Friday, May 24, 2013 | 4:26 p.m.
Hi, (not you?) | Member Center | Sign Out
Powered by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Stories by Dan Chapman
Georgia ports start fiscal year with boom
The 2013 fiscal year has started with a flourish at the state’s ports as cars and containers crowd the terminals in Savannah and Brunswick at near-record levels. Container import and exports — the backbone of global trade — surged nearly 14 percent at Savannah in August compared to a year ...
State delay hurts Jekyll prospects
Keen to boost the state’s tourism industry, Gov. Nathan Deal signed tax rebate legislation 16 months ago that has yet to be tapped by developers and won’t likely be used for months — if ever. The missing tax incentive, by one account, has already cost Jekyll Island the 2014 opening ...
State defies U.S. on seasonal workers
Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler is defying Washington by refusing to restart jobless benefits to seasonally unemployed teachers and bus drivers, setting up a showdown between state and federal officials. “This is really a states’ rights issue. The administration is really over-stepping their bounds,” Butler said Thursday. “We will not ...
Longshoremen could halt traffic at Georgia ports
Just as retailers prepare for their busiest time of year, East Coast longshoremen are threatening to go on strike. The impact could spread well beyond the ports of Savannah and Brunswick to inflict economic pain across Georgia. If the men and women who load and unload cargo walk off their ...
State ordered to reverse itself on some unemployment claims
Thousands of Georgia bus drivers, cafeteria workers and private school teachers, who this year were denied usual summertime unemployment checks, may get that money after all, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler instituted the benefits change on Jan. 30. He said it was unfair for ...
Dalton, Augusta worst for job losses lately
Two Georgia metro areas, Dalton in the northwest and Augusta in the east, led the nation in job losses in the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Dalton, which bills itself as the Carpet Capital of the World, lost 4,600 jobs between June 2011 and June 2012. ...
Why 3 Georgia regions voted for T-SPLOST
Voters across a large swath of Georgia's midsection, stretching from Augusta in the east to Columbus in the west, decided Tuesday to tax themselves to improve their regions' roads. Unlike metro Atlanta voters, they determined that the tax's benefits are worth the cost.While only three of the state's 12 special ...
Nation's oldest welcome center relic of bygone travel era
Sylvania -- "Good afternoon, sir. How are you? Can we help you with anything." Mike Spangenberg, a truck driver, was wary of the offer, tired of driving and "wanted to put some blood back into my butt." "I don't know," he answered. "What do you have here?" The welcome center ...
Rock-Tenn reports earnings surge
Rock-Tenn Co., the packaging company based in Norcross, reported a $58.2 million profit, or 81 cents per share, for the third quarter of 2012.A year earlier, the company lost $30.1 million, or 60 cents a share.Rock-Tenn CEO James Rubright credited the upbeat earnings report to "solid performance across our business ...
Georgia ports log annual increase
Georgia's ports posted another record year in fiscal 2012, port officials eported Monday, due largely to big increases in raw material and automobile exports and imports.The port of Savannah moved nearly 3 million containers — up 1.9 percent from fiscal 2011. Savannah is the nation's fourth busiest container port and ...
Zaxby's expands into Louisiana
Athens-based Zaxby's opened its first chicken finger and buffalo wing restaurant in Louisiana on Monday.Louisiana is state No. 13 for the expansion-minded "fast-casual" restaurant chain. Zaxby's is shooting for 575 locations across the South and Indiana by early 2013.Childhood friends Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley opened the first Zaxby's restaurant ...
South Fulton Medical to stop delivering babies, lay off 80
South Fulton Medical Center will close its women's program — including labor and delivery rooms, the mother/baby unit and the neonatal ICU — and eliminate 80 positions, the hospital's owner announced this week.Baby deliveries have been declining nationwide as well as at the East Point hospital, which will cease deliveries ...
Georgia Ports board elects chairman
Robert Jepson Jr., a Savannah businessman, was elected Monday chairman of the Georgia Ports Authority board.Jepson, first appointed to the board in 2008, succeeds Alec Poitevint II. Jepson said securing federal approval and financing for the deepening of the Savannah River and harbor remains the board's top priority."As we enter ...
Georgia's peachy image turns blue
The peach is Georgia's official fruit. It graces license plates and quarters. A whole county is named for it. An 800-pound “peach” welcomes the New Year when it touches down in Atlanta near Peachtree Street. So Georgia’s peach bonafides are beyond reproach. Or are they? Turns out that while the ...
Federal study: Southern ports need money to deepen
Savannah and other southern ports have "the most critical" need for money to deepen harbors for super-sized cargo ships expected to ply the world's oceans by late 2014, according to a federal maritime agency report released Thursday.But the study, done for Congress by the research arm of the Army Corps ...
State Farm to hire 500 at north metro center
State Farm, one of the nation's largest insurance companies, said Friday it will hire about 500 customer service workers at a new operations center near Perimeter Mall.The employees will handle sales, services and claims for policyholders, company spokesman Justin Tomczak said. The 400,000 square foot office, divided between 64 and ...
Georgia unemployment rate stalls in May
After 10 straight months of decline, Georgia’s unemployment rate remained flat at 8.9 percent in May, the state Labor Department reported Thursday.The employment status quo isn’t necessarily unexpected, though. Nearly every spring, as school lets out and tens of thousands of Georgians search for summertime jobs, the unemployment rate barely ...
Ports to spend big for global bounty
U.S. ports, including Savannah and Brunswick, plan to spend more than $46 billion over the next five years in anticipation of fierce global competition for exports and imports, a report by the American Association of Port Authorities shows.The actual amount will be considerably higher. Only 63 of the association’s 82 ...
July 31 transportation tax votes: What's in store outside metro Atlanta
Going to the beach? Want the latest Chinese gizmo delivered faster? Worried about the economic demise of rural Georgia? Then next month’s series of sales tax votes to pay for $10.2 billion in transportation projects outside metro Atlanta bears watching.Most metro Atlantans, though, have yet to consider their own referendum, ...
Georgia's ports tally tens of thousands of jobs, big economic impact
Georgia’s ports directly support 153,884 jobs statewide -- an addition of 25,000 jobs since 2009 -- according to a University of Georgia report released Thursday.The public ports at Savannah and Brunswick, along with neighboring private port facilities, also account for $39.2 billion in statewide economic impact, or direct spending, the ...
© 2013 Cox Media Group. By using this website,
you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices
.
You're Almost Done!
Select a display name and password
{* #socialRegistrationForm *} {* socialRegistration_displayName *} {* socialRegistration_emailAddress *} {* traditionalRegistration_password *} {* traditionalRegistration_passwordConfirm *}Tell us about yourself
{* registration_firstName *} {* registration_lastName *} {* registration_postalZip *} {* registration_birthday *} {* registration_gender *} {* agreeToTerms *}