Georgia Trend Daily – March 25, 2025
March 25, 2025 Rough Draft Atlanta
Report: Georgia to cancel 455,000 inactive voter registrations
Collin Kelley reports that Georgia election officials are set to cancel approximately 455,000 inactive voter registrations this summer, one of the largest purges in U.S. history. According to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, more than half of the removals were flagged by the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a 24-state organization that identifies voters who have moved or become ineligible.
March 25, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Side By Side Brain Injury Clubhouse
Candice Dyer reports that Side By Side Brain Injury Clubhouse is celebrating 25 years of service. Georgia’s only “brain injury clubhouse,” the organization was founded with support from Shepherd Center and Emory Healthcare.
March 25, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Kia and Hyundai plants to get steel from new $6B Louisiana factory
J. Scott Trubey reports that Hyundai Motor Group announced plans at the White House on Monday to invest $21 billion in its U.S. vehicle supply chain, production and electric vehicle charging — including a new steel factory in Louisiana to supply its Georgia and Alabama automotive plants. The nearly $6 billion steel factory in Louisiana, one of the centerpieces of the announcement, will expand Hyundai’s U.S. supply base and help the automaker avoid tariffs on imported parts and vehicles.
March 25, 2025 Augusta Chronicle
The Hyundai Metaplant near Savannah opens Wednesday. Here are 60+ jobs still available
Miguel Legoas reports looking for a new job? There’s quite a few at the Hyundai Metaplant in south Georgia. There are currently 68 jobs listed on the plant’s website.
March 25, 2025 The Brunswick News
Historical marker unveiled in Darien for wood-hulled Kit Jones
Michael Hall reports that an effort that has been underway for more than a decade to save a historic wooden-hulled boat from the scrap yard came to fruition Friday when a historical marker was unveiled in Darien, cementing the vessel’s place in local history. The Coastal Georgia Historical Society, Friends of Kit Jones and the McIntosh County Board of Commissioners pulled the sheet back from a plaque Friday commemorating the history of the Kit Jones, a 60-foot vessel that was placed in downtown Darien in 2023 at what is now Kit Jones Park.
March 25, 2025 Savannah Morning News
Where to retire in Georgia. This is considered the best town to settle down in GA
Miguel Legoas reports that World Atlas recently released its list of the south’s “12 Best Retirement Towns.” The best place to retire in Georgia is reportedly Peachtree City in metro Atlanta.
March 25, 2025 Clayton News-Daily
Clayton Sheriff’s Office Projected To Have $14.7 Million Shortfall
Anthony Rhoades reports, about a year after asking for $14.8 million to make up for a shortfall in the 2023-24 budget, Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen is requesting nearly $14.7 million from the county again this year. Allen spoke to the Clayton County Board of Commissioners at its Tuesday, March 18 regular meeting, saying the shortfall is because the Sheriff’s Office isn’t properly funded and the jail isn’t properly staffed.
March 25, 2025 Augusta Chronicle
Ending tax deduction would hurt small business, Columbia County accountant tells Congress
Joe Hotchkiss reports that a Columbia County commissioner and professional accountant this week testified before Congress to urge lawmakers to make permanent a tax cut benefitting small businesses. Alison Couch’s testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee was part of a public meeting titled “Hearing on The Need to Make Permanent the Trump Tax Cuts for Working Families.”
March 25, 2025 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
State Rep. Vance Smith fired from job as Harris County Chamber of Commerce CEO
Jordyn Paul-Slater reports that State Rep. Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) was fired Friday as CEO of the Harris County Chamber of Commerce in a sudden Zoom meeting after casting his vote against Gov. Brian Kemp’s tort reform bill, the legislator confirmed Monday to the Ledger-Enquirer.
March 25, 2025 Rome News-Tribune
Bill Would Create Task Force to Address Chronic Absenteeism in Georgia Schools
Rachel Hartdegen reports, in the last five years, truancy has drastically increased in Georgia schools, with around 380,000 students having missed at least 10% of the 2023-2024 school year. The truancy problem started growing following the covid pandemic, with the state’s truancy rate rising from 9% before the pandemic to 22% last year.
March 25, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Georgia Senate panel advances ‘anti-squatters’ legislation
Stanley Dunlap reports that the Georgia Senate Public Safety Committee Monday passed the “anti-squatters act” that establishes a process for requiring law enforcement officers to remove people accused of illegally staying at a residential property. Under House Bill 61, people who stay in residential properties, hotels or cars without the owner’s express permission are guilty of misdemeanor unlawful squatting.
March 25, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Lawmakers hear praise, concerns about legislation to stop school shooters
Ty Tagami reports, legislation designed to avert another school shooting like the one that left four dead at Apalachee High School last fall got a hearing in a Senate subcommittee Monday, where many expressed concerns about a database that would be built to track children deemed to be suspicious. House Bill 268 passed the Georgia House of Representatives with wide bipartisan support earlier this month.
March 25, 2025 Rome News-Tribune
Bill Would Create Task Force to Address Chronic Absenteeism in Georgia Schools
Rachel Hartdegen reports, in the last five years, truancy has drastically increased in Georgia schools, with around 380,000 students having missed at least 10% of the 2023-2024 school year. The truancy problem started growing following the covid pandemic, with the state’s truancy rate rising from 9% before the pandemic to 22% last year.
March 25, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Lawmakers hear praise, concerns about legislation to stop school shooters
Ty Tagami reports that legislation designed to avert another school shooting like the one that left four dead at Apalachee High School last fall got a hearing in a Senate subcommittee Monday, where many expressed concerns about a database that would be built to track children deemed to be suspicious. House Bill 268 passed the Georgia House of Representatives with wide bipartisan support earlier this month.
March 25, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
$220M in appliance rebates for Georgians were frozen. Funds are flowing again
Meris Lutz and Drew Kann report, hundreds of millions of dollars meant to help Georgians make their homes more energy efficient have begun to flow through the state, despite a political and legal war over spending in Washington that still threatens the program. The $8.8 billion energy and electrification rebate programs — of which Georgia’s share is about $220 million — highlights the delicate position of Republican-led states that have already signed contracts for money approved under former President Joe Biden that President Donald Trump is now trying to take back.
