Georgia governor allows businesses to forego COVID mandates as hospitals run out of ICU beds
CBSN
Local governments in Georgia will not be allowed to impose vaccine or face mask mandates for businesses under a new executive order signed Thursday by Governor Brian Kemp. His order comes as the highly transmissible Delta variant is sending an influx of COVID-19 patients to local hospitals.
"Local governments will not be able to force businesses to be the city's mask police, the vaccine police or any other burdensome restriction that will only lead to employees being let go, revenue tanking and businesses closing their doors," Kemp said at a press conference Thursday. Under the executive order, local officials cannot enforce vaccine or face mask mandates, leaving it up to private businesses to issue their own requirements or comply with local COVID-19 protocols as they see fit.
Air travelers faced hundreds of flight cancellations and thousands of delays on Tuesday in the wake of powerful storms that struck the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard. Many airports also continue to struggle with disruption from reduced staffing at often-jammed security checkpoints amid a partial government shutdown that has lasted more than a month. Mark Strassmann contributed to this report. In:

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A man who was accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack in 2021 is asking a judge to dismiss the criminal charges against him, arguing he is covered by President Trump's sweeping pardons of alleged Jan. 6 rioters.










