Georgia Trend Daily – July 7, 2022
July 7, 2022 The Center Square
Georgia tourism numbers climbed even during COVID-19 pandemic
T.A. DeFeo reports that the number of tourists to Georgia continued to rise even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a positive story that state officials seem reluctant to tell. However, the size of the increase is difficult to determine as state officials say they don’t have final numbers for 2021 and the first half of 2022.
July 7, 2022 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Time is running out to nominate Georgia’s Legal Elite
Mary Ann DeMuth reports that year, Georgia Trend shines the spotlight on the state’s most effective attorneys and this year is no exception. Our 20th compilation of Georgia’s Legal Elite in 16 categories – as chosen by their peers – will appear in the December 2022 issue. Nominations for the Legal Elite are now open and run through Friday, July 8, 2022, at 5 p.m.
July 7, 2022 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta airport gets $40M from feds for Concourse D expansion
Kelly Yamanouchi reports that Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is getting $40 million from the federal government to widen Concourse D — one of the most crowded and cramped areas of the airport, as part of a round of grants to airports nationwide from the bipartisan infrastructure law. The Biden administration will announce Thursday nearly $1 billion of funding for airport terminal upgrades across the country from the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law.
July 7, 2022 Brunswick News
Spaceport site still attracting interest
Gordon Jackson reports, despite the restrictions on spending more taxpayer money on Spaceport Camden, the site is still generating interest, according to Camden County Administrator Steve Howard. The county is in active negotiations with “multiple” American headquartered companies that Howard said are willing to commit to use all the annual licensed launches during the agreement.
July 7, 2022 Rome News-Tribune
Virginia Harman named Georgia Conservancy board chair
Staff reports that the Georgia Conservancy is proud to announce the appointment of Virginia Harman of Cave Spring as the new chair of its board of trustees. Harman is a partner attorney at McRae, Smith, Peek, Harman & Monroe, LLP in Rome.
July 7, 2022 Capitol Beat News
Olympian Elana Meyers Taylor joins Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities council
Rebecca Grapevine reports that five-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor – a champion bobsledder – is bringing her considerable talents to the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities council. Taylor, who was recently named a council member, attended George Washington University on a softball scholarship and even played softball professionally.
July 7, 2022 Athens Banner-Herald
Georgia Guidestones site in Elbert County demolished after bombing damaged the monument
Wayne Ford reports that the Georgia Guidestones were targeted for destruction early Wednesday by someone who apparently set off a bomb at the site in a rural area north of Elberton. Later in the day, a backhoe toppled what remained of the Guidestones as Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents looked on.
July 7, 2022 GlobalAtlanta.com
New Dutch Consul General Arrives in Atlanta
Trevor Williams reports that a new consul general of the Netherlands arrived in Atlanta this week, filling the top Dutch diplomatic post covering five Southern states just a few days after his predecessor’s departure. Jacobus Johannes (Jacob) Veerman is settling in now that former Consul General Ard Van der Vorst, who inaugurated the new diplomatic office in 2019, has left to take up his new position as Dutch ambassador to New Zealand and a variety of Pacific island nations.
July 7, 2022 The Current
Experts question safety of fuel export at Chatham’s Elba Island, other sites
Nick Sullivan reports, for decades Tybee resident Gordon Matthews drove past Elba Island on his way towards Savannah. The sky-blue storage tanks, which first went operational in the 1970s, contain liquefied natural gas and tower above the Savannah River.
July 7, 2022 Georgia Recorder
Georgia Supreme Court’s spaceport case pits 1st Amendment vs. county home rule
Stanley Dunlap reports that the Georgia Supreme Court is set to hear a case next month that First Amendment experts say could create significant barriers to voters who want to use a public initiative to rein in their local elected officials. It’s the latest episode in the long-running Camden County efforts to build a spaceport on the Georgia coast.
July 7, 2022 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Democrats ramp up effort seeking early slot on 2024 primary schedule
Greg Bluestein reports that Georgia Democrats are stepping up their campaign to land a coveted spot among the earliest states to vote in the 2024 presidential primary with a video highlighting the state’s diversity, history and emergence as one of the nation’s most important political battlegrounds. The video unveiled Wednesday by the Democratic Party of Georgia featured clips of former President Jimmy Carter and civil rights heroes Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis before giving way to modern-day political figures.
