Last week it was reported that Lt. Governor Casey Cagle was holding up the “Beer Jobs Bill” (Senate Bill 63) that would loosen restrictions on breweries in the state and allow them to sell directly to consumers.

Which makes it all the more interesting that breweries started posting kudos to Cagle on Facebook and Twitter within the past few hours.

Terrapin Beer Co. posted on Facebook a couple of hours ago…

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle is taking the lead in bringing the parties together in compromise on SB 63, aka the Beer Jobs Bill. We appreciate that he’s taken an interest in our issue and are thankful for his guidance in getting everyone on board to move our bill forward. We look forward to working with him to advance ‪#‎GABeer‬ in the future.

Wild Heaven wrote this on Facebook…

Today we want to say that we are thankful for the leadership shown by leader of the Georgia State Senate Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle for listening and taking an interest in ‪#‎SB63‬ and bringing all sides together for mutually agreed compromise.

And here’s Monday Night Brewing on Facebook…

Thanks Casey Cagle for showing great leadership in Georgia to bring all parties together for mutually agreed upon compromise on SB63. More to come soon!

Also, as Geoff just noted in FFAF, there’s a Reddit thread that’s following the issue as well.

The Regulated Industries Committee meets this Wednesday. The bill needs to make it out of committee by Crossover Day Fri., Mar. 13.  Otherwise it’s dead until next year’s session.

Photo courtesy of Wild Heaven

All sorts of interesting nuggets in the Superintendent’s letter to the school board!  Such as…

At this stage, the Career Academy is finished. I am very proud of this accomplishment. I know I came to CSD speaking about the need for more Career Technical offerings and education. I don’t know of any other time when CSD was a recipient for a grant totaling over three million dollars. The vision has once again become a reality. First with the Early Childhood Learning Center and now with the Career Technical Academy. By the way, Lt. Governor Cagle will be our graduation speaker this year. We are grateful for his foresight in the area of Career Tech Education and this grant opportunity.

You may recall that the Lieutenant Governor spoke at the High School last February about improving vocational education throughout the state.

Photo from last February’s visit courtesy of DHS teacher Chris Billingsley

UPDATE:  Wheatley isn’t impressed.

From the AJC’s Gold Dome Live blog….

House and Senate negotiators met for the first time shortly after 10 a.m. on the impasse on transportation legislation.

The meeting, announced by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s office, didn’t produce any immediate decisions — except an agreement for another meeting, probably on Monday or Tuesday.

Both sides were talking positive about reaching an agreement, hopefully before Day 40 of the 40-day legislative session.

The meeting lasted less than an hour, and the bulk of it involved Rep. Jay Roberts (R-Ocilla) going line by line over the changes that the House made to the governor’s original bill.

Hooray!  Now we can convince ourselves that our efforts yesterday made a difference!  (I’m sure it didn’t have anything to do with Wheatley’s “FARTA” article or all the businesspeople bused to the Capitol as documented in April Hunt’s recent AJC piece.)

Looks like much of the city’s who’s who were on hand for Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle’s visit this morning!

DHS teacher Chris Billingsley reports…

Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle toured the new fine arts and gym facility at DHS today. He later met with students from the vocational program. Lieutentant Governor spoke to Decatur officials, board members, CSD administrators, students and teachers about Georgia’s charter school movement and improving vocational education. Mr. Cagle reviewed the plans for the renovation of the vocational building (designed by DHS students from Mr. Jim “Big Jim” Streeter’s drafting class) and ate a delicious meal prepared by Ms. Dana Kinney’s culinary arts students. Congratulations to Mr. Duane Spurell, Ms. Kinney, Mr. Streeter, and all others that helped make this renovation possible.