Georgia Trend Daily – Dec. 24, 2020
Dec. 24, 2020 Georgia Health News
Good news, bad news: Exchange enrollment up, but COVID is main factor
Andy Miller reports that more than half a million Georgians are enrolled in the state’s health insurance exchange for next year, a more than 10 percent increase from 2020. The increase is partly due to many people signing up after losing their jobs and their employer-based health insurance.
Dec. 24, 2020 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Organizations: Georgia Northwestern Technical College Foundation
Candice Dyer reports that Breanna Luke was a high-school dropout and young mother of three who wanted an education. She started studying business technology at Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) but ran out of money in her final semester. The GNTC Foundation stepped in to cover the balance, and she became her family’s first college graduate.
Dec. 24, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia jobless face payment delays after federal relief bill stalls
Michael E. Kanell reports that hundreds of thousands of Georgians losing their jobless benefits this week will likely wait a while to receive help from the federal relief package Congress has passed. None of the help can flow yet, with fresh delays after the president balked Tuesday at signing the bipartisan legislation.
Dec. 24, 2020 Savannah Morning News
Xcel Strategies launches mobile trailers aimed at bolstering Savannah’s workforce
Katie Nussbaum reports, founded in 2012, Xcel Strategies Inc. aims to provide young men with purpose and passion through a network of trained mentors. The organization also provides training in life skills, career advising and job placement. Xcel founder Jay Thompson said he had the idea to care for young men who have lost parents, specifically dads, and then to equip them to find success in their dreams.
Dec. 24, 2020 Atlanta Business Chronicle
Delta to restrict executive bonuses if profit sharing is put on hold
Chris Fuhrmeister reports that the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic likely to put a halt to Delta’s profit sharing, the airline is planning to restrict executive bonuses in 2021. Under a newly adopted management incentive plan, Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) will not award cash performance bonuses to executives in 2021 so long as there is “no payout to employees under Delta’s broad-based profit sharing program,” the Atlanta-based carrier said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Dec. 24, 2020 Access WDUN
North Georgia Community Foundation awards $1 million in COVID-19 Relief Grants
Lauren Hunter reports, just in time for Christmas, staff with the North Georgia Community Foundation announced that more than $1 million in COVID-19 Relief Grants have been awarded throughout the North Georgia community. Since April, the foundation has awarded 133 grants in 21 North Georgia counties throughout 11 grant cycles, according to a press release from NGCF.
Dec. 24, 2020 Clayton Crescent
Forest Park Development Authority, Ocado Solutions seek $125M bond validation Dec. 28
Robin Kemp reports that the City of Forest Park and Ocado, which is building a customer fulfillment center at Gillem Logistics Center, will appear before Clayton County Superior Court Judge Robert Mack on December 28 at 9 a.m. for a bond validation hearing. The bond validation hearing is part of the process for issuing bonds to pay for public projects. Bond validation usually takes about 30 days but can end sooner.
Dec. 24, 2020 Capitol Beat News
Lawsuits target Georgia voter rolls, mail-in ballots in U.S. Senate runoffs
Beau Evans reports, Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoffs have opened a flood of legal challenges over thousands of registered voters and the state’s rules on absentee ballots with less than two weeks to go until Election Day. In the most far-reaching effort, the Texas-based conservative group True the Vote has lodged challenges against the eligibility of about 365,000 voters in all 159 Georgia counties, homing in on state law that lets local voters challenge the qualifications of other voters in their county.
Dec. 24, 2020 WABE 90.1
Raffensperger Calls For End Of ‘No-Excuse’ Absentee Voting In Georgia
Emil Moffat reports that by next spring, Georgia voters may need a reason to request an absentee ballot. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Wednesday morning called for lawmakers to get rid of the “no-excuse” absentee ballot that’s been in place in Georgia since 2005 when it was signed into law by Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican.
Dec. 24, 2020 The Current
Coastal Georgia voters stand firm as early poll access shrinks for Senate race
Laura Corley reports that voters are facing fewer opportunities and less access to vote early and in person for the January runoff. State election officials say that’s because of a lack of available polling places for an extraordinary election and a shortage of staff.
Dec. 24, 2020 The Center Square
Georgia labor commissioner: Democrats’ unemployment demands, actions are ‘appalling’
Nyamekye Daniel reports that Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said accusations regarding the Georgia Department of Labor’s failure to issue timely unemployment payments are baseless. Members of the House Democratic Caucus Subcommittee on COVID-19 held a hearing this week where more than a handful of unemployed Georgians made pleas for unemployment compensation. Some of them said they have been waiting for months for payments.
Dec. 24, 2020 New York Times
Now Airing on the Local News in Tennessee: Ads for Georgia Candidates
Shane Goldmacher reports that the Georgia Senate runoffs are so awash in political cash that the ad wars are spilling into neighboring states. Television viewers in Atlanta are bearing the brunt of an advertising assault that is expected to make the two contests the most expensive Senate races in American history.
Dec. 24, 2020 Saporta Report
More than 1.8 million people have cast ballots for Georgia’s Senate run-off elections
Raisa Habersham reports, more than 1.8 million ballots have been cast in Georgia’s Senate runoff races during early voting, according to online data tracker GeorgiaVotes.com. At this point during the general election, more than 2 million people had cast ballots.
Dec. 24, 2020 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two Georgia runoff races you know about; then there’s the third one
Matt Kempner reports, two of three races in Georgia’s runoff election have snagged national attention and hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign spending. The third race? Many Georgians probably never heard of the two men running for a statewide seat on the state Public Service Commission.
