Hobson named CEO at True North Custom
True North Custom has appointed former CHI Memorial Chief Executive Officer Jim Hobson as the company’s CEO.
A Chattanooga resident, he has served on True North’s board of directors since 2015 and brings three decades of health care leadership experience to the company.
“True North Custom is a proven brand with an excellent reputation in the industry and I’m proud to lead an organization that many of the nation’s top health care brands trust to guide their marketing and communication strategies,” said Hobson in a statement.
He has also served as president of the Chattanooga Area Hospital District and chair of the Hospital Alliance of Tennessee.
True North Custom partners with more than 500 client organizations nationwide to develop fully custom and data-driven content marketing strategies that support growth, retention, and cost-containment.
Bullet train study picks 3 corridors
A draft study by the Georgia Department of Transporation offers three corridors to connect Chattanooga and Atlanta by high-speed rail.
The three include a route that runs along Interstate 75, another that runs parallel to U.S. Highway 411 though much of Northwest Georgia, and a third that goes through Rome, Ga.
A public hearing on the study is slated for Nov. 16 from 6-8 p.m. at the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency in the Development Resource Center on Market Street.
Rapid rail has been under study for nearly two decades, and Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said last year that while the idea might be neat, he doubts there is money or political will to build it.
“Any kind of intercity rail doesn’t happen without large-scale federal investment,” Berke said last year. “It’s pretty clear that the federal government is not in a position right now to do large-scale infrastructure investments.”
Georgia Winery wines sold at Wal-Mart
Georgia Winery wines can now be found at the Chattanooga Wal-Mart on Gunbarrel Road.
The company said it’s expanding with hopes to be found in more Wal-Marts in 2017. This summer, Georgia Winery said it’s more than doubling its capacity as Tennessee grocery stores, which were allowed to sell wine on July 1, are stocking its sweet muscadine and fruit wines.
The winery is installing 10 new 3,000-gallon stainless steel tanks and four new 6,500-gallon stainless steel tanks, which will add 56,000 gallons to the 53,500 gallons of fermenting tank capacity already in use at its wine-making facility and tasting room near Ringgold, Ga., on Battlefield Parkway just off Interstate 75.
Local gas prices nearly 10 percent below U.S. average
Gas prices in Chattanooga continued to fall last week, dropping to the lowest level since early summer.
The average price of a gallon of gas in Chattanooga at the start of the week was $1.94 per gallon, down 5.5 cents per gallon from a week earlier and down nearly 20 cents a gallon from a month ago, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 170 gas outlets in Chattanooga. This compares with the national average that fell 2 cents per gallon last week to $2.20 per gallon, the gasoline price website GasBuddy.com said today.
Law firms to combine
The law firms of Baker Donelson and Ober|Kaler have announced plans to combine.
The combination, which has been approved by the leadership and shareholders of both firms, is anticipated to take effect Jan. 1.
The combined firm, which will maintain the name of Baker Donelson, will become one of the 50 largest law firms in the country, with more than 800 attorneys and advisors across 25 offices in nine states as well as Washington, D.C.
Building unemployment declines to 6-year low
The jobless rate among workers in the building industry fell in September to the lowest September rate in six years as construction continued to rebound from the Great Recession.
But the unemployment rate for building workers was still above the national average in Tennessee and Alabama during September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In Tennessee, the construction unemployment rate over the past year fell by seven-tenths of a percent to 6.1 percent in September. The jobless rate in the construction industry was unchanged over a year ago in Alabama at 7.6 percent.
But in Georgia where the Atlanta area has rebounded, the jobless rate for construction workers in September was only 4 percent, down 0.5 percent from a year ago.