ATLANTA – Oconee County has the highest concentration of small businesses in Georgia, according to a new study from a New York-based financial technology company.
The report, compiled by SmartAsset, ranked counties based on the percentage of the county’s total tax returns filed by small business owners and the percentage of income derived from small businesses.
In Oconee County, 35.59% of tax returns are from small businesses, second only to Gwinnett’s 36.35%. Small business income accounts for 16.85% of total income in Oconee, tops on the list.
Those results gave Oconee a total score of 57.40 in the report, easily the best.
Except for Oconee, the 10 top counties for small businesses in Georgia are located either in metro Atlanta, along Interstate 20 east of the metro region or in the North Georgia mountains.
Here is the top-10 list from the SmartAsset study:
County Small business returns Small business income Score
ATLANTA – Students at Georgia’s 26 public colleges and universities won’t be hit with a tuition increase this fall for the second year in a row.
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents (USG) voted Tuesday to hold the line on tuition during the 2021-22 school year. The vote marked the fourth time in the last six years the system has not increased tuition.
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic was a key factor in the decision not to raise tuition during the coming year, Tracey Cook, the system’s executive vice chancellor for strategy and fiscal affairs, told board members before Tuesday’s vote.
“Holding tuition flat … recognizes the financial hardships faced by many of our students and parents during the pandemic,” she said.
“USG over the past several years has remained committed to making public higher education as affordable as possible for students and their families, while maintaining results that rank our campuses among some of the best in the nation,” system Chancellor Steve Wrigley added. “We are grateful for the support of the board and state leaders toward this priority, and recognize students’ hard work especially over the past year to maintain success toward graduating and entering Georgia’s workforce with college degrees.”
Gov. Brian Kemp and the General Assembly did not restore the 10% budget cut the university system took last year during the early stages of the pandemic, Cook said. However, an influx of federal COVID-19 relief allowed the system to hold the line on tuition, she said.
The regents also voted not to raise either mandatory or elective student fees during the coming school year.
In other action, the board put its stamp of approval on the $2.46 billion system budget Georgia lawmakers adopted last month as part of the $27.2 billion fiscal 2022 state budget. Most of the 6.8% increase in the spending plan is to cover enrollment growth.
Wrigley said the $138 million increase in next year’s budget not only will keep tuition low but will allow the various campuses to invest in infrastructure needs.
Covid-19 has sickened hundreds of thousands people and killed thousands more in Georgia. (Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Georgia has paused distribution of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine as part of a nationwide halt after reports of blood clots in six people in the U.S. who had received the shot.
The six cases of “a rare and severe type of blood clot” are among more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson-brand vaccine administered in the U.S. as of Monday, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare,” the FDA said in a statement Tuesday.
The six cases of blood clots all occurred in women between ages 18 and 48 and happened six to 13 days after receiving the vaccine, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC also announced it will convene a panel of experts Wednesday to review the six cases and assess next steps.
“People who have received the [Johnson & Johnson] vaccine who develop a severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their health care provider,” the CDC said in a statement Tuesday.
State public-health officials said Tuesday they are halting Johnson & Johnson vaccine administration in Georgia “until further notice” while federal officials craft guidance following review of the six cases of blood clots, according to a news release from the state Department of Public Health (DPH).
The pause comes as DPH officials temporarily stopped giving Johnson & Johnson vaccines at a mass administration site at the Cumming Fairgrounds last week amid reports of “adverse reactions” among eight people, including one who was evaluated at a hospital and released.
The eight local cases were “consistent with common reactions” to receiving the vaccine, according to a DPH news release. They were among more than 124,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccines that have been administered without any adverse reactions in Georgia.
Mild flu-like side effects are common in people who have received COVID-19 vaccines as the body builds immunity, the CDC says. Those side effects can include fatigue, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever and nausea, as well as pain, redness and swelling in the arm where the shot was injected.
“There is no reason to believe there is anything wrong with the vaccine itself, and other individuals who have received the [Johnson & Johnson] vaccine should not be concerned,” DPH Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey said in the April 9 news release.
“We are looking into what happened and what may have caused the reactions, including the conditions at the fairgrounds such as heat and the ability to keep the site cool.”
DPH officials also confirmed the six cases of blood clots under federal review did not occur in Georgia and are unrelated to the eight local cases reported in Cumming last week.
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is one of three shots that the FDA has approved for emergency use to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the only federally-approved vaccine so far that requires just one dose. The other two, by Pfizer and Moderna, require two doses spaced three to four weeks apart.
State and local health officials are now working to provide either Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to Georgians with previously scheduled appointments to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“In some cases, this may require rescheduling, and we ask for patience while scheduling arrangements and adjustments are made,” DPH said in a news release Tuesday.
“Vaccination remains one of our best tools for stopping the spread of COVID-19, along with basic prevention measures – wearing a mask, distancing from others, avoiding large gatherings and frequent hand washing.”
Nearly 4.8 million vaccines had been administered in Georgia as of Monday afternoon, marking more than 3.1 million people who have received at least one of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. More than 1.7 million Georgians are now fully vaccinated, according to state DPH data.
White House officials highlighted sluggish highway traffic, slow bus travel and spotty rural internet service in Georgia Monday as part of pitch to boost support for President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure package.
The high-priced “America Jobs Plan,” which has not yet gained Congress’ approval, would take aim at road and bridge repairs to cut down on Georgia commute times that have increased nearly 11% over the past decade, according to a White House fact sheet of the issued Monday.
It would also seek to improve broadband connections in roughly 40% of Georgia where there is little or no internet access, increase housing supply for the state’s estimated 654,000 residents who struggle paying rent and contribute to the $12.5 billion needed to fix local drinking-water systems.
View the White House infrastructure fact sheet for Georgia here.
“The American Jobs Plan is an investment in America that will create millions of good jobs, rebuild our country’s infrastructure and position the United States to out-compete China,” read a White House news release sent Monday.
The infrastructure plan faces pushback from leading Republicans and some Democrats over its scope and proposals to fund projects by hiking the corporate tax rate. Democrats hold a majority in Congress with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate.
State officials are “going to continue to monitor” congressional talks on the infrastructure package and potential benefits for Georgia, as well as impacts from increasing corporate taxes for transportation projects, said Josh Waller, director of policy and government affairs for the state Department of Transportation.
Calls to pass the plan come on the heels of recent approval for $1.9 trillion in COVID-19 pandemic aid, adding to last year’s $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
In Georgia, congressional leaders including Democratic U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson, Nikema Williams and Carolyn Bourdeaux have pushed the plan to shore up public transit and widen key roads in the clogged metro Atlanta area.
State transportation officials have budgeted around $2.6 billion this fiscal year and next through June 2022 for road, bridge and transit construction projects, including $10 million for broadband improvement in rural and underserved areas.
Additionally, work has been underway since 2016 to widen and reconstruct several stretches of major highways and interchanges in metro Atlanta, Macon and Savannah areas including on I-285, I-85, I-75, I-16 and I-95. Those projects are scheduled for completion between next year and 2032.
ATLANTA – Two South Korean electric vehicle battery manufacturers have reached an 11th-hour settlement to a trade dispute that was threatening an estimated 2,600 jobs in Georgia.
SK Innovation, which is planning to build a pair of plants in Jackson County, will pay LG Energy Solutions $1.8 billion in exchange for dropping a lawsuit before the International Trade Commission (ITC). LG Energy had accused SK of stealing trade secrets and destroying documents.
The Biden administration was facing a Sunday deadline to overturn an ITC ruling favorable to LG that would have hampered SK’s ability to operate plants in the U.S.
“This settlement agreement is a win for American workers and the American auto industry,” President Joe Biden said Sunday. “A key part of my plan to Build Back Better is to have the electric vehicles and batteries of the future built here in America, all across America, by American workers.
“Today’s settlement is a positive step in that direction, which will bring some welcome relief to workers in Georgia and new opportunity for workers across the country.”
“The announcement of a settlement between SK innovation and LG Energy Solution is fantastic news for northeast Georgia and our state’s growing electric vehicle industry,” Gov. Brian Kemp added. “Our state attracted this massive $2.6 billion investment because of Georgia’s pro-growth leadership, and I have personally participated in countless meetings, calls, and other conversations to make sure this project and the 2,600 expected jobs continued to move forward.”
Helping the two companies reach a settlement was a bipartisan effort. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., intervened personally to bring the parties to the table to work out an agreement, according to a statement from Ossoff’s office.
“When the future of the plant was in jeopardy, Senator Ossoff provided leadership and helped us achieve a path forward,” SK Innovation President and CEO Jun Kim said “This successful outcome will lead to billions more in investment in Georgia. The state is now positioned to be the nation’s leader in electric vehicle battery production.”
The two plants, representing a $2.6 billion investment, will employ 1,000 workers by the end of this year. When fully ramped up in 2024, the plants will produce batteries for 300,000 electric vehicles per year, primarily for Ford and Volkswagen.
