Georgia Trend Daily – June 5, 2023
June 5, 2023 Savannah Morning News
Peach state turns to citrus as invasive disease ravages Florida oranges
Marisa Mecke reports, during the COVID-19 pandemic, some people learned to bake bread, others learned to roller skate, but Steven Cooler started growing citrus trees. Three years later, his plot is verdant and orderly; lined rows of petite trees with green, glossy leaves.
Georgia Trend, Gretchen Corbin
June 5, 2023 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Successful Gamble
K.K. Snyder reports, here in the Peach State, where the Georgia Lottery is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month, the real winners are the students and families that continue to benefit from lottery-funded pre-K programs and HOPE college scholarships and grants. In fact, students have received $14 billion in HOPE awards over the past three decades.
June 5, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Airport workers march to Delta headquarters, push for higher pay
Kelly Yamanouchi reports that hundreds of workers for airport contractors marched to Delta Air Lines’ Atlanta headquarters Saturday to deliver a letter pushing for support of higher pay. The Atlanta airport workers along with other members of the Service Employees International Union walked a nearly mile-long path in the midday sun from the Holiday Inn Atlanta Airport North to Delta’s campus just north of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
June 5, 2023 Marietta Daily Journal
Marietta cannabis dispensary expands offerings
Hunter Riggall reports that Florida-based Trulieve Cannabis Corp. opened two dispensaries in the state — one in Marietta, the other in Macon — at the end of May. Now, the Marietta store is debuting a nasal spray that delivers its legal, low-THC cannabis product quickly into patients’ bloodstreams.
June 5, 2023 Valdosta Daily Times
SGMC announces expansion plans
Malia Thomas reports that a multi-year project totaling $125 million is on the horizon for South Georgia Medical Center. According to hospital officials during a recent authority meeting, SGMC is adding a gastroenterology clinic, a second women’s health center and a new residency class as part of a long-term expansion plan to diversify patient services and attract more talent to the hospital system.
June 5, 2023 Augusta Chronicle
Augusta’s giant iconic cup undergoing makeover as part of factory’s renovation
Joe Hotchkiss reports that Augusta’s giant cup is filling back up. The former Dart Container Corp. factory on Wrightsboro Road – recognizable by a 40-foot cup symbolizing one of the company’s leading products – is undergoing a down-to-the-studs renovation that includes covering the iconic cup with a mural by a local artist.
June 5, 2023 The Brunswick News
Some local Methodist churches disaffiliate from UMC
Taylor Cooper reports that several Methodist congregations in Glynn County have voted to leave the United Methodist Church, some joining the new Global Methodist Church denomination and some striking out as independent churches. The Rev. Wright Culpepper, pastor of First United Methodist Church, said his congregation is sticking with the UMC.
June 5, 2023 Georgia Recorder
State agencies slow to reopen public meetings to in-person access; DNR reverts to pre-pandemic ways
Chaya Tong reports, it takes around four hours by car to go from Savannah to Atlanta – not an easy trip to make in time for a 9 a.m. weekday meeting of the state Board of Natural Resources. But with no option to participate virtually, many south Georgia residents are faced with a difficult choice: an eight-hour plus round trip or not attending.
June 5, 2023 The Center Square
Georgia Supreme Court upholds dismissal of challenge to campus gun-free zones
T.A. DeFeo reports that the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed a Fulton County judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit by five University System of Georgia professors filed challenging a change to campus gun-free zones. The professors challenged a 2017 amendment to state law removing public colleges and universities from the designated “school safety zones” prohibiting weapons.
June 5, 2023 Dalton Daily Citizen, CNHI News
Trump-leaning leaders to dominate upcoming Georgia GOP Convention
Asia Ashley reports that the Georgia GOP convention this month is expected to see some notable names and faces amid a divided state party caused by former President Donald Trump’s notable failed reelection bid in 2020. While Trump, a Republican, is planned to speak at the conventions’s Victory Dinner June 9, his Republican adversaries, Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, do not plan to attend the annual convention.
June 5, 2023 Capitol Beat News
Georgia Senate to revisit certificate of need law
Dave Williams reports that the state Senate was where the action was in the General Assembly this year either to reform or repeal Georgia’s decades-old certificate of need law (CON) governing hospitals and health-care services. Heading into the summer, there’s every indication Republican senators will continue aggressively pursuing their push to overhaul CON or scrap it entirely.
June 5, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Restrained no more, Kemp unloads on Trump
Greg Bluestein reports that Gov. Brian Kemp took pains to avoid saying anything negative about Donald Trump for years even as he became a favorite punching bag of the former president. Now the governor’s gloves are coming off. In a viral social media post, the Georgia Republican blasted Trump for congratulating North Korea’s despotic leader for the Communist nation’s admission to the World Health Organization’s executive board.
