Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business, has been one of the most sobering — and most accurate — guides to the Georgia economy in recent years. While all…
Author: bill dawers
How late should live music start? 10? 11? Midnight?
In my Savannah Morning News column today, I grapple with the question “Live music: Does it have to start so late?” In my opinion, the short answer is no, but it’s a really complex question, the answers to which involve…
Georgia governor, Atlanta mayor headed to DC to lobby for port dredging, passenger rail funding
Well some very interesting news this morning from Jim Galloway at the AJC’s Political Insider. According to Galloway, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed are headed next week to Washington “for a strategy session on Port of…
Embedded video for Savannah Music Festival’s campaign to support Swing Central Jazz
Attending one great Savannah Music Festival performance after another, it’s easy to forget about the SMF’s tremendous education efforts. The most important of those efforts might be Swing Central Jazz, an ambitious effort to bring high school jazz bands to…
What a severe recession and a weak recovery look like in just one graph
The Chicago Fed releases a monthly index for national economic activity. Their latest release: Index shows economic activity weakened in April. Now, that’s not to say that activity contracted as it would during a recession, but the pace of growth…
Savannah area gas prices down about 20 cents per gallon in recent weeks
In one of my columns a couple of weeks ago about some cautionary economic data, I mentioned a bright side: the probability of falling gas prices. According to GasBuddy, gas prices per gallon have fallen about 20 cents since their…
A few thoughts on Armstrong’s evolution
I taught part-time at Armstrong Atlantic State University for five years beginning in 2000, and then I slipped into a fulltime temporary instructor slot beginning in 2006. A few days ago, I was offered and accepted that same position without…
Here we go again: Two more Georgia banks shut down
First Georgia Banking Company of Franklin and Atlantic Southern Bank of were shut down by regulators this evening. From the FDIC press release: CertusBank, National Association, Easley, South Carolina, acquired the banking operations, including all the deposits, of Atlantic Southern…
Where Georgia ranks in terms of foreclosures and unemployment
I hear a lot of spin about Georgia’s relative economic health compared to other states, so I’ll just post these two charts with minimal commentary. These both appeared in the last day on Calculated Risk, an indispensable source for those…
Westboro Baptist Church picketers make first Savannah appearance on Sunday
We’re just a couple of days away from the first pickets by the Westboro Baptist Church here in Savannah. Over two weeks ago, I wrote about the news of the WBC’s appearance here, about some of the choices regarding community…
The many faces of Savannah entrepreneurship
I was honored again to win Connect Savannah‘s Best Local Columnist in their annual readers’ poll. I have sort of a built-in advantage, even though I freelance for the Savannah Morning News and not Connect itself: I write 156 columns…
Timelapse photography reveals Savannah’s diverse beauty
I don’t know SCAD film major Nicholas Reichard, but I sure like how he sees Savannah. In this stunning timelapse photography, Reichard uses a couple of different cameras and a variety of lenses (you can see the technical specs here)…
Extreme cuts to public education: the wrong path for Georgia’s future
Last week, Savannah-Chatham County schools announced that a net of about 90 teaching positions would probably be cut for next year. Younger teachers — those who often have the most enthusiasm, are quite literally the building blocks for the future…
A short review of Givers — just how good is the Louisiana band?
Just how good is Givers? Maybe the question is this: how great is Givers? I first heard of Givers just a few weeks ago when the Savannah Stopover announced they had been booked for a concert after TEDxCreativeCoast at the…