Good Morning Gwinnett Podcast

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com “We want to commend Sen. Dixon for recognizing the importance of input from the Board of Commissioners and our residents,” Gwinnett Commission Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson said.“Because of support from our Gwinnett delegation and grassroots efforts by our community members, SB 6EX will go through the legislative process it deserves. We look forward to working with our House and Senate delegation in the future to come up with a transparent and reasonable solution that will allow our valued community members and hardworking Gwinnett County employees to thrive.”SOURCE: www.GwinnettDailyPost.com

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com "Mr. Watkins is not on our side," said resident Brooks Lonergan, who also attended the meeting.He said he fears the proposal will go through without the commissioner's support of the community."He wasn't in attendance and he's done little to nothing to help us, and one could even argue he has seemed to be more on the side of the tower building company rather than ours as he should be in his position," Lonergan said.State Rep. Charles "Chuck" P. Efstration, III (R-Dacula), said he's on the side of his constituents."As to the construction of a cell phone tower in this residential area, it's out of place with the zoning around it," he said. "I'm very concerned that the county commissioner who represents the district failed to attend the meeting last week.SOURCE: WWW.PATCH.COM

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com On Saturday Solicitor General Brian Whiteside had his re-election kickoff and there were many community leaders in the room to support him including Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson, Snellville City Council member Solange Destang, Board of Education board member Karen Watkins and State Rep. Donna McLeod. McLeod got to the event a little late, because she had just come from attending a service for the 16 year old that was killed in Snellville at the bus stop. McLeod was asked to give remarks about the Solicitor General Whiteside, but before she did she talked about everything that's going in politics that are affecting Gwinnett County. During her speech she became very emotional twice and broke down in tears as she talke about how the Republicans are trying everything they can to grab control. On my way out the door I stopped to talk to Donna and she said that she was tired and that they were trying to make them crazy.

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com An at times contentious hearing on two bills that would make major changes to Gwinnett County's school board and county commission resulted in a hurdle being cleared for one of the bills on Wednesday.The Senate State and Local Government Operations committee hearing focused on SB 5EX, which would make the Gwinnett school board elections nonpartisan, as well as SB 6EX, which would expand the county commission. Both bills would draw new district maps for the respective boards they focus on. The committee voted to send the school board bill, which would also draw new district boundaries in addition to making the elections non-partisan, to the full Senate in a 4-3 vote. SOURCE: www.GwinnettDailyPost.com

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com The bill would require additional commissioners to be present to form a quorum, which would make it difficult for the board to make timely decisions, Carden said. He added that the bill would not only add add five seats but undermine and weaken the chairperson’s position.“I think this is a poorly planned bill,” Carden said. “I don’t think they took in a lot of consideration as to the implementation in county government. If they did, it’s pretty clear to me their goal was to hurt the efficiency of county government in which we’re able to get together to do our job to serve the people.”In regard to the education bill, Dixon said the board should be nonpartisan since “the education of our children is a nonpartisan issue,” adding that he’s a proponent of making sure critical race theory is not taught in Gwinnett’s schools.SOURCE: www.AJC.com

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com Students who change majors or transfer into another college or university tend to lose credits and take extra time to graduate. But Georgia Gwinnett College has a solution for that, saving students time and money.A new bachelor’s degree at GGC allows students to keep the credits they have earned and progress toward graduation without loss of time. The recently introduced Bachelors of Integrative Studies (BIS) is a multi-disciplinary program that requires students to complete three major concentrations, or two concentrations and a minor, thus giving them the skills to compete in a wide range of careers.“This degree allows students to finish what they started,” said Dr. Teresa Winterhalter, dean of GGC’s School of Liberal Arts. “Job prospects for students with a degree in integrative studies are excellent.”SOURCE: www.GwinnettDailyPost.com

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com Gwinnett County Sheriff Keybo Taylor and his deputies will hand out Thanksgiving meals to more than 1,000 families at the county fairgrounds in Lawrenceville later this month.The sheriff's office will host a drive-thru Thanksgiving Food Giveaway from noon until 5 p.m. on Nov. 22 at the fairgrounds, which are located at 2405 Sugarloaf Parkway. The office will partner with Perdue and the Derrick Brown Foundation to provide the food for the meals, which will include one meat as well as grocery items for every car."We are grateful to the many sponsors of the event, including principal sponsors Perdue and the Derrick Brown Foundation," Sheriff's Office officials said. "Over one thousand families ... will benefit from the generosity of our donors, who also value the importance of helping families in need. With over 17% of Gwinnett County children and nearly 1 in 8 Georgians experiencing food insecurity, it’s critical that everyone helps to change that trend. Together, we can make a difference."SOURCE: www.GwinnettDailyPost.com

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com Gwinnett County commissioners voted to hold off on making a final decision about a proposed change to a county ordinance that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana on Tuesday.The proposed change, which would have meant a person who possessed an ounce or less of marijuana could avoid going to jail for the crime, was initially rejected by commissioners in a 3-2 vote, but the board then voted 3-2 to table the issue until early December.Commission Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson and Commissioner Jasper Watkins voted against making the change and against postponing a final decision. Commission Vice-Chairwoman Marlene Fosque voted against making the change, but did vote to postpone a final decision on the matter.SOURCE: www.GwinnettDailyPost.com

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com Today is election day, so don't forget to get out and vote. You vote really does matter if you are interested in creating a better life for you and your family.

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com Today is election day, so don't forget to get out and vote. You vote really does matter if you are interested in creating a better life for you and your family.

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com Gwinnett County School Police arrested five students ranging in age from middle to high school in connection with threats on social media to commit acts of violence at 13 different schools in recent weeks.The arrests were made last week and this week, said Tony Lockard, chief of police for Gwinnett County Public Schools. The students are being charged in juvenile court with terroristic threat and dissemination of information related to a terroristic threat.SOURCE: www.AJC.com

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com Local leaders are praising the opening of the new Norcross branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library for giving residents a new place to check out books, pick up skills and gather for events.The 22,000-square-foot facility, twice the size of the former library branch, opened to the public Wednesday. Besides rows of books, it includes a game room, 120-person meeting room, study rooms, computer stations, and learning labs with space for 3D printing and video recording.SOURCE: www.AJC.com

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com Gwinnett County police are stepping in to help their counterparts with Gwinnett County Public Schools respond to and investigate a recent rise in cases of threats and other acts of harassment and intimidation taking place in the schools.Police Officer Senior Hideshi Valle said the police department is taking the threats seriously even though many of them are anonymous and have turned out to be hoaxes.“Threats and crimes committed upon school grounds against students or school personnel are enforced with more substantial penalties and include incarceration time,” Valle said. “The Gwinnett Police Department’s Intelligence and Crime Analysis Units identify threats and rate their credibility. We are passing all information on to the Gwinnett School Police for follow-up and augmenting their workforce with additional patrols as requested.”SOURCE: www.GwinnettDailyPost.com

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.comGwinnett County Public Schools is struggling to hire paraprofessionals, who are critical to helping many special-needs students.The district hired 400 paraprofessionals this year, but it’s not enough, officials said. So the district’s board of education recently decided to contract with a third-party vendor — ESS ― to fill more than 130 vacancies.“We hear the need and we feel the sense of urgency, and to date everything that we’ve tried has not yielded the results that we desire,” said Monica Batiste, associate superintendent for human resources.SOURCE: www.AJC.com

www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com A meeting of the Gwinnett County Board of Education ended early Thursday after several audience members removed their mandatory masks and defied requests to leave.The confrontation began nearly an hour into the meeting, after the board had voted on all its agenda items and while citizens were addressing the board. During a break between speakers, Board Chair Everton Blair addressed a few audience members who were not wearing masks or wearing them properly, asking them to comply with the mandate or leave.ExploreGwinnett parents argue against school mask mandate in court“You can remove me,” said Karen Pirkle, the mother of a ninth-grader at a Gwinnett high school. “I’m not putting my mask on.”SOURCE: www.AJC.com