ATLANTA – Savannah State University Interim President Kimberly Ballard-Washington is about to take on the job on a permanent basis.
Ballard-Washington has been selected sole finalist for the post, system Chancellor Steve Wrigley and Sachin Shailendra, chairman of the Board of Regents, announced Thursday.
Ballard-Washington has served as the university’s interim president since former President Cheryl Dozier retired nearly two years ago. Before that, Ballard-Washington practiced law for 20 years, serving as an advisor to the state’s public colleges and universities.
“Savannah State’s 130-year history could not be better served than with a candidate of Ms. Ballard-Washington’s leadership and determination to honor its legacy while helping students successfully complete their degrees in the 21st century,” Wrigley said.
“Kimberly has invaluable experience gained from working at a number of public universities across the state and understands the important role Savannah State plays as the oldest public HBCU in Georgia. She truly and deeply cares for SSU, its students and its mission.”
Ballard-Washington’s past experience includes a stint as the university system’s associate vice chancellor for legal affairs. She also served in a similar capacity at the University of Georgia.
Her experience with Georgia’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities pre-dates coming to Savannah State. She served as interim president at Fort Valley State University before being tapped to lead Albany State University on an interim basis.
Ballard-Washington, a native of Montezuma, Ga., earned a bachelor’s degree from UGA. She earned a juris doctorate from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
“I have long admired and now love Savannah State University,” she said. “For almost two years, I have had the privilege of leading one of the most historic and influential institutions in our state on a temporary basis. I am honored to now have the opportunity to continue to lead the University into the next phase of its future.”
The Board of Regents will take action on Ballard-Washington’s appointment as early as next week’s board meeting.
ATLANTA – With first-time unemployment claims continuing to fall and more and more businesses reopening, the Georgia Department of Labor is shifting its focus to helping companies fill job openings.
Jobless Georgians filed 25,429 initial unemployment claims last week, down 3,335 from the previous week, the labor department reported Thursday.
As those claims decline, more business owners are coming to the labor department for help finding applicants for open positions, Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said.
“Our mission is to not only bridge the pay gap for those who are temporarily unemployed, but to also provide reemployment support for those who are looking to reenter the workforce filling the critical vacancies we are seeing in every industry,” Butler said.
“I hear every day from employers who have been forced to reduce business hours, refuse large deliveries and turn down economic opportunities due to the simple fact that they did not have the staff to support them.”
Since the coronavirus pandemic first hit Georgia in mid-March of last year, the labor department has paid out more than $21.2 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits. The agency has processed more than 4.7 million first-time jobless claims during that period, more than during the nine years prior to the pandemic.
Last week, the job sector accounting for the most claims was accommodation and food services with 6,224 claims. The administrative and support services sector was next with 2,083, followed by manufacturing with 1,755.
The labor department has more than 240,000 job listings posted on its EmployGeorgia website, the highest the agency has ever recorded.
Claimants using the site can receive support to upload up to five searchable resumes, job search assistance, career counseling, skills testing, job fair information and job training services.
Georgia Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – State employees and teachers will be able to take up to three weeks of paid parental leave under legislation Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law Wednesday.
The bill, which sailed through the Georgia Senate unanimously and cleared the state House of Representatives 153-8, will benefit about 246,000 state workers and teachers. It will apply to parents following the birth of a child of their own, an adopted child or a foster-care placement.
“By ensuring state employees can take paid parental time off … we are sending a strong, clear signal that Georgia values every business, company and job creator,” Kemp said during a signing ceremony at the state Capitol.
The legislation was introduced last year as a top priority of House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge. It appeared headed toward passage before the coronavirus pandemic forced the General Assembly into a three-month hiatus.
But when lawmakers returned to the Gold Dome in June of last year to finish the 2020 legislative session, the Senate stripped paid parental leave from the bill and substituted a measure reducing lawmakers’ salaries. The House refused to support the change, and the bill was forced to wait until this year.
Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, the bill’s chief sponsor, noted Wednesday that then-President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, who pushed for paid family leave at the national level, got behind the Georgia legislation last year, helping it gain momentum.
Gaines said he received a flood of e-mails and texts from parents supporting the measure.
“House Bill 146 is a pro-jobs, pro-life and pro-family piece of legislation that is going to make a significant difference for Georgia families,” he said.
Under the measure, full-time employees will become eligible for paid parental leave after six months on the job.
The Nathan Deal Judicial Center in downtown Atlanta houses the Georgia Supreme Court. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court will resume conducting oral arguments in person beginning June 9, Chief Justice Harold Melton announced Wednesday.
The high court has been holding oral arguments via Zoom since Melton first declared a statewide judicial emergency in March of last year, as the coronavirus pandemic forced a shutdown of live court proceedings.
“Although the statewide judicial emergency remains in place, this is yet another step in our court system’s return to robust court operations,” Melton said.
Public health protocols will be in place for the in-person proceedings. The nine justices, who all have been fully vaccinated, will wear masks throughout the session, as will all other persons in the courtroom, although attorneys arguing before the court may remove their masks at the podium if they so choose.
Although the courtroom gallery inside the Nathan Deal Judicial Center normally accommodates 154 people, with social distancing, the number will be limited to 34, including members of the public, co-counsel, parties, and media representatives.
All will be expected to wear masks over their noses and mouths and maintain social distancing as indicated in posted signs.
All in-person and remote oral argument sessions are broadcast live on the court’s website at www.gasupreme.us.
The in-person oral argument health protocols will be reassessed in time for hearings set for Aug. 24-26.
Once it is safe to have more people in the courtroom, the court will resume ceremonies at the beginning of oral argument sessions in which attorneys are formally sworn into the Supreme Court bar.
The court also will consider requests for remote arguments conducted by Zoom and may schedule some remote arguments each month.
Parties will be required to confer before filing a request for remote oral argument, and the request must indicate if there is good cause for the request or if remote argument is merely preferred.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed six bills aimed at spurring business investment during a ceremony May 4 at the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. Photo credit: Thomas Hartwell, Marietta Daily Journal
SMYRNA – Gov. Brian Kemp signed a half dozen bills Tuesday aimed at spurring business investment in Georgia.
A bill signing ceremony at the Cobb Chamber of Commerce was highlighted by Kemp putting his name to legislation providing tax breaks to several key industries.
Senate Bill 6 includes tax credits for medical equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturers, aerospace defense projects performing arts venues, short-line railroads and developers of corporate “mega-sites.”
Kemp also signed bills aimed at streamlining the approval process for building projects, changing the definition of a small business and creating the criminal offense of organized retail theft to aid in prosecutions.
“These bills cut red tape, lower the tax burden on businesses, promote small business development and crack down on crimes that target Georgia businesses,” Kemp said.
The governor told political and business leaders Georgia has helped lead the nation’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic through his “measured reopening” of businesses while other states were shutting down economic activity entirely. He said his decision to protect livelihoods as well as lives sometimes drew criticism from the national media.
“It was not always popular to make these decisions, but it was important,” Kemp said. “Despite the headwinds of the pandemic, we continue to maintain our designation as the No.-1 place to do business.”
Kemp lifted virtually all COVID-19 restrictions on businesses in an executive order that took effect last Saturday.
The governor’s order eliminated all distancing requirements for bars and restaurants and mask requirements for workers. He also lifted all restrictions covering gyms and fitness centers, movie theaters, body art studios, hairstylists and massage therapists.
