Georgia Trend Daily – May 12, 2020
May 12, 2020 The Center Square
Paycheck Protection Program leaves Georgia small businesses frustrated
Vivian Jones reports that the federal Paycheck Protection Program is meant to help small businesses weather the COVID-19 pandemic, but many Georgia business owners are frustrated by the lack of clarity and constantly changing guidelines for using PPP funds. “We’re inundated with phone calls – all day,” said Nathan Humphrey, Georgia state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
May 12, 2020 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Political Notes: Ups, Downs and In-betweens
Mary Ann DeMuth reports that Gov. Brian Kemp has appointed Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Carla Wong McMillian to the State Supreme Court, replacing Justice Robert Benham, who retired. According to the governor’s press office, she is the first Asian-American female in the Southeast to be named to a state’s highest court.
May 12, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
MiMedx changes course, returns $10 million in pandemic loan
Michael E. Kanell reports that MiMedx, a Marietta-based biologics company, has reversed its position and returned a $10 million federal loan from a program aimed at bolstering small businesses during the pandemic. Money from the Payment Protection Program is meant to allow smaller companies to continue paying employees, saving jobs during a time of plunging revenues for many businesses.
May 12, 2020 Atlanta Business Chronicle
Atlanta-based homebuilder PulteGroup to cut $100M a year in costs; top strategy exec leaves
David Allison reports that Atlanta-based homebuilder PulteGroup said Monday it taking steps to cut $100 million a year in overhead costs, and also reported that one of its top executives has left the company.
May 12, 2020 Capitol Beat News
DOT poised to award contract for widening of Interstate 85
Dave Williams reports that Marietta-based C.W. Matthews Contracting has been named the “apparent” winner of a state contract for the second phase of the widening of Interstate 85 from Braselton northeast into Jackson County. The project, which will widen the highway in both directions from two lanes to three, is part of the ambitious $11 billion Major Mobility Investment Program (MMIP) then-Gov. Nathan Deal announced in 2016 shortly after the General Assembly passed legislation earmarking $950 million a year for transportation improvements across Georgia.
May 12, 2020 Savannah Morning News
Georgia chief justice extends statewide state of emergency through June 12
Jan Skutch reports that Georgia’s chief justice on Monday afternoon, May 11, again extended the statewide judicial emergency through June 12 in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, continuing his bar of jury trial and grand juries in most instances. Harold Melton, who earlier extended the original March 14 until May 13, said the latest extension was needed because “most court facilities are not prepared to comply with social distancing and other public health requirements to safeguard the health of litigants, lawyers, judges, court personnel, and the public during extensive in-court proceedings or proceedings involving a large number of people.”
May 12, 2020 All On Georgia
Georgia Farmers Optimistic About Peanut Season
Jessica Szilagyi reports that Georgia farmers are optimistic about the upcoming peanut season as they begin planting their crops. Tyron Spearman, Executive Director of Peanut Buying Point Association, told WALB that the market outlook for peanuts is ‘looking good this year for a growing area in Georgia that stretches along the coastal plain and as far inland as Augusta.’
May 12, 2020 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
How did COVID-19 affect Aflac, Synovus, Global Payments in Q1 2020? Here are the finances
Nick Wooten reports that Aflac, Global Payments and Synovus have all reported their financial results following the end of the first quarter on March 31, 2020. The novel coronavirus continues to affect these businesses, with many feeling the impact of the pandemic earlier this year.
May 12, 2020 GlobalAtlanta.com
Ebix Preaches Resilience as Extended India Lockdown Hits Bottom Line
Trevor Williams reports that Metro Atlanta-based Ebix Inc. says its broad diversification kept the company profitable in the first quarter, despite an extended lockdown in India and pandemic-related restrictions that pummeled business segments that are highly dependent on travel.
May 12, 2020 WABE 90.1
Georgia’s Stressed Health Care ‘Safety Net’ Could Sway Voters
Susanna Capelouto reports that Karen Kinsell is the only doctor in southwest Georgia’s Clay County. A third of her patients are uninsured. “People really have a hard time understanding the extent and pervasiveness of poverty here, and that’s the general area,” she said.
May 12, 2020 Athens Banner-Herald
With students gone, Athens faces Census undercount
Lee Shearer reports that four Athens-area counties are among the top 10 in Census response rates, but Clarke County is not one of them. The stakes are high in the completion race, according to Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz, who has used his weekly community update to ask people to complete their census forms.
May 12, 2020 Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI
State works to reach Hispanic community to reduce COVID-19 hotspot
Riley Bunch reports, at the end of April, Gov. Brian Kemp announced a new effort to spread COVID-19 information to the Hispanic community as cases started to rise in Hall County — signaling the state may be facing another hotspot. While Latinos make up just less than a third of the county’s population, they represent half of positive coronavirus tests at Northeast Georgia Health Systems and 44% of coronavirus positive admitted patients, said Dr. Antonio Rios, chief physician with the Northeast Georgia Physicians Group.
May 12, 2020 Brunswick News
No decision made in Delta request to suspend flights to Brunswick
Taylor Cooper reports that in late April, Delta Air Lines applied to suspend service to the Brunswick Golden Isles Airport for at least a few months, but the U.S. Department of Transportation has yet to make a decision. The application includes other airports in South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Massachusetts, all of which Delta says are within an hour of other airports.
May 12, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Jolt: Metro Atlanta businesses warn of a long economic slog
Jim Galloway, Greg Bluestein and Tia Mitchell report that Metro Atlanta businesses warn of a long, fraught economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. And the broad majority are angling for tax breaks for the most struggling industries.
