ATLANTA – Metro
Atlanta was the nation’s fourth fastest-growing metropolitan area in the last
decade, according to new numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The population
of Atlanta, including Sandy Springs and Alpharetta, was just more than 6
million as of last July 1, up from just less than 5.3 million on April 1, 2010.
That
increase of 733,646 was behind only the Dallas, Houston and Phoenix metropolitan
regions. The Dallas metro area – including Fort Worth, Texas; and Arlington,
Texas – was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the country, adding 1.2
million residents during the last decade bringing its population to nearly 7.6
million.
The Atlanta
region also is the nation’s ninth-most populous. Ahead of metro Atlanta in the
rankings as of last July 1 were the New York City/Newark, N.J., with more than
19.2 million residents the nation’s largest.
The Big
Apple is followed in order by Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston,
Washington, D.C., Miami/Fort Lauderdale and Philadelphia.
The Census
Bureau also reported that all of the 10 counties with the largest numeric gains
since 2010 are in the South and West.
Despite the growth in some counties, more than half (53.6%)
of the counties in the United States were smaller in 2019 than they were in
2010. These patterns of growth or decline were largely related to county
size, with most small counties losing population this decade and most large
counties gaining.
ATLANTA – President
Donald Trump has declared Georgia a major disaster area due to the impacts of
coronavirus, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Sunday.
“Georgia is
grateful for this designation, as it will enable the state to continue
partnering with federal agencies in a coordinated fight against this pandemic,”
Kemp said. “The presidential declaration is a critical step in providing additional
assistance to our state and local governments as they continue to respond to
COVID-19.”
The disaster
declaration came as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 2,651.
Eighty Georgians had died of the virus as of noon Sunday.
Kemp
declared a statewide public health emergency on March 14, and the General
Assembly ratified the action two days later during a one-day special session.
The governor’s declaration made available state resources to help deal with the
coronavirus outbreak.
The federal
disaster declaration will allow federal agencies to provide direct assistance
to Georgia. The record $2 trillion economic stimulus package Congress passed on
Friday includes $150 billion in direct aid to state and local governments,
money that can be used to help offset the impact the loss of businesses and
jobs will have on state budgets.
COVID-19 now
has spread to 113 counties. Fulton County has the most with 407 confirmed
cases, followed by DeKalb County with 272 cases, Dougherty County with 239, Cobb
County with 222, Gwinnett County with 143 cases and Bartow County with 119
cases.
However, the
most deaths have occurred in hard-hit Dougherty County, where 17 have died from
coronavirus. Fulton County has had 12 deaths, followed by Cobb County with nine.
ATLANTA -Georgia
House Speaker David Ralston cast serious doubts Friday that the state will be
able to afford either a teacher pay raise or an income tax cut because of the
coronavirus pandemic’s economic impact.
The $28.1
billion fiscal 2021 state budget the House passed this month days before
suspending the 2020 legislative session because of COVID-19 includes a $1,000 pay
increase for teachers, down from the $2,000 raise Gov. Brian Kemp recommended
in January.
The same day
House members approved the budget, they passed legislation to reduce Georgia’s
income tax rate from 5.75% to 5.375%, effective next Jan. 1. Ralston said at
the time that cutting taxes is what Republicans do.
“Those are
both probably going to have to come out now,” the speaker said Friday on Georgia
Public Broadcasting’s “Political Rewind” program.
“I’m not
sure a tax cut in this type of emergency is the wisest course to do, and I
don’t think giving a huge pay raise to one group of state employees is a wise
course to do,” he added. “Those two items took up a lot of room in the budget
that we, frankly, may not have now.”
States
across the country are taking a huge economic hit from the global pandemic, as
businesses forced to shut down and workers thrown out of jobs generate far less
tax revenue than would be available in normal times.
A portion of
the $2 trillion federal economic stimulus package that gained final passage in
Congress on Friday – $150 billion – will go to help prop up state and local
governments suffering from the economic impact of coronavirus. Many governors
have predicted that won’t be nearly enough funding, and Congress will have to
come back and approve another stimulus.
The teacher
pay raise, which Kemp promised on the campaign trail in 2018, was one of his
key priorities entering this year’s General Assembly session, and Republican
House leaders have made the tax cut a major goal.
But Ralston
said Friday all bets are off as the economic effects of the pandemic grow with
the number of deaths and confirmed cases of COVID-19.
“Just as
Georgians are having to do … we’ve got to figure out as a state what do we
absolutely need to run the state until we get back in session in January of
’21,” he said.
One bit of
good news, according to Ralston, is the state should have the ability with some
adjustments to survive financially through the end of the current fiscal year
June 30. Kemp already has signed the $27.5 billion mid-year budget the General
Assembly passed earlier this month.
ATLANTA – More
than 2,000 Georgians have tested positive for coronavirus, the state Department
of Public Health reported Friday.
As of noon, there
were 2,001 confirmed cases in Georgia and 64 deaths from the virus. Among those
testing positive for COVID-29, 566 were hospitalized.
Broken down
by age, 57% of confirmed cases were Georgians between the ages of 18 and 59.
Those ages 60 and older accounted for 34% of confirmed cases.
The virus
now has spread to 103 Georgia counties. Fulton County continues to far outpace
the rest of the state with 307 cases. Hard-hit Dougherty County was second as of
noon Friday with 193 cases.
Next was
DeKalb County with 181 cases. DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond imposed a mandatory
shelter-in-place order for DeKalb earlier this week.
Cobb County reported
144 cases, with 102 in Gwinnett County and 98 in Bartow, another county
suffering disproportionately relative to its population.
Gov. Brian
Kemp and public health officials are continuing to urge Georgians to follow the
social distancing and personal hygiene recommendations of the federal Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
While a
limited shelter-in-place order is in effect statewide for groups of people
considered vulnerable to contracting COVID-19, many cities and counties have
imposed those orders on all of their residents. Besides DeKalb County, the list
includes the cities of Atlanta, Athens and Savannah.
ATLANTA – Gov.
Brian Kemp Friday named the first Asian-American woman to serve on the highest
court of any state in the Southeast.
Carla Wong
McMillian, currently serving on the Georgia Court of Appeals, will succeed
recently retired Justice Robert Benham on the Georgia Supreme Court.
McMillian,
who lives in Fayette County, served previously on the state court there, as a
partner with Atlanta-based Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP and as a law
clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
McMillian
earned a bachelor’s degree at Duke University and a law degree from the
University of Georgia School of Law.
Kemp has
begun building a track record for diversity in appointments. Last year, he
named John King state insurance commissioner following the suspension of Jim
Beck, making King Georgia’s first Hispanic to hold statewide constitutional
office.
U.S. Sen.
Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., essentially became the state’s first female senator when
Kemp named her in December to succeed retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson. The only
other woman to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate served for only one day
back in 1922.
Also on
Friday, the governor named Verda Colvin of Macon and John “Trea” Pipkin III of
McDonough to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
