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Walker brings campaign to downtown Alpharetta By JAKE DRUKMAN jake@appenmedia.com ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker brought his campaign to Alpharetta July 29 to deliver an address on public safety issues and his support for law enforcement. Walker was joined by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, State Sen. Brandon Beach and National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd. Even with some big names, the rally drew a small crowd and lasted less than 20 minutes. Much of the speakers’ time was spent hailing Walker as a superior candidate to incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock. “Senator Warnock cares more about criminals than he does about Georgia’s citizens,” Walker said. “That is going to change when I get to Washington.” Judd said there was a “crisis” on the country’s southwest border and that Warnock has not taken proper steps to deal with it. Gingrich said Walker would “change and energize” the Senate and echoed Walker’s criti-
Alpharetta administrator retires after 23 years
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By CANDY WAYLOCK candy@appenmedia.com
The big picture
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JAKE DRUKMAN/APPEN MEDIA
GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker delivers a speech outside Alpharetta City Hall July 29. Walker’s visit to the city focused on his support for law enforcement.
Qualifying period opens for Roswell election
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Georgia Milestones reset benchmark for achievement
cism of Warnock. Gingrich said people in Georgia are afraid to go out because of crime. “It tells you how much things have decayed that people really have to be afraid,” Gingrich said. “I talked to somebody last night, he was afraid to go to Lenox Square. You have to ask yourself, shouldn’t we have policies where people are safe, and the criminals are in trouble, rather than policies where the criminals are safe and the innocent are in trouble?” Walker said he was ready to debate Warnock “anytime he wants, but it has to be a fair and equitable debate.” Walker’s campaign is seeking to reinstate Republicans’ historically strong hold on Georgia’s politics that faltered in 2020 when the state voted for Joe Biden and two Democrat senators. Despite breezing through the Republican primary with nearly 70 percent of the vote, Walker seemingly faces an uphill battle against Warnock, who won the seat in a special election two years ago. Recent polling has
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Firefighter sees charges after pedestrian death
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ATLANTA — It’s out with the old results and in with the new. Student performance on the state’s annual test of achievement, known as Georgia Milestones, will undergo a “pandemic adjustment” from the Georgia Department of Education. The Milestones assessments are the federally mandated tests given to students each year to measures how well they have mastered the content in English/language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. While the series of tests have been given to students since the 20142015 school year, the scores from this school year’s assessments will set the new baseline for school and district performance. “We will use the [2021-2022] scores to determine where to push in supports and continue addressing the impact of lost learning opportunities due to the pandemic,” said Meghan Frick with the Georgia Department of Education. One recent report found widespread learning “pauses” in math and reading
See ACHIEVEMENT, Page 14