Thursday, February 18, 2010

Day 20- February 18, 2010

Tonight on Lawmakers, amid worries of falling State revenues, the Senate passes their version of the FY 2010 Amended Budget; the House and Senate agree to take a two week recess to continue to work on both budgets- the FY 2010 Amended and FY 2011 General; a coalition of legislators who think Georgia’s working families are being overlooked in the budget process speak out; and it’s the end of another legislative week- that means it’s time to check in with Tom Crawford of The Georgia Report.

Legislature Votes to Recess for 2 Weeks

The Georgia General Assembly today adopted Senate Resolution 1120 which sets the following schedule for the legislature:

Monday, February 22 in recess
Tuesday, February 23 in recess
Wednesday, February 24 in recess
Thursday, February 25 in recess
Friday, February 26 in recess

Monday, March 1 in recess
Tuesday, March 2 in recess
Wednesday, March 3 in recess
Thursday, March 4 in recess
Friday, March 5 in recess

Monday, March 8 LEGISLATIVE DAY 21
Tuesday, March 9 LEGISLATIVE DAY 22
Wednesday, March 10 LEGISLATIVE DAY 23
Thursday, March 11 LEGISLATIVE DAY 24
Friday, March 12 in recess

Monday, March 15 LEGISLATIVE DAY 25

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Day 19- February 17, 2010

Tonight on Lawmakers, the Senate passes legislation to prevent fraudulent insurance discounts; a bill to allow private ownership of public drinking water sources passes the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee; and an in-depth interview with budget policy thinkers Alan Essig of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute and Kelly McCutchen of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.

Where are David and Nwandi?

So, you might be wondering where 2009 Lawmakers co-Anchor David Zelski is and where Nwandi Lawson has gone this week... and we're happy to tell you!

First, a little bit about David. David Zelski has been a part of the Lawmakers team for ten seasons- and we hope he'll return for a future legislative session. In 2000, David was one of a promising group of Lawmakers interns. As you may be aware, David become a reporter in the 2001 session and continued as part of the award winning Lawmakers reporting team until the retirement of Gerald Bryant after the 2006 season of Lawmakers. David became a Lawmakers co-Anchor in 2007. David joined GPB in 2001 as a full-time staff producer and reporter. He's a native Georgian, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville with a minor in Broadcasting and Cinema Studies. (Go Vols!) If you're a GPB fan, you may also know that David has been a host of the Georgia Traveler series since 2006 and in the fall of 2009, he assumed the mantle of Executive Producer of GPB's popular travel and tourism show. His commitments to Georgia Traveler as the Executive Producer, Host, Writer, Segment Producer and Segment Editor are consuming all his time these days. We miss him terribly but know that we can always catch him in the next great episode of Georgia Traveler, Fridays at 9 PM, Saturdays at 7 PM and Wednesdays at 7:30 PM.

Nwandi Lawson's absence from the Lawmakers program will be much shorter- thank goodness! Nwandi and her family had a tremendous opportunity to travel to Israel this week and next and the trip had been in the works for close to a year. Nwandi will return as co-Host of Lawmakers on Tuesday, March 2 for Legislative Day 24. The Emmy Award-winning Nwandi Lawson is currently fulfilling her eleventh season on Lawmakers and her seventh as the show’s co-anchor. Her work for Georgia Public Broadcasting includes reporting for Georgia Business Report, producing the Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards from 1999 through 2005, and serving as coordinating producer for Irasshai, an award-winning Japanese language series. Nwandi is a magna cum laude graduate of Howard University. Again, you'll see Nwandi on Lawmakers again on March 2!

State of the Judiciary Rescheduled for February 24

On Wednesday, February 24, Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein (pictured left) will deliver her first State of the Judiciary Address to a special joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate at 11 AM. Justice Hunstein was appointed to the Supreme Court in November 1992 by then Governor Zell Miller. She is the second woman in history to serve as a permanent member of the Court. It is expected that her remarks will address the current budget situation in Georgia's courts. GPB will broadcast LIVE the State of the Judiciary address on GPB Knowledge. GPB Knowledge is available to most cable customers and those with digital television receivers at point 3 of your local GPB transmitter. For example, 20.3 in Augusta or 8.3 in Atlanta. The State of the Judiciary: A Lawmakers Special Edition will also be streamed live online at www.gpb.org.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Day 18- February 16, 2010

Tonight on Lawmakers, the 2010 Amended Budget passes the Senate Appropriations Committee; Legislation that could bring more federal stimulus dollars to the State passes the House Transportation Committee; our leadership series of interviews continues with House Majority Leader Jerry Keen; and a bill that would provide oversight to the Georgia Lottery Corporation passes the Senate Higher Education Committee.