Georgia Trend Daily – May 8, 2020
May 8, 2020 WABE 90.1
Without Restaurants, Georgia Farmers Come Up Short On Customers
Molly Samuel reports that the coronavirus is creating a problem for Georgia farmers: Restaurants are doing less business, and schools are feeding fewer kids. That means even if there’s a great crop coming up, growers may not have their usual customers to sell it to.
May 8, 2020 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
From the Publisher: Shop Small
Ben Young writes, this month features our Small Business Guide, a collaboration with the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center. I hope it will find a wide audience among entrepreneurs and small businesses around the state who can use the information to help attract investors and customers in this difficult time.
May 8, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s ballooning jobless claims outpace U.S. amid pandemic fallout
Michael E. Kanell reports that Georgia’s Department of Labor has processed jobless claims for nearly one in three workers since mid-March, a far-higher rate than the U.S. average, as the coronavirus hammers the state’s economy.
May 8, 2020 Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia’s trucking industry slams brakes due to coronavirus pandemic
Dyana Bagby reports, when the coronavirus pandemic crashed into Georgia’s economy like an 18-wheeler at full throttle, the state’s trucking industry felt the impact full on. What the final damage will be is unknown, but some experts predict the nation’s trucking industry will see significant losses well into 2021.
May 8, 2020 Macon Telegraph
60,000 flocked to Georgia after it reopened, phone data show. Where’d they come from?
Tanasia Kenney reports that tens of thousands of out-of-state travelers saw Georgia’s reopening as an invitation to visit, according to an analysis of cellphone location data. A week after the Peach State allowed hair salons, barbershops and other businesses to turn on their welcome signs, a staggering 62,440 additional visitors flocked there daily in hopes of patronizing businesses still shuttered in their home states due to the coronavirus.
May 8, 2020 Georgia Recorder
Georgia Power tells PSC 20% of Vogtle workers scaled back
Jill Nolin reports that the company overseeing the expansion of Plant Vogtle has scaled back one-fifth of its workforce after an outbreak of COVID-19 spread to 185 workers and left significant numbers of employees afraid to show up for work. The reduction – which took the on-site workforce down from 9,000 to about 7,000 – is likely to cost Georgia Power and other co-owners about $40 million.
May 8, 2020 Valdosta Daily Times
Game Changer?: VSU team hopes research will help fight COVID-19
Desiree Carver reports, campuses across the country have halted the field work of many researchers, but Valdosta State University has allowed Dr. Thomas Manning and his research team to carry on, leading to potentially life-changing results. Manning, professor of chemistry, has been working on drug development for two decades.
May 8, 2020 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
More cyber workers needed
Mary Ann DeMuth reports that the global COVID-19 pandemic has generated many inspiring instances of individuals, groups and organizations working together for the greater good. Unfortunately, bad actors are also proliferating during the crisis. According to the Georgia Technology Authority, a surge in malicious cyber activity has accompanied the pandemic as people work from home via networks, systems and computers that were quickly adapted for teleworking and may be more vulnerable.
May 8, 2020 Capitol Beat News
University system staff, faculty facing furlough days to offset losses from coronavirus
Dave Williams reports that University System of Georgia faculty and staff are facing potential furlough days to help offset the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The system’s Board of Regents voted Thursday to authorize either four or eight furlough days for most employees at all 26 of Georgia’s public colleges and universities, depending on their salary level.
May 8, 2020 Marietta Daily Journal, Capitol Beat News
Normalcy needed for better Georgia budget, state economist says
Beau Evans reports that Georgia’s chief economist told lawmakers Thursday that a return to normalcy is needed to soften the blow to the state’s $27 billion budget, which is set for deep cuts amid coronavirus-prompted closures. That assessment was one of several that budget-writing state lawmakers got Thursday in a sobering overview of the sharp drop in tax revenues poised drive the General Assembly’s upcoming budget negotiations.
May 8, 2020 The Center Square
State economist: Consumer confidence a factor in Georgia’s financial recovery
Nyamekye Daniel reports that consumer confidence will be key in restoring Georgia’s economy, the state economist said Thursday. Jeffrey Dorfman, Georgia’s state economist, said economists will be able to start evaluating the state’s recovery rate once people’s fear of spending subsides. Consumer confidence has plummeted by 30 points over the past two months, according to the University of Michigan’s monthly consumer survey.
May 8, 2020 Georgia Health News
Pandemic pushing Medicaid numbers higher as many lose work
Andy Miller reports that Georgia data indicate that the economic crisis caused by the pandemic has begun to have an effect on enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. As COVID-19 ravaged the state over the past two months, new Medicaid and PeachCare enrollment in Georgia has increased 38 percent, versus the same period of time in 2019.
May 8, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia governor is open to state hate-crimes law
Greg Bluestein and Christian Boone report that Gov. Brian Kemp signaled he’s open to legislation that imposes additional penalties on hate crimes as advocates demand its passage amid outrage over the shooting death of an unarmed African-American jogger near Brunswick.
