Georgia Trend Daily – March 19, 2019
March 19, 2019 Georgia Health News, Marietta Daily Journal
State seeks new enrollment for patients caught in contract rift
Andy Miller reports that Federal health officials are reviewing a Georgia request for a new enrollment period for insurance exchange members who use WellStar Health System doctors and hospitals. Georgia Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck, in his request to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, cited what he called “misleading, inaccurate and unusual presentations’’ by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield for its Pathways exchange plan.
Opening March 2019 at SBG. Pollinator Plaza area.
March 19, 2019 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Children’s garden opening
Mary Ann DeMuth reports that next weekend in Athens, the State Botanical Garden of Georgia will host the grand opening of its Alice H. Richards Children’s Garden. The 2.5-acre garden is designed to be a destination for approximately 50,000 children each year to learn more about Georgia’s natural resources through planned activities, such as planting, and free play.
March 19, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Kemp, Wilbur Ross to attend SK battery plant groundbreaking
Scott Trubey reports that Gov. Brian Kemp and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross are expected to join leaders of South Korean conglomerate SK Innovation at the company’s ground-breaking ceremony Tuesday for a nearly $1.7 billion battery factory in northeast Georgia, according to a media advisory. SK, which makes lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and fully electric automobiles, said in November it plans to ultimately hire 2,000 workers at a site in Jackson County near Commerce, about 65 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.
March 19, 2019 Atlanta Business Chronicle
AT&T’s Warner Bros. chief stepping down after admitting ‘mistakes’
Brian Womack reports that the executive recently appointed to run Turner Broadcasting’s animation operations and Turner Classic Movies is stepping down amid an investigation into potential sexual impropriety – leaving a key role unfilled at WarnerMedia at a crucial time. Kevin Tsujihara, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros., is leaving his posts and no successor has been named, John Stankey, CEO of WarnerMedia, which is part of AT&T, said in press release Monday.
March 19, 2019 WABE 90.1
Georgia Wastes No Time Seeking Bids For New Voting System
Jim Burress reports that Georgia is seeking a vendor to replace its outdated voting machines even though Gov. Brian Kemp has yet to offer sign the authorization into law. Georgia’s Secretary of State’s office dropped a formal Request for Proposals at 4:59 Friday afternoon — just a day after lawmakers passed a bill authorizing a new, state-wide voting system.
March 19, 2019 Savannah Morning News
Savannah Technical College announces new avionics training
Katie Nussbaum reports that Savannah Technical College, along with Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. and other industry leaders, has announced the development of two new avionics certificates as part of the college’s technical training curriculum to begin in May. This curriculum is new for the state of Georgia and the new certificates were approved by the Technical College System of Georgia this week.
March 19, 2019 Dalton Daily Citizen-News
Hanwha sues competitors for patent infringement; official says action aimed at protecting Dalton and other plants
Staff reports that Hanwha Q Cells, a South Korean firm that recently opened a solar module manufacturing plant in the Carbondale Business Park, has filed patent infringement complaints in the United States, Australia and Germany against three Chinese companies. “We have filed to protect our intellectual property and technology as well as our factories, including the one in Dalton,” said Scott Moskowitz, Hanwha Q Cells’ director of strategy and market intelligence.
March 19, 2019 The Covington News
Takeda earns FDA approval
David Clemons reports that Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. has earned federal approval for a second product made at its Stanton Springs facility in Walton County. The company announced Monday morning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved production of Flexbumin 25%, which is indicated for burns, cardiopulmonary bypass surgery and hemolytic disease of the newborn.
March 19, 2019 Brunswick News
Feds respond to seismic testing opposition
Wes Wolfe reports that the federal government defendants filed their response Wednesday against conservation groups’ preliminary injunction motions, which seek to halt anticipated seismic airgun testing off the Atlantic Coast. Conservation groups — including Georgia’s One Hundred Miles — filed the lawsuit in December 2019 in federal court in Charleston, S.C.
March 19, 2019 Macon Telegraph
In Georgia’s Bible Belt, health care for transgender people is often out of reach
Samantha Max reports that McPherson Newell lives in limbo. The sophomore in college has known since he was a little kid that he didn’t feel comfortable in his own body. He’d get upset when friends told him he couldn’t play the boy character in games and never felt comfortable dressing as others expected him to.
March 19, 2019 Albany Herald
Proposed Georgia House of Representatives study to address senior housing
Staff reports that advocates for the elderly Monday applauded a Valdosta lawmaker’s push for creation of a Georgia House of Representatives study committee on affordable housing options for seniors. The committee stems from House Resolution 533, which was put in the House hopper last week by state Rep. John LaHood, a Republican from Valdosta.
March 19, 2019 Saporta Report
Needle-exchange bill moves through Georgia Legislature
Maggie Lee reports that part of the Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition’s work of more than two decades is illegal — they hand out clean needles in exchange for ones already used by intravenous drug users. But lots of Georgia’s state lawmakers think it’s time to change that. So far, there’s been broad Gold Dome support for a bill that would legalize and regulate needle-exchange programs.
March 19, 2019 Gwinnett Daily Post
Gwinnett legislator’s resolution to aid ALS patients unanimously passes Ga. House
Isabel Hughes reports that a Georgia House of Representatives measure sponsored by a Gwinnett legislator that’s aimed at helping ALS patients receive disability benefits sooner recently passed the House unanimously. State Rep. Chuck Efstration (R-Dacula) sponsored House Resolution 135, which encourages Congress to eliminate the five-month waiting period for disability insurance benefits after patients are diagnosed with ALS, which is currently federal law.
March 19, 2019 WABE 90.1
Georgia ‘Heartbeat Bill’ Clears Another Legislative Hurdle
Sam Whitehead reports that a bill that would ban most abortions at six weeks continues to make progress in the Georgia legislature. A state Senate committee approved HB 481, the so-called “heartbeat bill,” Monday 3 to 2. Every Republican on the committee voted in favor of the legislation, every Democrat voted against it.
March 19, 2019 Brunswick News
Oyster mariculture bill goes to Gov. Kemp’s desk
Wes Wolfe reports, barring an unlikely veto by the governor, Georgia will have a new coastal industry by this time next year, despite continued opposition by people who would be expected to grow that industry. The state Senate approved House Bill 501 on oyster mariculture Monday by a vote of 35-19.
March 19, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Warm Springs hospital started by FDR settles federal dispute
Ariel Hart reports that the historic Georgia hospital that said a federal payment dispute pushed it toward closing is now out of danger, hospital representatives said. Roosevelt Warm Springs Rehabilitation Hospital, originally established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to treat polio, has settled its payment dispute with the federal agency that runs Medicare.
