Georgia Trend Daily – Sept. 17, 2019

Sept. 17, 2019 GPB

Delta Air Lines Crew Reflects On Piloting Hurricane Relief Flights to Bahamas

Jim Burress reports that one recent Friday night Capt. Carl Nordin got a call. Nordin, a Delta Air Line chief line check pilot for the MD-80/90-series aircraft, learned Delta executives had tapped a “Mad Dog” (as the aircraft are known), to handle relief flights to the hurricane-ravaged Bahamas. The decision to use the MD-88 was one of prudence.

Sept. 17, 2019 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!

Infrastructure and Beyond

Karen Kirkpatrick reports that thirty years ago when the state’s first community improvement district (CID) formed in Cobb County, CIDs were conceived primarily to tackle infrastructure improvements – roads, traffic signals, all the things that help get folks where they want to go. Today, the mandate for CIDs has evolved. Oh, they still handle major infrastructure projects, but they have also taken on initiatives like parks, greenspace and trails, safety and security, beautification of roadways and much more.

Sept. 17, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Major hotels make move to bulk-size toiletries in guest rooms

Nedra Rhone reports, like many frequent travelers, Caroline Eubanks has accumulated dozens of tiny plastic bottles filled with shampoo, conditioner, lotion and shower gel. She has so many toiletries from hotels — ranging from high-end brands to generic — she isn’t sure what to do with all of them. The hotel industry is shifting away from single-use toiletries, and travelers like Eubanks have begun moving away from them as well.

Sept. 17, 2019 Atlanta Business Chronicle

Peach Bowl Inc. donates $20 million to fund clinical trials

Eric Jackson reports that Peach Bowl Inc., which owns the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, is all in on tackling childhood cancer. The Peach Bowl, a non-profit organization, announced a $20 million gift to The Aflac Center and Blood Disorder Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta on Monday.

Sept. 17, 2019 Athens Banner-Herald

Georgia part of NASA mission

Beth Burger reports that when NASA launches its next mission taking astronauts to the moon and then to Mars for deep space exploration, Georgia will have had a hand in making that happen. At least 85 companies from Georgia, including Chathan Steel Corporation in Savannah, are among the roughly 3,800 suppliers nationwide that will equip NASA’s latest Orion mission, Artemis 1. The space agency plans to return to the moon by 2024 and embark on long-term lunar exploration by 2028.

Sept. 17, 2019 Brunswick News

Bipartisan right whale legislation introduced in Senate

Wes Wolfe reports that the introduction of bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate that seeks to enhance right whale conservation is a positive sign for backers of the plan that’s already received committee approval in the House of Representatives. U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. — with Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Tom Carper, D-Del. — submitted last week the Scientific Assistance for Very Endangered Right Whales Act, which would create a grant program to enhance collaboration with the different entities involved in right whale conservation, ultimately seeking to reduce the harm caused by people to the whales and helping the population recover.

Sept. 17, 2019 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!

Curiosity Lab Opens

Karen Kirkpatrick reports that Curiosity Lab, a co-working space and autonomous vehicle test track raised the green flag last week in a ribbon cutting ceremony in Peachtree Corners. The lab is the first intelligent mobility living laboratory designed specifically for companies seeking a real-world setting to prove out Internet of Things (IoT) applications and technologies.

Sept. 17, 2019 Valdosta Daily Times

Abrams kicks off women’s bus tour

Riley Bunch reports that Stacey Abrams helped new advocacy group Supermajority kick off its nationwide bus tour to engage and mobilize 2 million women voters ahead of the 2020 election. What is set to be the largest woman-to-woman voter program in history made Atlanta “ground zero” Sunday, facing the state’s controversial women’s rights policies head on.

Sept. 17, 2019 Gwinnett Daily Post, The Center Square

Georgia’s criminal justice system faces cuts as part of Gov. Kemp’s efficiency plan

Nyamekye Daniel reports that Georgia’s criminal justice system could see one of the biggest budget cuts in the state’s effort to streamline operations. The state corrections, community supervision, bureau of investigation and juvenile justice agencies as well as the public defender’s office could cut hundreds of millions of dollars previously allocated for the next two fiscal years to meet the governor’s mandate for less spending.

Sept. 17, 2019 Georgia Recorder

Proposed budget cuts a setback for state mental health safety net programs

Beau Evans reports that key services for Georgians with mental disabilities struggling to keep a roof over their heads are at risk as part of about $56 million in cuts to the state’s mental health department over the next two years. Those cuts figure into budget reductions across all state government agencies that Gov. Brian Kemp ordered last month.

Sept. 17, 2019 Newnan Times-Herald

Reviewer says Georgia not living up to mental health disabilities pact

Kandace Bell reports that Georgia is still failing to meet key parts of its agreement with the US Department on caring for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, according to a recent independent reviewer’s report. The reviewer, Elizabeth Jones, cited “preventable deaths occurring in the state system, often the product of confirmed neglect.” Many deaths of people with developmental deaths were classified as “unexpected,” she said.

Sept. 17, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia to join $10B Purdue Pharma settlement deal

Ariel Hart reports that Georgia will agree to join a nationwide settlement deal with the maker of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, state Attorney General Chris Carr said Monday evening in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The state is still suing two dozen other drug companies that made or distributed opioids for Georgians as the crisis raged here, and on Monday the two sides in that case squared off for the first time in court.