Community Tea

President Joe Biden spoke via conference call with three Democratic lawmakers from Tennessee who were targeted for removal from the state’s House of Representatives by Republican members after joining protests demanding urgent gun reform in the wake of last week’s mass shooting at a Nashville school. The state’s GOP-controlled House voted to remove state Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, both Black, on 6 April. State Rep Gloria Johnson, who is white, was spared by one vote. The president “thanked them for their leadership in seeking to ban assault weapons and standing up for our democratic values.” Biden also invited the three lawmakers to the White House.

During her visit to a solar panel factory in northwest Georgia, Vice President Kamala Harris announced an order for millions of Peach State-built panels as she touted how federal climate and economic efforts are combining to create jobs in rural areas. Harris toured the Qcells plant near I-75 in Whitfield County, one of two northwest Georgia locations where the South Korean company is expanding its solar panel production. The Qcells’ Dalton expansion and a new facility in Bartow County, combined, represent the largest-ever investment in clean energy manufacturing in U.S. history, company leaders and elected officials say. The $2.5 billion expansion, which will result in 2,500 additional jobs, is the type of investment Harris and the White House are highlighting in its “Investing in America” tour.

Environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run for president in 2024 as a Democrat. The filing was confirmed Wednesday by his campaign treasurer, John E. Sullivan. Kennedy will officially announce his candidacy on April 19 in Boston, his campaign said. He is the 69-year-old son of a former New York senator, US attorney general, and assassinated 1968 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy.

Tuesday was a big day for Former President Donald Trump as he turned himself in. While in the NY court, Trump was arraigned on 34 felony charges related to falsifying business records in a hush money investigation. Charges, which stem from hush money payments made in 2016, allege that Trump conspired to illegally influence the 2016 election through a series of hush money payments designed to stifle claims that could be harmful to his candidacy. The payments, said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy, were part of “an unlawful plan to identify and suppress negative information that could have undermined his campaign for president.”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis called insults leveled against her by Donald Trump “ridiculous” and said the former president can say what he chooses so long as it doesn’t amount to a threat. In a speech to supporters, just hours after he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts in Manhattan, Trump railed against Willis’ investigation into his alleged criminal meddling in the 2020 presidential election. He also called Willis, who is Black, “racist.” Said Willis, “The comment does not concern me at all. But I support his right to be protected by the First Amendment and say what he likes. … People have the right to say whatever they choose to say as long as it does not rise to the level of threats against myself, my staff or my family.”  Trump on Tuesday said the “fake case” in Fulton “was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election and it should be dropped immediately.” He also called Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is Black, “an animal” and a “racist.”

A first-grade Virginia teacher who was shot and seriously wounded by her 6-year-old student filed a lawsuit Monday seeking $40 million in damages from school officials, accusing them of gross negligence for allegedly ignoring multiple warnings on the day of the shooting that the boy had a gun and was in a “violent mood.” Abby Zwerner, a 25-year-old teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, was shot in the hand and chest on Jan. 6 as she sat at a reading table in her classroom. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has had four surgeries since the shooting.

In protest of Atlanta’s plans to build the $90-million public safety training center in DeKalb County, civil rights activist Angela Davis is returning an award she received from the City of Atlanta in March when she gave the keynote address at the 20th Annual Walter Rodney Symposium. She was honored with an official proclamation from the Atlanta City Council,  which she now regrets accepting. “I did not consider the implications of my acceptance of the award at the time, given the fact that the City Council voted in favor of the construction of a massive militarized police training facility in the South River Forest,” Davis said in a statement. In solidarity with activists fighting construction of the facility, Davis said she was compelled to return the award. In a video post, Davis said “I want to salute all those who are involved in the `stop cop city movement’. I want to urge people everywhere to find ways to generate support for them.”

The retail giant, Walmart, is cutting about 2,000 jobs at five U.S. e-commerce fulfillment centers. According to regulatory filings, impacted employees may find other roles at the company. Impacted states include Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida and New Jersey.

Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the Masters after he spent the first eight holes of his third round on Saturday looking to be in significant pain. He withdrew Sunday morning, prior to the resumption of play, because of an injury. Woods, a five-time Masters champion, sent out a statement on social media shortly before 8 a.m.”I am disappointed to have to WD this morning due to reaggravating my plantar fasciitis,” he wrote on Twitter. “Thank you to the fans and to @TheMasters who have shown me so much love and support. Good luck to the players today!” Woods, who is still recovering from his 2021 car wreck which caused serious injuries to his right leg, foot and ankle, had made the cut on the number of Saturday at 3-over par and wanted to continue playing, but with the injury it would have been very difficult to play 28 holes on an Augusta National course that has such severe elevation changes.

As the city of Mableton runoff elections get underway, Cobb Elections Director Janine Eveler is stepping down on Friday after more than a dozen years in the position. Said Everly in her impending departure from her role as elections chief for Georgia’s third-largest county, “I’ve enjoyed it, but I really felt the weight of it, too. It’s hard work. And there’s a lot of people watching what you’re doing. And so you got to make sure as much as possible that you’re doing it right.” Everly started working as a part-time seasonal clerk for Cobb elections shortly before the 2004 general election. In April 2005, she began working full-time as an administrative clerk and later became elections manager, before eventually being elevated to elections director in 2010.

Hartsfield-Jackson International has once again been declared the world’s busiest airport, according to an official ranking. With 93.7 million passengers passing through in 2022, the Atlanta airport had more traffic than any other in the world, according to industry group Airports Council International World. Dallas/Fort Worth International took the No. 2 spot with 73.4 million passengers, while Denver International was third with 69.3 million.

Honda recalls nearly 564,000 CR-Vs sold in 22 cold-weather states and D.C. over potential rust issues. The automaker said it had received 61 complaints of road salt accumulating and causing frame corrosion that could damage the suspension and lead to a crash.

Revolution Farms, LLC of Caledonia, Michigan is expanding the voluntary recall announced on April 5, 2023 to include all products sold under the Revolution Farms brand. All date codes are included in this recall. The recalled product has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. The recall was voluntarily expanded on April 6, 2023, when the recalled product was epidemiologically linked with a multi-state outbreak of Listeriosis. The investigation is ongoing. If you think you may have become ill from something you ate, seek immediate medical attention.

A series of expired salad kits sold in grocery stores have been recalled due to listeria concerns, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA said Fresh Express Incorporated salad kits that were found to have listeria during a random sample test by the Georgia Department of Agriculture. According to the company, the salad kits are no longer being sold and have already expired. However, they were sent to retail stores across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Have a great week.