Georgia
Senate bill would make cockfighting a felony. Georgia is the only state where it’s not already.
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Georgia is the only state in the country where cockfighting is not, by law, a felony. That could change as Senate Bill 102 creeps towards passage.
The bill would outlaw cockfighting and bring it under the same state statute that makes dogfighting a felony in Georgia. It would also make bringing a minor to an organized cockfight an aggravated misdemeanor.
The brutal sport of cockfighting features roosters with gaffs — essentially razor blades or daggers — attached to their legs in a fight to the death.
“Unfortunately, it’s way more common than people are aware of,” said Jessica Rock, an animal crimes prosecutor in Georgia. “There are organized cockfights going on in the State of Georgia every weekend.”
Rock is the first and one of the only state-funded prosecutors solely dedicated to animal cruelty cases. She’s been lobbying for the passage of SB 102 after another attempt at outlawing cockfighting, SB 255, failed in the legislature last year. Rock said people would be surprised at the scale of cockfighting events in Georgia.
“You’re talking about stadium seating, concessions stands, people from multiple other states bringing trailers of birds into Georgia to fight them,” she said. “You can make upwards of $100,000 or more on a derby, which is a series of cockfights that can occur over a day.”
As of now, there’s not much law enforcement in Georgia can do to prosecute serious cases of cockfighting. Sometimes, the best they can do is charge misdemeanor animal cruelty or misdemeanor gambling. But Rock also said it can be a gateway to much more serious crimes.
“Obviously, there’s gambling involved and then unfortunately, what we see a lot of times is drug trafficking, gun trafficking and human trafficking as well,” she said.
Cockfighting is already a federal felony, but bill sponsor State Sen. Randy Robertson (R-Cataula) said he wants Georgia to be able to handle their own investigations without the help of federal investigators.
“I think it’s something we can do on our own,” he said.
Cockfighting is vastly popular in many foreign countries. Robertson said a lot of the pushback he’s getting is from people for whom cockfighting is culturally ingrained. And he understands — his family used to attend cockfights when he was young and even raised fighting roosters.
“I understand the sport very well, but you know what? There are a lot of things we did many years ago that just don’t fit into the fabric of what Georgia is today,” he said. “I think it’s time we move beyond that.”
Like Rock, Robertson believes the only other opposition to this bill is from those who are making large sums of money on the sport.
“I would think it’s because they’re making – they or somebody that they care about – is making a profit off of it,” he said.
Said Rock: “They wouldn’t want to sign onto it if they’re engaged in cockfighting. I think it’s that simple.”
Copyright 2025 WANF. All rights reserved.
Georgia
Georgia Tech Athletics Receives a Pair of $10 Million Gifts
THE FLATS – Two generous, anonymous families have each given $10 million gifts to support Georgia Tech athletics’ Full Steam Ahead initiative and the Yellow Jackets’ football program, Tech vice president and director of athletics Ryan Alpert has announced.
“We’re incredibly grateful to these two generous families for their investments in Georgia Tech athletics and a championship-level football program,” Alpert said. “Led by these families, their relentless investments in our mission and their belief in our upward trajectory, support of Georgia Tech athletics and Tech football are at unprecedented levels.”
With these transformative gifts, Georgia Tech athletics is well on to set a new fundraising record in the 2026 fiscal year, as donor participation is up 21% in just six months since the fiscal year began on July 1.
Additionally, in just 14 months since the public launch of Full Steam Ahead in October 2024, Tech athletics has received nearly $90 million in new commitments to the initiative. In total, nearly $400 million has been raised towards Full Steam Ahead’s $500 million goal, which is a part of the Institute-wide Transforming Tomorrow campaign.
Georgia Tech continues to display its commitment to fielding nationally prominent, championship-level athletics programs. Notably, Tech athletics has committed to making more than $150 million in investments to its football program over the next several years, which includes the opening of the Fanning Student-Athlete Performance Center in the spring (a state-of-the-art facility that will benefit Georgia Tech’s full body of 300-plus student-athletes), a renovation of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field that will be completed prior to the 2027 season, a continued pledge to provide maximum revenue sharing to student-athletes and significant new resources devoted to expand and enhance staff.
To fulfill these commitments, enhanced engagement and support from the Georgia Tech community is vital.
“We still have progress to make to achieve our goal of consistently competing for championships at the highest levels of intercollegiate athletics,” Alpert continued. “Never in the history of college athletics has success been so closely tied to resources, and now is the time to seize the opportunity to take advantage of the great momentum and energy that we’re experiencing on The Flats.
“Every member of the White and Gold community can play a part. We urge fans to get in the game. Whether it be through gifts to the A-T Fund, purchasing tickets and merchandise, corporate sponsorships – every manner of support is vital to the success of Tech athletics.”
For more information and to make a year-end gift to the A-T Fund, visit atfund.org.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
Fourth Quarter
Less than two weeks remain for the Georgia Tech community to take advantage of the A-T Fund’s year-end Fourth Quarter Initiative, which gives supporters the opportunity to receive four A-T Fund priority points for every $100 donated to the Athletic Scholarship Fund through Dec. 31. The Athletic Scholarship Fund provides direct support for student-athletic scholarships and is one of the A-T Fund’s highest annual priorities, as it helps bridge the gap between endowment returns and scholarship costs.
Fourth Quarter gifts to the Athletic Scholarship Fund will provide donors with four A-T Fund priority points per $100 donated, which is double the two points normally allotted per $100 given. A-T Fund priority points are used to allocate benefits such as seat locations and parking for Georgia Tech athletics home events, as well as access to tickets for away games and postseason events, including ACC and NCAA Championships, bowl games and the College Football Playoff. To contribute to the Fourth Quarter Initiative and begin collecting four A-T Fund priority points for every $100 donated, click HERE. For more information, visit atfund.org/4th-quarter.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, follow us on X, Facebook, Instagram and at www.ramblinwreck.com.
Georgia
DA Fani Willis appears before Georgia Senate panel
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies before a Georgia State Senate committee in Atlanta as she ends her year-long legal fight over a subpoena and defends her actions in the Trump election interference case.
Posted
Georgia
One of Georgia Tech’s best, Haynes King readies for Yellow Jackets finale
A day after receiving ACC honors, Tech’s senior quarterback refocuses on BYU and the bowl game.
Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King (center) and his family react during a senior night event prior to his final home game Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, against Pittsburgh at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta. (Hyosub Shin AJC)
As Haynes King’s time in Atlanta and as a member of the Georgia Tech football program wanes, the inimitable quarterback is soaking in the last few days with teammates while basking in the glow of winning a pair of individual ACC awards.
King was presented two trophies Tuesday — one for being named the ACC player of the year and the other for being named the ACC offensive player of the year — during halftime of Tech’s basketball win over Marist at McCamish Pavilion. The senior was joined by Tech coach Brent Key, Tech athletic director Ryan Alpert, Tech President Angel Cabrera and the ACC’s senior vice president for football, Michael Strickland.
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