Southeast
Georgia Republicans considering Medicaid expansion risk backlash from primary voters
The prospect — albeit still dim — that Georgia could fully expand Medicaid has prompted Democrats and patient advocates to turn up the pressure on Republicans in the state legislature to act.
But political experts, advocates and policy analysts say GOP lawmakers face significant headwinds to approving a plan they have long derided as wasteful, and that could ultimately doom the effort.
“There’s reason to be a little more optimistic than one year or two years ago, but there’s not a groundswell of support and willingness to change the status quo on the part of the Republican members of the legislature,” said Harry Heiman, a health policy professor at Georgia State University.
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The biggest obstacle is Georgia Pathways, the state’s limited Medicaid expansion that includes the nation’s only work requirement for Medicaid recipients, said Laura Colbert, executive director of the advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future.
Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has championed the program, which launched in July. Though it is off to a rocky start, with just under 2,350 people enrolled as of mid-December, the Kemp administration has sought to extend it past its September 2025 expiration date.
“Governor Kemp has put a lot of political capital into Pathways,” Colbert said.
Colbert said she was optimistic that Georgia lawmakers would eventually approve a fuller expansion of coverage for low-income adults, but not necessarily this year.
Georgia Gov. Kemp is seen here leaving the House chamber after delivering his State of the State speech in Atlanta, Jan. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Kyle Wingfield, president of the conservative Georgia Public Policy Foundation, said he, too, was skeptical Kemp would be willing to retreat from Pathways.
He also warned that Republican lawmakers could face backlash for any Medicaid deal from Republican primary voters.
Expanding Medicaid to low-income adults who make up to 138% of the federal poverty level, with the federal government picking up 90% of the cost, was a key part of the Affordable Care Act. Georgia is among 10 states that have not done it.
Wingfield said he thinks Republicans in Washington, and to a lesser extent in Georgia, have accepted that the Affordable Care Act is here to stay, but that acceptance may not be shared by rank-and-file GOP primary voters.
“When it comes to the voters in a Republican primary, I don’t think I’d want to be the one finding that out,” he said.
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But Brian Robinson, a Republican political consultant who counts the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals and House GOP caucus among his clients, says he thinks Republicans face little risk from primary opponents if they vote for Medicaid.
“The political issue of the danger has faded over the time,” Robinson said. “We’ve had some mini-expansions in Georgia and there’s been no blowback on Republicans. In fact they’ve proudly touted it for groups like new mothers.”
Republicans in Georgia also risk alienating the conservative organization Americans for Prosperity with a vote to expand Medicaid coverage.
The group is opposed to expansion, even as part of a deal that would repeal permitting requirements for hospitals and health services, said Tony West, the group’s Georgia State Director. That sort of deal has emerged as a possible compromise between Republicans and Democrats.
West wants lawmakers to focus solely on repealing the permitting requirements and leave Medicaid expansion by the wayside.
“I think we’re taking our eye off the ball,” he said.
Conversely, Wingfield raised the possibility that some Democrats could balk at a deal, noting that Medicaid expansion has been a key political issue for the party in Georgia.
“What do they gain from taking one of their signature issues off the table and letting the Republicans claim a large share of the credit for it?” he asked.
At least for now, Democrats in the General Assembly don’t appear concerned about losing their ability to hammer the GOP on Medicaid. The Democratic caucus organized a lengthy hearing Wednesday focused on the economic and health benefits of expansion that featured health care providers, advocates and policy experts.
In opening remarks, Democratic state Rep. Michelle Au, a doctor, noted Georgia had one of the highest rates of uninsured residents in the country and some of its worst health outcomes.
“As we start this 2024 legislative session, it is my hope that all options are on the table,” she said.
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Southeast
Palestinian immigrant convicted of second murder-for-hire plot hatched from North Carolina cell
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A Palestinian immigrant was convicted by a federal jury in North Carolina of plotting to arrange the murders of three people by his fellow inmates after having pleaded guilty to having tried to murder others, authorities said Friday.
Nahro Sudoi Innab, 70, of Rocky Mount, N.C., was found guilty of three counts of making an interstate call in a murder-for-hire scheme, the Justice Department said.
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A Palestinian immigrant was arrested in a murder-for-hire plot in North Carolina. (United States Department of Justice and Google Maps)
“This Palestinian immigrant came here to take advantage of the American dream, but he has repeatedly tried to hire thugs to murder his perceived enemies,” said Ellis Boyle, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Innab was sitting in jail waiting to start his prison term in a separate murder-for-hire plot when he tried to pay off other inmates $10,000 to kill three men.
The intended victims were Rocky Mount small business owners, federal prosecutors said. A cooperating defendant informed the FBI of the plot and captured an audio recording of Innab’s murderous plan.
A sign at the U.S. Department of Justice is seen on June 14, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
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“Even after being federally charged, arrested, and pleading guilty to a murder for hire plot, Nahro Innab continued his demented and dangerous plans,” said James C. Barnacle Jr., the FBI Special Agent in Charge in North Carolina.
Barnacle said a coordinated law enforcement effort thwarted the multiple murder plots, adding that Innab will be “safely behind prison bars for years to come.”
The Department of Justice seal is seen on a lectern ahead of a press conference announcing efforts against computer hacking and extortion at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC on November 28, 2018. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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Innab faces up to 30 years in prison for the new crimes.
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Southeast
Olympian Sha’Carri Richardson pleads with officer to ‘work with me’ during speeding arrest: ‘I’m begging you’
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Bodycam footage obtained by Fox News Digital showed Olympic gold medal sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson “begging” an officer not to arrest her after she was caught driving recklessly.
Sgt. Gerald McDaniels, driving in the center lane, spotted the Olympian flashing her brights at the car in front of her and announced that Richardson’s Aston Martin topped 104 mph on State Road 429 near Stoneybrook Parkway in Winter Garden, Florida. The officer reached speeds of at least 110 mph in order to catch up.
“I would wipe that smile off your face,” the sergeant told Richardson upon approaching her passenger window. “You’re being stopped for dangerous, excessive speed.”
Sha’Carri Richardson of Team United States looks on after failing to qualify for the Final during the Women’s 100 Metres Semi-Finals on day two of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 at National Stadium on Sept. 14, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
Richardson said her back tire was at 29 PSI and that her phone slipped, switching the mode in her car and causing her to speed. That did not please McDaniels.
“You’re driving at 104 miles an hour in a 65 mile-an-hour zone with subpar equipment, flashing people to get out of your lane, following too close, using every lane to pass everybody, cutting me off, passing a car on the inside shoulder with your hazard lights on. You’re going to jail for dangerous excessive speeding,” he said.
Richardson replied that she did not know she was speeding, to which the sergeant answered, “That’s why they give you a speedometer.”
“I am a law-abiding citizen, sir,” Richardson, who was arrested for assaulting her boyfriend, fellow Olympic sprinter Christian Coleman, last year, kicked off a plane in 2023, and barred from the Tokyo Olympics due to a positive marijuana test, said.
Gold medalist Sha’Carri Richardson of Team United States celebrates with the national flag after competing in the Women’s 4×100 Metres Relay Final on day nine of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 at National Stadium on Sept. 21, 2025, in Tokyo, Japan. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
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After some back and forth, the officer’s decision was final, and reality set in for Richardson, who said there was “no intention” for her to break the law.
“Please sir. I really was not intentionally speeding. Sir, please. I’m begging you,” Richardson said. “Don’t take me to jail. I will do everything. Please, sir. I promise you, I don’t want to go to jail, I’m right here.”
The police report, also obtained by Fox News Digital, said that Coleman showed up to the scene and was arrested for resisting after refusing to identify himself. His car was found to have smoking paraphernalia. Another sprinter, Twanisha Terry, also arrived.
Richardson and Coleman moved past their issue last year, which occurred at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on July 27, just one week before the U.S. Track and Field Championships. Coleman declined to be a victim in the case, a police report said, and made it clear that he wanted to move on from the “sucky situation.”
Richardson has an Olympic gold medal from the 2024 4×100-meter relay in Paris, and she won the 100 meters at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. Both Richardson and Coleman won world titles in 2023 and 2025 in their respective 4x100s.
Christian Coleman and Sha’Carri Richardson pose for portraits during a studio photo session on the sidelines of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2025. (Andre J Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images)
Richardson settled for silver in the 100 meters in Paris, while Coleman still awaits an Olympic medal — he did win the 100 and 4×100 at the 2019 World Championships.
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Southeast
Florida couple sues fertility clinic after allegedly giving birth to someone else’s baby
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A Florida couple is suing a fertility clinic weeks after the woman gave birth to a baby that allegedly isn’t biologically their child.
Steven Mills and Tiffany Score gave birth to a “beautiful, healthy female child” in December, but when the couple, who are both White, realized their new daughter appeared to be “racially non-Caucasian,” they ordered genetic testing that proved she wasn’t theirs, according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
The lawsuit claims the Fertility Center of Orlando somehow implanted the wrong embryo in Score’s uterus five years after the couple had their embryos frozen at the clinic.
“Of equal concern to the Plaintiffs is the obvious possibility that someone else was implanted with one or more of their embryos and is pregnant with or has been pregnant with and is presently parenting one or more of their children,” the lawsuit, filed in Orange County, Florida on Jan. 22, added.
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Steven Mills and Tiffany Score holding the baby girl Score gave birth to. (MILLS SCORE FAMILY ATTORNEY MARA HATFIELD)
The lawsuit also claims that the couple has asked the clinic to no avail to help reunite the daughter Score gave birth to with her biological parents and to find out what happened to their own frozen embryos.
They also want the clinic to pay for the genetic testing of every child born whose parents had embryos implanted at the clinic in the last five years after the couple used their services.
“An intensely strong emotional bond was created on the part of Tiffany and Steven with the unborn child Tiffany carried during the nine months of her pregnancy, and despite the certain knowledge that Shea is not their genetically matched child, the emotional bond grows stronger every minute of every day that Shea remains in their care,” the lawsuit says. “They would willingly keep her in their care; however, for the sake of both Shea and her genetic parents, they recognize that Shea should legally and morally be united with her genetic parents so long as they are fit, able and willing to take her.”
Doctor removing embryo samples from cryogenic storage. (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
At an emergency hearing on Wednesday, lawyers on both sides said that clinic had preliminarily agreed to do genetic testing, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
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However, Francis Pierce III, a lawyer for the clinic, told the Sentinel that there are privacy issues with genetically testing other babies born to patients at the clinic.
“Patients would have to agree to be tested,” he told the newspaper. Pierce added that attorneys on both sides are working for a quick settlement.
A Florida couple is suing a fertility clinic weeks after the woman gave birth to a baby that isn’t biologically their child. (ASTIER/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Dr. Milton McNichol, who heads the clinic, was fined $5,000 in May 2024 after a Florida State Board of Medicine routine inspection found equipment that didn’t meet “performance standards,” and non-compliance with a risk management program, according to the newspaper.
Fox News Digital has reached out to lawyers for the clinic and McNichol for comment.
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