It’s Friday! Get the facts:

Friday’s Freshest: In the latest Georgia Policy commentary, Senior Fellow Ron Bachman proposes that a potential roadmap for health reform can be found right in your garage:

“Auto insurance has paved the way for health reform to follow. Nobody has suggested auto insurance is liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat. Auto insurance is bipartisan and non-partisan, universally available and mandatory in all but two states (Virginia and New Hampshire).

…

“The basic principles everybody accepts and welcomes in auto insurance, then, are choice, rewards and incentives, personal responsibility, competition and universal access. Non-partisan health reform can follow the lead of auto insurance, with personalized health insurance as one such approach that is based on these same principles.”

Read Bachman’s full commentary here.

On Our Desks

• Investigative Journalism: Many agree that parents make the best decisions about their child’s education when they have reliable data. But the mountains of information available can obscure important facts.An investigative journalist with the Georgia Public Policy Foundation attempts to summit the range of available data in our latest investigative journalism series.

(You can find parts one and two of our series here and here, too!)

• Alma Mater Matters: Kyle Wingfield tallies up the cost of the student debt narrative in his weekly column.
• Do the Windmill! In this week’s Medical Mondays post, Benita Dodd explains how looking silly for a moment could help you decrease your post-vaccine pain.
• In Case You Missed It: Georgia Policy is growing by leaps and bounds! Last week, we welcomed Hayley McCloud to the team as External Affairs Manager.

Around the State

• Be Careful Out There! It’s windy, it’s freezing and, oh yeah, it might be on fire soon.
• Tears of Joy: It’s Vidalia Onion season!
• Not Throwin’ Away My Shot: Broadway in Atlanta opens back up after COVID-19 with, what else, smash hit “Hamilton.”
• Treat Yourself: Girl Scout Cookie sales are down, if you’re looking for a Friday pick-me-up.

Housing Affordability

• An Arm and a Leg: Median home prices in Atlanta jumped again last month, up 16% over this time last year. And, that supply shortage isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
• Past Due: Atlanta’s rental emergency assistance program is back online after a pause due to “overwhelming demand.”
• 1 in 5: Who owns the house that sold down your street? It’s likely not who you think.
• Cobra Kai Fans Rejoice: The dream home featured in the hit Netflix series “Cobra Kai” is for sale in Marietta for a cool $2.6 million.

Healthcare

• Pfizer for Pfree: Thousands took advantage of Pfizer vaccines available without an appointment at Mercedes-Benz Stadium this week.
• Vaccinate to Matriculate? Some Georgia colleges will require vaccinations to enroll for fall semester. Others are doing just the opposite.
• COVID-19 update: The Georgia Department of Public Health reported the number of cases since the pandemic began totaled xxx,xxx as of Thursday afternoon, up from 865,827 last week. Deaths were at xx,xxx; last week the death toll was 17,130. The department updates the information daily at 3 p.m. Vaccinations are now available for anyone over age 16 in Georgia, but Georgia has paused the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine “until further notice.” Visit the website here.
• Medical Mondays: The second dose of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are no joke. Also not a joke: a viral Tik-Tok video can help alleviate your post-vaccine symptoms.

Energy and Environment

• Earth Day Roundup: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris nec pharetra libero. Pellentesque tempus, sem eget pulvinar lacinia, purus purus bibendum tellus, ut placerat purus dolor id quam. Fusce faucibus consequat pellentesque.
• Unwanted Stowaways: As the weather warms and boaters return to the water, wildlife officials are warning about the dangers of invasive Zebra mussels.
• ‘Improved’? According to the American Lung Association, Atlanta’s air quality has improved … but still gets an F grade.
• Too Cute! The Atlanta Zoo is celebrating the birth of an endangered crowned lemur this week.

Quotes of Note

• “If you are sure you understand everything that is going on, you are hopelessly confused.” – Walter Mondale, January 1928- April 2021
• “Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it!” – Yuri Gagarin, who became the first person in space 60 years ago this week
• “The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else.” – John Maynard Keynes

Memory Lane

The annual Georgia Legislative Policy Forum, launched in 2011, brings policy leaders from across the state and around the nation to Georgians. It’s not the Georgia Public Policy Foundation’s first foray into landmark policy events, as this article from 1992 shows. The Foundation was established in 1991 and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year!