Fresh Loaf

Cox Newspapers, a subsidiary of Cox Communications and owner of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, says it will shut down its national and international news bureau in Washington, D.C. on April 1, 2009.

A company memo posted on Romenesko says the AJC and Dayton Daily News will “manage their own Washington and international newsgathering independently following the national bureau’s closing through dedicated correspondents in D.C.” Eligible employees of the D.C. bureau will be offered “generous” severance packages and continued employment until March 31. Bureau chief Andy Alexander will retire at the end of the year.

“The Washington news bureau and its chief, Andy Alexander, have an impressive and storied history in Washington and in our company,” Sandy Schwartz, Cox Newspapers president, said in the memo. “For more than 30 years, the reporters of this bureau have broken an untold number of stories that have had an impact on the lives of our readers in cities and towns all across the U.S. The Cox Washington bureau has won or shared virtually every major American journalism award, including the Pulitzer Prize.”

After the jump, read the entire memo. It includes details about Alexander’s career — it’s been an impressive one — and information about the international bureau.

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The New York Times had a piece this weekend examining how Savannah is faring during the economic downturn. Cargo shipping in the city — the fifth-largest along the East Coast — has flattened. Jobs have been cut at the ports while facility expansion has been ordered to go ahead. And then there’s this:

While [Georgia Ports Authority executive director Doug Marchand] and many others await an upturn, Savannah’s economy deteriorates. The unemployment rate in the three-county metropolitan area has jumped to 5.7 percent from 3.9 percent a year earlier. Analysts attribute the jump to hiring freezes and a lot of little job cuts.

With home sales down 24 percent, the local Coldwell Banker has watched its army of real estate brokers, the largest in the city, dwindle to 180 from 240 last year. “They just went into other businesses or stopped working altogether,” said Connie F. Ray, chief executive of the Coldwell operation here, adding that through last year brokers had been averaging $40,000 to $50,000 annually in commissions.

Manufacturers still have a big presence here, employing 15 percent of greater Savannah’s 171,000 workers, but factory employment is shrinking. Georgia-Pacific, for example, which makes paper towels, napkins and toilet paper at a mill here, no longer hires dozens of contract workers. They had been used as a flexible work force, a supplement to the 1,200 regular employees, to step up production during demand surges, now nonexistent.

Not all of Savannah is hurting, the article says — five hotels are under construction and Fort Stewart’s expanding. Luxury jetmaker Gulfstream is headquartered in the city; a company spokesperson says a long list of backorders will keep its workers busy for at least the next three years.

And there’s another sign of hope:

“When I go by a Red Lobster inn on the south side on a Friday night,” [John C. Helmken II of Savannah Bancorp] says, “there are people lined up waiting to be seated.”

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MARTA CEO and General Manager Beverly Scott, who was recently appointed chair of the American Public Transportation Association, testified before a U.S. House committee today and urged Congress to pass legislation that would inject sorely-needed funds into transit projects across the country.

APTA, Scott says, recently identified 559 “ready-to-go” projects in the United States worth $8 billion that would help create jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She also asked the government step in and examine financial agreements — which  I’ll warn you are rather complex but good to wrap your head around — transit agencies made with companies such as AIG that are in danger of unraveling because of Wall Street’s meltdown.

To read her full testimony, click here. Read about how Georgia specifically could benefit from increased transit investment after the jump.

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How’s this for a silver lining? The coming bad times could help a lot of us get over our addiction to “things” and at the same time move us toward solving the environmental crisis. That’s basically what Lisa Wise, executive director of the Center for a New American Dream in Washington, told me as I researched an article last week about how hard times are hitting Atlanta.

It’s provocative even to suggest that bad economic times could be good for your psyche and for nature. People think you’re living in a dream world, or that you want to punish them.

But I think there’s something to the idea that we don’t all need to wear the latest fashions, drive late-model cars and live in 3,000-square-foot houses. (This coming from a guy who’s trying to get going on a big addition to my house.) (more…)

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From the governor’s office (emphasis added):

ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that net revenue collections for the month of September 2008 (FY09) totaled $1,632,334,000 compared to $1,561,749,000 for September 2007 (FY08), an increase of $70,585,000 or 4.5 percent.

The percentage decrease year-to-date for FY09 compared to FY08 is 2.6 percent.

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STOCK MARKET FRESH: Atlanta-based Arby’s completed a $2.2 billion buyout of fellow fast-foodies Wendy’s yesterday. The new company, Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, expects to add up to 100 new positions at its Atlanta headquarters.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, CEO Roland Smith says Wendy’s/Arby’s will focus on wooing older customers. Perhaps not coincidentally, stock in the company that makes Lipitor is up this morning.

FRESH START: Yesterday, the parent company of this blog filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as well as lawsuits against three of its creditors for refusing to renegotiate the terms of the company’s loans.

CEO Ben Eason says the bankruptcy filing is not bad news, but instead characterizes the move as an opportunity to restructure the company’s debt under more favorable terms and make what he calls a fresh start.

A RAFT OF THEFTS: Georgia is reportedly the nation’s boat theft capital. I’m sure it sucks to have your boat stolen, but I’m having a hard time getting worked up about it.

BEAT IT: Former Blink182 drummer Travis Barker was released from an Augusta hospital yesterday. Barker was severely burned when the small plane he was traveling on crashed in South Carolina on September 19. Four people were killed in the accident.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY: For Many Americans, Fear and Distrust Run High

Really? I wonder why.

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Christa at Pecanne Log points us to Ted Ullrich’s “Localize Your Life” project, a photographic examination of a city with little fuel. Ullrich is a member of local creative agency the Epidemik Coalition.

(Screenshot from Ullrich’s Flickr)

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MELTDOWN: Bailout talks crumbled Thursday night when House Republicans announced they won’t back the plan because it offends free-market absolutism. McCain, who made a fuss this week about injecting himself into the negotiations, was largely silent as the Republican revolt ripped apart consensus. Talks resume today, and Bush promised this morning that a bailout package will be passed.

THE REELING IS MUTUAL: Washington Mutual becomes the largest bank to fail in U.S. history as it’s seized by the federal government and sold to J.P. Morgan Chase.

DEBATE AND SWITCH: Obama’s in Oxford, Miss., the site of tonight’s first presidential debate of the general election; McCain is still sending mixed messages about whether he’ll attend, although surrogate Lindsey Graham hinted this morning that McCain may be there after all. And despite McCain’s announced suspension of his campaign, ongoing TV commercials, a speech in New York and media interviews make it seem rather unsuspended. UPDATE: McCain now says he will show up for the debate.

NO. 1 STUNNER: Top-ranked USC falls to Oregon State, making No. 3 UGA’s matchup Saturday with No. 8 Alabama that much more momentous.

OIL FOR FEUD: Tex Pitfield, an oilman whose name wouldn’t allow him any other line of work, has asked Gov. Perdue to cancel the Georgia-Alabama game because of the gas shortage. Perdue’s office calls the suggestion “ridiculous,” and urges people to take common-sense measures, presumably such as stealing gas from Alabama fans. UGA officials have asked fans who can’t make it to Athens and back on one tank, however, not to come.

LONG SHORTAGE: The Washington Post breaks down the regionwide fuel crisis that’s hamstrung the Southeast.

ATLANTA’S AIR FORCE: Delta and Northwest shareholders have endorsed the airlines’ merger, leaving the ball in the Justice Department’s court.

WILD BLUE HITHER: GeorgiaSkies, a new airline launched by Pacific Wings, will offer intrastate flights among Atlanta, Athens and Macon starting Monday.

(SUNK) LIKE A ROCK: The abrupt closure of all Bill Heard Chevrolet dealerships on Wednesday, which the company blames on the economy and gas prices, has left many customers in limbo.

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Is nothing sacred? We received a press release last month for the Atlanta Witch’s Ball, which was to be held Oct. 25 at The Atrium on Memorial Drive. But Joeff Davis saw this today on the ball’s website:

Due to the turn the economy has taken recently, the 2008 Atlanta Witch’s Ball will not be held. This year has been a rough year economically for many of our community. The recent hurricanes and resulting increase in prices on everything from food to gas to utilities has hurt our community tremendously.

The ball is described on the site as a night of “magick and enchantment” sponsored by the North Georgia Solitaries, a networking group for solitary practitioners of paganism and witchcraft (Hey, wait a second: Why do solitary practitioners have a networking group?)

An FAQ website also says: “As always, we will offer a midnight Samhain ritual for Pagans who wish to participate and non-Pagans are welcome to watch.”

Except “as always” doesn’t include 2008. Thanks a lot, Mr. Credit Crisis.

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I’m not going to be able to finish the story I was supposed to write this week because I need to go to Washington to save the economy. This has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve fallen behind on my interviews. It’s because I love my country more than you do.

If you truly believe in putting your country first, my friends, you’ll join me in dropping all your previous commitments for this week so that you too can contribute to this bipartisan effort.

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STAYING ALIVE: Troy Davis is alive this morning, thanks to a last-minute stay granted by the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices will reconvene Monday, and if they don’t decide to hear his case, he’s back in Georgia’s clutches.

CHECK IS IN THE BAIL: Congress is listening to growing outcries to limit Wall Street executives’ lavish salaries and perks as part of the bailout. Counters one trade lobbyist: “It is not appropriate for government to be setting the salaries of executives.” Not appropriate like, say, using taxpayer money to save a corporation from its own bad investments.

WARREN PEACE: Warren Buffet soothes the weary minds of investors by throwing in on Goldman Sachs.

FUELISH HUMANS: The 2008 Atlanta Gas Crisis! is still going strong, despite the EPA’s move to allow local stations to sell heavier-polluting fuel. The AJC interviews an Emory behavioral psychologist, who reminds us that we’re panicky nitwits.

GAS FIGHT! Society is always three meals, or one tank of gas, away from anarchy.

FLORIDA: Decides it will accept Clayton students to its colleges after all.

DEKALB PLANE CRASH: One person is killed when a plane headed from Jacksonville, Fla., to Michigan crashes in a residential neighborhood near PDK.

TYLER PERRY: The Atlanta movie mogul/maven, who was once homeless himself, donates enough food to feed 1,000 Atlanta families for two weeks, helping address the recent food-donation shortage in the city.

ZOONOTIC SUGGESTION: Advocates of relocating the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility to Athens contend it would foster increased scientific collaboration on treating diseases that start in animals and spread to humans, like avian flus.

BLACK MARKET: The announcement that UGA’s high-stakes showdown with No. 8 Alabama Saturday will be the blackout game has sparked the Athens economy with a black-clothes-buying frenzy.

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Yes, Coolio will make a cameo!

Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Jim Martin unveiled a new ad this morning in which an invisible hand scribbles on a chalkboard and teaches us all a lesson about “Saxby Economics.” Martin says U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss has doled out tax breaks to oil-slurping and job-shipping companies, continued to OK $10 billion a month for the war in Iraq, and that somehow all these decisions led to Wall Street’s meltdown. Meanwhile, Martin fails to mention how the yacht makers are faring during this tumultuous time. Won’t anyone think about the yacht makers?!?!

At the end, we’re treated to a shot of Provost Martin saying we need to erase all that junk and start thinking about the little people again. I’ll be thinking about the yacht makers, thank you very much!

Here’s the ad in all its glory. Hat tip to Jim Galloway at the AJC’s Political Insider.

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TROY DAVIS: Will be killed by Georgia tonight, barring a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.

BAILOUT: What at first seemed like a tourniquet is starting to look more like a feather pillow for Wall Street, and congressional leaders are pointing out that we’ve been notoriously fooled before by this administration under guise of looming disaster.

BLAME: More Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, blame Republicans over Democrats for the financial crisis.