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Lawsuit seeks to revoke FAA license for Georgia spaceport

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Lawsuit seeks to revoke FAA license for Georgia spaceport


SAVANNAH, Ga. — Opponents of a proposed launchpad for industrial rockets on the Georgia coast are asking a court docket to throw out the challenge’s authorities license, saying the Federal Aviation Administration didn’t accurately assess the dangers of firing rockets over houses and a barrier island fashionable with vacationers.

Attorneys for the Southern Environmental Regulation Middle filed swimsuit in U.S. District Courtroom in search of to revoke the launch web site operator license the FAA granted in December to the deliberate Spaceport Camden. Officers in coastal Camden County have spent the previous decade and greater than $10 million in search of to construct a spaceport for launching satellites into orbit.

The proposed flight path would ship rockets over Little Cumberland Island, which has about 40 personal houses, and neighboring Cumberland Island, a federally protected wilderness visited by about 60,000 vacationers every year. Residents and the Nationwide Park Service have mentioned they worry explosive misfires raining fiery particles might spark wildfires close to houses and other people.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of house owners and conservation teams says the FAA allowed county officers to attenuate potential security dangers by basing their license software on a hypothetical rocket “that doesn’t exist” and is smaller than present industrial rockets. It says the FAA did not observe its personal insurance policies that decision for holding such “unproven” rockets to the next normal.

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“The FAA’s choice to license a web site the place rockets would launch over folks, houses, and Cumberland Island Nationwide Seashore … is opposite to the company’s laws for licensing launch websites and is unprecedented within the historical past of the US’ industrial area program,” mentioned the the lawsuit, filed Might 19 within the District of Columbia.

The lawsuit additionally claims {that a} prime FAA official privately instructed opponents of Spaceport Camden in March 2019 that he doubted the challenge would achieve success.

The doc says a gaggle of Little Cumberland Island owners traveled to Washington to satisfy with FAA officers together with Wayne Monteith, who was then the company’s affiliate administrator for industrial area transportation. The lawsuit says Monteith instructed the group “that Spaceport Camden was not a commercially viable launch web site and that `some spaceports simply need to promote hats and T-shirts.’”

FAA spokesman Steve Kulm mentioned Thursday that the company doesn’t touch upon pending litigation. Monteith now not works for the FAA and isn’t named as a defendant within the lawsuit. Reached by telephone, Monteith’s spouse mentioned he was touring Thursday. He didn’t instantly return a message in search of remark.

“On a number of events we might ask the FAA, ‘Hear, is it worthwhile for us to proceed this endeavor?’” mentioned John Simpson, a spokesman for the Spaceport Camden challenge. “Nobody on the FAA ever instructed us, `We don’t see this as a commercially viable challenge.’ Neither is that the FAA’s position.”

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In Camden County, a group of 55,000 folks on the Georgia-Florida line, commissioners have lengthy argued {that a} spaceport would carry financial progress not simply from rocket launches, but additionally by attracting associated industries and vacationers.

Opponents say the plans to construct the spaceport on an industrial plot previously used to fabricate pesticides and munitions poses potential environmental and security hazards that outweigh any financial advantages.

The FAA’s closing environmental influence report on Spaceport Camden concluded county officers had submitted an “ample and applicable” plan for coping with fires and different emergencies that may come up from rocket launches.

Nevertheless, the FAA famous when it granted the county’s license to function a spaceport in December {that a} separate and extra complete evaluate can be required earlier than any rockets might be launched. The company careworn in a letter that “no final result is assured.”

In March, opponents pressured a referendum on the challenge after gathering greater than 3,500 petition signatures from registered voters saying they wished the spaceport on the poll.

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The outcome was an enormous defeat for the spaceport. The ultimate tally confirmed 72% of voters sided with halting the challenge by overruling commissioners’ prior choice to purchase land for the spaceport.

County officers have given no indication that they plan to desert the spaceport. Simply days after the referendum, they voted to transfer forward with shopping for property for the challenge. In the meantime, commissioners have a authorized case pending in Georgia that seeks to have the referendum declared invalid.



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Georgia

Wynk THC seltzer coming to stores across Georgia. Here’s what we know

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Wynk THC seltzer coming to stores across Georgia. Here’s what we know


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This Thanksgiving, want something a little different to wash down your meal? If so, there’s a new beverage you might like to try.

On Wednesday, Wynk announced the statewide debut of its THC-infused seltzers. According to the company’s news release, Wynk delivers a refreshing social experience with a balanced 1:1 ratio of THC and CBD using high-quality manufacturing standards.

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The drink comes in a variety of flavors including “Black Cherry Fizz,” “Lime Twist,” “Juicy Mango,” and “Tangerine.” They come in 7.5 oz cans with 2.5mg of THC and CBD and 12 oz cans with 5mg of each. The prices are as follows:

  • 6-Pack: 2.5mg $24.99; 5mg $35.99
  • 12-Pack: 2.5mg $44.99; 5mg $67.99
  • 24-Pack: 2.5mg $89.99; 5mg $129.99

Products like these may be legally sold due to Congress legalizing hemp production in the 2018 Farm Bill, according to a press release on Georgia’s Hemp Farming Act. Hemp is a cannabis plant that naturally contains small amounts of the psychoactive cannabinoid delta-9 THC, along with other natural cannabinoids that may be used for medicinal purposes. Under Georgia’s new legislation, products that contain these kinds of ingredients are restricted those 21 and older.

Wynk is being sold in a variety of stores across Georgia like Chevron, Circle K, and BP. To find your nearest store that sells it, go to drinkwynk.com/find-in-stores.



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Jimmy Carter Christmas ornament now available at Georgia stores

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Jimmy Carter Christmas ornament now available at Georgia stores


The White House is honoring former President Jimmy Carter this Christmas with his own ornament, and Georgians can get their own for their tree.

The ornament is in the shape of an anchor, a symbol of hope that also represents Carter’s service in the U.S. Navy.

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It also features historic moments from Carter’s life and presidency and comes with a keepsake box and illustrated booklet on Carter’s presidency.

 “It is a great honor to offer the Official 2024 White House Christmas Ornament at Home Depot stores for the first time in Georgia,” said Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association. “This year we pay tribute to President Jimmy Carter’s remarkable life and enduring legacy as he continues to be a fixture in our country’s ongoing history.” 

The White House Historical Association, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum/NARA)

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Shoppers can find the ornament at around 60 Home Depot stores across Georgia and in the Washington, D.C. area.

You can also buy the ornament on The Home Depot’s website.



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Georgia Senate study panel considers restrictions on trans women’s college sports participation • Georgia Recorder

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Georgia Senate study panel considers restrictions on trans women’s college sports participation • Georgia Recorder


A Georgia Senate study committee that bills itself as tasked with protecting women’s sports met Thursday for the last time before it is set to release recommendations before next year’s legislative session, and transgender Georgians are bracing themselves.

At Thursday’s hearing, transgender women and allies argued that vanishingly few transgender women participate in school sports, and those who do are largely not at the top of the competitive heap. Many said the national focus is making life difficult.

“It’s so hard to face this kind of opposition,” said Aaron Baker, a transgender woman and activist. “It’s so hard to be at a hearing like this and hear the language. It’s so hard for you to hear people describe me as a biological man because it’s not

Aaron Baker. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

true. I am hormonally female, I’m phenotypically female, I’m psychologically female, and that is a gross oversimplification of who I am and my identity, and it hurts.”

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Committee Chair Greg Dolezal, a Cumming Republican, told members he would spend the next week or so reviewing testimony from the committee’s three hearings and plans to announce the date for presenting recommendations shortly after. Study committee recommendations could take the form of proposed legislation in time for the 2025 General Assembly, which is set to begin Jan. 13.

Dolezal indicated he is interested in considering regulations for college sports. A previous hearing featured testimony from cisgender women college swimmers who said they were placed at an unfair disadvantage when they had to compete against a transgender woman at a competition at Georgia Tech.

“A few years ago, I believe it was three years ago, the General Assembly passed a bill essentially prescribing the control to make decisions around transgender participation in sports to the Georgia High School Association, they passed a resolution that stated that participation in sports, high school sports, in the state of Georgia was based on the sex prescribed on a birth certificate. The law is currently silent on the collegiate competition level. So right now, we just have a law as it relates to high school associations,” he said.

Other Republicans on the committee suggested they would like to see legislation in K-12 schools, especially surrounding restrooms and locker rooms.

“As a father of two young daughters, we’ve got to protect women,” said Gwinnett Republican Sen. Clint Dixon. “We’ve got to protect their sports, we’ve got to protect them in changing rooms from what we heard from many of those athletes who testified, four or five of them who testified in the first committee hearing, having to change, which took 20, 30 minutes at a time, in front of a transgender female, but still had the genitalia of a male, which was horrific for them to witness that, some of them ended up changing in a storage closet, some of them waited until that athlete left the room, having to miss some of their competition, and that’s just at the college level, we’re not even talking about minors in K-12.”

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Some activists indicated that they would oppose any kind of restriction on transgender participation, while speakers like Lambda Legal attorney Sasha Buchert urged the lawmakers to take a nuanced approach over a blanket ban, which could mean a committee including medical experts to consider safety or competitive concerns on a case-by-case basis. Others said such decisions should be left to athletic associations and leagues rather than politicians or political appointees.

Delfina Booth Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

“Sports are already managed by expert organizations like the NCAA, the International Olympics Committee, and professional leagues,” said Delfina Booth, a former Georgia Tech student and high school athlete who said she has lost transgender friends to police violence and suicide.

“These governing bodies have developed policies over decades that analyze fairness based on unique needs of each sport,” she added. “Contact sports have different rules than non-contact sports, children’s sports focus more on teamwork and development than adult sports, et cetera. These nuances cannot be addressed through broad government legislation. Additionally, decisions about athletic ability involve multiple complex factors, including the signs of physical development and the specific demands of each sport. These aren’t matters that lend themselves directly or easily to blanket rules.”

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