Greetings, Georgia.

It's Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.

It's a new year! All eyes are on Georgia for how our state impacts the national political scene going into this year and beyond.

Tributes are pouring in from sports fans and players for Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin, who was hospitalized after a cardiac arrest suffered during a Monday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Meanwhile, the Georgia Bulldogs are thinking ahead to another championship run — and their quarterback has thoughts.

Read on for the GPB News staff's list of the week's top news stories to keep you informed.

TOP STORY

✭ How the 2022 midterms cemented Georgia’s rise in politics

(File)

In case you’ve missed the past few years of news, Georgia is now a premier political battleground state with elections that have drastically influenced the trajectory of American politics — including the most recent 2022 midterms.

Historically, the party in power during a midterm year suffers more defeats at the ballot box, and President Joe Biden’s flagging popularity and elevated inflation rates seemed to have Republicans primed for victory in competitive House and Senate races. But former President Donald Trump’s presence — and insistence on continuing to push the lie that he won the 2020 election — helped boost numerous Republican primary candidates that were loyal to him but rejected by voters for extreme views.

• In Georgia’s midterm election, the campaigns run by Kemp and Walker provided dovetailing outcomes that underscore Trump’s waning influence, even among the most loyal base. 

✭ Online maternity care better connects patients to providers — thanks to the web camera

The Berrier family in a group shot. Stephanie Berrier (right) participated in Northside Women's Specialists' pilot prenatal telehealth program while pregnant with her second child, who was born May 2022. (Northside Women's Specialists)

Northside Women's Specialists, an Atlanta-based OB-GYN practice, is piloting an online maternal health care program that could make care more accessible for patients in and outside the metro area.

Rural health care services are desperately needed in Georgia, and patients have driven from as far north as Cartersville and as far south as Valdosta, said Dr. Jill Purdie, the medical director at Northside Women’s Specialists.

Now, they can schedule online appointments for part of their pregnancy.

• "At the beginning of pregnancy, you do have to be seen in person just because we're not really able to monitor the baby remotely," Purdie said. "So, at that point, patients typically come for in-person visits for their eight-week, 12-week, 16-week visit — and then they have the option to do virtual visits starting around the 20th week in pregnancy."

Stephanie Berrier participated in the pilot while pregnant with her second child, who was born in May. Some of the things Berrier liked most about Northside's virtual service included a better ability to balance work and prenatal visits.

GPB NEWS HEADLINES

• Millions of adults and children will likely be re-evaluated for Medicaid eligibility in 2023
• Mental health reporting requirements among new Georgia laws
• Georgia 2023 legislative session teed up by Wild Hog reunion, events as lawmakers return to capitol