Georgia Trend Daily – May 9, 2023
May 9, 2023 Augusta Chronicle
All money down: What’s behind cash-only home sales in the Augusta metro area?
Joe Hotchkiss reports, when a report showed cash-only home sales comprised more than 70% of all Augusta-area home sales in 2022, it surprised a lot of people – particularly the Realtors who say the figure is closer to 20%. According to the report, among metro areas “with populations of at least 200,000 and sufficient cash sales data,” cash sales represented the largest share of all 2022 transactions in Augusta at 72.1%.
May 9, 2023 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Ambassador Andrew Young Serves as Honorary Chair for Inaugural Community Impact Awards
Julia Roberts reports that Georgia City Solutions (GCS) event is designed to highlight and honor the work that GCS and its partners are doing to improve and empower communities in Georgia. Andrew Young will serve as Honorary Chair and the event will be held May 18 at the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta.
May 9, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Forsyth grapples with unknowns of $2B arena and entertainment district
Zachary Hansen reports, days before a developer unveiled plans last month for a potential NHL arena and entertainment district in Forsyth County, a document landed in two county commissioners’ inboxes with a list of talking points. On Tuesday, the five-person county commission will consider starting their own economic impact studies to evaluate the project and will debate whether to rewrite their zoning code to allow for more density.
May 9, 2023 Saporta Report
Stars align for $300 million affordable housing treasure chest in Atlanta
Maria Saporta reports that the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and Mayor Andre Dickens announced Tuesday a historic commitment to building and preserving affordable housing. The catalyst for the announcement is a philanthropic gift of $100 million – $75 million from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and $25 million from the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation to the Community Foundation because of its plan to address housing issues.
May 9, 2023 WABE
Workers at a Macon-based school bus manufacturer look to unionize
Marion Hyde reports, about 1,400 workers at the Macon-based school bus manufacturer Blue Bird Corporation will vote on whether to unionize later this week. Concerns over labor conditions and living standards for workers are some of the pressing issues organizers hope will be resolved by unionizing.
May 9, 2023 Capitol Beat News
Caylee Noggle tapped to head Georgia Hospital Association
Dave Williams reports, the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health is leaving state government for a position in the private sector. Caylee Noggle will become president of the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) on Aug. 1, according to an association news release.
May 9, 2023 GPB
Here are the bills Kemp signed Friday. One could remove ‘bad’ prosecutors
Orlando Montoya and Sarah Kallis report that Gov. Brian Kemp signed a series of bills on Friday. One bill will extend the tax break for “competitive projects of regional significance” to 2026. The Hyundai project and other electric vehicle projects are included.
May 9, 2023 State Affairs
Georgia’s aging school buses, bus driver shortage lead to missed classes, meals and safety issues
Zhaqueline Stewart, an 18-year-old senior at Westside High School in Richmond County, is worried she might not have enough credits to graduate. She’s been late to school so many times over the past two years, due to the late arrival of her school bus, that she said it has affected her grades.
May 9, 2023 Georgia Recorder
New challenge filed asking court to open up Georgia’s secretive medical cannabis regulations
Ross Williams reports that some of Georgia’s 27,000-odd patients signed up to the state’s THC oil registry were finally able to buy their first legal dose at the end of April as Trulieve, one of the companies approved to make and sell the drug, opened stores in Marietta and Macon. As court battles continue over licenses, an open government group announced Friday it is asking the state Supreme Court to reverse lower court decisions and release court records from the fraught approval process.
May 9, 2023 Fox 5 Atlanta
Midtown shooting draws attention to new Georgia Safer Hospitals Act
Kim Loeffler reports that the shooting at Northside Hospital in Midtown Atlanta drew attention to the safety of healthcare workers. The Safer Hospitals Act, signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp last week, is meant to better protect them. “Included in this new law, anyone convicted of assaulting a healthcare worker on site could face five to twenty years behind bars,” said Georgia Nurses Association CEO Matt Caseman.
May 9, 2023 The Center Square
Kemp bashes Washington spending but touts federally funded grants
T.A. DeFeo reports that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp regularly blames Washington policies for causing inflation and hurting Georgians, but he doesn’t hesitate to announce grants — such as those for rural broadband projects — that rely on federal tax dollars. “While failed policies coming out of Washington, D.C. are pushing us closer to a recession and forcing hardworking Georgians to endure sky-high inflation, we on the state level are doing what we can to return money back where it belongs – in taxpayers’ hands,” Kemp said in a statement earlier this month in announcing officials had issued the first round of “surplus tax refund checks” to Georgia taxpayers.
May 9, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Political divide over guns holds in Georgia following mass shootings
Greg Bluestein reports, Georgia Democrats stepped up demands for new firearms restrictions Monday after deadly mass shootings at a medical office in Midtown Atlanta and a shopping mall in Texas, the latest in a wave of violence that turned seemingly safe places into scenes of carnage. But the shootings haven’t changed the political dynamic in Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp and other Republican leaders have shared condolences and praised law enforcement — but have consistently rejected calls for increased limits on who can purchase or carry deadly weapons.
