Key players line up behind hate-crimes bill

Support behind the passage of hate-crime legislation when the state legislature returns next week continues to build, as business executives from more than 70 local companies including Home Depot, Delta, Georgia Power, and Coca-Cola signed a letter urging lawmakers to pass a “comprehensive, specific and clear” bill.  Most lawmakers have likewise voiced support for the idea, but last year a version got tied up in the Senate, and it faces another tricky path this time around.  But with such big names lining up behind it following the recent racial-injustice protests across Georgia (and the country), the odds of hate-crime legislation passing when the legislature returns seem to be RISING…