By Jill Nolin | Editor
We have a lot to share with you today, but first up, I’d like to highlight our sister outlet’s coverage of the passing of the great and unparalleled Dolly Parton. I’m pouring myself a cup of ambition in her honor today.
Now, let’s get to the Georgia news.
Everton Blair just made history as the first openly gay Black member of Congress to represent a Southern state. A legislative study committee is taking another close look at the wild world of pharmacy regulations. A state agency is proposing new protections for another 100 species of plants and animals. And at least two high-ranking GOP lawmakers are feeling uneasy about the recent string of Flock misuses by law enforcement.
Everton Blair, a former chair of the Gwinnett County Board of Education, speaks at a candidate forum hosted by the Rockdale County Democratic Committee in Conyers, Georgia, on April 16, 2026. Alander Rocha/Georgia Recorder
SPECIAL ELECTION
By Alander Rocha
Everton Blair, a former Gwinnett County Board of Education chair, is headed to Washington to finish out the late Congressman David Scott term representing Georgia’s 13th Congressional District after defeating Marcye Scott, the daughter of the late congressman, in a special election.
As of late Tuesday night, Blair led with about 53% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, while Scott had about 47% of the vote. The Associated Press called the race for Blair at around 8:38 p.m. Tuesday.
Blair, a 34-year-old with a doctorate degree in education from Harvard University, is the second Black openly gay man to be elected to Congress and the first representing a Southern state.
Adams Family Pharmacy, a locally owned pharmacy, has locations in Cuthbert and Preston. Maya Homan/Georgia Recorder
HEALTH
By Ariel Hart
A business rep was on the phone telling Hugh Chancey’s pharmacy in southwest Georgia to transfer all of an elderly patient’s prescriptions away to another pharmacy.
The patient herself said that’s not what she wanted, Chancey recounted, but the company was relentless. After a three-way phone call where the patient said she wanted to keep using Chancey’s pharmacy, an order came over by fax anyway, saying to transfer the prescriptions.
Chancey relayed that story to high-powered state legislators last month. The group, a House study committee, is taking on the question of medicine regulation in Georgia. The business caller he described was an insurance middleman called a pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM, and is one of the subjects in the committee’s sights.
The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is the longest rattlesnake in the world and its home turf includes southern Georgia. It's one of 145 new species that could be added to a list of protected species in the state. Georgia Department of Natural Resources
CONSERVATION
By Ross Williams
Georgia is set to update its list of protected plants and animals for the first time in two decades, and the number of protected species is set to grow by more than 100.
On the bright side, 40 species were removed from the list because survey data showed their populations have recovered. On the not-so bright side, 145 new species were added to the list for the opposite reason.
Flock Safety license plate readers are typically mounted on tall poles, with a camera and solar panel on top. The company says its technology is used in more than 6,000 communities across 49 states in partnership with thousands of law enforcement agencies nationwide. (Photo courtesy of Flock Safety)
SURVEILLANCE
By Maya Homan
A pair of influential Republican lawmakers are calling for greater oversight into the use of automatic license plate readers that critics say allow law enforcement officers to illegally surveil Georgia residents.
Sen. John Albers, a Roswell Republican who chairs the Senate’s public safety committee, said he is working with the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association and the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police on a new task force to examine how best to address misuse of the cameras, which are manufactured by companies like the Atlanta-based Flock Safety.
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