures have kept Covid-19 numbers lower than those of our neighboring communities, we do not feel it would be responsible to invite citizens from other communities into Pickens County for such a large event where social distancing would be difficult.