Georgia Trend Daily – March 8, 2023
March 8, 2023 WSB-Radio
Looking for a job? Hartsfield-Jackson is looking to fill more than 2,300 positions
Staff reports that one of the world’s busiest airports is helping to hire over 2,300 people for several open positions. The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will hold its career fair on Wednesday, March 8 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event will take place at the airport’s domestic terminal atrium.
March 8, 2023 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Economic Development Around the State
Christy Simo reports that during the first half of the current fiscal year (July 1–Dec. 31), Georgia saw 218 locations or expansions that are expected to create some 17,500 new jobs and more than $13 billion in investment throughout the state. The majority of those jobs – 85% – will be in areas outside the 10-county Atlanta region, as will 92% of the investments.
March 8, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘The market killed it’: Forge Atlanta site undergoes foreclosure
Zachary Hansen reports that a 10-acre site straddling Castleberry Hill and downtown Atlanta that had been pitched as a multi-high-rise life sciences campus was foreclosed upon Tuesday by its lender. Developer Urbantec Development Partners had said the project, known as Forge Atlanta, would include more than a half-dozen sleek towers.
March 8, 2023 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
BeBe, Kadie the Cow’s calf, returned after it wandered off years ago in Columbus
Brittany McGee reports that the iconic statue Kadie the Cow has been missing its calf, BeBe, for years. But an anonymous individual decided to return the calf to its mother a couple weeks ago. BeBe is now in the custody of Uptown Inc. after President Ed Wolverton received a phone call from someone who said they had the calf.
March 8, 2023 Gainesville Times
Update: New name for Lake Lanier? Here’s what local officials have to say
Jeff Gill reports, a congressionally chartered group assigned to reviewing federal names related to the Confederacy, says the lake and dam are “within its remit for consideration, but not within its purview to provide a naming recommendation.” Lake Lanier is named after poet Sidney Lanier, who served in the Confederate States Army as a private.
March 8, 2023 Savannah Morning News
A long-sought Savannah hotel-motel tax increase is imminent. Here’s what you need to know.
Will Peebles reports, for Savannah and the efforts to increase the hotel-motel tax, the fourth time is likely going to be the charm. Georgia House Rep. Edna Jackson (D-Savannah) says she will sponsor a local bill that will increase the current hotel/motel tax from 6% to 8%.
March 8, 2023 Augusta Chronicle
Soil amendment bill, adding more local control, must wait another year for House vote
Abraham Kenmore reports that a Georgia House bill that would give counties some options in regulating and enforcing the spread of soil amendments did not make it out of committee this session before Crossover Day, the last day for bills to pass either the Georgia House or Senate to have a chance at becoming law. Soil amendments, often wastewater from animal product processing, are marketed as a way to improve agricultural land, but many local communities say they are being applied improperly and allowed to stink or attract pests.
March 8, 2023 Marietta Daily Journal
Judge upholds man’s right to post on Rep. Ehrhart’s Facebook page
Chart Riggall reports that a federal judge ruled Tuesday that state Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R-west Cobb, must cease blocking and removing the comments of opponents on her official Facebook page. The ruling from Judge J.P. Boulee found Ehrhart violated the First Amendment in blocking Thomas Bidermann, an Atlanta man whose comments were removed from Ehrhart’s page in 2019.
March 8, 2023 Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI News
Catalytic converter bill nears passage
Asia Ashley reports that state lawmakers are ready to put an end to catalytic converter thefts through a bill that would prevent the car part from being sold, with exceptions. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, in 2020, catalytic converter theft claims jumped to more than 14,000 — a 325% increase in a single year, though those numbers aren’t inclusive of all thefts of catalytic converters across the country.
March 8, 2023 The Brunswick News
Townsend’s kratom bill passes House in time for ‘Crossover Day’
Hank Rowland reports that a substitute to a measure introduced by state Rep. Rick Townsend, R-St. Simons Island, will not keep kratom out of Georgia, but it will make it illegal for minors to buy or possess it. House Bill 181 made it out of the House on Crossover Day and now goes to the Senate. Monday was the last day for legislation approved in one chamber to cross over to the other.
March 8, 2023 GPB
Lawmakers: Controversial bills clear Senate and House on Day 28
Sarah Kallis reports that bills dealing with school vouchers, kratom, gender-affirming care, and other topics advanced through the Georgia legislature on Day 28. Day 28, called “Crossover Day,” is the last day that proposed bills moving through the legislature must pass in their chamber of origin to move forward during the session.
March 8, 2023 Capitol Beat News
State Senate gives final passage to TANF assistance for pregnant women
Rebecca Grapevine reports that the Georgia Senate Tuesday approved a bill that would expand eligibility for the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program in Georgia to pregnant women. Currently, federal law allows very low-income pregnant women to receive the cash assistance, but Georgia law does not.
March 8, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bills to help Georgia police, others with student loans clear hurdle
Vanessa McCray reports, proposals to repay student loans for Georgia police, medical examiners and college nursing instructors are among the bills lawmakers are looking to pass in the final stretch of this legislative session. The bills are part of a higher education agenda that so far has focused largely on workforce needs and steered clear of many hot-button cultural issues.
