As we kick off another year it is time to make New Year’s resolutions and set goals for ourselves and our families.
Among the flurry of weight loss, exercise an career-oriented resolutions, it is also common for people to come back from their holiday break and engage more with local, regional and national news.
While most people don’t make this a formal resolution, we would like to shamelessly ask our fellow Georgians to be more intentional about staying informed, particularly on statewide and local issues this year.
You can do this easily on this website by signing up for our free email newsletter. Each day, you’ll get a digest of local news and events delivered straight to your inbox.
If you have come to this site using Twitter, Facebook or a news aggregation app, consider signing up for the newsletter. Facebook is notorious for only showing news to a fraction of a news page’s followers, Twitter is great for catching up with local happenings, provided you’re on Twitter around the time they are posted, and news apps use their own algorithms to determine what you see.
The best way to find out about news from sources that interest you is to let those sources email you directly, without a middleman.
It is easy, especially around the holidays to avoid news. We’ve all done it. You’d be surprised to know that even those who report the news sometimes choose not to consume it. But, there are a multitude of reasons to pay more attention to your local news sources.
Let’s take a look at a few issues this year that will be important in Georgia.
On Jan. 13, the state legislature will start its session. While “state legislature” and “session” may seem like boring ideas, this is the time when your laws are made. Legislators — or lawmakers as we like to call them — are your elected officials who make those laws.
Last year, lawmakers passed controversial issues like the heartbeat bill. The year before that, the big issue was the hands-free driving law. The only way you as a citizen can affect any change on the issues your lawmakers take up each year is to pay attention.
These same lawmakers will all be up for re-election in November and since their election occurs with a presidential election, you will most likely be seeing their names on a ballot this year.
Also on that November ballot will be the election for Georgia senator. Both of Georgia’s senate seats are up for election this year and your local news will tell you how your senators are voting in Washington and who their opponents are.
In addition to that, we will help you stay on top of traffic, weather, crime, education and safety issues that impact your family.
In short, don’t rely on social media posts to keep you informed. Instead, get your news directly from the sources that cover it. Here’s that link for our newsletter again if you’re interested.
