by Dave Williams | Oct 17, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Four concrete suppliers have been sentenced to prison for participating in a long-running bid-rigging scheme in the Savannah area.
James Clayton Pedrick, Gregory Hall Melton, John David Melton, and Timothy “Bo” Strickland were charged in federal court four years ago with conspiring to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate jobs from the sale of ready-mix concrete used in residential, commercial, and public projects.
Pedrick and Strickland pleaded guilty, while the two Meltons were convicted earlier this year in U.S. District Court in Savannah.
According to court documents, the defendants colluded to submit bids charging uncompetitive prices and coordinated the issuance of price-increase letters to customers between 2010 and 2016.
Gregory Hall Melton was sentenced Thursday to 41 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine. John David Melton was sentenced to a prison term of 26 months, along with three years of supervised release and a fine of $10,000.
The court had previously sentenced Strickland to five months in prison and ordered him to pay a $150,000 fine. Pedrick was sentenced to one year of probation.
Two companies also were involved in the conspiracy. Evans Concrete was ordered to pay a $2.7 million fine, while Argos USA previously paid a fine of $20 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement.
“These sentences reflect the egregious nature of rigging bids for materials like ready-mix concrete, which are essential to the American economy,” said Manish Kumar, deputy assistant attorney general with the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The Antitrust Division and its law enforcement partners will hold accountable those who seek to exploit the critical need for these materials to harm consumers.”
The FBI’s Washington field office, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, and U.S. Postal Service investigated the case.
by Dave Williams | Oct 17, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia continued to set employment records last month even as the state’s unemployment rate held steady.
The Peach State’s jobless rate stood at 3.6% in September, unchanged from August and five-tenths lower than the national average.
Georgia set all-time highs in several categories, including the number of jobs in the state’s economy, the number of employed Georgians and the size of the workforce.
“Every job created represents another paycheck in the pocket of hardworking Georgians,” state Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson said Thursday. “With record-breaking job growth, an expanding workforce, and rising key industries, we’re continuing to build better lives for families across our state.”
The number of jobs increased by 6,800 last month to nearly 5 million, a record. The sectors with the most over-the-month gains were health care and social assistance, which gained 4,700 jobs, and accommodation and food services, which posted an increase of 3,200 jobs.
The private educational services sector was down by 1,400 in September, and transportation and warehousing lost 1,000 jobs.
The number of employed Georgians rose by 1,761 last month to more than 5.2 million, another all-time high, while the state’s labor force increased by 4,777 to more than 5.4 million, also a record.
At the same time, the ranks of the unemployed was up by 3,016 to more than 195,000, the highest level since July 2021.
Initial unemployment claims declined by 3,598 in September to 19,600.
by Dave Williams | Oct 16, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Former President Donald Trump continues to lead Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia, according to a new poll.
A survey of 1,328 likely Georgia voters Quinnipiac University conducted Oct. 10-14 found Trump with 52% of the vote to 45% for Harris, well above the poll’s margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.7%. Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver each received 1% support.
The new poll was only slightly different from the results of the last Quinnipiac poll in Georgia conducted two weeks ago, which had Trump ahead of Harris by 6 points.
Not surprisingly, Republican Trump and Democrat Harris held huge leads among voters who self-identified with their respective parties. More telling is that Trump led over Harris among independents in Georgia 49% to 42%.
Support for Trump and Democrat Harris mirrored their favorability ratings. According to the Georgia poll, Trump was viewed favorably by 51% of likely voters and unfavorably by 46%. Harris was viewed favorably by 44% of the respondents and unfavorably by 51%.
On key issues shaping the race, the poll found more voters saying Trump would do a better job than Harris handling the economy and immigration. Respondents gave Harris higher ratings than Trump on handling the abortion issue.
by Dave Williams | Oct 16, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Class of 2024 scored slightly lower on the ACT compared to last year but still beat the national average for the eighth year in a row.
Georgia students’ average composite ACT score of 21.2 was down slightly from 21.3 in 2023 but exceeded the pre-pandemic average of 20.7.
“The Class of 2024 continues to make us proud here in Georgia – from beating the nation on both the SAT and ACT to achieving an all-time high graduation rate for our state,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said Wednesday.
“It’s encouraging to see that investing in academic recovery, despite the challenges of the last several years, has paid off for our students and their futures.”
This year’s ACT test takers scored highest in reading at 22.2, well above the national average of 20.1. Georgia students also scored 20.5 in English, 20.4 in math, and 21.1 in science, all above the national averages in those categories.
All of this year’s scores were based on the 2024 high-school graduates who took the ACT at any point during their sophomore, junior, or senior years.
by Dave Williams | Oct 16, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A Fulton County Superior Court judge has blocked a new rule governing Georgia’s election requiring counties to hand-count the number of ballots cast at polling places on Election Day.
Judge Robert McBurney issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday night delaying implementation of the rule until the parties in a lawsuit filed by the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration have a chance to be heard on the merits of the rule.
The hand-count requirement is one of a series of changes to state election law adopted in recent weeks by the Republican-controlled State Election Board (SEB).
In an eight-page decision, McBurney objected to the timing of the rule, particularly amid an election climate fraught with memories of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
“On paper, the Hand Count rule – if properly promulgated – appears consistent with the SEB’s mission of ensuring fair, legal, and orderly elections,” the judge wrote.
“[But] a rule that introduces a new and substantive role on the eve of election for more than 7,500 poll workers who will not have received any formal, cohesive, or consistent training … does not contribute to lessening the tension or boosting the confidence of the public for this election.”
McBurney’s decision on the hand-count requirement was his second this week shooting down one the SEB’s new rules. The judge also declared that county election boards must certify election results in a lawsuit brought by a Fulton County elections board member asserting her right to refuse certification.
Tuesday night’s ruling came on the day early voting ahead of the Nov. 5 election began in Georgia. More than 300,000 early votes were cast on Tuesday, shattering the all-time record for first-day early voting in the Peach State and eclipsing any single day of early voting two years ago.
