Georgia DOT Urges Avoid All Travel Until Tuesday

12:20 pm Mon. Jan. 10: A winter storm warning is in effect through Monday evening for all of north and central Georgia. Extremely hazardous driving conditions, major accidents, and impassable roads have been reported throughout the warning area. Motorists are urged to AVOID ALL TRAVEL until at least Tuesday.

Source:  Georgia DOT

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Georgia Made... Georgia Grown...

Although born in Georgia, I was a military brat, leaving the state before I could walk. Moved back, married military and, at least for a bit, continued to move around again before settling back in my birth state. While I can't claim to have hit every corner of the globe, I've lived in enough places to say with some credibility that Georgia is the best of the best.

Georgia has a little bit of everything a person could want and a lot to be discovered. A little bit? Well, travel to New York and try to choose which show to see on Broadway. Georgia has a lot of top notch theater, but a little bit  in comparison to the overwhelming offerings in New York, "the City".

Go spend a month in Washington, D.C. doing nothing but visiting the Smithsonian and other museums - you'll need more time! Georgia has a wealth of history and fabulous museums, enough to keep you busy for months and months, if you're willing to get in the car. Not quite comparable to the volume in D.C., but they are well worth multiple visits.

I could go on! No matter where you're from or what you're looking for that's good, you can find it in Georgia.

Don't misunderstand though --- while we may have a little bit of everything, we also have a lot of some things that are uniquely "Georgia". Fantastic restaurants, home grown foods, talent in every artistic corner, festivals, warm people, thriving businesses, fun beaches, oh, the list is long.

Georgia is like one of those gift baskets people give sometimes when they're not quite sure what you might want. It's chocked full of everything imaginable. You just keep finding new things down in the basket, all different, all wonderful and all to be appreciated.

Because there are so many things in the Georgia 'gift basket', it can be daunting trying to find many of the great things created by Georgians. We want to support those who live in our state, shout about their great talents and accomplishments, figure out where to go, and eat or buy Georgia grown foods.

Now there is an excellent resource being developed by Camille and Bill Ronay, creators of event2000.com and of Ronay Guide fame, to find and share the best of the best in Georgia: Georgia Made Georgia Grown (GMGG).

I can't top their description: "Georgia Made Georgia Grown LLC markets and promotes artists, craft makers, entertainers, musicians, authors, food products creators, agri-tourism venue owners and other creative entrepreneurs in all 159 counties!... Whether you are looking for unique products and services as a gift, looking for the best in arts, crafts, food and entertainment for yourself, or looking for corporate resources from local sources in Georgia, GMGG has what you need."

I have been seeing tweets and tidbits on Facebook for a while, but only recently really took a good look at the site. Impressive to say the least. GMGG is going to become "the" place to be for Georgia's creative and entrepreneurial talent as well as an excellent resource for anyone visiting or living in Georgia.

If you are a Georgia farmer, artists, crafter, entertainer, serve Georgia grown in your restaurant, shop owner, or create anything in Georgia, go check out the site. If you'd like to find sell items made or grown in Georgia, go check out the site.

Get on board early. Based on past performance and the agressive marketing the Ronay's have already undertaken, this is going to be another successful venture by the pair. They are active in promoting Georgia and GMGG is developing into an outstanding resource. If you're on Facebook, be sure to find them and hit the "like" button on each of their GMGG channels (links are on the website). You'll receive a lot of quality information and learn so much about your fellow creative Georgians.

If you love the state and want to support the people and businesses that make it a fantastic place to live, go visit Georgia Made Georgia Grown.

- Janet McGregor Dunn
Editor, Georgia Front Page

New Medical Air Transportation Program to Assist Southeast Patients

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Patients and families caught in a health crisis requiring distant travel can find assistance through a new program called Airlift Hope Southeast. Airlift Hope Southeast is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that offers charitable and charitably-assisted medical air transportation options in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

By dialing 770-320-0172, callers can receive a free consultation from resource specialists matching needs with appropriate travel programs. Patients, families, case workers, and health care professionals calling for help will be triaged and referred to one of three modes of transport, depending on the need. This includes air ambulance for non-ambulatory patients, charitable airline tickets, or transport in light aircraft flown by volunteer pilots.

Airlift Hope Southeast functions as a regional arm of Mercy Medical Airlift (MMA). This partnership ensures good stewardship and quality of services. MMA is the nation's largest and oldest national nonprofit organization facilitating charitable medical air transportation, and has received Charity Navigator's highest four-star rating for six consecutive years.

Airlift Hope Southeast's mission is, "To ensure that no patient is denied access to distant, specialized medical evaluation, diagnosis or treatment for lack of a means of long-distance medical air transportation; and to ensure that emergency air transportation needs are met in times of personal or community disaster, either natural or man-made."

In addition to helping patients, Airlift Hope Southeast serves as the conduit for coordination with HSEATS(R) (Homeland Security Emergency Air Transportation System) and its response to natural or man-made disasters on southeastern and southern U.S. coasts. HSEATS completed over 2,600 flights in support of Katrina disaster relief efforts in 2005.

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FAA Air Traffic Program Saves $27 Million in Delays during First Year

In the midst of the second-worst year for flight delays, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched a software program in March 2007 that saved $27 million for the airlines and 1.1 million delay minutes for the airlines and the flying public in its first year of operation.

“This software pays an immediate dividend to passengers,” said Robert A. Sturgell, the FAA’s acting administrator. “When a plane can’t land because of weather, the software makes it possible for that slot to be filled automatically by another plane. This means that we’re able to get passengers where they want to go as soon as possible.”

Adaptive Compression works by scanning for airport arrival slots that would otherwise go to waste when a flight is cancelled, delayed or re-routed. Open slots are filled with the next available flight, minimizing passenger delays by maximizing operations at constrained airports.

When demand exceeds capacity at an airport or in the air, as often happens during severe summer storms, delay-reducing efforts such as Airspace Flow Programs (AFP) are put in place. AFPs allow the agency to manage traffic during storms with greater effectiveness and efficiency by targeting only those flights that are scheduled to fly through storms, issuing estimated departure times. However, slots go unused if flights are cancelled, delayed or re-routed, resulting in lost capacity or avoidable delays.

Adaptive Compression, which was developed in collaboration with the airlines, updates slot assignments without adding to controller workload. Controllers are automatically notified of open slots and the next available flights, rather than having to perform those functions manually.