(GA. NEWS NETWORK)
*Georgia is leading the nation in construction job losses, and part of metro Atlanta is driving that slide. Federal figures released Wednesday show the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell area has lost 5,100 construction jobs since last year, the biggest loss of any metro area in the country. Nationally, builders say rising costs are putting projects on hold.
*Rick Jackson has spent more than $200 million of his fortune so far in trying to become the state’s chief executive, according to the AJC. That makes him among the biggest self-funding candidates in the country’s history. TV ads are by far where most of the money has gone, $165 million. Another $8 million for direct mail, and millions more on polling, phone banks, staff, etc.
*There’s no word, so far, on when the lockdown of more than two dozen Georgia state prisons will end. It began yesterday morning after a fight among four prisoners at Hays State Prison in Chattooga County, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections, and grew out of intel suggesting prisoners at other lock-ups might join in in a show of solidarity. Three of those inmates were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, and all have returned to prison. Officials say no guards were hurt.