Georgia Trend Daily – Feb. 28, 2025
Feb. 28, 2025 Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation
Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation Announces Its 2025 List of State’s 10 Places in Peril
Staff reports that the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation released its 2025 list of 10 Places in Peril in the state. “This is the Trust’s twentieth annual Places in Peril list,” said W. Wright Mitchell, president and CEO of the Trust. “We hope the list will continue to bring preservation solutions to Georgia’s imperiled historic resources by highlighting ten representative sites.”
Feb. 28, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Catching up with… Kevin James
Karen Kirkpatrick reports, Morris Brown College, a historically Black college founded by formerly enslaved people in 1881 in Atlanta, lost its accreditation in 2002 but regained it in a remarkable turnaround in 2022. The man who brought the reaccreditation over the finish line is Kevin James, president of Morris Brown College since 2019.
Feb. 28, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
USAID cancels large contracts of Georgia peanut butter supplier
Joe Kovac Jr. reports that the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is being felt in Georgia peanut country. Mana Nutrition, a nonprofit that makes peanut butter-based food for severely malnourished children, said USAID terminated several of its supply contracts totaling $12 million.
Feb. 28, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal
Kennesaw State Economist on Trump’s Tariffs, DOGE
Annie Mayne reports, after years of pandemic-related uncertainty, Kennesaw State University economist Roger Tutterow thought the American economy had finally regained its footing. “And then along comes a change in the business and political environment which has raised the level of uncertainty,” Tutterow told bankers, customers, and real estate professionals at the annual economic forecast forum held by Synovus bank at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre Wednesday.
Feb. 28, 2025 Athens Banner-Herald
With fewer libraries and low literacy rates, GA ranks at bottom of U.S. in reading engagement
Vanessa Countryman reports that a recent nationwide study reveals a concerning trend: Georgia lags significantly behind other states in reading engagement. The MyExcelOnline study analyzed various metrics including library visits, bookstore density, and NAEP reading scores, which painted a grim picture of Georgia’s literacy landscape.
Feb. 28, 2025 Savannah Morning News
Liberty County’s Brynn Grant recognized by USA Today as Georgia Woman of the Year
Destini Ambus reports that Brynn Grant is one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. Currently the chief executive officer of the Liberty County Development Authority, Grant named former President Jimmy Carter as the person she most admired.
Feb. 28, 2025 Albany Herald
Dougherty County School System superintendent nominated for national award
Lucille Lannigan reports that Dougherty County School System Superintendent Kenneth Dyer has been nominated for National Life Group’s 2024-25 LifeChanger of the Year recognition. This recognizes and rewards K-12 educators and school district employees across the U.S. who are making a difference in students’ lives by exemplifying excellence, positive influence and leadership.
Feb. 28, 2025 The Current
Conservationists challenge project at St. Simons’ Coast Guard Beach
Mary Landers reports that environmental advocates are pushing back against a project that plans to use state funds to add amenities to St. Simons’ Coast Guard Beach. Glynn County qualified for a $3 million grant from the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program to pay for renovations at the popular beach site.
Feb. 28, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal
New Chief Justice a Cobb County Resident
Jack Lindner reports that Georgia Supreme Court Presiding Justice Nels Peterson, a Marietta resident, was unanimously elected by his colleagues to become the high court’s next chief justice Thursday, Supreme Court officials announced. He will succeed Chief Justice Michael Boggs, who announced his resignation effective March 31. Peterson will begin in his new role the next day.
Feb. 28, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Tour of Italy in Athens
Sucheta Rawal reports, housed in an old brick building with exposed industrial beams, a swanky interior and a lush green patio with poured-concrete banquettes, Osteria Olio is the signature restaurant at the Rivet House Hotel in Athens. Osteria Olio’s interior draws you in with its earth tones and purposeful details including dried flowers hanging from the ceiling, luxe couches, brick walls, and art from owners’ James and Jessica Whitley’s personal collection.
Feb. 28, 2025 WABE
Georgia bills codifying IVF, expanding access to fertility treatment sail through House
Rahul Bali and Meimei Xu report that the Georgia State House passed a package of bills to protect medical procedures that help people have children. The most high-profile bill, which passed unanimously on Thursday, would codify legal access to in vitro fertilization.
Feb. 28, 2025 Macon Telegraph
Is renewable energy a priority in Georgia’s statehouse? 4 key bills proposed on solar.
Margaret Walker reports that Georgia lawmakers have put forward a handful of bills this year seeking to change laws around solar energy in the Peach State. Four bills focused on land use, solar facility closures, recycling and more are snaking through the state’s legislative system, some with better chances to pass than others.
Feb. 28, 2025 State Affairs
Is your meat grown in a lab? Lawmakers want to know
Beau Evans reports that lab-grown meat won’t be flying under the radar in Georgia restaurants and grocery stores under legislation that sizzled past a hurdle at the state Capitol Thursday. House Bill 163, sponsored by Rep. Jordan Ridley, R-Woodstock, requires Georgia food vendors to put labels on menus and packaging that show whether a meal contains protein made from so-called cell-cultured meat, which is created from animal cells rather than by slaughtering the animal.
Feb. 28, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Ban on trans girls playing girls’ school sports clears Georgia House
Ross Williams reports that Georgia House passed its version of a transgender sports ban Thursday, which also strips out references to “gender” across state code, replacing them with “sex.” The Riley Gaines Act, named after a swimmer who became an advocate for removing transgender women from women’s sports, passed along mostly party lines with three Democrats joining the Republicans in supporting the measure, Reps. Lynn Heffner of Augusta, Tangie Herring of Macon and Dexter Sharper of Valdosta.
Feb. 28, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Tort reform 2.0 clears Georgia Senate
Dave Williams reports that the state Senate unanimously passed a narrowly tailored tort reform bill Thursday, a week after approving broader, more controversial legislation encompassing most of a civil justice system overhaul Gov. Brian Kemp has made his top priority for 2025. Senate Bill 69, which cleared the Senate 52-0, is aimed at third-party financing of lawsuits, where financiers who are not a party to a case pay the costs of pursuing litigation in exchange for a portion of any judgement a plaintiff is awarded.
Feb. 28, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia teachers might get the same benefits as police officers
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report that Georgia offers public safety workers and their families special benefits if they are killed or injured in the line of duty as a recognition of the inherent dangers that come with the job. Now, state lawmakers want to do the same thing for teachers.
