Georgia Trend Daily – Feb. 27, 2024
Feb. 27, 2024 Georgia.gov
Gov. Kemp, State Leaders Celebrate Hyundai Motor Group’s Historic Impact on Georgia
Staff reports that Gov. and First Lady Kemp yesterday joined President and Global COO of Hyundai Motor Company and President and CEO of Hyundai and Genesis Motor North America José Muñoz to celebrate Hyundai Motor Group’s (HMG) historic and positive impact on the State of Georgia while providing an update on the progress of its Metaplant America. The facility will officially start vehicle production in the fourth quarter of this year.
Dr. Brooks Keel, photo Augusta University.
Feb. 27, 2024 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Catching up with…Brooks Keel
Karen Kirkpatrick reports, Brooks Keel was appointed president of Augusta University, his alma mater, in 2015. After leading the school during a time of tremendous growth and expansion, Keel will retire in June. These are edited highlights from an interview.
Feb. 27, 2024 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Norfolk Southern nominates own board slate amid activist investor fight
Kelly Yamanouchi reports that in response to a takeover proposal from an activist investor group, Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern on Monday nominated its own slate of board members in hopes of fending off the outside attempt to replace its management. Norfolk Southern’s 13 board nominees include two new independent directors: Richard Anderson, former CEO of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and Amtrak; and Mary Kathryn “Heidi” Heitkamp, a former U.S. Senator from North Dakota.
Feb. 27, 2024 Savannah Morning News
Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America moves up start of production
Joseph Swartzburt reports that Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) announced on Monday, that the Ellabell, Georgia, plant would start production in the fourth quarter of 2024 rather than the first quarter of 2025, as originally projected. HMGMA’s press release stated, “The official start of production has accelerated to the fourth quarter of 2024 with the grand opening celebration targeted for the first quarter of 2025.”
Feb. 27, 2024 GlobalAtlanta.com
Growing Quickly Globally, Atlanta’s Innova Buys New HQ at Perimeter
Trevor Williams reports that Innova Solutions has long been a fixture in Atlanta’s technology community, but the fast-growing IT firm approaching $3 billion in revenues has not always been the most visible. Founded by entrepreneur Raj Sardana, the company started as American Cybersystems Inc. and since 1998 has operated from Duluth, even as it built up a massive team in India, started to scale in other global markets and last year rebranded to better reflect its move away from IT staffing and toward industry-focused expertise.
Feb. 27, 2024 Marietta Daily Journal
City of Smyrna’s Downtown Improvements Recognized with State-Wide Award
Staff reports that Marietta-based, full-service consulting firm Croy, along with architecture and engineering firm Pond & Company, were recently honored with an Engineering Excellence Award for their collaborative work on improvements to the downtown area in the City of Smyrna. The project was recognized with the State award which is the highest award in the Special Projects category.
Feb. 27, 2024 WABE
An influx of new citizens could influence the 2024 election in Georgia
Emily Wu Pearson reports, a new report from the national nonprofit American Immigration Council (AIC) analyzed the number of immigrants living in Georgia who are likely eligible to receive their citizenship. That number is higher than the number of votes that President Joe Biden received to win him the presidency in the state.
Feb. 27, 2024 Dalton Daily Citizen
Legislation could charge drug dealers with manslaughter
James Swift reports, under a proposed Georgia Senate bill, illegal drug distributors could be charged with aggravated involuntary manslaughter following instances of overdose deaths. Senate Bill 465, alternately known as “Austin’s Law,” was favorably reported by the Georgia Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Feb. 22, with substitutions.
Feb. 27, 2024 Georgia Recorder
Georgia lawmakers hold out hope for bill that would restrict publication of mugshots
Toni Odejimi reports that Georgians who have not been convicted of a crime have lost their jobs and reputations because of their posted mugshot. Those with criminal records have unemployment rates at 27% according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
Feb. 27, 2024 Fresh Take Georgia
Georgia GOP pushes to pass school voucher bill this year
Jayson Villarouel reports that the Georgia Department of Education classified 175 low-income public schools as failing in 2022. The next year, that number increased to 189, leaving legislators scrambling to find a solution.
Feb. 27, 2024 State Affairs
UGA student’s death spurs Gov. Kemp and lawmakers to push state solutions for ‘failed federal policies’ on immigration
Jill Jordan Sieder and Tammy Joyner reports that anti-immigration proponents on Monday may have gotten the necessary fuel they needed as Gov. Brian Kemp blamed “failed federal policies” for last week’s death of a University of Georgia student allegedly at the hands of a man who had immigrated illegally. Kemp told the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce at a breakfast meeting that UGA nursing student Laken Riley’s death “is a direct result of failed policies on the federal level and an unwillingness by this White House to secure the southern border.”
Feb. 27, 2024 The Current
As Crossover Day nears, fate of efforts to revamp education uncertain
Craig Nelson reports that for Coastal Georgia Republican lawmakers sponsoring legislation to revamp the state’s education system, it’s white-knuckle time. The deadline for legislation to pass out of either the House or Senate in the current session of the state legislature is Thursday at midnight.
Feb. 27, 2024 Georgia Recorder, Rome News-Tribune
Ga. Power Rate Hikes Prompt Hufstetler to File Consumer Advocate Bill
Stanley Dunlap reports that a Senate legislative committee has unanimously backed a proposal that would shift the responsibilities of Georgia’s utilities regulators. The Senate Regulated Industries Committee passed Senate Bill 457 late last week, which would create a consumer’s utility counsel to advocate for the public in electric rate cases.
Feb. 27, 2024 Capitol Beat News
State Senate passes anti-cyberbullying bill
Dave Williams reports that the state Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation Monday aimed at protecting teenagers from cyberbullying and other negative effects of social media. The “Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act” was a top priority of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate.
Feb. 27, 2024 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
PG A.M.: Decisive week ahead at Capitol, in courtroom and at the polls
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Van Brimmer report, from Georgia to Washington, D.C, to the campaign trail, get ready for a chaotic, emotional political week. Top Republicans will pursue new legislation to target illegal immigration in Georgia after the death of nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia’s campus. Officials say the homicide suspect entered the country illegally from Venezuela in 2022 and was arrested in New York last year.
