Georgia Trend Daily – July 6, 2023
July 6, 2023 New York Times
What’s a Georgia Summer Without Peaches? Not So Sweet.
Kim Severson reports, a winter that was a touch warm, followed by a series of hard freezes in March, has devastated the Georgia peach crop. Some hopeful state officials estimate that only 10 percent of the crop survived.
Well-run Institutions: John McNair, president and CEO of the Community Bankers Association of Georgia; photo Stan Kaady.
July 6, 2023 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Lending for Life
Patty Rasmussen reports, at a time when financial transactions are frequently made through digital dashboards, it’s heartening to know that some of life’s most important conversations can still be made face-to-face. Conversations about money can be complex, whether it’s a first-time home buyer seeking a mortgage, an entrepreneur in search of a small business loan or a third-generation farmer trying to keep the family farm afloat.
July 6, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Will Conyers soon be home to a new sports and entertainment district?
Zachary Hansen reports that a Dutch group’s sprawling vision for a soccer-centric, mixed-use development is generating plenty of buzz in Conyers, 30 minutes east of Atlanta. The ambitious pitch centers around a literal pitch — a 10,000-seat soccer stadium capable of hosting a professional women’s soccer team.
July 6, 2023 GlobalAtlanta.com
South Korean Automotive Tube Manufacturer to Help Revive Macon Industrial Building
Trevor Williams reports that a Korean auto parts supplier is helping breathe new life into a massive industrial building that sat vacant in Macon for about 15 years. Boogook Georgia LLC, a subsidiary of the a Ulsan-based Boogook Industries Co. Ltd., will invest $6.8 million into space at the former Brown and Williamson cigarette plant, which in 2021 came under new ownership from a California investment group.
July 6, 2023 Savannah Morning News, USA Today
“Securing our digital infrastructure’: Delta, Southwest airlines move to ban TikTok for employees
Mary Walrath-Holdridge reports that Delta Airlines recently announced a new ban on TikTok use by employees on company devices and personal devices used to connect to company systems. Employees were notified of the rule change by a memo last week, which instructed them to remove the app from their applicable devices by the following Friday, July 7, according to a report from The Point Guys.
July 6, 2023 WABE
What’s next for potential Wellstar and Augusta University Health merge, as Atlanta still feels sting from hospital shutdowns
Lisa Rayam and Lily Oppenheimer report that the same Wellstar health system that shuttered two hospitals last year in Atlanta vows it will not do the same if allowed to merge with Augusta University Health. But that declaration has left some local officials angry, as well as those communities who depended on those facilities for care.
July 6, 2023 Macon Telegraph
Freed from Georgia GOP ‘penalty box,’ now he leads the state party. Q&A with Josh McKoon
Mark Rice reports that when fellow Georgia Republicans elected him last month, Josh McKoon became the first state GOP chairman from the Columbus area, tasked with uniting a party divided by polarizing opinions about their leading presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump. A decade ago, a relatively young and contentious state senator who upset the establishment, McKoon was accused of being a divider in the party.
July 6, 2023 Marietta Daily Journal
A Big Chicken birthday; an antisemitism update; an RFK Jr. visit
Staff reports that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been announced as the closing speaker at Life University’s “Life Vision Extravaganza,” a convention the Marietta-based chiropractic school is hosting. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, is the third son of Robert F. Kennedy and is running against President Joe Biden as a longshot candidate for the 2024 Democratic nomination.
July 6, 2023 State Affairs
A year after passage, more is happening with the Mental Health Parity Act than you think.
Jill Jordan Sieder reports, a year after HB 1013, the landmark bipartisan legislation known as the Georgia Mental Health Parity Act, went into effect, some important initiatives aimed at expanding treatment for people in Georgia with mental health and addiction issues are moving forward. Other initiatives have been stalled by funding challenges and clashing political priorities of state leaders.
July 6, 2023 The Center Square
State lawmaker wants tougher penalties for setting fire to police vehicles
T.A. DeFeo reports that Rep. Deborah Silcox, R-Sandy Springs, announced a renewed push for House Bill 500 when lawmakers return in January. The announcement comes after vandals set fire to law enforcement motorcycles parked at an Atlanta Police Department facility on Southside Industrial Parkway that is home to the Atlanta Police Training Academy and its special operations precinct.
July 6, 2023 Georgia Recorder
Federal judge postpones injunction hearing against new Georgia transgender care law
Ross Williams reports that Georgia parents suing Georgia over its law limiting gender-affirming care for transgender minors had their first day in court Wednesday after the law went into effect July 1 and the state’s lawyer argued the judge should allow it months to mount a defense. The parents want U.S. District Judge Sarah Geraghty to temporarily block the law, which forbids surgery or hormone therapy for transgender minors, while a challenge moves forward.
July 6, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cobb commissioner eyes bid for Georgia’s 6th District
Greg Bluestein reports that state Republicans want to force Jerica Richardson out of her Cobb County commission seat. Richardson, a Democrat, is exploring a challenge to Republican U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick in the 6th Congressional District next year as she faces an unprecedented legal battle to keep her seat on the commission.
