ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate fell again last month to a record-low 2.8%, while the Peach State hit an all-time high in job numbers, the Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The jobless rate declined slightly in July from 2.9% in June and was seven-tenths of a percent lower than the national unemployment rate of 3.5%.
The number of jobs in Georgia rose last month to an all-time high of more than 4.8 million, up 12,500 from June and 214,300 from July of last year.
Job numbers were at record highs in the trade and transportation; financial activities; professional, scientific, and technical services; and education and health services sectors.
“Georgia’s job numbers continue to climb, reinforcing the state’s position as one of the nation’s best places to find employment,” Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said Thursday.
“These all-time highs in multiple sectors demonstrate the employment opportunities the state is experiencing across the board.”
On the downside, initial unemployment claims increased by 11% last month from June to 28,545. However, first-time jobless claims have fallen significantly during the past year and are down 52%, or 30,266, from July 2021.
There are more than 217,000 jobs listed online at EmployGeorgia.com, resulting in a minimum of more than 285,000 unfilled positions.
Industries with more than 10,000 job postings include health care; retail trade; accommodation and food services; manufacturing; professional, scientific, and technical services; finance and insurance; and transportation and warehousing.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp is seeking to quash a subpoena to testify before the Fulton County special grand jury investigating attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
A motion state Attorney General Chris Carr filed Wednesday on Kemp’s behalf questioned the timing of the subpoena – in the midst of the governor’s reelection campaign – and maintained Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis has no legal right to force Kemp to testify.
“Georgia courts have no authority to compel a sitting governor to provide testimony about matters involving his official duties due to sovereign immunity,” Carr wrote.
“Even if that were not the centuries-old law of this state, the subpoena at issue is improper … because its timing is neither driven by a genuine investigative need for information nor compliant with the established ethical rules governing prosecutors and election cycle investigations.”
Unlike other Republican politicians the special grand jury has subpoenaed, Kemp did not try to cast doubt on Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia over then-GOP President Donald Trump. The governor refused to interfere with the election’s outcome, declaring he did not have the authority to do so.
Kemp had volunteered to testify to the panel late last month, Carr wrote in Wednesday’s motion. However, Willis canceled that session and subpoenaed Kemp instead after the governor asked “reasonable” questions concerning the scope of the testimony, the attorney general wrote.
“For more than a year, the governor’s team has continually expressed his desire to provide a full accounting of his very limited role in the issues being looked at by the special grand jury,” a Kemp spokesperson said Wednesday.
“We are now just weeks away from the 2022 general election making it increasingly difficult to dedicate the time necessary to prepare and then appear. With the special grand jury empaneled until May 2023, we are simply asking the judge to allow the governor to come in after the November election.”
Others who have fought subpoenas to appear before the special grand jury include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who as Trump’s personal lawyer raised questions about the legitimacy of the 2020 election in Georgia at several legislative hearings at the state Capitol. Giuliani lost his bid to avoid the panel and testified on Wednesday.
Lawyers for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also are fighting a subpoena from Willis. A federal judge ruled earlier this week that Graham must testify.
A spokesman for Willis said the district attorney would defer comment on Kemp’s motion until her office files its response.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A plan to add toll lanes along Georgia 400 in Fulton and Forsyth counties is back on track a year after the State Transportation Board rejected the only qualifying bid on the project.
The Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) will issue a draft request for proposals next month from roadbuilding companies interested in competing in a second round of bidding, Tim Matthews, state express lanes administrator for the DOT, told board members Wednesday.
Three roadbuilding consortiums have indicated interest and are being evaluated, Matthews said.
The project calls for two new toll lanes in each direction on Georgia 400 from the North Springs MARTA station in North Fulton north to McGinnis Ferry Road, and one toll lane in each direction from there north to McFarland Parkway in Forsyth County.
The new lanes will be built as a public-private partnership project, meaning the contractor will not only design and build the lanes but also finance the construction. The contractor will recover its investment by collecting the toll revenue.
The board rejected the earlier bid as far in excess of the $1.7 billion the DOT had budgeted for the work.
Matthews said the project also will include a transit component. MARTA is planning to run a bus-rapid transit line (BRT) using the toll lanes from the North Springs station north to an existing park-and-ride lot on Windward Parkway in Alpharetta.
BRT stations are planned at the Georgia 400 interchanges with Holcomb Bridge Road and the North Point Mall, he said.
Matthews said the DOT plans to put out a final RFP for the project next March, with bids due in June. The board then would award the winning bid next August.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
The Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta (photo credit: Nate Hovee/Shutterstock)
ATLANTA – Atlanta will host the college football championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in January 2025, the Atlanta Sports Council announced Tuesday.
The city hosted the championship game in 2018, when the University of Georgia Bulldogs narrowly lost to rival University of Alabama.
Atlanta is the first city to serve as a repeat host for the game.
“This is a big win for everyone involved and we are excited for the Atlanta community,” said Dan Corso, president of the Atlanta Sports Council.
“As soon as we wrapped up the successful hosting of the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship, we were ready and eager to throw our name back into the hat,” Corso said.
“Bringing the game back to Atlanta was a simple decision when we looked at everything,” said College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock.
“A state-of-the-art stadium, a walkable downtown with venues to host all the activities … and great people made Atlanta an obvious choice to be the first city to host a second title game,” Hancock added.
Both Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens attended the press conference announcing the award of the game to Atlanta.
“We are excited that the state of Georgia and Mercedes-Benz Stadium have been selected to host the college football playoff national championship for the second time in the past 10 years,” Kemp said.
“We look forward to hosting more than 100,000 guests who will enjoy Georgia’s southern hospitality and a first-class experience.”
“Atlanta’s unmatched culture, hospitality, and infrastructure will be on full display as we welcome visitors from all over the nation,” Dickens said.
The college football championship adds to the list of high-profile sports events Atlanta plans to host over the next several years.
The city will also host this year’s Southeastern Conference football championship, the 2025 men’s college basketball regional championship, and some 2026 World Cup soccer matches.
In 2021, Major League Baseball was due to hold its All-Star Game at the Atlanta Braves Truist Park. However, it moved the game to Denver after the General Assembly enacted controversial election reforms.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A Cobb County law enforcement officer is Gov. Brian Kemp’s pick to become the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s next director.
Kemp nominated Mike Register Monday to succeed Vic Reynolds at the helm of the GBI. The appointment is subject to a vote by the Georgia Board of Public Safety. Reynolds left the GBI in June for a Superior Court judgeship in the Cobb Judicial Circuit.
Before his appointment to head the GBI, Register served as assistant chief of the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office. Before that, he was director of public safety for Cobb County, the chief of police for Cobb County, and police chief in Clayton County.
"Mike has a strong track record of strengthening public safety and protecting Georgia's communities,” Kemp said Monday. "I'm looking forward to his impact on this important agency that makes our entire state a safer and better place to live, work, and raise our families.”
Before coming to Georgia, Register was the chief operating officer for Quiet Professionals in Tampa, Fla., a company that supports various intelligence agencies.
Register also served for 23 years in Army Special Operations, including combat duty in Afghanistan.
Register is working toward a doctorate in strategic leadership from Liberty University, has a Master’s degree in public administration from Columbus State University, and is a graduate of the FBI’s National Executive Institute.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
