1 of 2 | A newly redrawn map of Georgia’s congressional districts was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday following a special session held this week by state lawmakers. Image by Georgia General Assembly
Dec. 9 (UPI) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed legislation redrawing the state’s congressional map after the previous one, also drawn up by Republican state lawmakers, was ruled unconstitutional.
Kemp signed the legislation into law on Friday, a day after the Georgia House of Representatives approved the redrawn map during ahead of a deadline imposed by a judge during a special session.
The new map sees Georgia’s 6th Congressional District extended to include parts of urbanized Fulton and Cobb counties, where the Black voting-age population will now amount to 51.75%.
A federal judge had previously ruled Georgia’s existing electoral district maps to be unconstitutional, violating part of the 1964 Voting Rights Act.
U.S. District Court Judge Steven Jones set a hearing later this month to ensure the new maps meet specifications. That hearing is scheduled to take place Dec. 20.
Jones’ previous order instructed state legislators to draw a pair of new districts containing a majority black population in the state Senate and five in the House of Representatives.
Georgia opened a special legislative session on Nov. 29 in response to the judge’s ruling, wrapping up Thursday evening.
The new map passed largely along party lines with Republican lawmakers insisting it meets the judge’s specifications.
“The remedy involves an additional majority black congressional district in west metro Atlanta that’s from the often quoted page 509 of judge jones order so here again, it falls to us in the general assembly to comply with judge jones order as he is allowed us to do,” Rep. Rob Leverette told his colleagues in the House Thursday, according to WGXA-TV.
“The bill you have before you will adopt a congressional map that does just that,” he asserted.
Some Democrats, however, said the new maps amount to a reshuffling and do not fulfill the spirit of the judge’s order.
“Georgia’s Republican politicians have passed an unlawful legislative map, defying a judge’s order to redraw our state’s districts after they violated the Voting Rights Act,” Rep. Sam Park told the house Thursday.
The new maps “certainly are not fair to Georgia voters especially for Black voters and voters of color, whose freedom to elect their candidate of choice is being attacked and undermined.” he said.
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – The Golden Gloves aired Sunday night, and Georgia’s status as a film and TV production hub is bearing fruit on the big stage.
The Peach State was represented on both the film and TV sides of the awards, through both native actors and productions filmed in Georgia.
Gabriel LaBelle was nominated for Best Performance in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his performance in Saturday Night, a film about the first ever episode of Saturday Night Live. The movie was shot in both Atlanta and Fayetteville. LaBelle lost to Sebastian Stan for his role in A Different Man.
Kathryn Hahn was nominated for Best Performance in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy for her performance in Agatha All Along. The Disney+ series was partially shot at Trilith Studios in Atlanta. Hahn lost to Jean Smart for her role in Hacks.
Actor Donald Glover, who grew in Stone Mountain, was nominated for Best Actor – Television Series Drama for his role in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Glover lost to Hiroyuki Sanada for his role in Shōgun.
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Jaden Rashada’s college career will continue at another school.
The former Florida signee and Arizona State quarterback is entering the transfer portal, according to ESPN. Rashada spent the 2024 season at Georgia and did not play in a game.
Rashada was a four-star recruit and the No. 11 pro-style QB in the high school class of 2023. He initially committed to Miami, but flipped that verbal commitment to Florida. After signing with Florida, Rashada asked for his release from the Gators — more on that in a bit — and signed with Arizona State in February of 2023.
The California native appeared in three games for the Sun Devils in 2023 and transferred again at the end of the season. He ended up at Georgia with an apparent eye on competing for the starting job in 2025 and beyond with Carson Beck entrenched as the starter. Gunner Stockton served as the Bulldogs’ No. 2 QB in 2024 and started the team’s Sugar Bowl loss to Notre Dame on Jan. 2.
Not long after he transferred to Georgia in early 2024, Rashada filed a lawsuit against Florida coach Billy Napier and a booster over an NIL deal that never came together. Rashada said that he was promised a name, image and likeness deal north of $10 million as part of his commitment to Florida.
The lack of that NIL deal was the reason Rashada transferred from the Gators. He left after he didn’t receive his first payment and his recruitment to the school is now the subject of an NCAA investigation.
In three games with the Sun Devils a season ago, Rashada was 44-of-82 passing for 485 yards, four TDs and three interceptions. ASU was 3-9 a season ago before posting one of the biggest turnarounds in college football in 2024. Former Michigan State QB Sam Leavitt emerged as the starter as the Sun Devils won the Big 12 and made it to the College Football Playoff before losing 39-31 in double-overtime to Texas in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1.
NEW ORLEANS — The normally stoic Smael Mondon finally displayed some emotion. After four years, multiple injuries and pouring everything he could into the Georgia program, Mondon finally showed how he was feeling as he embraced Glenn Schumann in the locker room.
The ups and downs that followed a difficult 2024 season, not just for Mondon but many on the Georgia roster, culminated in a 23-10 defeat to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. Instead of cheers, there were tears for Georgia. Not just from a distraught Mondon, but the likes of Oscar Delp, Dylan Fairchild and others.
“Definitely not what you want in the end. That’s for certain,” sophomore linebacker CJ Allen told DawgNation after the game. “The things we’ve been through, the things this team’s been through, the stuff we overcame, we overcame a lot. I’m very super proud of this team. We overcame a lot. Just thinking about that, you know what I’m saying, to be proud of ourselves for that, the things we overcame this season.”
For the first time since the 2018 season, Georgia’s season ended with a loss. That ironically came in the Sugar Bowl, against Texas. The Longhorns were still in the Big 12 at that point time.
Players like Mondon and Chaz Chambliss had yet to sign with Georgia. Those seniors ended up becoming the winningest senior class in program history, going 53-5. They went 25-0 at home, winning two SEC championships and two national championships.
The Bulldogs were unable to get a third national title. Too many injuries. Too difficult a schedule. Not enough talent and not enough bounces of the football went their way this season.
Some may see this season as a failure. Those people obviously didn’t see the inside of the Georgia locker room following the loss to Notre Dame.
To see everything that this team went through and call them anything but successful would be insulting.
“Played the hardest schedule in the country. We’re SEC champions. Can’t take that away from us,” Delp said. “That’s just how it is. It’s going to be like that next year, too. It’s not like that one year. That’s how it’s going to be. Deal with it. We got to work in the offseason, get better, compete. A lot of crazy things happened this season. We can’t control anything. You got to do what you do.”
Georgia went on the road to Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss. It beat the Longhorns twice, as well as playoff participant Tennessee as well. It won an SEC championship with its starting quarterback exiting the game on the last play of the first half.
There were dismissals, arrests, suspensions and a number of self-inflicted incidents that kept this team from being one of the final four remaining. This team was far from perfect.
But in some ways, the beautiful mess that was the 2024 Georgia football season puts this team’s accomplishments in better perspective.
There was no Brock Bowers or Jalen Carter on this team. Sure there were talented players, such as Butkus Award winner Jalon Walker or two-time All-American Tate Ratledge, but there wasn’t a single player that elevated everyone else.
It was a band of brothers, coming together and fighting all the way to the end. Georgia had incredible comebacks against the likes of Texas and Georgia Tech. Even against Notre Dame when the Bulldogs gave up a 98-yard kickoff return to open the second half, they never rolled over. They continued to battle and were a redzone touchdown away from cutting the deficit to 6.
Georgia couldn’t make the plays when needed. But this team never stopped trying to make them.
“It’s going to teach us just to keep going,” freshman linebacker Chris Cole said.
Next year’s team is will look different. Given the rapid roster movements that occurs on college rosters now, many of the players in that locker room will play elsewhere. Some in the NFL, others at other schools.
The roster will flip, as the Bulldogs are likely to see double-digit players leave via the transfer portal and the NFL draft. Such is life when you’re as talented as Georgia was, even in what was admittedly a down season.
Still, it’s hard not to come away with how this Georgia team fought, all the way until the end.
“What they went through this year and what they played and how they played, the resiliency, the injuries that we’ve had, and to win an SEC championship — which I have so much respect for our conference,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “To win some of the comeback games they won and never quit, even in this game, never quit, that’s the attitude you’ve got to have to get better as a football program.”
Smart has been honest about this team. It was not his most talented. The ninth-year head coach has said as much. There were moments of frustration this season, some were due to forces out of Georgia’s control.
He knows the Georgia program has to get better. Smart has shown he’s the coach capable of doing so, as the Georgia program seemed a lot farther away from championships than it did the last time it saw its season end with a loss in New Orleans.
And he knows that the scars formed during this season will help make future Georgia teams better.
“Remember the taste in your mouth, you never want that feeling again,” Allen said. “When you’re a winner, you hate losing more than you like winning. So just taking that into consideration with the offseason program and just knowing what we have to do and the feeling that we have now, not want to fight that again. So just working hard in the summer and spring and so on.”
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