ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate remained unchanged last month at 3.4%, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The Peach State’s jobless rate was half of a percentage point below the national unemployment rate.
Both the labor force and number of employed Georgians hit all-time highs at 5.35 million and 5.17 million respectively. But the number of jobs fell by 1,100 in October, the first decrease since October of last year, when jobs declined by 2,700.
Nonetheless, job numbers in two employment sectors – private education and health services as well as leisure and hospitality – reached record highs of 674,600 and 530,700 respectively.
Initial unemployment claims rose to 21,669 last month, up 3% compared to October a year ago. Year over year, jobless claims increased by 4%.
In October, 83,000 job openings were listed on the department’s website. The top five occupations on the list were health care, with 14,150 openings; sales, with 11,375 listings; hospitality, food, and tourism, with 8,100 openings; business management and operations, with 7,825 listings; and information technology, with 5,775 openings posted.
ATLANTA – The state agency in charge of Georgia’s medical marijuana program has awarded four additional licenses to companies to produce low-THC cannabis oil, greatly expanding access to the drug to eligible patients.
The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission voted Wednesday to award provisional Class 2 licenses to FFD GA Holdings, TheraTrue Georgia, Natures GA, and Trevana Remedy.
The licenses will allow the companies to grow marijuana in up to 50,000 square feet of indoor space, manufacture low-THC cannabis oil, and sell the product at dispensaries they will operate across the state.
The commission granted Class 1 licenses to two companies last fall, allowing them to grow the leafy crop in up to 100,000 feet of space, also indoors. Trulieve Georgia and Botanical Sciences LLC began selling the oil at dispensaries that opened earlier this year.
“With a total of six licensed production companies, patients will have more opportunities to access medical relief closer to home,” commission Chairman Sid Johnson said. “The number of dispensaries licensed by the commission could soon increase from nine to 30, making medical relief reachable to patients who are not able to travel due to their medical conditions.”
It’s been a long road for Georgia’s medical marijuana program. The General Assembly first legalized possession of low-THC cannabis oil to treat a wide range of diseases back in 2015 but failed to provide patients a legal way to obtain the drug. Adult patients and parents of ailing children were forced for years to travel out of state to get cannabis oil or buy it illegally in Georgia.
It wasn’t until 2019 that the legislature passed a bill setting up a licensing process for companies to grow marijuana indoors under close supervision, convert the leafy crop to cannabis oil, and sell the product to patients with a doctor’s prescription who signed up for a registry run by the Georgia Department of Public Health.
The Class 2 licenses were held up by a wave of litigation filed by companies that failed to win licenses from the commission. Following recent decisions by the Georgia Court of Appeals, Johnson said the commission decided to move forward with the Class 2 licenses on a provisional basis.
“The number of lawsuits that may continue to be filed are uncertain,” he said. “However, the need for low-THC oil and products as medical treatment and relief for patients is certain,” he said.
Jeremy Fort, Fine Fettle’s CEO, said his company will open a production facility in Macon soon, harvest its first crop next March, and open dispensaries in Athens, Decatur, Evans, Macon, Peachtree Corners, and Smyrna next spring. Between them, the production facility and dispensaries will create more than 125 jobs, he said.
“We’re ready to serve the needs of patients across Georgia who’ll experience a higher quality of life because this medication is available to them,” Fort said.
Besides the dispensaries the Class 1 and Class 2 licensees will operate, the law also allows low-THC oil to be sold at independent pharmacies.
The list of diseases that qualify patients for cannabis oil includes end stage cancer, seizure disorders, AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, sickle-cell anemia, autism, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Projected growth at the Port of Savannah is driving the need for major highway improvements.
ATLANTA – It’s going to cost at least $1.4 billion – and probably a lot more – in highway improvements in the Savannah region to keep pace with economic growth, an official with the Georgia Department of Transportation said Wednesday.
“It’s a good problem to have,” Matt Markham, the agency’s deputy planning director, told members of the State Transportation Board’s Strategic Planning Committee. “It’s a sign of an economy that’s growing.”
Markham outlined the findings of a study of current conditions and future needs of major highway corridors in four of the region’s counties: Chatham, Bryan, Effingham, and Bulloch.
To no one’s surprise who lives and/or works in the area, the study found that Georgia 21 is a major bottleneck, more connections are needed between Georgia 21 and Interstate 16, and U.S. 80 doesn’t have enough capacity.
Traffic flow in the Savanah area is particularly critical to the Port of Savannah, a major economic driver for the region.
With the projected growth in its containerized cargo business, the port’s capacity is expected to increase 60% by 2025. Already, 75% of commercial truck trips in the four counties are into and out of the Port of Savannah, Markham said.
Without major improvements, travel times will only continue to worsen, he said.
The study recommends spending about $1.4 billion on improvements to 12 major highway corridors, including Georgia 21, U.S. 80, interstates 16 and 95, and Effingham Parkway. Together, building those projects would bring 36% more of the region’s industrial space within one hour of the port and reduce traffic delays in the four counties by 58%, Markham said.
The problem is the $1.4 billion planning estimate is in 2022 dollars, and the projects the study contemplates are aimed at addressing traffic congestion through 2050.
Several board members wondered where the funding is going to come from to pay for the work.
Markham conceded funding sources for such a list of projects have yet to be identified. But he said having the study available will make the Georgia Department of Transportation more prepared when funding opportunities including federal grants come along.
In related business Wednesday, Andrew Hoenig, the DOT’s construction program manager, told board members construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2025 on a project to replace the cables on the Talmadge Bridge in Savannah and potentially raise the structure to more easily accommodate cargo ships calling at the Port of Savannah.
The work will be done without closing the bridge to traffic, at an estimated cost of $150 million to $175 million.
“This is a much more efficient cost than replacing the whole bridge,” Hoenig said.
The project will be the first the state has built using the Construction Management/General Contractor (CM/GC) model of contracting. Unlike contracts the DOT normally undertakes, the CM/GC model gets the contractor involved as the project is being designed.
While some bridge projects across the nation have involved replacing cables, combining the cable work with raising the bridge would be a first, Hoenig said.
The project, which will be federally funded, is expected to take two-and-a-half to three years to complete.
Hogg Hummock (Photo credit: Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation)
ATLANTA – Several churches and schools, an old newspaper building, and one of the last remaining Gullah Geechee communities in the country are on the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s annual “10 Places in Peril” list.
Places in Peril is designed to raise awareness about Georgia’s significant historic, archaeological, and cultural resources facing such threats as demolition, inappropriate development, or just plain neglect.
“This is the Trust’s 19th annual Places in Peril list,” said W. Wright Mitchell, the organization’s president and CEO. “We hope the list will continue to bring preservation solutions to Georgia’s imperiled historic resources by highlighting representative sites.”
Here is this year’s Top 10 list:
Hogg Hummock on Sapelo Island (McIntosh County) – The Gullah Geechee community, established by direct descendants of enslaved West Africans after the Civil War, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Recent zoning changes will let homes be constructed that are double the size of current limits, which could force further removal of the indigenous population.
Atlanta Constitution Building (Fulton County) – Built in 1947 in downtown Atlanta, this rare example of Art Moderne architecture in Georgia was occupied by the Atlanta Constitution and later the Atlanta Journal Constitution until 1955, then by Georgia Power until 1972. It has been vacant ever since.
Pine Log Mountain (Bartow County) – This privately owned wilderness area contains historic resources from three eras: a Woodlands Era rock wall built by indigenous peoples, four 1840s-era stone iron furnaces used for mining, and a convict labor camp that existed before Georgia lawmakers ended the convict lease system in 1909. The sites are now threatened with demolition.
Cedar Grove, Martinez (Columbia County) – Built in 1851 in the Italianate style, this home was owned by several prominent families. It later served as a church and housed the first integrated kindergarten in Columbia County. The recent discovery of mold and ongoing maintenance costs threaten its continued use.
Church of the Good Shepherd, Thomasville (Thomas County) – Built in 1894, this church is an example of African American religious expression and education in the South. A classroom and library operated there until 1964. Major repairs have been deferred as church membership has declined.
Grace Baptist Church, Darien – McIntosh County – Located on historic Vernon Square, this church was a significant institution within the African American community. The congregation disbanded in the 1990s, and the building fell into disrepair. The city issued a citation last May that could lead to demolition.
Old First Baptist Church, Augusta – This significant example of Beaux Arts architecture was built in 1902. The Southern Baptist Convention was founded on the site in 1845, and the building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Now privately owned, the property is in disrepair.
Broad Avenue Elementary, Albany – Built in the 1930s in the city’s historic district, the school served the community until the property was sold in 2005. The building is under threat of condemnation and demolition due to its deteriorated condition.
Sugar Valley Consolidated School, Sugar Valley (Gordon County) – Built in 1927 of indigenous Knox Chert, the school closed in 1974. The building is now owned by the county and most recently operated as a community center, voting precinct, and events space. The Gordon County Commission has deemed it unsafe and has announced plans to tear it down and replace it with a fire station.
Piney Grove Cemetery, Atlanta – This historic African American burial ground in the city’s Buckhead neighborhood is one of the last vestiges of several African American communities that once thrived in the area. The organization Friends of Piney Grove Cemetery has accused the homeowners’ association of an adjacent condominium development with failing to fulfill zoning conditions and a state law requiring proper maintenance of the cemetery, resulting in it becoming overgrown and inaccessible.
The Places in Peril list aims to encourage property owners as well as interested organizations and communities to work to revitalize deteriorated historic properties.
ATLANTA – A subsidiary of Toyota Industries Corp. will expand the company’s presence in Jackson County with a new manufacturing plant that will create more than 250 jobs.
Toyota Industries Electric Systems North America (TIESNA) broke ground Tuesday on a $69 million investment at Toyota’s Pendergrass campus.
“Georgia has distinguished itself as a leader in the automotive industry, and we’re thankful Toyota has chosen to expand its footprint here,” Gov. Brian Kemp said. “With these new jobs coming to hardworking Georgians, we’ll keep working with our partners on the state and local levels to bring even more opportunity to communities across Georgia.”
Headquartered in Japan, TIESNA develops and manufactures automobile-related products, including air-conditioning compressors and car electronic components for worldwide automakers. Other Toyota subsidiaries have operated in Pendergrass since 2004, supporting more than 400 jobs.
The new TIESNA plant will produce converters to supply power to auxiliary equipment. Operations are expected to begin in 2025.
“Since being welcomed to Jackson County in 2004, Toyota Industries has become a part of the fabric of the community there,” Georgia Commissioner of Economic Development Pat Wilson said. “Maintaining 50 years of representation in Japan has also allowed us to keep the lines of direct communication with corporate HQs, including Toyota Industries, open.”
The state Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team worked with the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Power, the Georgia Ports Authority, and the Technical College System of Georgia’s Quick Start program to secure the project.
