Georgia Trend Daily – Jan. 22, 2020
Jan. 22, 2020 WABE 90.1
State Economist On Why Georgia Needs Budget Cuts
Emma Hurt reports that despite a strong economy and record employment numbers in Georgia, the Governor has still mandated budget cuts across many state agencies. Why? Speaking to lawmakers Tuesday, the state’s economist, Jeffrey Dorfman, said enrollment-based programs like public education and Medicaid are growing quicker than state revenues.
Jan. 22, 2020 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Georgia tourism breaks records
Mary Ann DeMuth reports that the annual Tourism, Hospitality and Arts Day at the state Capitol this week was celebratory as officials from the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), along with Gov. Brian Kemp and industry professionals, recognized 2018 as a record-breaking year for tourism. The Peach State welcomed 111.7 million domestic and international visitors who collectively spent $36.9 billion.
Jan. 22, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta-based businesses land on ‘world’s most admired companies’ list
Courtney Kueppers reports that to compile its annual list of the world’s most admired companies, Fortune magazine polled 3,770 executives, directors and analysts. The results weighed in the favor of a handful of Atlanta-based companies.
Jan. 22, 2020 Atlanta Business Chronicle
UK consulting firm picks Atlanta as U.S. HQ after $10M funding raise
Madison Hogan reports that Lemongrass Consulting, a SAP and Amazon Web Services consultant based in the United Kingdom, has announced plans to establish its U.S. headquarters in Atlanta following a $10 million Series C raise. The round was led by Blue Lagoon Capital and joined by returning investor Columbia Capital.
Jan. 22, 2020 Georgia Health News
Chemical group testing 7 Georgia locations for ethylene oxide
Andy Miller reports that a powerful trade association representing the chemical industry is testing the air in seven Georgia locations to measure ethylene oxide, a toxic gas used for sterilizing medical supplies. “These sites were selected to get a broad range of data on background levels of [ethylene oxide] across differing environments,” said Tom Flanagin, a spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council, who confirmed the testing in an email to Georgia Health News.
Jan. 22, 2020 GlobalAtlanta.com
AGCO to Invest €40M in French Factory Complex
Trevor Williams reports that Atlanta-based agricultural equipment giant AGCO Corp. is putting €40 million (about $44.3 million) more into its factory complex in Beauvais, France, the home of its Massey Ferguson brand. Martin Richenhagen, chairman, president and CEO of AGCO, announced ahead of the Choose France summit led by French President Emmanuel Macron that AGCO would make good on a pledge made a year ago.
Jan. 22, 2020 Saporta Report
New modular construction bringing ‘missing middle’ housing to the Westside
Sean Keenan reports, if you happened upon a house floating through the air on Atlanta’s Westside this morning, worry not; that’s just part of a new affordable housing push by developer Place Properties. Homeplace Solutions, a division of Place Properties, today set down a new modular home at 341 Sunset Avenue, where English Avenue meets Vine City.
Jan. 22, 2020 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Trendsetters: Recording Rebirth
Mary Ann DeMuth reports that fifty years after the founding of Macon’s iconic Capricorn Records, its historic sound studios reopened last month as Mercer Music at Capricorn. Synonymous with the Southern Rock musical genre of the 1970s, the recording studio nurtured a number of legendary artists, including The Allman Brothers Band, Wet Willie, The Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, Cowboy, Elvin Bishop and many others.
Jan. 22, 2020 Capitol Beat
Gov. Kemp aims three bills at human trafficking
Dave Williams reports that Gov. Brian Kemp Tuesday unveiled the specifics of a crackdown on human trafficking he proposed in more broad terms in last week’s State of the State address to the General Assembly. Kemp asked the legislature to support three bills that would tighten restrictions in existing state law targeting human traffickers and, in one case, implement a federal rule promulgated last year by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Jan. 22, 2020 11 Alive
Georgia lawmaker pushing to prevent discrimination over hairstyles
Staff reports some Georgia lawmakers want to put a stop to hair discrimination. The latest hair controversy is swirling around an African American high school student who lives near Houston, Texas. The student has been told he must cut his hair or he will not be able to participate in graduation ceremonies.
Jan. 22, 2020 Brunswick News
Kemp previews state law enforcement budgets
Wes Wolfe reports that law enforcement agency heads had to wait until today to get their turn in the barrel, but Gov. Brian Kemp gave a sneak preview of what they’ll ask legislators for when he spoke Tuesday morning at the beginning of three days of meetings by the General Assembly’s Joint Budget Committee. “The budget before you shows that reducing costs doesn’t require drastic cuts to other agency activities,” Kemp said.
Jan. 22, 2020 Georgia Recorder
Georgia’s junior senator burnishes conservative credentials in D.C.
Daniel C. Vock reports that Georgia Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler is still learning her way around Capitol Hill. New U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s office is in the basement of the Senate Russell Office Building. Her official Senate website is spartan, and her remarks in radio and TV interviews come off as tightly scripted.
Jan. 22, 2020 Capitol Beat
Georgia agriculture chief warns budget cuts will mean fewer food safety inspections
Dave Williams and Beau Evans report that most state agency heads who appeared before legislative budget writers Tuesday vowed to do more with less to meet the spending-reduction targets Gov. Brian Kemp has set for them. But Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black warned job losses in his department could seriously hamper the state’s No.1 industry.
Jan. 22, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia 2020: Sanford Bishop endorses Biden for president
Greg Bluestein reports that U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden’s bid for president on Tuesday, making him the first member of Georgia’s Democratic congressional delegation to pick a side in the 2020 race for the White House. The Albany Democrat told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was impressed by Biden’s “foreign and domestic policy experience, legislative shrewdness, and successful implementation of the Recovery Act following the Great Recession.”
