Mercedez-Benz breaks ground

Today carmaker Mercedes-Benz broke ground on a new vehicle preparation center in Brunswick. It's at the Georgia Ports Authority's Colonel's Island facility. It should be on line by next summer. Mercedes expects to bring 50,000 more cars through the plant, creating 122 new jobs.

Volkswagen could bring boost

Some potentially good economic news for northwest Georgia coming out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. A newspaper reports German carmaker Volkswagen is set to open a new car plant there, creating at least 2,000 jobs. Business leaders in the Rome area are hopeful the new facility will attract related businesses to northwest Georgia.

Gas theft on the rise

Auto owners beware. Thefts are on the rise. And it’s not your car you need to be worried about, it’s your gas. Police are announcing an increase in gas tank tapping, in which criminals drill into or pierce gas tanks to siphon the pricey petroleum out. Trucks, SUVs and plastic gas tanks are the highest at risk because of easy access. It's not just cars that are being affected. Restaurants in California and Kansas are also reporting stolen cooking oil worth thousands of dollars.

Lawmakers reach '09 budget deal

From the Associated Press ...

Georgia lawmakers reached a deal on a $21.2 billion budget that boosts salaries for state employees and funnels money into schools on the chaotic final day of the legislative session. But an agreement on tax cuts was proving a bit more elusive today as weary legislators raced against the clock to consider hundreds of measures in the dying hours of the 40-day session. House Majority Leader Jerry Keen said, "I'm an eternal optimist. But I'm cautious." The impasse over tax cuts created a logjam for other high-profile measures, including a new fee to help the state's trauma centers and a sales tax hike to pay for transportation improvements. Republicans pledged to deliver tax relief this election year, but with a few hours left in the session's final day they remained sharply divided over how to do it. The House wanted to eliminate the car tag tax over two years. The Senate pitched a competing plan that would trim the state income tax by 10 percent over five years. Also up in the air were vast changes to the education system, drought-inspired measures to bolster Georgia's reservoir system and a proposal to allow Georgians to carry concealed weapons in more public places. The budget deal removes at least one contentious issue from the table, but both chambers won't get to vote on it until tonight.