Georgia Trend Daily – Feb. 12, 2025

Feb. 12, 2025 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

What 80 degrees in February does to Georgia blueberries. Major fruit, crops at risk

Kala Hunter reports that crickets are chirping at dusk, and frogs are singing throughout the day, showing signs of Spring have arrived in the Fountain City. But perennial bushes such as blueberries, which rely on cooler days for several more months, are beginning to open their buds.

Feb. 12, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!

Economic Development Around the State

Christy Simo reports that the Cobb County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a new 490,000-square-foot mixed-use development featuring 290 multifamily units. It will also include a 130-room hotel and 110,000 square feet of retail, grocery and restaurant space.

Feb. 12, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Coke CEO: Aluminum tariffs will increase cost of cans, but ‘we can adapt’

Kelly Yamanouchi reports that Atlanta-based Coca-Cola said new tariffs on aluminum announced by the Trump administration will increase the cost of cans for its business of selling beverages in the U.S., but CEO James Quincey said the company has a series of strategies to adapt. The company can shift to make more plastic bottles and raise prices.

Feb. 12, 2025 Capitol Beat News

State lifts poultry suspension after bird flu outbreak

Dave Williams reports that the state Department of Agriculture has lifted a suspension of poultry activities in Georgia following the successful completion of testing for bird flu with no additional detections. Two cases of avian influenza (HPAI) were discovered last month in commercial poultry flocks in Elbert County.

Feb. 12, 2025 The Albany Herald

Southwest Georgia farmers will be able to use groundwater from once-restricted basins. Some still have concerns about their water usage rights

Lucille Lannigan reports, for the first time since 2012, Georgia will allow southwest Georgia farmers to drill new wells to make groundwater withdrawals from the Flint and Chattahoochee river basins. It’s a modification – not a complete lift – to a moratorium that was put in place in 2012 after a period of extreme drought.

Feb. 12, 2025 The Brunswick News

Carter introduces bill to buy Greenland

Staff reports that U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-1, introduced a bill authorizing President Domald Trump to acquire Greenland and renaming it Red, White, and Blueland. The bill authorizes Trump to work with the Denmark government to acquire Greenland.

Feb. 12, 2025 WSB Radio

Bell to Bell, No Cell: GA lawmakers consider banning cellphone use in some schools

Staff reports that Georgia lawmakers are considering new restrictions on school cell phone use for students after several districts implement their own bans and have seen success. Since implementing their cellphone ban in the district’s middle schools, Marietta City Schools Superintendent Dr. Grant Rivera says they’ve seen positive change.

Feb. 12, 2025 Calhoun Times

Calhoun Rep. Barton Co-Sponsors PFAS Receiver Shield Act

Staff reports that Calhoun State Rep. Matt Barton has sponsored a bill that would protect manufacturing companies from lawsuits concerning the spread of the PFAS family of chemicals. Georgia House Bill 211, known as the “PFAS Receiver Shield Act,” aims to amend a section of state code to “provide for immunity from certain lawsuits” related to substances commonly known as forever chemicals.

Feb. 12, 2025 WABE

Georgia lawmakers reintroduce bills to add funding for schools with students living in poverty

Meimei Xu reports that a mostly Democratic group of lawmakers have reintroduced bills to increase public education funding for economically disadvantaged students. Senate Bill 128 and House Bill 245 would allocate additional funding for school systems with “students living in poverty.”

Feb. 12, 2025 11 Alive

Gov. Kemp’s tort reform plan raises concerns for sex trafficking survivors

Cody Alcorn reports that Gov. Brian Kemp has unveiled a sweeping tort reform package aimed at stabilizing insurance costs and reducing excessive lawsuits in Georgia. While the proposal is being praised by business leaders for leveling the legal playing field, advocates for sex trafficking survivors fear it could have unintended consequences that make it harder for victims to seek justice.

Feb. 12, 2025 Gaineville Times

Lawmaker Emory Dunahoo pushes bill to mandate Ten Commandments displays in public schools

Denise Etheridge reports that State Rep. Emory Dunahoo, R-Gillsville, wants the Ten Commandments to be displayed in Georgia public schools.

Feb. 12, 2025 State Affairs

Senate passes bill banning transgender health care service for state employees

Tammy Joyner reports that state workers, retirees and others covered by state health insurance would no longer be able to receive gender-identity care under a bill that passed the Georgia Senate Tuesday. Senate Bill 39, which prohibits “taxpayer dollars” from being used for hormone therapy, surgery and other “gender-affirming”  medical services, passed 33-19 after heated debate.

Feb. 12, 2025 Georgia Recorder

Proposal to protect access to IVF reproductive treatments in Georgia gains bipartisan support

Jill Nolin reports that a new bipartisan proposal would put protection for in-vitro fertilization access into Georgia code after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling temporarily shut down clinics there and created uncertainty nationally. And for the bill’s sponsor, Statesboro Republican state Rep. Lehman Franklin, the issue is personal.

Feb. 12, 2025 Augusta Chronicle

‘How about that accent’: Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to throw out all foreign journalists

Miguel Legoas reports, while the White House has opened up its media pool for press briefings, one of Georgia’s leaders believes less should be invited. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shared a video on her social media platforms of a French journalist asking White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt a question.

Feb. 12, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Burt Jones wants to open Georgia’s school voucher plan to foster families

Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report that Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is backing a plan to expand Georgia’s new school voucher program to biological and adoptive children of foster care parents, opening a new front in a politically divisive debate over the initiative. The Republican’s proposal, which was introduced by state Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, allows eligible families of foster care children to use $6,500 in state-funded scholarships for private school tuition, tutoring and other education expenses.