Local News and Notes: Tire Amnesty Day, Amazon, Newnan Crossing Center sell
By John A. Winters, Publisher
Below are some of the most recent news headlines and notes from January.
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Amazon will open a 1-million-square-foot warehouse in Newnan creating 500 jobs, according to Gov. Brian Kemp. The warehouse will be built near the county’s airport at the Cubes of Bridgeport industrial site. Like other sites throughout the country, employees will pack and ship orders from the world’s largest retailer.
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Carrie Beavers Markham was sworn in as the new probate judge on Jan. 7. She replaced Judge Mary Cranford, who retired. Markham grew up in Newnan and most recently worked with Rosenzweig, Jones, Horne and Griffis.
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The Women’s Services Department at Piedmont Newnan Hospital decided to collect can goods and non-perishable items this holiday season as a way to give back to the local community. They recently delivered 479 items to Bridging the Gap to restock their food pantry for the new year.
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From Keep Newnan Beautiful: A HUGE shout out to Coweta County Environmental Management for helping us with our Tire Amnesty Day! Both trailers were filled by 10:30am. We had 145 residents participate this year! All of these tires will be carted off to Quality Tire Recycling in Jackson, GA to be chipped and made into other products! Thank you to all of our volunteers for your assistance on Saturday! We couldn’t do it without you! (Photo above from Keep Newnan Beautiful Facebook Page).
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City Councilman George Alexander is the new mayor pro tem for the city of Newnan. He was elected by a majority of council members. He replaces fellow councilwoman Cynthia Jenkins, who served in that capacity for 14 years.
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In its list of Best Online Programs for 2020, U.S. News & World Report once again ranked University of West Georgia’s online programs among the best in the nation, according to a UWG article. The rankings, released this week, took into account schools’ engagement, faculty credentials and training, expert opinion, student excellence, and services and technologies. Nearly 300 schools were ranked in an effort to help students compare programs. UWG earned coveted spots on the publication’s lists of Best Online Bachelor’s Programs, Best Online MBA, Best Online Computer Information Technology graduate degree, Best Online Education graduate degree and Best Online Nursing graduate degree.
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From Crain’s Cleveland Business: Retail Value Inc. of Beachwood, the company formed to sell shopping centers owned by the former DDR Corp., has sold the Newnan Crossing center for $11.6 million. The deal excludes a portion of the property with a Lowe’s store. The buyer was not disclosed. The more than 400,000-square-foot Newnan Crossing is anchored by tenants including BJ’s Wholesale Club, TJ Maxx, Old Navy and Michaels. Net proceeds of the sale were used to repay mortgage debt associated with Retail Value, the company said in the release. https://www.crainscleveland.com/real-estate/retail-value-inc-sells-georgia-center-116-million
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A Madras Middle School student who brought a “hit list” with six names on it was removed from school on Jan. 15. In a letter to parents, Principal Lorraine Johnson said another student brought the matter to administrators after hearing about the list in the cafeteria earlier in the week. Officers immediately removed the student from class, and later from the school. An investigation continues.
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from @newnanartrez Mary Beth Meehan’s in-depth look at Newnan, her series of mammoth photographs titled “Seeing Newnan” was featured today on the front page of the Sunday edition of The New York Times. This project was begun while she was an early participant in Newnan’s Artist in Residence program, our own ArtRez. Her powerful installation has started important conversations in and about Newnan and has, as of today, achieved national recognition. Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/19/us/newnan-art-georgia-race.html.
