Georgia Trend Daily – July 9, 2019
July 9, 2019 Georgia.gov
June Net Tax Revenues Up 7.4%
Staff reports that Georgia’s June net tax collections totaled roughly $2.12 billion for an increase of $146 million, or 7.4%, compared to June 2018 when net tax collections totaled nearly $1.98 billion. Net tax collections for the fiscal year (FY) ended on June 30, 2019 and totaled $23.79 billion, which was an increase of nearly $1.09 billion, or 4.8%, compared to FY 2018 when net tax revenues totaled almost $22.71 billion.
July 9, 2019 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
All Aboard
Karen Kirkpatrick reports, if it feels like MARTA is suddenly bursting out all over Atlanta, that feeling isn’t wrong. Gwinnett may have voted down the MARTA option in March, but expansions are underway in Clayton County.
July 9, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s largest bank to sever ties with private prison industry
Jeremy Redmon reports that SunTrust Banks, the Atlanta-based banking giant that is set to merge with rival BB&T, announced Monday that it would no longer provide financing to companies that operate prisons and immigration detention centers, becoming the latest lender to cut ties with the private corrections industry
July 9, 2019 Atlanta Business Chronicle
Charlotte misses out on 981-job distribution hub to Atlanta metro
Ashley Fahey reports that the Charlotte, N.C., area appears to have been a finalist for a distribution hub and nearly 1,000 jobs, but the project is expected to go to the Atlanta metro instead. Project Southern Charm, purportedly a codename for online styling service Stitch Fix Inc. (NASDAQ: SFIX), will employ 981 and intends to make an approximately $56 million investment in a distribution center in Douglas County, Georgia, according to an agenda item for a county meeting scheduled for today.
July 9, 2019 Georgia Southern University
Parker College of Business Pivots Towards Analytics
Staff reports that effective July 1, the Parker College of Business’ Department of Information Systems will change its name to the Department of Enterprise Systems and Analytics. The new name better represents the direction of the program and the opportunities in the market.
July 9, 2019 GPB
Why The Port of Savannah Has Been Smashing Trade, Revenue Records
Amy Kiley, Jesse Nighswonger and Virginia Prescott report that President Trump said he would pause tariff escalations with China after meeting with that country’s president, Xi Jinping, at the G20 Summit. One Georgia industry tracking the ongoing talks is shipping.
July 9, 2019 Gwinnett Daily Post
Forbes ranks GCPS on “America’s Best Employers for Women” list
Taylor Denman reports that Gwinnett County Public Schools has been recognized by Forbes as one of the country’s top employers for women for the second consecutive year. The list, released on July 2, ranked GCPS with roughly 22,000 employees at No. 19 overall.
July 9, 2019 Augusta Chronicle
Kemp updates area officials on health care efforts
Damon Cline reports that Gov. Brian Kemp said he and his staff are considering “anything and everything” to develop a successful workaround to the Affordable Care Act during a visit with Augusta-area health care leaders Monday. Kemp signed legislation earlier this year – the Patients First Act – allowing the state to pursue two types of waiver plans to the federal government’s Affordable Care Act.
July 9, 2019 WABE 90.1
Court of Appeals: Open Records Act Doesn’t Apply to State Lawmakers
Emma Hurt reports that a group arguing that Georgia’s Open Records Act should apply to state lawmakers plans to appeal a recent ruling. The Institute for Justice brought the suit over access to records from the 2012 session of the General Assembly, dealing with the passage of a bill about licensing music therapy.
July 9, 2019 GPB
How Worries Over Private Property Led To Georgia’s First Fracking Rules
Grant Blankenship reports that Rome, Georgia, like that other Rome, is a city of three rivers. In this case, the Oostanaula and Etowah come together downtown to make the Coosa, which flows on into Alabama. That’s where Larry Lassiter walked his dog Fiona on a recent afternoon.
July 9, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Stacey Abrams’ voting rights group raises $3.9 million in six months
James Salzer reports that the political action committee for Fair Fight Action, the voting rights groups started by Stacey Abrams last year after she narrowly lost the governor’s race, raised $3.9 million during the first six months of the year. Abrams shifted $1 million from her campaign to the group after ending her bid to contest Brian Kemp’s election, and since then Fair Fight PAC has continued to raise big money nationally, with a vast majority of the group’s contributions coming from outside of Georgia.
