Georgia Trend Daily – March 6, 2019
March 6, 2019 Saporta Report
Metro Atlanta ranks in top third of global rankings of traffic congestion
David Pendered reports that Moscow is ranked as the world’s worst city for traffic congestion, but motorists there travel 3 mph faster than drivers in Atlanta when it comes to the rate of travel on the last inner city mile, according to a report that could fuel conversation at Tuesday’s meeting about express lanes along Ga. 400.
March 6, 2019 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
The Global Trade Puzzle
Patty Rasmussen reports, record-breaking. That is how the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) described the state of global trade in Georgia one year ago, when the most recent numbers had just come in. The value of Georgia exports exceeded $37.2 billion in 2017, an increase of 4 percent over the previous year.
March 6, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Home Depot adding 80,000 workers for spring
Michael E. Kanell reports, to get ready for spring, Home Depot has started hiring 80,000 seasonal workers, including 1,200 in metro Atlanta, the company said Tuesday. The surge of new part-time and full-time employees is similar to each year’s swelling payrolls as the Atlanta-based, $108 billion-a-year company prepares for warmer weather and a hoped-for tide of do-it-yourself projects by the nation’s homeowners.
March 6, 2019 Atlanta Business Chronicle
Arthur Blank bumps up, Kennedy family slides down 2019 Forbes billionaire list
Eric Mandel and Holden Wilen report that Jim Kennedy remains the richest billionaire living in the Peach State, but his fortune has taken a hit when compared to this time last year, according to the latest rankings by Forbes. Kennedy, the 71-year-old chairman of privately held automotive and media company Cox Enterprises, has a net worth of $9.3 billion, according to Forbes, making him the 153rd-richest person in the world. But that is down from $13 billion as of March 2018.
March 6, 2019 Gwinnett Daily Post
CarMax creating more than 300 new jobs in Peachtree Corners
Curt Yeomans reports that CarMax plans to create more than 300 new jobs in Peachtree Corners when the car retailer opens a new customer experience center in the city this summer, Gov. Brian Kemp’s office announced Tuesday. The facility is expected to fit into a new format that CarMax announced in December where customers can buy a car without leaving their home with the assistance of CarMax employees.
March 6, 2019 Georgia Health News
One-quarter of Georgia hospitals penalized over patient safety problems
Andy Miller reports that one in four Georgia hospitals will be paid less by Medicare due to high rates of infections and patient injuries. The 27 percent figure of eligible Georgia hospitals facing penalties is slightly above the national average, which is 25 percent. The percentage of Georgia hospitals being penalized for patient safety is significantly lower than last year’s figure, which was 35 percent.
March 6, 2019 Atlanta Business Chronicle
Historical monuments protection bill clears Georgia Senate
Dave Williams reports that the Georgia Senate passed legislation Thursday aimed at protecting historic monuments from being removed or relocated from public property.
March 6, 2019 Savannah Morning News
Growers see red tape in Georgia oyster farming bills
Mary Landers reports that oyster farmers and environmental groups are criticizing a pair of Georgia oyster farming bills they see as imposing too much red tape and uncertainty on a fledgling mariculture industry. The bills aim to establish a new oyster farming industry in Georgia, where currently the oysters are harvested from the wild.
March 6, 2019 Brunswick News
House oyster mariculture bill survives challenge
Wes Wolfe reports, as the state Senate oyster mariculture bill is now in the state House, thanks to a 102-60 vote late Tuesday afternoon, the House oyster mariculture bill now heads to the Senate, despite significant opposition. “This bill creates an entire new industry in Georgia — the mariculture of shellfish, or, the farming of oysters,” said state Rep. Jesse Petrea, R-Savannah, the bill’s lead sponsor. “In Georgia we have about a $1.7 million industry today in wild harvest of oysters and clams, but we do not have the ability today to farm oysters. This bill, very simply, creates the ability for people to farm oysters in the subtidal zones of our estuaries in cages that they will float off the bottom in leased areas off our estuaries that will be determined by the department. It allows a lottery system, where we approve of vetted individuals that will compete for those leases to grow oysters.”
March 6, 2019 Rome News-Tribune
Sen. Chuck Hufstetler’s ban on ‘surprise’ medical bill beats the Crossover Day deadline
Diane Wagner reports that legislation aimed at protecting Georgians with health insurance from surprise out-of-pocket medical expenses passed the Senate Tuesday, 52 to 0, to beat the Crossover Day deadline. Thursday is the deadline for bills to cross over from one chamber to the other in order to remain alive for consideration.
March 6, 2019 WABE 90.1
Constitutional Carry: Activists Are Using Social Media To Redefine The Second Amendment
Lisa Hagen reports that almost every morning in January and Feb., Patrick Parsons records a live Facebook video across the street from the Georgia capitol. While it looks picturesque online, in person, it’s not the world’s most glamorous moment.
March 6, 2019 Valdosta Daily Times
House Oks medical cannabis productions
Jill Nolin reports that medical cannabis could be grown and produced in Georgia under a measure that cleared the House in spite of stiff opposition from sheriffs and some in the faith community who decried the move as a step toward recreational use. The proposal would allow 10 companies to grow and produce medical cannabis oil and as many as 60 dispensaries across the state to sell it. It passed Tuesday with a vote of 123 to 40.
March 6, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Shifting winds in the Capitol put social conservatives on the defensive
Jim Galloway reports, the wind has shifted at the state Capitol. Whether this is an errant breeze or isolated gust, it’s too soon to tell. But in the last 48 hours or so, a different group of people have been winning. These victories have been aimed at suburban women in Georgia, who proved so crucial in 2018 and are likely to be more so in 2020.
