Friday, August 5, 2016
- Construction of big new Georgia gas pipeline about to begin (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
- Democrats slam silence from Georgia GOP leaders over Gold Star family flap (AJC Political Insider)
- Georgia is set to shell out $21M this year in water wars legal fees (AJC Political Insider)
- Kidd not seeking re-election (Union Recorder)
- Broun offering semiautomatic weapon in sweepstakes (Athens Banner-Herald)
- Savannah City Council refuses $2.9 million sale of Coastal Empire Fair property (Savannah Morning News)
- Georgia State study tracks decline in manufacturing jobs (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
- Johnson optimistic about Democrats chances in presidential race (AJC Political Insider)
- Ga. secretary of state defends policy toward nurses, board (Georgia Health News)
- Area residents, elected officials and environmental groups pack coal ash meeting (Brunswick News)
Construction of big new Georgia gas pipeline about to begin
David Allison - Atlanta Business Chronicle
Construction of a big new Georgia natural gas pipeline is expected to begin soon.
Alan S. Armstrong, CEO of Tulsa, Okla.-based The Williams Companies Inc.(NYSE: WMB), told analysts Aug. 2 that the company expects in the very near future to get approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to start work on what's called the Dalton Lateral.
The Williams Cos. 115-mile Dalton Expansion Project is intended to provide natural gas to… more
"So that's a big lateral [pipeline] that goes from the southern part of Atlanta up to the very northern reaches of Georgia, and we expect to begin construction on that in the fourth quarter," Armstrong said.
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2016/08/03/construction-of-big-new-georgia-gas-pipeline-about.html
Democrats slam silence from Georgia GOP leaders over Gold Star family flap
AJC Political Insider
Donald Trump’s extraordinary refusal to endorse two of his own party’s leaders and his belittling of the Muslim family of a slain U.S. soldier has led some influential Republican officials to break with him. But in Georgia, his controversial remarks have been met with a wall of silence from most of his highest-profile supporters.
Many of Georgia’s leading elected officials, who have all pledged to support their party’s nominee, were mum this week as Trump ratcheted up his war with the GOP’s political establishment. And the politicians who did comment stopped short of rebuking him for his recent controversial comments, including a call for Russia to cyberattack Democratic operatives.
Consider the statement from U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, who is seeking a third term in November, on whether he stands by Trump’s criticism of Khizr Khan, the father of the U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq in 2004. Isakson extolled the younger Khan’s “ultimate sacrifice” — but made no mention of Trump.
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/08/04/democrats-slam-silence-from-georgia-gop-leaders-over-gold-star-family-flap/
Georgia is set to shell out $21M this year in water wars legal fees
AJC Political Insider
Another few months of water wars litigation, another costly legal bill.
Gov. Nathan Deal signed an executive order last month to shiftanother $5 million from his emergency fund to go to the costs of the legal battle with Florida over water rights. That’s on top of the $11 million that Deal transferred from the account in April to float the lawyers’ fees, and another $5 million in January for the litigation.
That means the state has set aside about $21 million this year alone for the never-ending legal battle. That’s in addition to at least $20 million previously spent over the last 25 years.
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/08/04/georgia-is-set-to-shell-out-20m-this-year-in-water-wars-legal-fees/
Kidd not seeking re-election
Billy Hobbs - Union Recorder
Georgia House District 145 Rep. E. Culver "Rusty" Kidd (I-Milledgeville) has decided not to run for re-election in November to seek a fourth term.
Kidd has held the seat in the Georgia House of Representatives since 2009. He is the only independent in the state legislature.
"A lot of people here in town and in Atlanta both know that I've had some health-related problems the last few years due to my accident back in 1999," said Kidd in an interview with The Union-Recorder Wednesday afternoon. "So what I'm going to do is not run for office and try to take care of those health problems."
http://www.unionrecorder.com/news/kidd-not-seeking-re-election/article_44b33cf0-59b7-11e6-b581-9bdf8ac41ffe.html
Broun offering semiautomatic weapon in sweepstakes
JIM THOMPSON - Athens Banner-Herald
Former U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., is hosting a sweepstakes in which the prize is a semiautomatic rifle, in a bid to raise funds that could be used to retire debt from his unsuccessful campaign earlier this year to return to Congress to represent a northeast Georgia district.
Broun is offering the Bushmaster Model 91046, a .223-caliber weapon, through the Internet at http://bit.ly/2aM4bvI, part of a website titled “Broun for U.S. Congress.”
The website lists the sponsor of the sweepstakes as the Gainesville-based Paul Broun Committee, the organization through which he managed his campaign earlier this year for the 9th District seat in Congress. Broun lost his bid for the northeast Georgia congressional district to incumbent Republican Doug Collins, a Gainesville attorney, in a five-contestant May 24 GOP primary. There are no Democratic contenders for the seat.
http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-08-04/broun-offering-semiautomatic-weapon-sweepstakes
Savannah City Council refuses $2.9 million sale of Coastal Empire Fair property
Eric Curl - Savannah Morning News
A majority of the Savannah City Council rejected the Costal Empire fair site's $2.9 million sales price and voted on Thursday to make a $2 million offer instead — one day before today’s purchasing deadline. (Eric Curl/Savannah Morning News)
Unless city staffers can work some negotiating magic, it appears the city’s plan to purchase the Coastal Empire Fair property is finished.
A majority of the Savannah City Council rejected the property owner’s $2.9 million sales price and voted 5-4 on Thursday to make a $2 million offer instead — one day before today’s purchasing deadline.
The vote came after the property owner already rejected a previous offer by the city to purchase the 67 acres near Montgomery Street for $1.9 million, according to city officials.
http://savannahnow.com/news/2016-08-04/savannah-city-council-refuses-29-million-sale-coastal-empire-fair-property
Georgia State study tracks decline in manufacturing jobs
Dave Williams - Atlanta Business Chronicle
Between the outsourcing of jobs overseas and technological changes in the production process, Georgia business recruiters may no longer find manufacturing worth pursuing.
That’s the conclusion of new study from the Center for State and Local Finance at Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.
Manufacturing jobs in Georgia declined 27.5 percent between 2000 and 2014.
The report found that manufacturing jobs in Georgia declined by 27.5 percent between 2000 and 2014, a trend interrupted only by a bump immediately following the Great Recession.
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2016/08/04/georgia-state-study-tracks-decline-in.html
Johnson optimistic about Democrats chances in presidential race
Curt Yeomans - Gwinnett Daily Post
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson is feeling optimistic about Hillary Clinton’s chances against Donald Trump coming out of what he called a great Democratic convention in Philadelphia.
The Democratic party endured a long primary battle between the former secretary of state and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders that went into June. However, Johnson said he felt the convention helped begin the process of bridging the divide between supporters of the two candidates as they turned their attention toward beating Trump in November.
Johnson was a super delegate at the convention, giving him an up close experience at the party gathering.
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/local/johnson-optimistic-about-democrats-chances-in-presidential-race/article_d7e55bd0-3afa-5f17-b869-b0b3d0da1458.html
Ga. secretary of state defends policy toward nurses, board
Andy Miller - Georgia Health News
Despite a wave of criticism from nurses, Brian Kemp remains unapologetic on his decision to replace the head of the state’s nursing board.
The Georgia secretary of state told GHN last week in an interview that he’s not going to reverse his move to replace Jim Cleghorn with the head of the state’s cosmetology board.
“I made this decision to move our agency forward,’’ Kemp said. Though he recently postponed the change, it is still on, and he says it will bring good results.
http://www.georgiahealthnews.com/2016/08/ga-secretary-state-defends-policy-nurses/
Area residents, elected officials and environmental groups pack coal ash meeting
DEBORAH BAYLISS - Brunswick News
A crowd gathered at Old City Hall listen to Lindsay Thomas speak during a Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division public hearing on coal ash disposal Thursday.
Newt and Jean Sikes, senior citizens from Screven, made the hour-long drive to Brunswick Thursday to provide feedback and support other area residents and environmental groups who packed the Brunswick’s Old City Hall to talk about coal ash.
The discussion was part of a public hearing on the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s proposed amendments to Georgia’s rules for handling coal ash, a byproduct of energy production with coal.
http://www.thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/area-residents-elected-officials-and-environmental-groups-pack-coal-ash/article_e3af26e5-73fb-53d4-a921-c6b104f31cff.html
