Helmig managing editor of WAB news and on this week in review we start with the federal hate crimes trial of the three men convicted of murdering ahmaud Arbery Earlier this week Travis and Gregory mcmichael had reached a plea deal with prosecutors the two were already serving life without parole and state prison for killing 25 year old Arbery who is black Under the plea deal they would admit the killing was racially motivated would get 30 more years in prison and be moved to federal custody The family of Arbery opposed the deal and the judge nixed it saying she did not want to be bound by the sentencing guidelines The mcmichaels along with William Bryan chased Arbery through their South Georgia town before Travis mcmichael shot and killed him Jury selection for all three men set to begin on Monday The judge in the federal case says some 1000 people cross South Georgia were sent jury duty notices for the trial Well let's move on to the state capitol where we are seeing quite a legislative session Republicans in the General Assembly are moving ahead with a bill that would allow Georgians to carry handguns without permits Supporters call it constitutional carry A Senate committee advanced the legislation on Tuesday NWA's politics reporter Sam greenglass told us about it Right now you don't need a permit to carry a long gun in Georgia But you do to carry a handgun That requires applying at a probate court fingerprints a background check and a fee Senate Bill three 19 would make those permits optional Here's senator Blake tillery questioning fellow Republican senator Jason and vitarte who introduced the bill Do the folks who break the law care if we have a law that says they need a gun permit Most lawless people and I know from growing up hanging around some pretty bad element and those individuals don't care about laws or anything So is that your premise then that the folks who are burdened by this process are actually those who are obeying the law Correct If the bill passes background checks would still be conducted when a gun is purchased at a store But background checks aren't currently required when guns are bought in a private sale for example So without a permit process democratic senator Elena parent says some gun owners would never undergo a background check Are you aware that in 2020 at least 5000 people were denied weapons carry licenses and the number one reason for the denial is criminal history It probably would make sense if we're doing background checks and there are going to be people who are going to probably be denied a license So your bill would eliminate that So why would we want to make it easier for these criminals to carry a gun in public 21 states already allow permit list carrying Governor Brian Kemp says he wants Georgia to join that list So some version of this bill is likely to become law this session Sam greenglass WAB news And among the supporters of the legislation for permitless carry is a group of out of state activists featured in the NPR investigative Pulitzer Prize winning podcast no compromise hosted by W ABE east Lisa Hagan Governor Brian Kemp is one of scores of Republican state leaders who have been pressed to support policies like constitutional carry which make weapons carry permits optional These laws have swept some 18 states in less than a decade as part of a movement of gun rights activists who scorn the National Rifle Association as weak on guns Among them is Aaron door the oldest of a group of Iowa brothers who raise money promoting absolutist gun laws Here he is at the capitol responding to democratic senator Elena parent Tuesday Is it the case that no right is absolute I would not agree with that when it comes to this It's totally fine Governor Kemp's recent public support for a constitutional carry law all but guarantees some version of the bill will become Georgia law Lisa Hagan W a B E News Also at the state capital this week the debate over the political future of gwinnett county This after a Republican drawn map for the democratic held county commission passed the Georgia House Republican state representative Bonnie rich of swani proposed the map which was put into place instead of the one commissioners themselves drew Earlier this week in a legislative committee there was this tense exchange between democratic state representative Sam park of lawrenceville and Republican House governmental affairs committee chair darling Taylor Representative rich is forcing gnat county down the path toward unnecessary litigation If this committee moves forward with the substitute that carries what appears to be a racially gerrymandered map A map drawn based on race Due to my direction you've made that comment several times and I find it offensive Let the information come out Your conduct is not becoming at this time The map gives Republicans a better chance to win one of 5 seats on the county commission WAB politics reporter Raoul bally spoke with Jim bursts about the drama Let me take you back to what normally happens So the census happened local county commissions and county school boards redraw their lines with the new data They send those maps here to the state capitol and generally the rubber stamped here at the capitol and that's going to happen with most maps that come up here But what's happening to go on that is what's getting all the attention right now The map as you mentioned the map drawn by the commission which is all democratic was replaced by Republicans specifically state representative Bonnie rich her reason was that the democratic proposal she said would not give residents in the northern part of the county representation She was saying that you know the representatives are all democratic and from the central part of the county in the southern part of the county Go on that Democrats are pushing back their accusing Republicans of trying to hold on to power by using partisan gerrymandering and racial gerrymandering You heard it You heard that in that exchange between representative park and Taylor also Democrats are upset that Republicans are going around kind of the regular process when it comes to the whole delegation getting involved in putting together these maps Now the scuffle over the commission is not the only entity that would be affected in gwinnett county right That's absolutely right So as this House Bill heads over to the Georgia Senate a Georgia Senate bill is coming over here to the house where I'm sitting and that makes school board elections in Grenada county non partisan Right now voters in May go on the party primary to pick candidates and then vote in November for those candidates What Democrats point out is this proposal to make the school board nonpartisan comes as the school board went democratic in 2020 The sponsor of that bill state center clinics and pointed out a number of things The firing of the longtime superintendent Alvin will banks he mentioned the curriculum CRT he says he wants to take politics out of the process the response you hear from Democrats is well then why don't you make all school boards in the state of Georgia nonpartisan I believe right now you've got a 109 school boards in Georgia that are nonpartisan 71 that are elected on a partisan basis and the reality is most lawmakers in this building don't want to change that The.