Georgia Trend Daily – July 28, 2020
July 28, 2020 Albany Herald
Purple Innovations to add 360 jobs, invest $21 million in Henry County
Staff reports that Gov. Brian Kemp has announced that Purple Innovation Inc. (“Purple”), the comfort technology company known for creating the Purple Mattress, has selected Henry County for its third U.S. manufacturing facility. Purple plans to make a $21 million investment in this 520,000-square-foot facility, delivering 360 jobs to the area.
July 28, 2020 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Helping to Provide Reliable Power During Uncertain Times
Julia Roberts reports that a not-for-profit cooperative owned by 38 Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs), Georgia Transmission Corporation, owns more than 3,400 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and more than 700 substations. These facilities deliver power to Georgia’s EMCs, which serve nearly 70 percent of Georgia’s population – including homes, hospitals, farms, manufacturing plants and other businesses.
July 28, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some companies still hiring workers in troubled metro Atlanta economy
Michael E. Kanell and Amanda C. Coyne report, a mattress-maker, a clothing business, a food deliverer: Despite waves of layoffs and continued economic turmoil, some companies continue to expand in metro Atlanta. One company embracing its pre-pandemic momentum is ThredUp, a fast-growing, Oakland-based company that resells clothing.
July 28, 2020 GlobalAtlanta.com
Forestry Conference Puts Georgia in National Spotlight
Trevor Williams reports that Georgia is already the top state for commercial forestry, but a national conference launched virtually this week is aimed at even further cementing its role in a sector that sits at the intersection of global commerce and sustainability.
July 28, 2020 Metro Atlanta CEO
Georgia Ports Sets Tonnage Record for FY2020
Staff reports that the Port of Savannah handled 4.44 million twenty-foot equivalent container units in Fiscal Year 2020, down less than 1 percent compared to the previous year. Despite COVID-19 disruptions, total tons crossing all GPA docks reached a record 37.77 million, up 0.6 percent, or 223,000 tons, compared to FY2019.
July 28, 2020 New York Times
A Small Georgia City Plans to Put Students in Classrooms This Week
Richard Fausset reports, when Jennifer Fogle and her family moved from Indiana to Georgia 13 years ago, they settled in Jefferson, a small, handsome city an hour’s drive from Atlanta, because they had heard about the excellent schools. And until recently, they had little to complain about.
July 28, 2020 Newnan Times-Herald
Governor can’t usurp local power, court filing says
Sarah Fay Campbell reports that Gov. Brian Kemp’s most recent executive order does more than just tell cities and counties that they can’t enforce “mask mandates” that require people to wear masks in public. It also tells local governments that they can’t make rules about entry to their own buildings, including requiring masks for the public to go into buildings.
July 28, 2020 WABE 90.1
Georgia Health Officials Address CMS Administrator, Sen. Loeffler
Emma Hurt reports that at a roundtable in Atlanta on Monday, Seema Verma, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, and U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler heard from health care leaders in Georgia about the state of the pandemic on the ground. Hospital executives urged the federal officials to keep them in mind financially as more federal relief is considered, since they’re seeing higher coronavirus numbers than they ever have.
July 28, 2020 New York Times
Georgia Senator Is Criticized for Ad Enlarging Jewish Opponent’s Nose
Rick rojas reports that Senator David Perdue of Georgia’s re-election campaign was assailed on Monday for a Facebook advertisement that enlarged the nose of his Democratic opponent, Jon Ossoff, who is Jewish, in a portrayal that critics immediately denounced as anti-Semitic.
July 28, 2020 The Center Square
Special election set for Congressional seat held by John Lewis
Beau Evans reports that Gov. Brian Kemp Monday called a special election for Sept. 29 to fill the remainder of U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ term following the civil rights icon’s death earlier this month. Required by state law, the special election will only apply through the end of this year.
July 28, 2020 Georgia Recorder
Ga. voters will decide thorny ‘sovereign immunity’ issue this fall
Stanley Dunlap reports that a lengthy legal battle over a controversial 2012 abortion law between the state of Georgia and a few physicians reached the state’s highest court in 2017, but the doctors’ objections to the law banning abortion after 20 weeks were never heard. The state Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision that then-Gov. Nathan Deal and the state were protected by what’s known as sovereign immunity.
July 28, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kemp cancels Tuesday hearing in legal feud with Bottoms
Jeremy Redmon and Greg Bluestein report that Gov. Brian Kemp’s attorneys canceled a request for an emergency court hearing scheduled Tuesday for his lawsuit against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a sign that efforts to hash out an out-of-court settlement might be gaining traction.
