Georgia Trend Daily – June 14, 2019
June 14, 2019 Albany Herald
Georgia maintains highest bond ratings
Staff reports that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday that Georgia again secured the highest ratings of AAA with a stable outlook from the three main credit rating agencies: Fitch, Moody’s, and Standard & Poor’s. Of the states that issue general obligation bonds, only nine currently meet this standard. Georgia’s upcoming general obligation bond sale will fund more than $997 million in capital projects. The Peach State’s AAA rating allows for the lowest possible interest costs when going to market next week.
June 14, 2019 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Georgia Trend’s Legal Elite nominations continue
Karen Kirkpatrick asks, who do you think is the state’s most effective lawyer? Now through Friday, July 12, 2019, you can tell us. Georgia Trend magazine’s annual Legal Elite listing will highlight the state’s most effective lawyers in 16 different practice areas. The list of the state’s Legal Elite, as chosen by their peers, will appear in the December 2019 issue.
June 14, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta home sales dipped in May despite rise in listings
Michael E. Kanell reports, the pace of sales in the metro Atlanta housing market slowed last month, despite a spring surge in the number of homes listed for sale, according to the Atlanta Realtors Association. The dip seemed to signal a decline in buyer interest, since it wasn’t a lack of choices.
June 14, 2019 Atlanta Business Chronicle
U.K. packaging company selects Buckhead for new North American HQ
Maria Saporta reports that Atlanta is solidifying its role as a center for the packaging industry in the United States. The newest company to call Atlanta home is DS Smith, a U.K. company that selected Buckhead as its North American headquarters. The company considered 17 cities before choosing Atlanta.
June 14, 2019 GlobalAtlanta.com
Italy Once Again Commits to Beefing Up Commercial Outreach in Atlanta
Trevor Williams reports that on the surface, it looks like we’ve been here before. Italy’s consul general came to Atlanta in 2016 with the idea of launching a chapter of the Miami-based Italy-America Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast. In fact, the idea of such an outpost has been circulating since at least 2014, when Global Atlanta first reported on it.
June 14, 2019 Valdosta Daily Times
Valdosta native breaks barriers as new Cobb district DA
Terry Richards reports that a Valdosta native is breaking legal ground in North Georgia. Joyette Holmes, magistrate judge for the Cobb County judicial circuit, was named the circuit’s district attorney Wednesday by Gov. Brian Kemp, the first woman and the first African-American, to serve in the office according to a statement from the Governor’s office.
June 14, 2019 Gwinnett Daily Post
Hartsfield-Jackson official: ‘We will fight’ state takeover proposal
Curt Yeomans reports that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport officials are not about to back down from a potential fight with Georgia legislators over a proposed state takeover of the airport, it’s second-in-command told the Gwinnett Chamber Wednesday. Deputy General Manager and CFO Greg Richardson addressed the chamber about what goes on at the airport during the business group’s June On Topic luncheon at the 1818 Club in unincorporated Duluth.
June 14, 2019 Augusta Chronicle
AU Health restructures amid $24M loss
Damon Cline reports, facing a $24 million fiscal year loss, the board of Augusta University Health System on Thursday approved a restructuring plan that merges the leadership of the health system and its largest single entity – AU Medical Center – into a single position. The board’s bylaw revisions, which take effect beginning Friday, will remove the AU Health System CEO title from AU President Brooks Keel and place it with interim AU Medical Center CEO Philip Coule, who was appointed to the position earlier this week following the abrupt departure of Ann Liska.
June 14, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Capitol Recap: Seeking a legislative cure to a Georgia medical problem
Jim Dinery reports that Georgia’s high rate of maternal mortality first gained attention when Amnesty International examined 2006 statistics and ranked the state 50th out of 50. In the 10 years that followed, it only got worse. Now, three years after that, the General Assembly is rolling out the machinery to do something about it.
