Georgia Trend Daily – Oct. 31, 2019

Oct. 31, 2019 Brunswick News

Uncertainty continues in WOTUS battle

Wes Wolfe reports, it’s a basic thing that gets immensely complex — for the Clean Water Act to be enforced, there needs to be some kind of definition as to what it regulates. What it regulates are then defined as waters of the United States, but what constitutes a water is of some dispute, and the Environmental Protection Agency has sought to change more than 30 years of regulations to limit what’s a WOTUS and what isn’t.

Oct. 31, 2019 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!

Georgia Fare: The White Bull – Waving a Red Flag

Krista Reese reports, when The White Bull first opened on the Decatur Square in March 2018, I loved it. The concept (new American, heavily seasonal, from Chef Pat Pascarella, formerly of NYC’s Le Bernardin and Atlanta’s The Optimist), the decor (bleached wood and banquettes, curios and tchotchkes) and even the name (Ernest Hemingway’s term for the blank page staring down every terrified writer) fit well in Decatur’s sophisticated and rapidly developing food scene.

Oct. 31, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta City Council members raise concerns about airport worker pay

Kelly Yamanouchi reports that Atlanta City Council members voted to hold off on approving a contract for janitorial services at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, saying they wanted more information on how much workers are paid at the airport.

Oct. 31, 2019 Atlanta Business Chronicle

Feds order German manufacturer to divest Georgia chicken-based food ingredient plant

Dave Williams reports that Symrise AG must divest its chicken-based food ingredient manufacturing plant in Banks County, Ga., before proceeding with its proposed $900 million acquisition of International Dehydrated Foods LLC and American Dehydrated Foods LLC, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

Oct. 31, 2019 Georgia.org

Explore Georgia Awards Funding to Seven Tourism Projects

Staff reports that Explore Georgia, the state tourism office within the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), announced today that it has awarded more than $64,000 in tourism product development grants to seven new and expanding projects across the state.

Oct. 31, 2019 Savannah Morning News

Manatee stuck near Savannah marshland removed via bulldozer

Mary Landers reports that wildlife officials earlier this month responded to a report of an adult female manatee stranded on a sandy berm across Rifle Cut near Savannah. Manatees, protected marine mammals, once used the manmade Rifle Cut to swim between the Middle and Little Back rivers near the Houlihan Bridge. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is filling in the waterway to create wetlands and enhance river flows as part of the Savannah harboring deepening project.

Oct. 31, 2019 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!

Fox Theatre Institute grants

Karen Kirkpatrick reports that the reach of Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theatre stretches well beyond the curbs of its Peachtree Street location. Its Fox Theatre Institute (FTI) program offers historic preservation expertise, consultation, education – and grant funding – to performing arts venues across Georgia and the region, with the goals of stimulating local economies and ensuring access to arts events.

Oct. 31, 2019 New York Times

Georgia Plans to Purge 300,000 Names From Its Voter Rolls

Nicholas Casey reports that a coming purge of Georgia’s voter rolls has raised alarms among advocacy groups in the state and nationwide, many of whom see the issue of who gets to cast a ballot re-emerging with next year’s election, particularly in battleground states.

Oct. 31, 2019 Gainesville Times

How Doug Collins hopes to improve transparency in federal spending

Megan Reed reports that U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, has introduced a bill that would require government agencies to publicly justify their spending requests and post that information on a centralized website.

Oct. 31, 2019 Augusta Chronicle

Budgets set for new Transportation Investment Act tax

Susan McCord reports that the executive committee overseeing the next one-percent regional transportation sales tax agreed Wednesday that counties will cut their project wish lists – which currently include more than $2 billion in projects – to within 20 percent of state revenue projections.

Oct. 31, 2019 Brunswick News

College athlete pay not likely to advance in Ga. House

Wes Wolfe reports that regardless of the NCAA’s announcement Tuesday morning, state Speaker of the House David Ralston said he doesn’t expect the General Assembly to authorize payments to college athletes in a manner akin to legislation passed by California’s legislature earlier this year. “I just think there ought to continue to be a role for amateur athletics, and … so I’m frankly opposed to it,” Ralston said during a swing through Glynn County.

Oct. 31, 2019 Marietta Daily Journal

Cobb legislator proposes new law to criminalize physical gender change of children

Rosie Manins reports that State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, wants to make it a felony to change a child’s gender through surgery or drugs and plans to introduce her “Vulnerable Child Protection Act” in the Georgia General Assembly.

Oct. 31, 2019 Georgia Recorder

Revived ‘hidden predator’ bill stirs legal worries at legislative hearing

Beau Evans reports that a broad range of nonprofit and business organizations are decrying a renewed push to give Georgians who were sexually abused as children more ability later in life to sue their abusers and the employers who shielded them.

Oct. 31, 2019 The Center Square

Gov. Kemp to announce Affordable Care Act waiver rollout Thursday

Nyamekye Daniel reports that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp says he and other state officials will announce on Thursday details of a strategy to improve health care in the state. Kemp is expected to address an alternative to full Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

Oct. 31, 2019 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgians expected to follow parties in House impeachment inquiry vote

Tamar Hallerman and Tia Mitchell report that Georgia’s 14 U.S. House lawmakers have signaled they’re likely to stand with their parties Thursday when the chamber votes on whether to formalize Democrats’ impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. The vote is one of the weightiest political decisions facing local officials ahead of the 2020 elections, and it’s likely to become a defining moment for freshman U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, who’s running for re-election in a competitive suburban Atlanta district she flipped last year.