Tift County's jobless rate remained at 2.8% in February, according to data released Thursday from the Ga. Department of Labor (GDOL).

The county unemployment rate was also 2.8% during January after jumping from 2.4% in December, the GDOL reported. The jobless rate in Tift County had reached an all-time low of 1.8% in November.

Tift’s labor force, the number of people eligible to work in the county, was relatively static in February at 21,449.

Statewide during the month, an all-time high number of employed Georgians was set at 5,068,389. The state's labor force also recorded an all-time high of 5,234,620, up 18,994 over the previous month.

"This state has continued to be successful in creating jobs and getting Georgians employed in these positions," said Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. "All of this has led to our number of unemployed being the lowest since June of 2001."

Butler said that Georgia’s unemployment rate remained the same in February at 3.2%, matching January’s all-time low.

"In reviewing the past year, Georgia was 8th in the nation in job gains, adding 216,000 jobs from January 2021 to January 2022 and consistently led the top 10 most populated states with the lowest unemployment rate," Butler said.

In the Tiftarea during February, counties posted the following jobless rates with the previous month's rate in parentheses:

South Georgia's rural heritage will be celebrated Saturday at the annual Folklife Festival at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College's Georgia Museum of Agriculture.

The festival runs from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. with interactive activities in the Historic Village, including livestock and wildlife encounters, doll-making, hoecake cooking, sawmill demonstrations, sheep shearing, and mule plowing.

Guests may also visit the display of antique and model tractors which will parade through the Historic Village at noon and 2 p.m. A can’t-miss moment of the day will be the ceremonial firing of the turpentine still at 11 a.m. for turpentine distillation. Guests will view the age-old process central to South Georgia’s cultural heritage. 

Among exhibits at the museum are “A Farm Story” with the artwork of Steven Walker and Mary VanLandingham, and the American Legacy Quilt Show will showcase fiber works. In the Spinks Exhibit Hall, guests may use an interactive code to watch a turpentine documentary.

The Historic Village’s Drug Store and the Country Store will have food for sale, and the Wiregrass Farmers Market will be open from 9 a.m.-noon.

Tift County's positive COVID-19 cases remained at 21 during the past two weeks, according to data Thursday from the state Department of Public Health (DPH).

The cases represent confirmed and probable results from both PCR and Antigen rapid tests. Tift County’s total positive cases represent 51 cases per 100,000 population, the measure used across the country to compare case rates among communities and states.

Confirmed cases were 12, and Tift's testing positivity rate for the period was 5%, the DPH reported. An additional seven confirmed cases and no related deaths were reported in the past week among Tift County residents.

Tift has seen a total of 6,283 cases with 163 related deaths, the DPH said.

On Thursday, the state reported 3,382 new confirmed and probable cases across Georgia with 46 additional deaths and 87 new related hospitalizations. The state has recorded a total of 1,938,336 confirmed cases and 31,097 related deaths, the DPH said.

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Glenn Willis, left, of South Georgia Banking Co., and Dan Richardson of Conger LP Gas share a laugh Thursday at the Business Expo sponsored by the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce. More than 50 local businesses and organizations set up displays at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center for the Chamber's first Business Expo in a dozen years. Many of the participating businesses gave away door prizes during the event.

The Tifton Housing Authority has 381 housing units on 11 sites in the city with only five vacancies, and 198 families are on the waiting list, Director Shaundra Clark told the Tifton Rotary Club on Wednesday.

Despite the number of people waiting for a place to live, the Authority is not permitted to build any more units than the number it had in 1998, according to the federal Fair Clause Limit. Homes that are in disrepair may be rebuilt, but the number of units in the city cannot increase, Clark said.

“The oldest units in Tifton are 70 years old,” she said. Clark said that the the Peterson Apartments were built in 1952, and the Authority's most recent units were built in 1980. 

Rent is adjusted according to income with an average of $136 a month. It ranges from $20 to $800 a month. The average length of stay is seven years.

“Forty percent of the units must be rented to folks with less than 30% of the area median income,” Clark said.

The Housing Authority has a memorandum of understanding with Southern Regional Technical College to provide transportation to free Adult Education GED classes and to pay the costs for the GED tests. Also, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College donates tickets for children to attend events at the college.

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OneBlood and the Ocilla Chamber of Commerce are sponsoring the Annual Glenn Roberts Memorial Blood Drive today, April 1, from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. in Ocilla.

The blood drive is set up at Dill's Ace Hardware on Fitzgerald Highway.

Ocilla businessman Glenn Roberts, a 1977 graduate of Irwin County High School and an avid hunter and fisherman, died June 4, 2016. In his battle against cancer, he needed many transfusions of blood and platelets. The Annual Glenn Roberts Memorial Blood Drive is held in his honor to offer second chances to other patients and their families in the community.

Generally healthy people age 16 or older who weigh at least 110 pounds can donate blood. A photo identification is required. Blood donors are required to wear masks, regardless of their vaccination status. Masks will be provided if needed.

For information or to make an appointment, call 229-468-9114.

The Tiftarea YMCA's 12th Annual Tour de Tifton/Ilse Boyette Memorial Bike Ride was held last Saturday. More than 100 cyclists participated in routes ranging from 11 to 100 miles. Participating cyclists came from several states, including Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, and Virginia. Proceeds from the bike ride benefit Tiftarea YMCA missions and outreach programs as well as the Ilse Boyette nurses' book fund at Tift Regional Medical Center.

The Tift 4-H Youth Program visited Tifton City Hall on Tuesday to learn more about the City of Tifton and civic engagement.

Vice Mayor Jack Folk is pictured speaking with the junior and senior 4-H members participating in "Pack your Portfolio Day."

In addition to visiting City Hall, the 4-H members toured Rutland Farms and the University of Georgia Tifton campus.

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Saturday, April 2, is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, celebrating the classic sandwich most often made from Georgia peanuts. Peanut butter itself had a public debut at the 1883 Chicago World’s Fair. It was mainly sold in fancy tea rooms until the early 1900s, when the peanut industry commercialized, and peanut butter became more affordable. Home economist Julia Davis Chandler is credited with the first known recipe for PB&J in a Boston cooking magazine in 1901. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches became popular during the Great Depression and was on the U.S. Army’s food ration list in WWII.

"Bandit," a female pooch, is available for adoption at the Tift County Animal Shelter on Highway 125 South between 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. For additional information, call 229-382-PETS (7387).

205 Belmont Ave., Tifton, 229-382-6055  

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