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.
Georgia Tech’s enrollment increased the most this fall among the state’s public colleges and universities.
ATLANTA – Enrollment at Georgia’s public colleges and universities climbed to a record high this fall, reversing two years of enrollment declines with a 3% gain.
The University System of Georgia reported a fall enrollment of 344,392 students, up 9,993 over last fall, with increases at 23 of the system’s 26 institutions.
“This is happening as we focus on aligning degrees to the state’s workforce needs, from nursing and teaching to logistics and cybersecurity,” system Chancellor Sonny Perdue said Tuesday. “Our campuses make a transformational difference in students’ lives.”
Enrollment on university system campuses had fallen during the past two years, reflecting the experience of public colleges and universities across the nation.
Before that, the University System of Georgia experienced seven consecutive years of enrollment growth.
This fall, Georgia Tech saw the largest enrollment increase numerically, with an additional 2,665 students signing up for classes. The largest percentage increase in enrollment – 11% – came at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus.
Only Georgia State University in Atlanta, Valdosta State University, and East Georgia State College in Swainsboro saw enrollment declines of 2.8%, 0.4%, and 6.9%, respectively.
Demographically, the university system reported a 3% increase in enrollment among Black students, and 7% growth both among Latinos and among students identifying as Asian.
The number of white students rose slightly – by 0.3% – for the first time since 2011. However, that category still declined as an overall share of the student population due to larger growth in the other categories.
ATLANTA – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has declared an additional 11 Georgia counties in North Georgia natural disaster areas due to a sustained drought.
The secretary issued a natural disaster declaration earlier this month covering Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, and Walker counties in Northwest Georgia.
The counties added to the disaster list include Bartow, Cherokee, Dawson, Fannin, Floyd, Gilmer, Gordon, Lumpkin, Murray, Pickens, and Whitfield. Those counties have suffered eight or more weeks of severe, extreme, or exceptional drought conditions.
The disaster declaration lets the agriculture department’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) extend essential emergency credit to farmers in the affected areas.
“The addition of these 11 North Georgia counties to last week’s natural disaster declaration is a welcomed source of relief for farmers facing severe drought conditions,” Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tyler Harper said.
“I know firsthand the impact drought conditions can have on our agriculture industry, especially those with dryland operations. … Our team will do everything possible to help those hardest hit recover.”
FSA loans can be used to meet various drought recovery requirements, including replacing such essential items as farm equipment or livestock, reorganizing a farming operation, or refinancing loans.
The federal agency reviews all loans based on the extent of losses, available security, and repayment ability.
ATLANTA – Cases of COVID-19 are declining headed into the respiratory virus season, while cases of RSV and flu are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels.
That forecast from State Epidemiologist Dr. Cherie Drenzek came Tuesday during a meeting of the Georgia Board of Public Health.
While those trends represent good news, Drenzek said they shouldn’t give Georgians a false sense of security. The threat posed by COVID, RSV, and flu together is greater than the sum of their parts, she said.
“Because we have circulation of RSV and flu at relatively moderate levels, when you put COVID on top of it, it really can push up the overall activity for respiratory viruses.”
Still, Drenzek said deaths and hospitalizations from COVID are as low as they’ve been since the pandemic began in early 2020, due both to the availability of vaccines and the widespread immunity Georgians have acquired during the pandemic years.
“The wild card is that the circulating variants can change rapidly and ultimately result in high levels of transmissions and surging cases,” she said.
Drenzek said the good news is no surges in COVID cases have been reported, while the boosters that became available in September should be effective against the variants currently circulating. People over the age of 65 remain the most vulnerable to severe outcomes from COVID, including death, she said.
Drenzek said cases of flu in Georgia are starting to rise but only account for 4% of outpatient doctor visits. Children from birth to age 4 are by far the group most affected, she said.
Positive tests for RSV spiked at 21% a few weeks ago in Georgia but have dropped since to only 10%, Drenzek said. Most of those hospitalized with RSV have been infants up to 6 months of age, while hospitalizations of young children from 6 to 12 months also are rising, she said.
“We want to target youngsters for RSV and flu,” she said.
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., was a leader in getting a provision capping the cost of insulin for Medicare enrollees at $35 a month into the Inflation Reduction Act Congress passed last year.
Now, Warnock is working with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., on federal legislation that would extend the insulin cap to the rest of the population.
Warnock and Kennedy released a study on Tuesday – World Diabetes Day – showing that more than a quarter of the nation’s counties are “Insulin Deserts,” plagued by both high rates of uninsured residents and high rates of diabetes.
The report found most of of these counties – including 105 in Georgia – are concentrated in the South, especially the Southeast, contributing to the region’s widespread poor health outcomes.
“Despite progress over the last few years to lower out-of-pocket costs of insulin, unaffordable insulin remains pervasive across the country,” the study states. “This report confirms the need for legislation to make insulin affordable for both privately insured and uninsured Americans.”
According to the report, insulin is seven to 10 times more expensive in the United States than in other countries. Between 2014 and 2019, the list prices of certain types of insulin in the U.S. increased by about 50%.
While the $35 monthly cap on insulin for Medicare enrollees took effect last January, legislation to extend the cap to Americans with private insurance failed in the Senate by three votes.
Last March, three insulin manufacturers announced voluntary steps to lower the price of their insulin. However, the voluntary programs do not reach all eligible Americans, and there is no permanent policy that will guarantee all low-income Americans access to a drug many diabetes patients need to live.
“This alarming report makes clear who will be left behind if Congress fails to pass my $35 insulin cost cap, including uninsured Georgians who live in the 105 counties considered insulin deserts,” Warnock said. “My bipartisan legislation with Senator Kennedy would ensure that uninsured folks, especially folks in insulin deserts, are able to afford their insulin.”
