Georgia Trend Daily – May 2, 2019
May 2, 2019 Georgia Health News
Atlanta health care prices on the high end, national reports says
Andy Miller reports that Metro Atlanta is in the top third of 112 urban areas on health care pricing, newly released data show. The prices in greater Atlanta are higher than those in Augusta and Savannah, the two other Georgia cities studied by the Health Care Cost Institute.
May 2, 2019 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
From the Publisher: Foster Focus
Ben Young reports that May is National Foster Care month, a time to shine the light on the heroic efforts of all who work in this field to find the best growth environment for children. Nearly half a million children are in foster care in the U.S., with 13,800 in Georgia as of February 2019.
May 2, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Power’s parent: After Vogtle, no new nuclear until maybe 2040
Matt Kempner reports that Georgia Power’s parent company is the only utility constructing nuclear power reactors in the United States, and it doesn’t plan to do it again anytime soon. It probably will be in the 2030s or 2040s before Atlanta-based Southern Company attempts another nuclear construction project, Southern CEO Tom Fanning told analysts Wednesday.
May 2, 2019 Atlanta Business Chronicle
Sub franchise starts nationwide circulation of Coca-Cola’s Bluetooth-connected soda machines
Eric Mandel reports that the next generation of Coca-Cola’s Freestyle soda dispensing machines is hitting the road. Firehouse Subs is the first national restaurant to rollout the AI-powered Freestyle 9100, a soda fountain featuring a 24-inch, high-definition touchscreen and Bluetooth connectivity that includes more than 175 beverage options.
May 2, 2019 University of North Georgia
Former Governor Deal among commencement speakers
Clark Leonard reports that former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal is one of three keynote speakers who will address University of North Georgia (UNG) graduates during May commencement ceremonies. Deal, who was in office from 2011-19, is the keynote speaker at the 6 p.m. May 3 commencement, which honors graduates of UNG’s Mike Cottrell College of Business, College of Science and Mathematics, and Lewis F. Rogers Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis
May 2, 2019 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
How an urban farm in midtown Columbus could spark a revitalization on 13th Street
Allie Dean reports that an up-and-coming business venture in midtown is bringing a new word to the vocabulary of Columbus residents and visitors with an urban farm operating under the name “Bromatoes.” Yes, that is the words “bro” and “tomatoes” mushed together to form a memorable one word salute to the plants Crawford Land is growing inside a former wholesale florist shop at 1231 Midway Drive, adjacent to Bloomers at Midtown.
May 2, 2019 WABE 90.1, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Expansion At Hartsfield-Jackson Will Cost 1,000 Parking Spaces
Alex Gailey reports that construction to add five gates to Concourse T at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is slated to begin May 1, eliminating nearly 700 spaces in the airport’s North Economy parking lot as part of the process. More than 350 spaces will eliminated two weeks later at the same parking lot on May 15.
May 2, 2019 GlobalAtlanta.com
Ambassador Touts ‘New Face’ of Uzbekistan During Atlanta Visit
Trevor Williams reports that it’s not a country that many Americans can find on a map, but Uzbekistan’s ambassador to the U.S. says that a raft of reforms enacted since 2016 make it worth another glance, especially from investors. Already, companies like Honeywell, Coca-Cola and General Electric are expanding production in the Central Asian nation of 33 million people, which constitutes about half the population of the resource-rich region, the country’s ambassador to the U.S. said in Atlanta.
May 2, 2019 Augusta Chronicle
Keel addresses Augusta University growth concerns in annual talk
Tom Corwin reports, growth, and some growing pains, were key topics Wednesday in Augusta University President Brooks Keel’s annual State of the University address. Noting that it is a “six-year-old university with a 191-year history,” an allusion to Medical College of Georgia, Keel told a packed auditorium that the institution has “an awful lot of growing to do,” particularly in the medical school and in student enrollment.
May 2, 2019 Brunswick News
House committee backs right whale conservation bill
Wes Wolfe reports that a bill that would open up $5 million in annual grants to protect North Atlantic right whales received approval Wednesday in the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee. The legislation comes at a time in which a federal agency ordered sweeping changes in how New England fishers go about their business. House Resolution 1568 — whose lead sponsor, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., is one of nearly two dozen people running for the Democratic nomination for president — provides $5 million per year from 2019 to 2029 that would go to relevant state and tribal agencies, research institutions and nonprofits with expertise required in right whale conservation.
May 2, 2019 University of Georgia
UGA researchers help identify ‘the mother of peanut’
Merritt Melancon reports, working to understand the genetics of peanut disease resistance and yield, researchers led by scientists at the University of Georgia have uncovered the peanut’s unlikely and complicated evolution. Researchers working as part of the International Peanut Genome Initiative have previously pinpointed one of the peanut’s two wild ancestors and shown that the peanut is a living legacy of some of the earliest human agricultural societies in South America.
May 2, 2019 Georgia.gov
Kemp appoints Lynne Riley State Treasurer
Staff reports that Governor Brian P. Kemp appointed Lynnette “Lynne” Riley to serve as State Treasurer. Riley, who previously served in the General Assembly and most recently led the Department of Revenue as State Revenue Commissioner, will be Georgia’s first female State Treasurer.
May 2, 2019 GPB
Democrat Teresa Tomlinson Enters 2020 Senate Race
Stephen Fowler reports, one day after Stacey Abrams made the announcement she would not seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate next year, former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson formally announced her campaign. Tomlinson most recently served two terms as mayor of Georgia’s second-largest city and is a partner at Atlanta law firm Hall Booth Smith.
May 2, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia 7th: GOP race gets testy before it even begins
Tamar Hallerman and Greg Bluestein report that State Sen. Renee Unterman has yet to enter the 7th District congressional race, but she’s already taking swipes at one of her likely opponents. And her Twitter attacks served as a preview of how bitterly-fought the contest to succeed retiring Republican Rob Woodall could be.
