Georgia Trend Daily – Jan. 3, 2025
Jan. 3, 2025 Capitol Beat News
SCAD president receiving Presidential Citizens Medal
Dave Williams reports, a co-founder of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is being awarded a Presidential Citizens Medal Thursday at a White House ceremony. President Joe Biden named 20 recipients of the award this week, including Paula Wallace, 76, who launched SCAD in 1978 with her then-husband, Paul Rowan.
Jan. 3, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
2025 Hall of Fame Inductees: Dan Cathy & Shirley Franklin
Don Sadler and Tom Oder report, in Shirley Franklin’s passion for public service, the trailblazing first female mayor of Atlanta and first Black woman to lead a major Southern city has always played a partisan role. Dan Cathy got an early start working in his family’s business. When he was just a boy, his father Truett Cathy would bring home sacks of cash from the Dwarf House (originally named the Dwarf Grill), the restaurant he opened in Hapeville in 1946, and dump them on the bed.
Jan. 3, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How Georgia’s Fortune 500 stocks fared in 2024
J. Scott Trubey reports, the S&P 500 grew overall by more than 23% in the past year, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average grew by more than 12%. But how did Georgia’s biggest companies fare?
Jan. 3, 2025 Newnan Times-Herald
$17B data center campus proposed in West Coweta
Clay Neely reports, a 13-building data center campus valued at $17 billion has been proposed for western Coweta County. Known as Project Sail, the development would occupy 832 acres near Welcome Sargent Road and Wagers Mill Road.
Jan. 3, 2025 The Brunswick News
Commercial, recreational shrimp season extended in Georgia
Gordon Jackson reports that the commercial and recreational food shrimp season in Georgia has been extended to Jan. 17. Walter Rabon, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, announced the decision, which was based on scientific data and favorable environmental conditions.
Jan. 3, 2025 Augusta Chronicle
Rhymes with ‘Buc-ee’s’: Wrens-based Stuckey’s chain charts comeback with financial deal
Joe Hotchkiss reports that the Stuckey’s will be sticking around metro Augusta. The snack-producing Wrens-based company that used to run a familiar nationwide chain of retail roadside attractions is continuing its resurrection thanks in part to a recent financial deal.
Jan. 3, 2025 WABE
PAD Atlanta jail diversion program suspends services after city contract lapses
Kendall Murry reports, as of the beginning of 2025, a local nonprofit dedicated to keeping some of Atlanta’s most vulnerable residents out of prison is no longer contracted with the city. Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative (PAD) Atlanta announced Thursday morning that their Community Response services have been suspended until further notice due to their month-to-month contract extension with the City of Atlanta expiring on Dec. 31.
Jan. 3, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal
Marietta Steps Toward Opting Out of New Property Tax Law
Isabelle Manders reports, the Marietta City Council discussed the ramifications of a new property tax law, seemingly moving toward the decision to opt-out during its finance and investments committee meeting. The committee, consisting of council members Joseph Goldstein, Carlyle Kent and Cheryl Richardson, voted 2-0, with Richardson absent, to advance three dates for public hearings on House Bill 581.
Jan. 3, 2025 Albany Herald
Friends and neighbors of Jimmy Carter reflect on the passing of the President from Plains: ‘It leaves us with a big job to carry on their legacy’
Lucille Lannigan reports that Jimmy Carter was the only president to come from Georgia, and the region of the state he hailed from happens to be one that is often overlooked – the largely rural and impoverished southwest corner. Yet, friends and neighbors of Carter will tell you that it was the former president’s humble, farming upbringing in southwest Georgia that built the character of a man who was loved worldwide for his philanthropy and service.
Jan. 3, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Trans Georgians and allies brace for another year of culture wars in state Legislature
Ross Williams reports, with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays and the preparation for the new year, many Georgians were not thinking about the state Legislature’s plans for when they meet up Jan. 13 for their annual lawmaking session. But some trans Georgians and their allies did, said Jeff Graham, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group Georgia Equality, and they’re not looking forward to it.
Jan. 3, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Ossoff, Warnock pick up new Senate committee assignments
Dave Williams reports, Georgia’s two U.S. senators have landed plum committee assignments as the 119th Congress prepares to convene on Friday. Democrat Jon Ossoff will serve on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, which has jurisdiction over the federal budget.
Jan. 3, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
5 questions about Georgia politics in 2025
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report, the new year is still in its infancy. But already we’re brimming with questions about 2025, which got off to a tragic start in New Orleans when 14 people were killed in an attack on New Year’s Day and about 30 others were injured, including a University of Georgia student.
