Georgia Trend Daily – Feb. 15, 2021
Feb. 15, 2021 WABE 90.1
Microsoft Expansion Bolsters Georgia’s ‘Technology Capital’ Aspirations
Emil Moffat reports that Microsoft became the latest tech company to announce an expansion in Georgia as it unveiled plans last week for a major hub in metro Atlanta. The Microsoft announcement came almost one year to the day after Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan called together the first meeting of the Georgia Innovates Task Force, which is co-chaired by retired U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson and former Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson.
Feb. 15, 2021 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
COVID’s Cardiac Connection
Mary Ann DeMuth reports, when the COVID pandemic first started, scientists were struggling to learn as fast as the virus was spreading. Inevitably, that meant that guidance changed as knowledge grew. They’re still learning – in December, for example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shortened the recommended quarantine period for someone exposed to COVID-19 from 14 days down to seven to 10 days.
Feb. 15, 2021 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kemp calls for Biden to overturn ruling threatening SK battery plant
Mike Esterl reports that Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday called for President Joe Biden to intervene in a patent dispute that jeopardizes the future of a $2.6 billion electric vehicle battery plant being built in Georgia. Wednesday’s ruling by the International Trade Commission — that SK Innovation stole trade secrets from rival LG Energy Solutions — puts “SK’s significant investment in 2,600 clean energy jobs and innovative manufacturing in peril,” Kemp said.
Feb. 15, 2021 Rome News-Tribune
Workforce hits 180 at Profile Custom Extrusion in Rome
Doug Walker reports that Profile Custom Extrusion has just celebrated its 60th anniversary in Rome and David Newby said he believes its best years may yet be ahead. Profile landed in Rome in 1960 under the ownership of V.E. Anderson, the window-making industrial giant.
Feb. 15, 2021 Gainesville Times
Poultry groups, Latino chamber of commerce aiding families of 6 killed in Foundation Food Group leak
Nick Watson reports that poultry groups and the Northeast Georgia Latino Chamber of Commerce are working to provide financial assistance to the families of the six people killed following the Jan. 28 Foundation Food Group nitrogen leak. Six people were killed and 12 total people were hospitalized following the leak at the Gainesville plant.
Feb. 15, 2021 Saporta Report
Norfolk Southern stops work on Chattahoochee Brick site – at least for now
Maria Saporta reports that the optics were not good. Norfolk Southern, Atlanta’s newest Fortune 500 company, was bulldozing on the land that once housed the Chattahoochee Brick Co., a company that manufactured millions of bricks that helped in the building of Atlanta by using convict labor, many who died on the site. That history came to light in 2009 in the Pulitzer Prize-winning book – “Slavery by Another Name” – Doug Blackmon.
Feb. 15, 2021 Georgia Recorder
Melton to step down after leading Georgia courts through COVID crisis
Stanley Dunlap reports that Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton announced Friday that he is stepping down on July 1 after spending 16 years serving on the state’s highest court, including the past year implementing a 2009 plan he led to keep the wheels of justice turning in a pandemic. Melton’s announcement comes with a year-plus remaining on his four-year term, meaning Republican Gov. Brian Kemp gets the chance to appoint a new justice to the state’s high court for the third time since 2019.
Feb. 15, 2021 Georgia Health News
Feds appear set to halt Georgia’s upcoming Medicaid waiver rules
Andy Miller reports that Georgia’s move to add some low-income adults to Medicaid appears threatened as the Biden administration moves to eliminate work requirements for coverage under the government program. The White House on Friday was expected to notify states that it plans to revoke Medicaid work requirements, Politico, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal reported.
Feb. 15, 2021 Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI
Greene may be too red: Freshman 14th District rep cut from lawmaking process
Riley Bunch reports that U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene declared she was “freed” to pursue her brand of politics when fellow lawmakers recently exiled her from serving on Congressional committees. Yet Republicans are still in a bind. Only one month into her nascent term, the north Georgia Republican was booted off her assignments on the House Education and Labor as well as the Budget committees.
Feb. 15, 2021 Brunswick News
State bill would insert schools into planning and zoning affairs
Taylor Cooper reports that a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives would give the Glynn County School Board a seat on all local planning and zoning commissions. House Bill 221, authored by Rep. Tommy Benton, R-Jefferson, would amend state zoning law to read: “If any local government establishes a planning commission, or another appointed body, to review or make recommendations on proposed zoning decisions prior to the governing authority taking action that would result in a zoning decision, such commission or body shall include at least one member appointed by the board of education.”
Feb. 15, 2021 Capitol Beat News
New broadband bill draws opposition in Georgia Senate committee
Dave Williams reports that legislation that would tap into a new source of funding to expand broadband service in Georgia got some pushback this week from the telecom industry. Senate Bill 65 would convert a portion of a state fund that now subsidizes land-line service provided by rural telephone companies into a pot of money to be used for broadband projects.
Feb. 15, 2021 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Greene warns Rep. Herrera Beutler ahead of possible testimony
Adrianne Merchison reports that U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., warned U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., Saturday to consider her testimony if called as a witness in former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial. Following the Senate’s 55-45 vote that morning to consider witnesses appear for the trial, Greene told Herrera Beutler in a Saturday tweet that Trump’s supporters would be watching if she were called to testify.
