Sept. 17, 2024 Georgia.gov
Staff reports, on Friday, Gov. Kemp delivered the keynote address at the second annual Governor’s Workforce Summit, during which he announced that Georgia has been named the No. 1 state for business for the 11th consecutive year by Area Development magazine. He also provided an update on the state of Georgia MATCH and other state efforts to strengthen workforce development while putting forth the goal of making Georgia the Top State for Talent.
Sept. 17, 2024 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Philippa Maister reports, in Gwinnett County, leaders have discovered the recipe for creating a vibrant future: A mindset willing to take risks to stimulate innovation. A pattern of welcoming diversity. A focus on converting dying downtowns into living, walkable hometowns.
Sept. 17, 2024 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kelly Yamanouchi reports, two days after the termination of Norfolk Southern’s CEO, the Atlanta-based railroad’s newly named chief executive, Mark George, said he’s happy the board decision on the changeover was so rapid. Former CEO Alan Shaw was fired for an alleged inappropriate relationship with another executive at the company.
Sept. 17, 2024 Savannah Morning News
John Deem reports, more than 1,000 existing private wells may be located within a proposed mitigation zone around four municipal wells that would pump up to 6.6 million gallons of water per day to serve Hyundai Motor Company’s 2,500-acre manufacturing complex near Savannah and expected development around the site, an engineering consultant told local development officials last week. Property owners within a 5-mile radius of those high-volume extraction sites would have access to a fund to cover the cost of adjustments to their own wells if they were adversely affected by the corresponding localized drop in aquifer levels.
Sept. 17, 2024 Augusta Chronicle
Joe Hotchkiss reports, a German company soon will cut the ceremonial ribbon on its $800 million metal recycling plant in Augusta. At full production, the Aurubis Richmond plant is expected to provide more than 200 local jobs and to process annually more than 180,000 tons of complex recycling materials such as printed circuit boards and insulated copper cable, according to the company.
Sept. 17, 2024 Saporta Report
Adrianne Murchison reports, a group of residents in south Fulton County are gearing up for a legal battle to stop plans for a battery energy storage plant that they fear could catch fire. Mose James IV, Paul Loveless and Tiffany Patterson have started a GoFundMe campaign to pay attorney fees in efforts to block a lithium-ion battery energy storage plant that would be built in the city of South Fulton.
Sept. 17, 2024 Marietta Daily Journal
Isabelle Manders reports, this week, the Marietta City Council postponed a proposed electric rate increase while it collects more information. In December 2023, the Marietta Board of Lights and Water, a city-owned utility, voted to increase electric rates by 5% with half of that going into effect in January 2024 and half on Oct. 1.
Sept. 17, 2024 Rome News-Tribune
Adam Carey reports, Floyd County Board of Commissioners is moving ahead with an ordinance that would make it illegal to camp on all property in Floyd County that is not specifically designated, or without permission of the owner. According to Floyd County Public Safety Division Director John Blalock, the ordinance was approved by the Floyd County Public Safety Committee recently and received its first reading by the county commission Tuesday night.
Sept. 17, 2024 Gwinnett Daily Post
Staff reports that the city of Norcross has announced the grand opening of Gwinnett County’s first arboretum, a significant milestone in the transformation of Pinnacle Park. An arboretum is a botanical garden specializing in trees.
Sept. 17, 2024 GPB, ProPublica
Aliyya Swaby reports, lawmakers are already indicating that they intend to take tougher action against students who make threats. In a Sept. 12 letter to members of the state House Republican Caucus, House Speaker Jon Burns wrote that one of his objectives in the next legislative session will be to “increase penalties for making terroristic threats in our schools — and make it clear that here in Georgia, threats of violence against our students will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Sept. 17, 2024 Capitol Beat News
Dave Williams reports that State School Superintendent Richard Woods announced Monday he will push for additional state funding for school safety initiatives during the 2025 General Assembly session in the aftermath of this month’s school shooting in Barrow County. The goal will be providing a school resource officer and a crisis alert system in every Georgia school.
Sept. 17, 2024 State Affairs
Tammy Joyner reports, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors sent a letter last week to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy criticizing the federal mail service over the past year for failing to deliver election mail in a “timely and accurate manner.” The letter comes less than a month before Georgians are slated to receive absentee ballots in the mail and just two months before voters head to the polls Nov. 5 for what is expected to be one of the most crucial elections in modern history.
Sept. 17, 2024 Georgia Recorder
Ross Williams reports, Republican Vice Presidential nominee J.D. Vance shared an Atlanta stage with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Monday night, where Vance made a call for conservative unity before a crowd of high-profile names and faithful conservatives. “Think about the incredible team that we have. We have Brian Kemp, Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, Tulsi Gabbard, and Bobby Kennedy Jr. What an amazing team of patriots fighting for this country,” Vance said at a dinner for the Georgia Faith and Freedom Coalition, a conservative Christian lobbying group.
Sept. 17, 2024 Macon Telegraph
Lucinda Warnke reports, Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota and Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, landed at the Middle Georgia Regional Airport just before 10 p.m. on Monday. He will give brief remarks at 10 a.m. Tuesday and leave for another campaign stop in Atlanta afterwards.
Sept. 17, 2024 Capitol Beat News
Dave Williams reports that an Atlanta woman told a U.S. Senate subcommittee Monday she was suffering through a doomed pregnancy last fall that was putting her health at risk, only to be told by a doctor to rest in bed and drink plenty of water. That’s all the doctor could do under Georgia’s restrictive abortion law that essentially bans the procedure after six weeks, Mackenzie Kulik testified during a field hearing of the Senate Human Rights Subcommittee at the Fulton County Government Center chaired by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.
Sept. 17, 2024 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
David Wickert reports, election officials in Georgia and other states believe the courts will prevent local election boards from delaying or disrupting certification of the November election. Some local board members in Georgia have argued that it is up to them to certify election results, and some have voted against certifying recent elections
