Tuesday on Political Rewind: Georgia companies and state government are responding forcefully to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Plus, Republican challenger for governor David Perdue is attacking what Gov. Kemp touts as a crowning business achievement: the deal that will bring a huge auto assembly plant to rural Georgia.
Georgia is preparing to build one of the state’s largest economic development projects of all time starting this summer: a 2,200-acre electric vehicle manufacturing plant an hour east of Atlanta in Morgan and Walton counties. But the announcement came as a shock to residents there, and some are mobilizing to voice their concerns — or halt it altogether.
Residents near the site of the proposed $5 billion Rivian Automotive electric vehicle factory want answers about the facility’s potential impacts on their rural community. The plant is slated to be built on a 2,000-acre site that straddles Morgan and Walton counties.
In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic pitted parents against school boards, a high-profile murder trial played out in Coastal Georgia, and embittered fights over state voting law were spurred by baseless claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
The state Department of Education is responding to last week’s announcement that a major electric vehicle manufacturing plant will be built in Georgia by creating an EV career pathway.
Friday on Political Rewind: COVID-19 continues to bounce back in the United States, though not necessarily because of the new omicron variant. Meanwhile, Sen. Raphael Warnock pushes for a federal voting rights act on the floor of Congress.
Thursday on Political Rewind: The omicron variant surges in the United States. We look to Gov. Brian Kemp's response as the Georgia vaccination rate lags behind the rest of the country. Also: Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's testimony is aiding the congressional Jan. 6 committee in building its case.
On today's show: A Republican leader in the state Senate filed a bill to eliminate drop boxes, which have enabled voters to cast absentee ballots more easily. Meanwhile, Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to announce later this week that Rivian, one of the country’s largest manufacturers of electric vehicles, is set to build an assembly plant in Georgia.
Rivian, which has just started deliveries of its battery-powered pickup truck, surged in its first day of trading after completing one of the biggest IPOs in U.S. history.
A ton of new vehicle start-ups are trying to follow in Tesla's footsteps but a battle between one electric pickup maker and a short seller shows how the heavily hyped industry is also a risky one.
Automakers hope Americans will be willing to switch to battery-powered vehicles, for their trucks' sakes, as they race to bring the first electric pickup to market.
