U.S. Rep. Karen Handel is urging President Donald Trump to reconsider tariffs he imposed today against steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and European Union nations.
The tariffs, which will go into effect Friday, will add a 25 percent duty to steel imports and a 10 percent duty to aluminum imports from some of the top trading partners of the U.S.
Handel, a Roswell Republican whose 6th Congressional District includes East Cobb, said while she supports Trump’s efforts to renegotiate trade deals, the decision announced Thursday “threatens to dampen” what she said was “recent progress” on the economy.
Handel was referring to Trump’s tax reform legislation that she vocally supported. In a series of messages on her official Twitter account, Handel said the tariffs “do not further the goal of fostering more equitable trade.”
Earlier this month she cautioned against the tariffs that came down today, urging a more “surgical” approach that would avoid retaliation.
Georgia’s two Republican U.S. Senators, Johnny Isakson of East Cobb and David Perdue of Macon, also do not support the latest tariffs. In March Trump issued similar tariffs on other nations, but exempted Canada, Mexico and the EU.
Isakson said the tariffs would hurt the auto industry, and Handel’s district includes the USA headquarters for Mercedes-Benz and other companies that could be adversely affected by Thursday’s decision.
Also coming out against the new tariffs is U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican who is retiring from Congress after this year.
Handel, elected last year in a special election to succeed former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, is running for re-election in November for what would be her first full term. Her opponent will be Lucy McBath or Kevin Abel, who face off in a July 24 Democratic runoff.
Trump won the strongly Republican 6th District with only 51 percent of the vote in 2016. According to an analysis by the political website FiveThirtyEight, Handel has voted with Trump’s positions on major issues and legislation more than 87 percent of the time.
That does not include recent tariff impositions.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Democrat Caroline Holko (right) got more votes than Republican incumbent JoAnn Birrell (left) in the Cobb Commission District 3 primary. But more GOP voters cast ballots in that race on May 22.
Here’s an East Cobb elections update, with official tallies from the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, which this week certified the results of the May 22 primaries. We’ve provided the official numbers below of East Cobb-area races, but here are a few other figures of note:
A total of 84,284 Cobb voters cast ballots, a turnout of 17.8 percent of the 473,356 registered voters in the county;
More Cobb voters voted for Republican candidates at the top of the statewide ticket (governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, etc.) than for Democrats, but only by a slight margin, around 42,000 to around 41,000 on average.
Cobb Commission District 3
Caroline Holko (D): 5,767
JoAnn Birrell (R, incumbent): 5,634
Tom Cheek (R): 3,973
James Smith (D): 1,393
Cobb School Board Post 4
David Chastain (R, incumbent): 4,600
Cynthia Parr (D): 3,469
Cobb School Board Post 6
Scott Sweeney (R, incumbent): 4,844
Charisse Davis (D): 4,562
State Senate District 32
Kay Kirkpatrick (R, incumbent): 11,994
Christine Triebsch (D): 8,502
State House District 37
Sam Teasley (R, incumbent): 3,012
Mary Frances Williams (D): 1,964
Ragin Edwards (D): 514
Bill Bolton (D): 327
State House District 43
Sharon Cooper (R, incumbent): 3,034
Luisa Wakeman (D): 2,641
State House District 44
Don Parsons (R, incumbent): 2,953
Chinita Allen (D): 2,373
Homer Crothers (R): 760
State House District 45
Matt Dollar (R, incumbent): 3,834
Essence Johnson (D): 2,597
State House District 46
John Carson (R, incumbent): 2,788
Karín Sandiford (D): 1,881
U.S. House District 6
Karen Handel (R, incumbent): 13,996
Lucy McBath (D): 4,226
Kevin Abel (D): 3,019
Bobby Kaple (D): 2,762
Steven K. Griffin (D): 740
These are Cobb voting totals only; there will be a Democratic runoff on July 24 between McBath and Abel. There will be Republican runoff the same day in the governor’s race between current Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and current Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
The Cobb precinct-by-precinct voting totals can be found here. Several East Cobb precincts had higher than 20 percent turnout:
Addison, 23.4 percent;
Blackwell, 20 percent;
Chattahoochee, 20 percent;
Chestnut Ridge, 23 percent;
Dickerson, 23 percent;
Dodgen, 24 percent;
Davis, 21 percent;
Eastside 1, 25 percent
Eastside 2, 26.8 percent;
Elizabeth 2, 21 percent;
Elizabeth 3, 23.5 percent;
Elizabeth 5, 21 percent;
Fullers Park, 21.87 percent;
Garrison Mill, 23.64 percent;
Gritters, 20.23 percent;
Hightower, 22 percent;
Lassiter, 20 percent;
Mabry, 21.61 percent;
Murdock, 23 percent;
McCleskey, 24 percent;
Marietta 6B, 23 percent;
Mt. Bethel 1, 22.61 percent;
Mt. Bethel 3, 21.95 percent;
Mt. Bethel 4, 23.56 percent;
Pope, 20 percent;
Roswell 1, 22 percent;
Sandy Plains, 20 percent;
Shallowford Falls, 22.65 percent;
Sope Creek 1, 28.29 percent;
Sope Creek 3, 22.79 percent;
Timber Ridge, 23.84 percent;
Willeo, 23.21 percent.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb Police have issued a Mattie’s Call alert for an East Cobb woman who left her home Wednesday night and has not been seen since.
Marie Proffitt Long, 74, left her residence on Bluff Stone Terrace in a red 2000 Toyota Sienna van around 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to Cobb Police, who said the Georgia tag number on her vehicle is PNL6421.
Police said she is around 5-foot-5 and weighs around 110 pounds. She has red hair, blue eyes and was last seen wearing dark pants, a flowered shirt and running shoes.
The residence is off Steinhauer Road, near Shallowford Road and Lassiter High School.
Mattie’s Calls are issued for elderly or disabled persons. Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to call Cobb County Police at 770-499-3911.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
From Cobb Police Sgt. Jeff Tattroe, head of the department’s Community Affairs Unit:
Tomorrow, June 1st, from 5am till 11am, the COPS ON DONUT SHOPS will take place, in partnership with Dunkin Donuts. This event brings together law enforcement and Dunkin Donut stores across Georgia with the goal of raising funds and awareness for Special Olympics Georgia!
Officers from the Cobb County Police Department will be at the following stores, spread throughout Cobb County:
1) 4311 Bells Ferry Road
2) 836 Veterans Memorial Highway
3) 2651 Cobb Parkway NW
4) 980 East Piedmont Road
5) 2475 Dallas Highway
As part of National Donut Day, which is tomorrow, every guest will receive a FREE donut with the purchase of one beverage. Please stop by one of the above stores to take part, make a donation to Special Olympics, and say hello to your Cobb County Police.
Let’s make this program a HUGE success in Cobb. If you are not able to stop by tomorrow morning, you can still make a difference for Special Olympics Georgia by visiting specialolympicsga.ejoinme.org/donuts. Please enter Cobb County Police when prompted to do so to show your support.
Thank you and we look forward to saying hello tomorrow morning. Please keep in mind, the officers are only set up to accept U.S. currency tomorrow morning.Every donation counts, so let’s do this as a community.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
An East Cobb Kroger gas station would replace vacant space at the Pavilions of East Lake Shopping Center where a Panera Bread restaurant was located.
That’s among the requests on the June zoning agenda in Cobb County.
The Cobb Planning Commission will hear cases next Tuesday, June 5. The Cobb Zoning Staff released its final analysis on Tuesday (full agenda here), and is recommending approval of the gas station request (agenda packet item here) with several conditions, including the district commissioner making minor modifications, and to incorporate recommendations and comments from the site plan review, stormwater management review and Cobb DOT review of the application.
Kroger wants to rezone 14.55 acres of the East Lake complex at 2100 Roswell Road from the current Neighborhood Shopping to Community Retail Commercial. The area includes a 10,000-square-foot building that would be demolished for the fueling center.
The anchor space in that building has been empty for several years after Panera Bread closed. Existing businesses would be relocated to other empty spaces at East Lake.
Kroger said in the application the hours for the fueling center would be from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, and include a kiosk with seven pumps and an air station.
A stipulation letter in the application from Garvis Sams, the applicant’s attorney, to the East Cobb Civic Association indicates that construction hours for the gas station would be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and no work on Sunday.
An apartment complex is located next to the proposed gas station site, and no construction vehicles would be parked on an adjoining road. There also would be no signage on the top of the gas station canopy.
A few other East Cobb cases to be heard Tuesday by the planning commission include:
ANE Investments, Inc., for 0.94 acres on Jamerson Road, south of Canton Road, for an automotive shop (staff recommends denial for comprehensive plan reasons);
Duncan Land Investments Inc., for 1.93 acres on Wesley Chapel Road and across from Loch Highland Parkway for four single-family homes (staff recommends denial for density reasons);
Oak Hall Companies, LLC, for 96 acres on Wigley Road for 92 single-family homes (the case was held by the planning commission, tentatively until July, for density, runoff and other reasons).
The planning commission meeting will take place at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb County government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
Final decisions on zoning matters will be made by the Cobb Board of Commissioners on June 19.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Jacqueline Alford, District Director of the Foothills District of the Boy Scouts America, sent us some information to pass along about two informational meetings they’re having next week in East Cobb regarding their first Family Cub Scouting Packs.
They’re for boys and girls who have completed pre-K through the 5th grade.
Pack 270 will hold an informational sign-up party next Tuesday, June 5, at the Emerson Unitarian Universalist Congregation (4010 Canton Road), at 6:30 p.m.
Next Thursday, June 7, Pack 518 will have a similar event, also starting at 6:30 p.m., at the Lutheran Church of the Incarnation (1200 Indian Hills Parkway).
Alford told us the family program has been around for a while, but has been expanded to include incoming kindergarteners and girls, who’ve been fully invited to join what’s also been renamed Scouts BSA.
She added:
A misconception is often that the Boy Scouts of America did this just to include girls, while that is true, it was more so to address the family as a whole. By opening the program to girls, families with boys and girls can now do the Cub Scouting together. Even before this announcement, sisters and cousins were going to Pack meetings and camp outs, but missed out on some of what the boys got to do. This now allows the girls to earn ranks and learn.
Because of this, there can now be three types of Packs: all boy Packs, all girl Packs, and family Packs (Packs with girls and boys, but Dens will be separated by gender).
The Foothills District includes around 25 or so packs of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in the East Cobb area.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Georgia DOT camera photo, shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Shortly before 4 p.m. today, Marietta Police said that multiple Interstate 75 accidents just south of the South Marietta Parkway have caused the closing of all five southbound lanes of traffic.
One northbound lane is also blocked in the same area.
Police said there have been four individual accidents involving five vehicles and a tractor-trailer, which jacknifed.
There is no word on injuries as of now.
The Georgia State Patrol is working the scene with Marietta and Cobb police officers, and the estimated time of clearing all lanes is around 6 p.m.
A heavy rain shower passed through Marietta and East Cobb around 3:30 p.m. as most of metro Atlanta and much of north Georgia remains under a flash flood watch until 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Max Kaplan, who’s 11 years old and plays in the East Cobb-based North Atlanta Tophat Soccer Association, is planning a trip to Kenya early next year to help build a soccer field there for other children.
His mother Amy Kaplan tells us he’s raising money through GoFundMe for the both of them to travel to the East African nation to participate in the field-building project through Crooked Trails, which is organizing the effort in a remote Kenyan village.
Max is a rising sixth grader at Hightower Trail Middle School. The Kaplans want to collect $8,000 in donations for the trip and began the fundraising page last week.
Here’s more about the project’s objectives from Crooked Trails, which describes itself as “travel with a purpose:”
To immerse participants in the social, spiritual, cultural and economic life of a native community;
To share in a remarkable travel experience with fellow participants who hold a desire to make the world a better place;
To complete a meaningful volunteer service project with community support
To return to home with a measurable appreciation and greater understanding of the Maasai people and the incredible wildlife of Kenya;
To gain valuable soccer skills and game ethics by spending close time with great soccer coaches.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Shortly before noon today, the East Cobb Taqueria Tsunami (1275 Johnson Ferry Road) announced on its Facebook page it’s holding its grand opening today and Wednesday with dinner service from 5-9 p.m.
Regular hours commence Thursday with lunch service beginning at 11 a.m., followed by the same dinner hours.
That’s all we have for now, but here’s what we’ve been posting since Fork U Concepts began the process of converting the former Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagel space last fall, with a new site plan that includes a reconfigured parking lot to accommodate 42 spaces.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The National Weather Service has included Cobb County in a flash flood watch until Wednesday morning due to rains stemming from Subtropical Storm Alberto.
The watch was to begin at 2 p.m. Monday and covers most of north and central Georgia. The heavy rains could cause flooding in rivers, lakes, streams and other low-lying areas.
Alberto was making landfall on the northwest Florida Gulf Coast early Monday afternoon, according to the NWS, which also included this information in its watch alert:
Subtropical storm Alberto will continue northward into eastern Alabama through this evening bringing abundant moisture and rainfall along and east of its track. This will allow for increased rainfall potential across the area. Although average rainfall totals will average 2 to 3 inches, some areas could see as much as 4 to 5 inches through Tuesday night. Creek and river levels are already above average and will not take much additional rainfall to cause levels to rise above bankfull.
Several creeks and rivers will rise out of their banks closing roads and impacting homes, businesses and farms. High water may not recede until well after the rain has ended.
The chance of rain in Cobb and metro Atlanta is expected to increase later on Monday afternoon and overnight and through Tuesday, possibly up to a 90 percent chance. We could get up to three-quarters of an inch of rain Tuesday night.
In addition to the rain and possible flash floods, foggy conditions may also be present.
The watch period ends at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
On Wednesday, thunderstorms are likely, especially on Wednesday evening, with the chance of storms tapering off as the week continues.
High temperatures Monday and Tuesday will be in the high 70s and lows in the high 60s. From Wednesday through Thursdays, highs could reach into the mid-to-high 80s with lows in the low 70s.
Sunny skies are not expected to return until Saturday.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
There’s one major Memorial Day event in East Cobb on Monday, a 5K/10K run at the LA Fitness Center on Piedmont Road at Sandy Plains Road that’s free for veterans to enter. There are several official Memorial Day observances nearby, including the Marietta National Cemetery Memorial Day Ceremony.
That service starts at noon and the cemetery is located at 500 Washington Ave. It’s staged by the National Memorial Day Association of Georgia.
The event will be led by Georgia Army National Guard Brig. Thomas H. Blackstock, Jr., commander of the 78th Troop Command. Keynote speaker will be retired Army Maj. Gen. Charles M. Hood Jr. The reflections speaker will be Col. Edward “Rusty” Hightower, Georgia State Defense Force chief of staff at the Marietta cemetery.
The honoree organization is the Georgia World War I Centennial Commission, which will hold events around the state through November, the 100th anniversary of the end of the war.
Here are some other official Memorial Day events in Cobb and elsewhere:
At 9:30 a.m., Smyrna will hold its ceremony at the Twentieth Century Veterans Memorial, 2800 Bank Street (between Smyrna City Hall and the Smyrna Library). The event and parking are free and open to all. Scheduled speakers are retired Army Lt. Gen. Steve Arnold and retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Victoria Turney. The ceremony will feature the Georgia Army National Guard Band, Campbell High School JROTC, and the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard;
At the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield (900 Kennesaw Mountain Drive, Kennesaw), also at noon, artillerists explain the steps of firing a cannon by detailing the role of each person working the cannon. Afterwards, the process is performed in real time and the cannon is fired. The program is free and open to the public;
At 11 a.m. at Roswell City Hall (38 Hill Street, Roswell) is Roswell Remembers, which says it’s the largest Memorial Day ceremony in Georgia and includes a 21-gun salute. Live music and BBQ will be available after the ceremony.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The American Lung Association and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presents staff at Murdock Elementary School with the Platinum Award for asthma-friendly schools. (Pictured from Left to Right): Heidi LeSane, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency representative; Virginia Armour, student support administrator; David Banks, Cobb County School District (CCSD) Board Member for Post 5; Robin Lattizori, CCSD Assistant Superintendent; Susan Murphy, Murdock registered nurse (RN); Principal Lynn Hamblett; and Ateya Harbin Wilson, a representative of the American Lung Association of Georgia.
Press release:
The American Lung Association and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently presented the Platinum Award to Murdock Elementary School for making asthma-friendly school strides during the 2017-2018 school year.
Murdock is the only school in Georgia to earn the highest recognition given to schools that implement a comprehensive approach to asthma management. The award also included $1,500 for Murdock to continue efforts to plan and execute other asthma-friendly efforts.
“I would like to thank the American Lung Association in Georgia (ALAG) for selecting Murdock Elementary School to receive the Platinum Recognition award. The proposal submitted was very close to my heart as it impacts so many asthmatic children in our school community and their families,” said Susan Murphy, Murdock’s registered nurse (RN). “This award will help facilitate our future endeavor to establish asthma education and awareness as a number one priority.”
More information about the American Lung Association’s Asthma-Friendly Schools Initiative is available here.
The Georgia Department of Public Health designated the Cobb County School District as Georgia’s first Asthma-Friendly School District in 2016.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Intermittent rainshowers are expected throughout the Memorial Day weekend, and to start it off Cobb and much of Georgia have been placed under a flash flood watch until 8 a.m. Saturday.
The National Weather Service said this afternoon the greatest chance for flash flooding is in central Georgia, along with portions of north Georgia.
Between an inch and two inches of rain could fall in those areas until Saturday morning. Localized flash flooding of creeks and streams is possible in places where heavy rainfall occurs.
This is from the NWS watch issued at 3 p.m. Friday:
“Additional rounds of very heavy rainfall are likely as a trough of low pressure to the west feeds very high amounts of moisture into the area. Widespread rainfall amounts of one to two inches are likely. Locally higher amounts of 3 inches or more are possible where storms repeatedly move.
“Much of this heavy rain could fall in a short amount of time. With the heavy rain that has already fallen in the last 2 days, it will only take a relatively small amount of rainfall to cause significant flash flooding.
“Creeks and rivers will rise out of their banks closing roads or impacting homes, businesses and farms. Roads may become closed for extended periods of time. High water will not recede until well after the rain has ended.”
The extended hazardous weather outlook for Cobb continues through Memorial Day and Tuesday, with scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms possible every day. Heavy rainfall could occur stemming from Tropical Storm Alberto, which is projected to hit the northwest Florida Gulf Coast on Monday.
That is the first named storm of the year, although the 2018 hurricane season doesn’t officially begin until next week.
High temperatures in Cobb and metro Atlanta are expected to reach or exceed 80 degrees every day over the holiday weekend, with expected lows in the mid-to-high 60s.
After Friday’s 50 percent chance of rain, the chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday is forecast to be 60 percent, and around 50 percent on Monday.
Rain also is in the forecast for all of next week.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The East Cobb Senior Center community health fair returns from 10-2 Saturday, and it’s for all ages and is being held by Cobb Senior Services.
The fair is free, and includes health screenings, music and antique cars, games for kids and health and community vendors. Here’s a full list of vendors, including Aloha to Aging, Inc., East Cobb Garden Club, Marietta Golden Kiwanis, Sterling Estates East Cobb, YMCA-East Cobb, East Cobb Woodcarvers and the East Cobb Lions Club
Other activities include a Medicare presentation at 10:30 a.m. and a film screening at 1 p.m.
There’s also going to be a bake sale and a hot dog lunch will also be available.
The East Cobb Senior Center is located at 3332 Sandy Plains Road.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
In two months, the 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff will summon East Cobb voters to go back to the polls.
If Tuesday’s primary vote is any indication, gun-control advocate Lucy McBath should have an advantage on her home turf.
McBath got 36 percent of the vote across the district, which includes North Fulton and North and Central DeKalb.
She will be going up against businessman Kevin Abel, who got 30 percent of the vote. The winner of the July 24 runoff will face current U.S. Rep. Karen Handel, a Roswell Republican, in the November general election.
Neither McBath nor Abel have run for public office before.
The total vote tallies were close following the four-candidate primary, which included former CBS46 news anchor Bobby Kaple (26 percent of the vote) and Lassiter High School graduate Steven Knight Griffin (7 percent).
In the 49 precincts that are in the East Cobb area, McBath won all but 10 of them. She received 4,220 votes in East Cobb, or 39 percent of the vote. Abel got 3,014 votes, or 28 percent.
Abel also won some of the more crucial precincts in the heart of the community, including near Eastside Elementary School and Dickerson Middle School, two Mt. Bethel polling stations, Timber Ridge and Hightower Trail Middle School.
McBath, a former airline flight attendant, got 37 percent of the vote in North Fulton, to 28 percent for Abel, who lives in Alpharetta and is the founder of Abel Solutions, a technology consulting company.
In DeKalb, the margins were virtually a toss-up, with McBath getting 33 percent and Abel 32 percent.
Lucy Bath won the East Cobb precincts in purple, and Kevin Abel in green. (Georgia Secretary of State Office map)
Before her candidacy, McBath earned national attention for her gun-control advocacy after her son was shot and killed by a motorist at a Florida gas station. She had filed to run for Georgia House District 37, which includes some of the Northeast Cobb area, and switched after the Parkland, Fla., school shootings in February.
Abel, who emigrated from South Africa as a teenager, has run on reforming immigration and healthcare policy, as well as Social Security and climate change issues. He’s been especially critical of President Donald Trump over his decision to end DACA, which would allow the children of undocumented immigrants a route to legal U.S. citizenship.
The 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff will come just about a year after last year’s special election, in which Handel held off Democrat Jon Ossoff in a high-profile race that earned national attention and was rated the most expensive U.S. House race ever.
Republicans have held the seat since 1978, when Newt Gingrich was first elected to Congress, and East Cobb turned out strongly in favor of Handel in the runoff.
Last year’s close vote has encouraged Democrats to try again, even after Ossoff declined to run.
In East Cobb, where all state and local office holders are Republicans, Democrats have been especially energized.
There are Democrats running for every one of those offices up for election this year, including Cobb Commission District 3, State Senate District 32, all five State House seats in East Cobb and two Cobb Board of Education seats.
All of those Democrats are also women, with four of the legislative candidates being from minority groups.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Pope baseball team has won a second consecutive Georgia High School Association Class 6A championship, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen after a doubleheader in Rome on Tuesday.
The Greyhounds lost the first game to Allatoona 11-9 and trailed 4-2 with two outs their final at-bat in the nightcap.
Pope tied up the series 1-1 with an 8-4 win in 11 innings to force a decisive third game on Wednesday.
In the top of the seventh inning, Pope was holding on to a tight 3-2 lead when the Greyhounds erupted again, scoring seven runs and claiming the title with a 10-2 win.
Pope, which finished the season with a 34-8 record, also has won state championships in 2009 and 2013 under coach Jeff Rowland, and was state runner-up in 2016.
The team members are:
Andrew Bowman, Jackson Brown, Jordan Butler, Grayson Caldwell, Sammy Cohen, Harris East, Noah Estroff, Andrew Feld, Buddy Floyd, Connor Frost, Ian Hancock, Andrew Herlitz, Tommy Hutchins, Antonio Jareno, Will Lantis, Scotty LeSieur, Max Pralgo, Ethan Rezendes, Reid Robertson, Luke Schnurr, Nate Shipley, Caden Smith and James Tibbs.
A celebratory video was shot by Pope softball coach Chris Turco:
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Following up something we posted back in March, about the $1.2 million Casteel Road bridge replacement project over Piney Grove Creek:
Cobb DOT said today that traffic on Casteel Road where it meets Bill Murdock Road and Oak Lane at the creek and bridge will be closed starting Thursday, May 24, and will reopen on July 31.
The dates are timed for today’s end to the 2017-18 school year and the start of the 2018-19 school year on Aug. 1.
The 55-year-old bridge over Piney Grove Creek, what used to be called Sewell Creek, is being completely replaced, and the new construction will be wider, with shoulders, sidewalks and barriers on either side.
The three-way intersection also will be reconfigured, but for now, motorists will be able to travel between Oak and Bill Murdock, as indicated by the Cobb DOT map below showing suggested detours. More information is at cobbcommute.org.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
As graduations continue this week, Cobb schools valedictorians and salutatorians have been named. The district also has released some college-bound information for the class of 2018.
About 76 percent of the graduates across the Cobb County School District are headed for college, according to information made public Tuesday. A total of 6,078 of the more than 8,000 graduates are heading for college.
Topping the list are Walton and Lassiter in East Cobb, with each school having more than 500 college-bound seniors.
In addition, more than $115 million in scholarship aid has been awarded to Cobb graduates, with students from Walton leading the way with $18.9 million.
Here are the East Cobb high school valedictorians and salutatorians, including their grade-point averages, where they’re headed to college and what they’ll be studying:
Kell High School
Valedictorian: Brian Tyler Buckley (4.5, Georgia Tech, industrial engineering)
Salutatorian: Veronica May Achinger (4.403, UGA, middle grades education)
Salutatorian: Neal Michael Ostrowski (4.680, UNC-Chapel Hill, biomedical engineering)
Pope High School
Valedictorian: Caleigh Ann Cullinan (4.768, UGA, biology and psychology)
Salutatorian: Hisham Kashif (4.741, Augusta University, cell and molecular biology)
Sprayberry High School
Valedictorian: Mark Andrew Giles, Jr. (4.726, Mercer University, neuroscience and pre-medicine)
Salutatorian: Payton Grace Wade (4.636, College of Charleston, biology)
Walton High School
Valedictorian: Andrew Hoon Chyong (4.8, Georgia Tech, biomedical engineering)
Salutatorian: Melody Mei Wang (4.759, Harvard University, economics)
Wheeler High School
Valedictorian: Shawn Michael Doss (4.735, Johns Hopkins University, neuroscience)
Salutatorian: Grace Kathryn Whittington (4.727, Yale University, global affairs).
More fun facts about some East Cobb students from the Class of 2018, via the CCSD:
Lassiter High School:
A student is attending Cambridge University in United Kingdom, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world.
About 28 students will be NCAA athletes.
Pope High School:
Pope graduates will attend MIT, Emory, Georgetown, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Williams College, Northeastern, Loyola Chicago, and American.
Pope students were accepted to Furman, Howard, George Washington, UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, Washington & Lee, Cleveland Institute of Music, Rose-Holman Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Duke, Davidson, Johns Hopkins, The Peabody Institute, Carlton, and Rice.
Walton High School:
Melody Wang was a U.S. Presidential Scholar semifinalist.
Walton graduates include three STAR Students, Robert Morgan, Grace Zhou and Daniel Hudadoff
Five Georgia Scholars attended Walton: Ekta Deshmukh, Daniel Hudadoff, Madelyn Johnson, Laura Key, Adarshini Raja
Two of the Military Academy appointments come from Walton: Wesley Nourachi to U.S. Naval Academy and Blaine McDonough to U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
Wheeler High School:
Foundation Fellow at University of Georgia, Tate Hunda
Offered the STAMPS Scholarship at Georgia Tech, Grace Whittington
Accepted ROTC Scholarship to Auburn, Mitchell Landrum
Georgia Scholar, MJ Locke.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The voting precinct at Eastside Baptist Church. The final hours of primary voting Tuesday were soggy, as a late afternoon rain storm swept through East Cobb. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
UPDATED, 11:30 P.M.:
Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell has fended off a challenge from Tom Cheek to win the Republican primary in District 3.
Birrell received 5,422 votes, or 58.48 percent, to 3,850 votes for Cheek, or 41.52 percent.
That’s with 98 percent of the vote, as tabulated by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office at 11:09 p.m.
In November, Birrell will face Caroline Holko, a first-time candidate, who easily won the Democratic primary. Holko received 5,643 votes, or 80.69 percent, to 1,350 votes for Jim Smith, or 19.31 percent.
Birrell, first elected in 2010, ran on a platform of opposing tax increases, helping spur redevelopment of the Canton Road corridor and working to establish Mabry Park.
Cheek, a critic of former commission chairman Tim Lee for his handling of the Atlanta Braves stadium deal, campaigned for SPLOST reform, reduced county spending and limiting high-density development.
Holko is a home-schooling mother and liberal political advocate who supports greater transit options in Cobb. She also is opposed to cuts for Cobb libraries and senior services. Smith is a retired Cobb-Marietta water system employee who pushed for greater salary increases for county employees.
Disrict 3 includes some of Northeast Cobb, as well as the Town Center and Kennesaw areas and much of the city of Marietta.
Final results in two contested East Cobb-area legislative races are incomplete as of 11:30 p.m., as is the Democratic primary for the 6th Congressional District race, which may be going to a runoff.
In the Democratic primary for the 6th Congressional District, Lucy McBath has 37 percent of the vote, Kevin Abel 33 percent, Bobby Kaple 24 percent and Steven Knight Griffin 5 percent.
But that’s only the advance voting totals and a few precincts reporting in a district that includes East Cobb, North Fulton and North DeKalb. The winner will face U.S. Rep. Karen Handel, a Republican, in November.
There also are only very early results in House District 44, where State Rep. Don Parsons, a Republican, was being challenged by Homer Crothers in GOP balloting.
Parsons had 2,835 votes, or 79.36 percent, to 742 for Crothers, or 20.74 percent. The winner faces Democrat Chinita Allen in November.
In State House District 37, Marietta activist Mary Frances Williams had 1,938 votes, or 70.27 percent, in the Democratic primary. Trailing were Ragin Edwards with 501 votes, or 18.17 percent, and Bill Bolton with 319 votes, or 11.57 percent.
The winner faces Republican incumbent Sam Teasley in November.
More coverage is coming on Wednesday, once the final results are in, as is a detailed look at the District 3 voting.
In Cobb commission District 1 in north and west Cobb, Republican incumbent Bob Weatherford is headed for a runoff against Kelli Gambrill.
In the governor’s race, former Georgia House Minority leader Stacey Abrams easily won the Democratic nomination over Cobb former State Rep. Stacey Evans, by a 76-24 percent margin.
Abrams becomes the first woman to become a major party nominee for Georgia governor, and the first African-American woman nationwide to win a major party nomination for governor.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp appear headed for a runoff in the Republican primary on July 24.
Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell has pulled away from challenger Tom Cheek in the Republican Party primary for District 3, which includes some of Northeast Cobb.
With 87 percent of precincts reporting, she has received 4,909 votes, or 58.61 percent of the vote. Cheek has 3,466 votes, or 41.39 percent.
Caroline Holko is easily winning the Democratic primary with 4,981 votes, or 80.52 percent, to 1,205 votes for Jim Smith, for 19.48 percent.
UPDATED, 9:56 P.M.
Nearly half the vote has been counted in the Cobb Commission District 3 elections.
With 44 percent of precincts reporting, incumbent JoAnn Birrell’s lead in the GOP primary has shrunk only slightly. She has 3,077 votes, or 58.76 percent, to 2,160 votes for Tom Cheek, or 41.24 percent.
Caroline Holko continues to lead easily in the Democratic primary. She has 3,002 votes, or 79.97 percent, to 752 votes for Jim Smith, or 20.03 percent.
UPDATED, 8:53 P.M.
The first results from local Cobb races are being reported. In Cobb Commission District 3, incumbent JoAnn Birrell leads Tom Cheek 60 percent-40 percent in the Republican primary.
Birrell has 761 votes to 496 for Cheek in advance voting totals.
On the Democratic side, Caroline Holko leads James Smith 80-20 percent, or 686 to 168 votes.
UPDATED, 7:36 P.M.
Some advance and absentee voting results are rolling in for statewide offices. Casey Cagle and Brian Kemp are the early leaders in the Republican primary for governor, while Stacey Abrams is leading Stacey Evans on the Democratic side.
ORIGINAL REPORT, POSTED AT 7:01 P.M.:
East Cobb voters went to the polls today to choose party nominees for a variety of offices, including Cobb Commission District 3, the 6th Congressional District, several legislative races and as well as governor and other statewide offices.
The most closely watched race in East Cobb is District 3 on the Cobb Commission, where Republican incumbent JoAnn Birrell is being challenged by Tom Cheek in the GOP primary. The winner will face the winner of the Democratic primary between Jim Smith and Caroline Holko.
A Democratic runoff for the 6th Congressional District seat is possible, with Kevin Abel, Steven Knight Griffin, Bobby Kaple and Lucy McBath vying to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Karen Handel in November.
State Rep. Sharon Cooper, a Republican, was being challenged in the primary by Kevin James, but he was disqualified on Friday.
Voters also chose from a number of non-partisan candidates for various state and local judgeships.
A Republican runoff in the governor’s race is likely, with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp leading in some late polls. On the Democratic side, former state House minority leader Stacey Abrams of Atlanta was leading former State Rep. Stacey Evans of Cobb.
Other races included lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and state labor, insurance, agriculture and public service commissioners, as well as state school superintendent.
Democrats were also voting on straw poll questions on gun bump stock sales, Medicaid expansion, transit funding and an independent redistricting commission.
Turnout was projected to be less than 20 percent across Cobb County.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Former Walton baseball star Spencer Kieboom is back in Major League Baseball, and is staying longer than his first call-up.
Kieboom got his first major league hit over the weekend for the Washington Nationals, and he’s already played in two games.
He made his big-league debut in 2016 for Washington, but played in only one game and drew a walk. Kieboom, who played with his highly regarded brothers at Walton and later at Clemson, was called up earlier this month when catcher Matt Wieters went on the injured list.
Kieboom was batting .250 at Syracuse, the Nationals’ top farm team, and where he played part of the 2017 season.
Now 27, Kieboom was drafted by the Nationals in 2012, and a year later suffered a major injury to his throwing elbow that required “Tommy John” surgery that’s typically endured by pitchers (examples: former Braves Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy and Jonny Venters).
His younger brother Carter Kieboom also was drafted by the Nationals in 2016, and is currently playing for the Potomoc Nationals, hitting .275 with six homeruns. That’s in Class A, an entry level professional league. He’s considered one of the top minor league prospects in all of baseball.
Another brother, Trevor Kieboom, also played at Walton and Clemson and finished at UGA. He’s 24 and is a sports agent at Vanguard Sports Group in Atlanta.
Spencer Kieboom could be in a Washington uniform when the Nationals come to play the Atlanta Braves next weekend. Wieters had hamstring surgery and is expected to be out for at least eight weeks.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
