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The 2024 session of the Georgia Legislature is in the history book. Gov. Brian Kemp has finished signing or vetoing legislation passed during the session and the postmortems are underway. The Columbia County Chamber of Commerce held its annual post-legislative breakfast on May 9. The keynote speaker was one of the leaders of the Georgia Legislature, House Speaker Jon Burns. Burns touched on some of what he sees as the most important bills passed during the session, most of which the governor has signed. He started with the legislature’s consistency

We have done it! The Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) employment has finally surpassed pre-covid levels. Employment now stands at 247,600, surpassing the pre-covid peak of 246,400. By contrast, the U.S. passed the pre-covid employment level in June 2022 and Georgia did in October 2021. March was a strong month for jobs growth with the U.S. economy adding over 300,000 jobs and the Augusta MSA adding 2,100, the highest monthly increase since August 2020. Pretty much, all the job gains were in professional and business services employment, which increased by

Demolition of the Augusta-Richmond County Joint Law Enforcement Center (LEC) at 401 Walton Way has left city officials with a question. What is next for a site that can be a gateway to the city? Looking for direction, the city partnered with the Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA) to bring the Technical Assistance Panel of the Urban Land Institute-Atlanta (ULI) to meet with commissioners, stakeholders, and community members with an interest in the property. Daphne Bond-Godfrey, Executive Director of ULI-Atlanta, said the organization is a non-profit made up of real