Georgia Trend Daily – July 25, 2023
July 25, 2023 11 Alive
Georgia to receive $2.3M in federal funds to clean up lead in drinking water at schools, daycares
Dawn White reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it’s funding $58 million to clean up lead in drinking water at schools. A large portion of that money is coming to Georgia as many kids in metro Atlanta head back to school next week.
Credit: The Carter Center
July 25, 2023 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
A Man of the People
Tharon Johnson writes, back in 1976, Georgia took the world stage by storm when we sent the first and only Georgian to the White House, Jimmy Carter. Carter was born in 1924 in humble Plains, which at the time didn’t even have a population of 500.
July 25, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NCR is splitting in two. What will the companies’ names be?
Zachary Hansen reports that automated teller and financial technology company NCR, one of Atlanta’s largest companies, is on track to split itself into two separate public companies later this year. On Monday, the company revealed the names of the new corporations — aiming to reflect each company’s new mission while retaining a few familiar letters.
July 25, 2023 GlobalAtlanta.com
Hartsfield-Jackson Still World’s Busiest Airport by a Long Shot as Travel Recovery Continues
Trevor Williams reports that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is yet again the busiest airport in the world, though it hasn’t quite recovered to the pre-pandemic traffic levels that made it the first airport ever to hit nine digits. The airport had announced preliminary numbers, but a report from Airports Council International last week made it official.
July 25, 2023 Gwinnett Daily Post
Gwinnett, federal officials tout benefits of planned new transit center
Curt Yeomans reports that the U.S. Department of Transportation received about 1,100 project applications for a new federal grant program, but Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy Christopher Coes said Gwinnett County’s transit center proposal stood out because of what is next to the center. The county received a $20 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant from the U.S. DOT for its transit center redevelopment project.
July 25, 2023 Savannah Morning News
Big bucks: Tide-to-Town trail receives $10 million from hotel-motel tax increase
Marisa Meck reports that the Tide-to-Town trail network is getting a funding infusion, but not from Chatham County residents. On July 11, the City of Savannah awarded $10 million from the increased hotel-motel tax to the pedestrian and bike trail that will connect the southside to downtown, looping around the city from its current portion at the Truman Linear Trail.
July 25, 2023 Rome News-Tribune
Rome’s Hydro Dynamics recognized for expanding business to new countries
Adam Carey reports that Rome’s Hydro Dynamics has been recognized again by the Georgia Department of Economic Development for continually expanding their business into new international markets. Hydro Dynamics was awarded a 2023 GLOBE award for its expansion into Mexico, South Africa and Slovenia, where their ExtractMor technology is used in hops extraction for breweries and biogas.
July 25, 2023 Augusta Chronicle
Augusta Transit gets federal grant
Abraham Kenmore reports that Augusta Transit will receive $300,000 through a federal grant. The $20 million in grants through the Federal Transit Administration will go to 47 communities identified as Areas of Persistent Poverty, according to an announcement issued Thursday.
July 25, 2023 Macon Telegraph
Marijuana grower, dispenser plans to open $35M facility in Macon. It needs a state license
Gabrial Kopp reports that Fine Fettle, a medical marijuana producer and dispenser, plans to open a facility in east Macon in late September. That is, if they receive their license from the state to grow marijuana.
July 25, 2023 Albany Herald, The Wiregrass Farmer
Storm-toppled Ashburn peanut resurrected
Ben Baker reports that Hurricane Michael was still ripping through parts of Georgia, and cleanup efforts in Turner County were underway in 2018 the day after the storm. People started calling County Commissioner Brad Calhoun asking when the giant peanut would go back up.
July 25, 2023 Georgia Recorder
Vast majority of GA day care centers, public schools skip state program to test for lead in water
Ross Williams reports that in 2021, when Dade County Schools Superintendent Josh Ingle was in his first year on the job, his facilities manager came to him with an idea that seemed like a no-brainer: a program that would use federal funds to test his schools’ water fixtures for lead. Previously, the district had paid a third-party business to test for lead, but Ingle decided to enroll all four of his district’s schools into the Clean Water for Georgia Kids program, which launched in 2021 and is available for free to schools and child care centers.
July 25, 2023 The Center Square
Georgia removes 95,000 as it determines Medicaid eligibility
T.A. DeFeo reports that state officials have removed more than 95,000 from Georgia’s Medicaid rolls, but one Georgia group says the move merely returns the program to how it was administered for its first 50 years. State officials said that of the 95,578 who lost coverage, 89,168 were removed because of “a lack of information received … to make an eligibility determination.”
July 25, 2023 Capitol Beat News
New nonprofit to help process foster care tax credits
Dave Williams reports that a new nonprofit has launched to help Georgians contribute to a state tax credit program aimed at helping young adults aging out of the foster care system. Fostering Success Act Inc., named after legislation the General Assembly passed last year, will help taxpayers submit applications to the Georgia Department of Revenue to qualify for the program.
July 25, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Jolt: A suburban switcheroo buoys Cobb Democrats
Greg Bluestein and Tia Mitchell report, two weeks ago, state Rep. Mesha Mainor made headlines by ditching Democrats for the GOP. Now, Democrats can claim their own success with a lesser-known flip. Cobb Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson is abandoning the GOP to run for another term next year as a Democrat.
