Georgia Trend Daily – May 27, 2020
May 27, 2020 WABE 90.1
Amid Pandemic, Georgia’s Film Industry Makes Plans To Resume Production
Lisa Rayam and Lily Oppenheimer report that the president of Pinewood Atlanta Studios – one of the largest studio complex outside of Hollywood – told WABE’s “Morning Edition” it’s time to get back to work and resume production. The studio is based in Fayetteville and sits on 700 acres.
May 27, 2020 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Sustainable Georgia Roundup
Mary Ann DeMuth reports, even though electric vehicle (EV) owners don’t pay fuel taxes to support Georgia’s highways, they make a positive economic impact in other ways. According to Event Energy Partners, a Georgia-based clean transportation fuels consulting firm, EVs are a good deal and their growing popularity should be encouraged for their economic and environmental benefits.
May 27, 2020 Covington News
Mytex Polymer invests over $7 million in Newton County expansion
David Clemons reports that Mytex Polymers US Corp. will make a $7 million investment to expand its Newton County facility. Gov. Brian Kemp announced the expansion Tuesday and said it will create 15 jobs.
May 27, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dunwoody leather company files for bankruptcy
Andy Peters reports that a Dunwoody company that makes leather belts and wallets for Target, Disney and Under Armour has filed for bankruptcy. Circa of America reported about $10 million in liabilities compared to about $622,000 in assets, according to a document filed on Friday in federal court in Atlanta.
May 27 2020 Savannah Morning News
Savannah sees more money, more visitors in 2019
Katie Nussbaum reports, from fine dining to shopping on Broughton Street to visiting Savannah’s many museums and cultural sites, visitors to the city spent a record-breaking $3.1 billion in 2019, up from $3 billion in 2018, according to the annual Visit Savannah Visitor Study compiled by Longwoods International. “Our number of visitors, our demographics, the average length of stay, all of that stuff has not changed dramatically. You know, little bump-ups here and there, but the story continues to be about spending,” said Visit Savannah President Joseph Marinelli.
May 27, 2020 Atlanta Business Chronicle
Cousins files plans for multimillion-dollar Buckhead Plaza renovations
Chris Fuhrmeister reports that a multimillion-dollar revitalization project at Buckhead Plaza will bring changes to a couple of the neighborhood’s dining staples. Cousins Properties Inc. this month filed building permit applications with the city of Atlanta for exterior renovations at Buckhead Life Restaurant Group’s iconic steakhouse, Chops, and Ford Fry‘s temple of wood-fire cooking, King + Duke.
May 27, 2020 Augusta Chronicle
TechNet is still on tap for this summer
Damon Cline reports that the AFCEA’s annual TechNet Conference & Expo – Augusta’s largest trade show – is still scheduled to commence in mid-August, event organizers said. The four-day military technology symposium, which boasted a record 3,700 attendees and 200 vendors last summer, will conduct meetings and exhibitions with the social-distancing protocols that people have become accustomed to seeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
May 27, 2020 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Self-driving e-scooters now in Peachtree Corners
Mary Ann DeMuth reports, last week, Peachtree Corners launched a fleet of the world’s first teleoperated e-scooters on public streets. The six-month pilot of the e-scooters reflects the city’s ongoing development of innovative transportation technologies that include a self-driving shuttle, which launched last fall.
May 27, 2020 Capitol Beat News
Lawmakers float pay cuts for Georgia preschool teachers amid COVID-19
Beau Evans and Dave Williams report that the state could avoid furloughing pre-school teachers if they would be willing to absorb pay cuts rather than stay home, members of a Georgia Senate budget subcommittee suggested Tuesday. The Senate Appropriations Education Subcommittee kicked off two weeks of hearings on 14% spending cuts agencies across state government are being asked to make to offset the loss of tax revenues brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
May 27, 2020 Washington Post
Justice Dept. ends insider trading investigations into Sens. Loeffler, Inhofe, Feinstein
Spencer S. Hsu, Mike DeBonis, Seung Min Kim and Devlin Barrett report that the Justice Department has notified Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that it has closed insider trading investigations of their stock sales before the coronavirus pandemic crashed global markets, according to people familiar with the investigation.
May 27, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Powerful biz groups want ‘swift’ passage of Georgia hate-crimes law
Greg Bluestein reports that two of Georgia’s most prominent business groups united Wednesday to press state lawmakers to adopt a hate-crimes law when the legislative session resumes next month. The heads of the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce issued a rare joint statement calling for the “swift passage of hate crimes legislation that aligns our state’s law with our values” when legislators return after a months-long pandemic delay.
