Georgia Trend Daily – March 5, 2025
March 5, 2025 WABE, Georgia Recorder
Decade after Georgia lawmakers legalized low-THC medical cannabis, Legislature weighs broader access
Maya Homan reports that ten years after Georgia legalized cannabis possession for medical use, lawmakers in both chambers of the state Legislature seem poised to expand access a bit more. Georgia lawmakers had long resisted decriminalizing possession of the drug because of its stigmatizing medical marijuana nickname, even as a parade of parents annually brought their children to the state Capitol as evidence of the need for the medicine that offered a promise of relief to little ones suffering from epileptic seizures and other maladies.
March 5, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
TOUR Championship tracking for largest hospitality build in history of event at East Lake
Julia Roberts reports, in a city with a reputation for hosting the world’s greatest sporting events, the TOUR Championship continues to evolve its experience to stand in the upper echelon of Atlanta’s sports landscape. The dynamic onsite experience is curated to showcase the best of golf and the best of Atlanta, which provides a unique platform for businesses across the state and region to host customers, prospects, or employees.
March 5, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sharks ‘smell blood’ in Atlanta’s office market as distress mounts
Zachary Hansen reports that Thomas Taylor looks at Atlanta’s skyline, he sees a quarter of its office buildings underwater. The city’s towers, of course, stand well above sea level. But Taylor’s job as the senior research manager for data firm Trepp is to assess their financial stability — and many borrowers are in industry terms “underwater,” meaning they owe more than their buildings are worth.
March 5, 2025 Macon Telegraph
Could Trump’s tariffs damage Georgia’s economy? Here’s what will cost more
Sundi Rose reports that President Trump’s administration implemented new tariffs on imports from some of the U.S.’s major suppliers and Georgia consumers may feel the pinch. Mexico, Canada and China have imposed retaliatory tariffs, further driving prices up on everything from peaches to iPhones.
March 5, 2025 WSB Radio
Atlanta trails system expanding thanks to new government grant
Austin Eller reports that Atlanta’s trail system is expanding thanks to new grant funds from the Georgia Department of Transportation. The Atlanta city council approved the $1.7 million dollars to connect the Path 400 Trail from Buckhead to Sandy Springs.
March 5, 2025 Savannah Morning News
Savannah’s Greg Parker hands off Parker’s Kitchen reins to new leaders
Joseph Scwartzburt reports that Parker’s Kitchens formally announced that company founder Greg Parker has relinquished the CEO position to his successor Brandon Hofmann. The company also promoted John Rudolfs from chief development officer to president and chief financial officer.
March 5, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal
Town Center Mall Facing Auction After Failing to Pay $1 Million in Taxes
Annie Mayne reports that the long-embattled Town Center mall is facing a tax sale after failing to pay its 2024 property taxes. The mall’s tax deed will be sold to the highest bidder on May 6 if the owner of the shopping center does not pay the roughly $1 million it owes in taxes, according to Cobb County Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson.
March 5, 2025 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Georgia leaders have strong words day after Fort Moore is changed back to Fort Benning
Mark Rice reports, U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Albany), representing the southern part of the Columbus area in Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District, blasted the decision. “To have the new Secretary of Defense unilaterally reject the Moores’ combined service to the Army, our military families, and our nation, after being recommended by the naming commission and implemented by the Defense Department, is disrespectful, at best, and spiteful, at worst,” Bishop said in a news release.
March 5, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Lawmakers advance bills on gun safety, death penalty ban for intellectually disabled and more
Jill Nolin, Ross Williams and Stanley Dunlap report that Tuesday was the last legislative day before the session’s first major deadline as lawmakers make their last-ditch attempts to get their bill out of at least one chamber. The House passed the GOP leadership’s school safety bill, receiving a boost from a rare speech from the speaker during the debate, and Tuesday also saw several other education-related bills emerge from both chambers.
March 5, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Comprehensive school-safety bill clears Georgia House
Dave Williams reports that a comprehensive school-safety bill prompted by last year’s school shooting in Barrow County passed the Georgia House of Representatives overwhelmingly Tuesday. House Bill 268, which cleared the House 159-13, is a top priority for House Speaker Jon Burns.
March 5, 2025 The Brunswick News
Ossoff demands administration reverse course on closing Social Security offices in Georgia
Hank Rowland reports that Georgia’s senior senator says he will demand the administration of President Donald Trump forego the closing of five Social Security field offices in Georgia, including the one in Brunswick. “I am demanding that the Trump Administration reverse course and abandon these cuts to access the Social Security for seniors in Georgia,” U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, said during a media conference Tuesday from his office in Washington.
March 5, 2025 Clayton News-Daily
Ossoff Introduces Bill to Protect Pregnant Women In Custody
Anthony Rhoades reports that last summer, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s investigation revealed abuse of pregnant women in Georgia’s prisons and jails. Now, Ossoff helped introduced bipartisan legislation to protect incarcerated pregnant women from abuse.
March 5, 2025 GPB, Georgia Recorder
Georgia House lawmakers debate bill to strip campus protesters of student scholarships
Ross Williams reports that Georgia college students who get into legal or disciplinary trouble in campus protests could also lose their scholarships, if a bill making its way through the state House becomes law. The bill is a reaction to last year’s widespread campus protests of Israel’s mass killing of Palestinian civilians following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
March 5, 2025 State Affairs
Lawmakers weigh shielding ‘forever chemicals’ polluters from lawsuits
Beau Evans reports that LeRoy and Amber Fletcher used to think of their home of 14 years in Dalton as a dream come true. They ate eggs from their own chickens, grew their own backyard vegetables and watched their six children play in the creek on their property. Then they tested the water.
March 5, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Supporters hope third time’s a charm for Georgia lawmakers to OK wrongful conviction compensation
Maya Homan reports, how much money is a year of your life worth? That’s the math lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol are grappling with this week as they seek to pass legislation that would change how the state compensates those it has wrongly incarcerated.
March 5, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Georgia Senate seeks enhanced penalties for using computers to generate obscenity
Ty Tagami reports that the Georgia Senate adopted legislation Tuesday that would make it a felony to distribute computer-generated obscenity that appears to depict a child, even one that isn’t real. Senate Bill 9, which passed 46-9, would also enhance the criminal penalties for offenses that involve the use of artificial intelligence.
March 5, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lucy McBath makes opening move in 2026 race for Georgia governor
Greg Bluestein reports that Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath took the first step toward a likely run for Georgia governor on Wednesday, filing paperwork that lays the groundwork for a campaign that could make her the nation’s first Black female governor. The four-term congresswoman launched an exploratory committee that allows her to start raising campaign cash, and her allies say she’s expected to roll out a full-scale campaign for Georgia’s top office within weeks.
