Georgia Trend Daily – April 3, 2023
April 3, 2023 Saporta Report
Leaders and experts discuss the healing power of parks at Park Pride’s 22nd annual conference
Hannah E. Jones reports that Park Pride hosted its 22nd annual Parks and Greenspace Conference this week, with about 450 government officials, local leaders and park enthusiasts filling the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The theme was “The Healing Power of Parks,” with speakers exploring the importance of park access and use from the perspective of health, community, policy and more.
April 3, 2023 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
2023 Economic Yearbook: Transforming the Terrain
Staff reports, if Fiscal Year 2023, which began last July, were a feature-length movie, it would certainly be a blockbuster: “The best year ever,” according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development. The impact of this banner year is transforming the state’s terrain through a more diversified economy, exponential job creation, improved infrastructure and enhanced quality of life.
April 3, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First new Vogtle reactor begins generating electricity
Drew Kann reports that one of the two long-delayed nuclear units at Plant Vogtle near Augusta successfully generated electricity and connected to the grid for the first time, Georgia Power announced Saturday morning. The company called the step forward at Unit 3 a major milestone that brings the country’s first new reactor built in more than three decades closer to completion.
April 3, 2023 Georgia Recorder
Georgia lawmakers slogged through bipartisan attempts to protect Okefenokee, sinking in the end
Stanley Dunlap and Aaleah McConnell report that the push by a large coalition of Georgia legislators to protect the Okefenokee Swamp from mining failed this session even before legislators could vote on a panel to study ways to protect the diverse wildlife refuge. The failure of Georgia legislators to pass bills designed to protect the Okefenokee natural resource, was another blow to environmentalists who have tried to block the surface mining permit for the past several years.
April 3, 2023 Savannah Morning News, Augusta Chronicle
‘Incredible assets’: AU Health, Wellstar partner to expand health care
Joe Hotchkiss reports, with a new name and a shared mission, Georgia’s only public medical school on Friday announced an agreement with an Atlanta-based health care system that its partners say will improve healthcare statewide and the number of trained physicians to help deliver it. Augusta University Health System, which includes the 205-year-old Medical College of Georgia, and Wellstar Health System now will comprise Wellstar MCG Health, whose shared resources are expected to expand medical training, care and research throughout the state.
April 3, 2023 GPB
Wakeboarding, wakesurfing would be regulated in Georgia under bill passed by Legislature
Benjamin Payne reports that wakeboarding and wakesurfing would be prohibited in Georgia within 200 feet of a shoreline or a moored boat, if a bill passed this week by both chambers of the Legislature is signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp. The sports are currently unregulated by the state, aside from a longstanding law that requires all boats to operate at idle speed within 100 feet of a shoreline.
April 3, 2023 The Brunswick News
CCGA funding for nursing expansion gets final approval
Hank Rowland reports that College of Coastal Georgia will get state funding for the proposed expansion of its School of Nursing and Health Sciences, but it may be next year before the stimulant kratom is out of legal reach of minors. The $1.4 million sought by the college for the design of the proposed expansion of the Nunnally Building and its programs is included in the $32.5 billion budget passed by the Georgia General Assembly for fiscal year 2024.
April 3, 2023 WABE, Georgia Recorder
Governor warns of budget ‘holes’ after Georgia lawmakers sign off on new spending plan
Jill Nolin reports that lawmakers signed off on a $32.4 billion spending plan for next year as the clock expired on the 2023 legislative session, although Gov. Brian Kemp warned of “significant holes” in the budget. “I think it’s important for me to say tonight that the recent news from the Federal Reserve and others suggest there may be storm clouds on our nation’s economic horizon,” Kemp told members of the Senate on the final day of the session.
April 3, 2023 State Affairs
HOPE, health care, tax breaks and the $32.4 billion budget: what’s in it for you?
Jill Jordan Sieder and Tammy Joyner report, pay raises, enriched pensions, health care services, college funds, tax breaks and more protections for consumers. These are just some of the winners in the final days of this year’s legislative session.
April 3, 2023 The Current
Savannah-area state lawmakers find mixed success under the Gold Dome
Craig Nelson reports, State Representatives Jesse Petrea and Edna Jackson have reason to gloat about their accomplishments during the just completed session of the Georgia General Assembly. For Senators Billy Hickman and Ben Watson, the satisfaction of being in the Republican majority was tempered by controversy.
April 3, 2023 Capitol Beat News
General Assembly session the usual combo of triumphs, defeats
Dave Williams reports that the General Assembly passed much of Gov. Brian Kemp’s legislative agenda for 2023 during the 40-day session that ended shortly after midnight Thursday morning. Republican majorities in the Georgia House and Senate approved the GOP governor’s $1 billion state income tax rebate and $950 million in property tax relief, promises Kemp made on the campaign trail last year ahead of his reelection to a second term.
April 3, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Jolt: Democrats threaten primary against centrist Atlanta lawmaker
Patricia Murphy, Greg Bluestein and Tia Mitchell report that State Rep. Mesha Mainor has emerged as one of the GOP’s favorite Georgia Democrats. The Atlanta lawmaker was the only Democrat to speak in favor of the prosecutorial oversight measure that Gov. Brian Kemp and other GOP leaders made a priority.
