Georgia Trend Daily – May 3, 2024
May 3, 2024 Savannah Morning News
GSU Economist: Small businesses grew by 4% in Savannah area, outpacing big businesses
Evan Lasseter reports, as the Savannah small business community gathers this week for a host of networking and resource-building events for small business week, Georgia Southern economist Michael Toma delivered an optimistic declaration for those businesses. Small business growth in the Savannah-area outpaced that of big business in recent years, Toma told a room of more than 100 people during the State of Small Business Event on Tuesday.
May 3, 2024 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Unprecedented health equity initiative for HBCU athletes launches in Georgia
Sheryl-Anne Murray reports that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 2,000 young people die from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) each year – many without previously known heart issues. SCA occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating, and the condition can be deadly if not immediately treated with CPR or a defibrillator.
May 3, 2024 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Power parent Southern Company’s profits are up to start 2024
Drew Kann reports that profits at Southern Company, the parent of Georgia Power, rose 28% compared to the same time last year, the utility giant said Thursday, just days after announcing it has completed the long-delayed expansion of the nuclear power station at Plant Vogtle. Southern raked in $1.1 billion in profits between January and March, well above the $862 million it earned during those months in 2023.
May 3, 2024 11 Alive
This Georgia city has been named one of the best places to live in the US
Dajhea Jones reports that a new ranking has named one Georgia city one of the best places to live in the United States. The website Livability recently released its list of the Top 100 Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2024, and the City of Roswell was ranked among the top cities.
May 3, 2024 GlobalAtlanta.com
Gwinnett’s Largest Canadian Investor Undertakes $5M Expansion
Trevor Williams reports that Gwinnett County’s largest Canadian investor has opened its third facility in the county and fourth in Georgia, a $5 million expansion in Lawrenceville that will create 42 jobs. Price Industries Inc., whose parent company is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, already employs around 1,200 people in the state, including close to 800 in the county, where it was named Partnership Gwinnett’s large manufacturer of the year in 2023.
May 3, 2024 WABE
One in six Georgia households will lose financial help for home internet access as federal program winds down
Melissa Feito reports that over 722,000 households in Georgia will soon lose access to a monthly assistance program used to help low-income people get online. That’s as the federal Affordable Connectivity Program winds down due to a lack of funding, with April being the last month the program could provide participants with their full benefits.
May 3, 2024 The Current
Coastal Georgia communities prepare to monitor, treat water for ‘forever chemicals’
Mary Landers reports, even before EPA issued the first ever drinking water standards for PFAS chemicals last month, state and local water officials in Coastal Georgia were monitoring for and making plans to address these “forever chemicals.” Georgia regulators began assessing the level of PFAS in water supplies and drinking water across the state in 2013.
May 3, 2024 Valdosta Daily Times
Broadband expansion under way
Kevin C. Hall reports that officials symbolically broke ground Thursday on a massive expansion of broadband internet in Lowndes County. Representatives of the Lowndes County government, Kinetic by Windstream, Colquitt EMC and the state broadband office tossed dirt in the air at Clyattville Community Park to celebrate the start of construction on a project that will bring internet service to an estimated 16,000 Lowndes County residences and businesses.
May 3, 2024 GPB
Georgia bill to strip QR codes from ballots would cost tens of millions of dollars
Jessica Huseman reports that tucked inside a massive elections bill passed last month by Georgia’s legislature is a provision that requires the state to spend millions of dollars to overhaul the state’s existing voting system, or to purchase a new one before 2026. Election officials and experts say it’s an impossible timeline, and that the vague language of the bill may prevent the use of electronic tabulators altogether.
May 3, 2024 The Brunswick News
Gov. Kemp signs Rep. Townsend’s kratom bill into law
Hank Rowland reports that a two-year effort by state Rep. Rick Townsend to tighten restrictions on a stimulant and pain reliever that’s available without a prescription came to fruition Thursday. Gov. Brian Kemp signed House Bill 181, legislation regulating kratom, into law at the Capitol in Atlanta during a brief ceremony attended by Townsend, R-St. Simons Island, and families affected by kratom.
May 3, 2024 Georgia.gov
Gov. Kemp Signs Legislation Boosting Georgia’s Top-Tier Workforce Talent
Staff reports that Gov. Kemp signed HB 982, that will provide a boost to Georgia’s diverse and top-tier workforce talent pool. HB 982 came as a result of work done by the Joint Study Committee on Dual Enrollment for Highly Skilled Talent at Younger Ages and directs the State Workforce Development Board to create the state’s high demand career list.
May 3, 2024 Capitol Beat News
Kemp inks bills targeting illegal immigrants, no-cash bail
Dave Williams reports that Gov. Brian Kemp signed a series of public safety bills Wednesday, including a controversial measure aimed at illegal immigration. House Bill 1105, which the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed primarily along party lines, requires local sheriffs and the Georgia Department of Corrections to notify the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) when they have a suspected illegal immigrant in custody.
May 3, 2024 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
PG A.M.: Trump trial judge McAfee gets bipartisan backing for election bid
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Van Brimmer report, it’s not often Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes unite. But the two have found common cause over Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. The two were the star guests at a Thursday fundraiser for McAfee that raised more than $40,000 for his election campaign.
