GNB Weekend Update

The long holiday weekend has arrived...Here's the news...

Some good economic news for the Chattahoochee Valley. Ledger-Enquirer.com reports that snack food manufacturer Lance, Inc. announced that it's expanding operations at its Columbus plant Friday. The expansion will lead to the creation of 70 jobs. That brings the total number of employees at the Columbus facility to more than 520. Lance officials say they chose Columbus because of the plant's capability to handle increased operations, as well as other factors. The new investment will cost over $10 million, and will result in the creation of a new line of crackers, and boost the production of candy bars in the process. The new operations are expected to start by late fall.

The controversy over a lack of funding continues to linger at Albany State University. The Albany Herald reports that some ASU students want answers as to why lawmakers lost almost $2 million for the funding a new fine arts center on their campus. Former Representative Richard Royal told the Herald that he blames state Representative Winfred Dukes for removing money from the budget. A recent ASU graduate calls the proposed new facility "bait that they hold out to us, and every year they pull it away one more time." In case you missed it, you can read SWGA Politics column on the ASU funding controversy here.

Macon's financial situation goes from bad to worse. Macon.com reports that officials there reported a drop in sales tax proceeds of more than 40 percent from 2008. That drop follows February collections came almost a third short of the mark set the previous year. The budget by Mayor Robert Reichert called for city employees to go without pay for all nine holidays for fiscal year 2010.

That's the news. GNB is available online at georgianewsbeat.blogspot.com, and on Twitter at twitter.com/georgianewsbeat. Have a great holiday weekend.