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The Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs announced today that the 43^rd annual Atlanta Jazz Festival will not take place this year. The decision to cancel one of the country’s longest-running, free jazz festivals was based on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the City of Atlanta, and the CDC and Georgia State guidelines limiting gatherings to 10 or less individuals.

“While there will not be a festival this year, we were happy to be able to share 31 days of unique jazz performances by Atlanta artists throughout May, and will work to reschedule the Atlanta Jazz Festival for a future date that will ensure festival goers’ wellbeing and safety,” said Camille Russell Love, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs.

Organizers quickly pivoted to create and produce the nightly Atlanta Jazz Festival Sessions to celebrate the 31 Days of Jazz for the month of May. The nightly sessions, which have been airing on the Atlanta Jazz Festival’s Facebook page at 9 p.m., have garnered thousands of views. The final night of the series will conclude with an encore performance from the duo Joe Gransden and Kenny Banks, Sr. on Sunday, May 31.

The Atlanta Jazz Festival would like to thank the Atlanta Music Project, WJZA and PNC Bank for their support. Check the AJF website at www.atlantafestivals.com for information about the 2021 event.

Georgia Ports Authority’s Mason Mega Rail project, in the works for more than four years and designed to expand service to the Southeast and Midwestern U.S., has passed a major milestone. GPA has put into operation the first nine of 18 new working tracks, with its first two rail-mounted gantry cranes to be commissioned in June.

“At the Port of Savannah, we are working to improve the efficiency of the American supply chain and move goods to market even faster,” said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. “These efforts are strengthening our logistics network at a time when the nation needs it most.”

Atlanta-based accounting and business advisory firm Mauldin & Jenkins has announced the addition of Timothy (Tim) Evans to its expanding Governmental Advisory practice. With almost three decades of executive government leadership, Tim brings substantial experience and valuable niche knowledge to serve Mauldin & Jenkins’ governmental clients.

A Top 100 Accounting Firm with offices located throughout the Southeast, Mauldin & Jenkins has rapidly increased in service offerings as well as size over the past several years to meet growing demand. Adding Tim’s expertise to its popular specialty practice allows the firm to accept and serve additional clients in this niche. His insight and experience further strengthen the Governmental Advisory team’s already substantial depth, helping the practice group better meet the highly specialized needs of state, county and local governments; government agencies; and quasi-governmental organizations.

Tim’s background includes serving as the Chief Operating Officer and Human Resources Director at the Georgia Department of Labor. In his roles, Tim provided organizational oversight and strategic direction for departmental divisions consisting of approximately 4,000 employees.

Over the course of his career, Tim has amassed significant experience encompassing all aspects of governmental planning, management, and operations. Tim has significant experience managing and transforming large federally funded human service programs that help Georgians enter and excel in the workforce. Tim is well versed in human capital management, strategic planning, project management, and program execution, and will assist clients in meeting key goals around strategic planning, organizational transformation and reducing operational costs in government.

Governmental Advisory Services Practice Leader David Roberts welcomes Tim as a valuable addition to the practice group. “Tim’s intimate knowledge of government operations and people management serves as an invaluable resource to our Practice as we continue to positively transform government operations” he says. “Tim brings the necessary people skills and change management experience that are critical to achieving successful transformation goals.”

To learn more about Tim Evans or Mauldin & Jenkins’ Governmental Services practice, please visit the Mauldin & Jenkins website at www.mjcpa.com.

The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced today that April’s unemployment numbers for Georgia’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), regions, and counties are at a reported all-time high across all categories. Regional commissions reportedunemployment rates at all-time highs in Atlanta, Coastal Georgia, GA Mountains, Northeast GA, Northwest GA, River Valley and Three Rivers, with Coastal Georgia topping out at 14 percent. Georgia county unemployment documented record highs with the highest unemployment rates in Whitfield County at 20.6 percent, Murray County at 20.1 percent, Clay County at 18.1 percent, Chattooga County at 17.1 percent, Glynn County at 17.0 percent, Chatham County at 16.4 percent, Clayton County at 16.0 percent, Meriwether County at 15.8 percent, Troup County at 15.4 percent, and Heard County at 15.1 percent.

“We are seeing all-time high unemployment rates across a majority of the state,” said Commissioner Mark Butler. “We are continuing to work with employers on effective strategies to get Georgians back to work in both a safe and economically efficient way.”  

Weekly regular UI initial claims totaled 165,499, down 12,000 over the previous week. Of the weekly total, 112,910 (69%) were employer filed claims. Initial claims have declined three of the last four weeks. Payments over last week totaled $159,501,356 in regular weekly unemployment benefits, down $28 million over the prior week.  This is the first decline in weekly benefits paid since week ending March 21. Since that date, over $1.087 billion has been paid in regular UI benefits, more than the last three years combined ($923 million).  

The number of initial unemployment claims filed throughout the United States was 2.1 million last week, a decrease of 323,000 from the previous week. 

Over the past ten weeks, the sectors with the most regular UI initial claims processed included Accommodation and Food Services, 563,631, Health Care and Social Assistance, 254,406, Retail Trade, 252,688, Administrative and Support Services, 179,089, and Manufacturing, 164,735.  

Last week, the GDOL issued over $56 million in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) payments to individuals who are self-employed, gig workers, 1099 independent contractors, employees of churches, employees of non-profits, or those with limited work history who do not qualify for state unemployment benefits. From week ending 3/21/2020 through 5/23/2020, 148,190 PUA claims have been processed and are eligible for payment.  

In addition, the total federal funds issued for the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, or FPUC, totaled over $495 million last week. Over the past ten weeks, the GDOL has issued almost $2.6 billion in FPUC federal funds. FPUC provides an additional $600 weekly payment to any individual eligible for any of the unemployment compensation programs – state and federal. 

As of May 26, the Georgia Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund Balance was $1,657,754,330, down $890 million, or 35 percent, from the balance of $2,547,476,454 on March 24.   

With the increased volume of claims processed, the GDOL is increasing its safeguards against unemployment fraud.  The agency has implemented several levels of security to battle the “bad actors” including multiagency identity verification, quarterly wage verification with employers to prevent unauthorized unemployment benefits, and internal system defenses to protect personal identifiable information.   

“We are being challenged to pay millions of Georgians in unemployment benefits as quickly as possible while also being expected to verify eligibility,” said Commissioner Butler. “We are relying on our partnerships with state agencies to assist us in meeting this demand accurately and expeditiously.”

Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business will introduce three stand-alone graduate certificates in fall 2020 to address current and emerging market demand for innovation.

Credits earned in the certificate programs can potentially be applied to Robinson’s part-time MBA and select master’s degree programs.

The four-course, two-semester certificates in artificial intelligence innovation, disruptive innovation and entrepreneurship, and fintech innovation were developed in consultation with executives from Anthem, AT&T, The Coca-Cola Company, The Home Depot, NCR, State Farm and VMware, among others. Students take the courses virtually through Robinson Anywhere, the most advanced digital teaching platform in the South. Each certificate consists of 12 credit hours and includes three required courses and one elective. 

The programs share a required first-semester course, Innovation Studio, in which students learn to apply design thinking systems and lean startup methodologies to approach and solve problems. Working in interdisciplinary teams, they conduct interviews and experiments, and test prototypes to verify the viability of new technologies, business models, products, services and potential business ventures. They also become comfortable with ambiguity, experimentation and online collaboration. 

“Profound digital transformation and revolutionary technologies are affecting business and society. Knowledge about these changes is critical to ensure today’s business leaders succeed in this rapidly changing landscape,” said Richard Phillips, dean of the Robinson College. “But knowing is not the same as doing. Individuals must demonstrate the ability to apply these technologies.” 

“The Innovation Studio is central to these certificate offerings,” said Brian Jennings, associate dean for graduate programs and executive education. “It provides a creative, experimental environment where students build skills such as critical thinking, emotional intelligence, social influence and communication. This is a prime example of the college’s vision, ‘No one gets closer to business than Robinson.’”

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