House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration and Senator Clint Dixon Announce Legislation for Proposed City of Mulberry

ATLANTA – Today, House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration (R-Auburn) and Senator Clint Dixon (R-Gwinnett) released legislation to create a new City of Mulberry in an unincorporated portion of northeastern Gwinnett County. Also released today was a feasibility study which found that the proposed city would be financially feasible without implementing a city property tax.

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Rep. Carl Gilliard to Serve as Keynote Speaker at Two MLK Events in Georgia

ATLANTA – State Representative Carl Gilliard (D-Savannah), chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, will serve as a keynote speaker for the DeKalb County Government’s 40th Annual MLK Celebration on Thursday, January 11, 2024, at 11 a.m. at the Maloof Auditorium in Decatur, Georgia. Rep. Gilliard will also serve as a keynote speaker for the Eveneezer Baptist Church West Annual MLK service on Sunday, January 14, 2024, at 9:30 a.m. at Eveneezer Baptist Church in Athens, Georgia.

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The Black Menthol Debate: Power, Money, Cancer and Control

By State Representative Mesha Mainor (R-Atlanta) 

(765 words)

A year ago, an African-American lobbyist lobbied Black legislators to sign a letter to send to the Biden Administration to ask for support to NOT ban menthol after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a ban in 2022. “Aren’t cigarettes cancerous, and if we make them more flavorful, more people will smoke cigarettes,” I asked. “Yeah, but it disproportionately impacts people of color. The ban is targeting Blacks who smoke cigarettes,” replied the lobbyist. “So, the ban means that potentially less Black people will want cigarettes, thus reducing their cancer-risk,” I responded.

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