A mysterious electric car maker that could rival Tesla Motors has Georgia in its sights.
Faraday Future is trying to stoke competition for a $1 billion manufacturing plant, and it has publicly said that California, Georgia, Louisiana and Nevada are in the mix for the investment.
USA Today explains why Faraday has made a splash:
But few have ever merited the kind of attention that has gone to Faraday in the past four days. It started with media reports like the one from the Wall Street Journal, reacting to the press release about its $1-billion plans, and finding executives coy about naming the source of its funds.
The Los Angeles Times offers some details about the man behind the company:
The company declined to identify its ownership and investors, but a review of incorporation papers filed with the California secretary of state's office links Faraday to a Chinese media company operated by Jia Yueting, an entrepreneur who founded Leshi Internet Information & Technology.
Jia is worth $7 billion, according to Forbes, which ranked him as China's 17th richest person. He recently launched a line of smartphones and acquired a 70% stake in Yidao Yongche, an Uber-like car service in China.
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This blow has been long in the making. From Andy Miller of Georgia Health News:
A rural hospital in northwest Georgia, burdened by a heavy debt load and large financial losses, is set to close Dec. 4. Hutcheson Medical Center in Fort Oglethorpe would be the fifth rural Georgia hospital to shut its doors since 2013.
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Former state lawmaker Tyrone Brooks will be sentenced today after a weeklong hearing over whether he should spend two years in federal prison. Brooks pleaded guilty in April to a single count of filing a false tax return, and nolo contendre to five counts of mail and wire fraud.
Civil rights activist say they’ll hold a prayer vigil outside the Richard Russell Federal Building, where this morning’s hearing will be held.
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The money behind the push for LaVista Hills had clear Republican fingerprints. But the source of the cash against the cityhood plan hasn't been so clear. Our AJC colleague Bill Torpy has this paragraph in a look at the defeat:
Jeff DiSantis, who headed Michelle Nunn's Democratic campaign last year, took credit for that barrage. He said some "progressives we know" kicked in about $10,000 for the mailers.
And over at PeachPundit, Mike Hassinger marvels at how easy it is to put calls for new municipalities on the ballot:
No, really. If you want to sell hard liquor in bottles in a formerly dry area of Georgia, you need to get a petition signed by 35% of the registered voters in that area. Those signatures have to be verified by the local elections official, and only then does the issue go before the voters for approval. Why on earth is it harder to open a liquor store than to create an entirely new government?
The campaign for LaVista Hills cityhood was as fast and loose with the rules of civic engagement as the sloppy legislative process that created it. LaVista Hills Alliance promised a Republican-style government to Republican voters, bashed the DeKalb County Police Department when it suited them, played the race card at the last minute, and accused anyone who doubted their unbelievable promises of being in league with "DeKalb County's thugs and criminals." That bitterness created by their narrow defeat hasn't been mollified by the end-zone dancing, chest beating, and in-your-face attitude on social media by members of the anti-cityhood group DeKalb Strong.
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Jason Carter debuts his role as the Carter Center's new board chairman with a big splash halfway across the world. He's part of the Atlanta-based initiative's election-monitoring team watching Myanmar's historic vote.
The former state senator, a grandson of ex-President Jimmy Carter, told The Washington Post that some people arrived at polling stations as early as 3 a.m.
President Carter's center has deployed 62 monitors in Myanmar. It is the group's 101st election monitoring mission.
According to Jason Carter, enthusiasm was high among both voters and observers: "We talked to one (voter) who waited since 3 in the morning," he said. And the group had gotten a report from one of its team who was getting ready to get on a boat to go to a remote area inaccessible by car.
Here's the latest on the results from the Associated Press:
Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and pro-democracy icon, urged supporters of the opposition National League of Democracy party not to provoke losing rivals who mostly represent the former junta that ruled this Southeast Asian nation for a half-century.
The NLD had won about 70 percent of the votes counted by midday Monday, party spokesman Win Htein said. The comments, if confirmed by official results from Sunday's general election, indicate that Suu Kyi's party would not only dominate Parliament, but could also secure the presidency despite handicaps built into the constitution.
"We will win a landslide," Nyan Win, another party spokesman, told The Associated Press.
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Freshman U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, is holding his first Fulton County town hall tonight. Quiz him about the Freedom Caucus, Paul Ryan, a government shutdown or anything else you like at 6 p.m. at North Atlanta High School on Northside Parkway.
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Here's the line that will long be remembered from the nasty Louisiana governor's race: "Prostitutes over patriots."
The runoff between Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter and Democratic state Rep. John Bel Edwards is Nov. 21. Larry Sabato of Crystal Ball fame this morning shifted his take on the race. He says it's now a toss-up.
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