Georgia Trend Daily – April 1, 2025
April 1, 2025 The Brunswick News
AccuWeather predicts active 2025 hurricane season
Staff reports that AccuWeather released its forecast for the coming hurricane season — June 1 through Nov. 30 — predicting an active and turbulent year for the Atlantic Coast. The private weather forecasting agency is predicting 13 to 18 storms this year, warning specifically of hurricanes that rapidly strengthen leading up to landfall.
April 1, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
2025 Economic Yearbook
Kathleen Conway reports, so far this fiscal year, which began last July, has been fruitful. Investment in infrastructure and site preparation throughout its 159 counties has drawn both national and international attention to Georgia, luring multiple corporations to set up shop and existing companies to expand.
April 1, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Colonial Pipeline primed for sale, report says
Kelly Yamanouchi reports that an Alpharetta-based Colonial Pipeline could soon be sold to a Canadian asset management firm, according to a Reuters report. The news agency reported Monday that Brookfield Asset Management was “putting the final touches on a deal to acquire Colonial Pipeline” for more than $9 billion including debt, citing people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity as the deliberations are confidential.
April 1, 2025 GPB
Hyundai’s plans for its new Georgia plant reveal an industry hedging its bets on EVs
Camila Domonoske reports that a few years ago, Hyundai Motor Group triumphantly announced it would be opening a new plant near Savannah, Ga. — a plant that would exclusively make electric vehicles. “We heard the clarion call of [the Biden] administration to hasten the adoption of new electric vehicles and reduce carbon emissions,” José Muñoz, then the CEO of Hyundai Motor North America, said in 2022.
April 1, 2025 Savannah Morning News
Savannah area hiring efforts have been on the RISE due to Hyundai plant and suppliers
Joseph Schwartzburt reports that the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) careers page now has over 70 open listings. Thirteen of which are quality control positions. HMGMA Chief Administrative Officer Brent Stubbs said the company’s greatest need lies within production positions such as licensed manufacturers or industrial maintenance and mechatronics workers.
April 1, 2025 Newnan Times-Herald
DHL distribution center proposed for Highway 34
Jeffrey Cullen-Dean reports that a distribution center for DHL is planning to come to Highway 34. The international logistics company submitted its Development of Regional Impact file on March 18.
April 1, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Georgia Senate sends bill to ban trans girls from playing girls’ school sports to governor
Ross Williams reports that a bill banning transgender girls from playing school sports in girls’ athletics competition is on the way to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk after passing both chambers on mostly party lines Monday. If it receives Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature, Senate Bill 1 will require all schools from elementary through college to designate teams as male, female and co-ed based on sex at birth and ban those assigned male at birth from playing on female teams.
April 1, 2025 State Affairs
Lawmakers remove student tracking plan from school safety bill
Beau Evans reports that Senators passed a bill Monday meant to bolster school safety and curb the risk of shootings, but concerns about potential profiling spurred lawmakers to reject a controversial proposal that would have created a “threat” database to track problematic student behavior. House Bill 268, sponsored by Rep. Bill Persinger, R-Winder, had called for requiring local schools to join a statewide database to track incidents of threatening or violent behavior from students, which would have been shared among school officials and law enforcement.
April 1, 2025 Capitol Beat News
McBath suspends gubernatorial campaign
Dave Williams reports that U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath is pausing her campaign for governor, citing her husband’s health. McBath, D-Marietta, formed an exploratory committee early this month for a potential run for governor next year. But on Monday, she released a statement announcing her husband is recovering from cancer surgery.
April 1, 2025 Macon Telegraph
How could Trump’s cuts to the US Health Department affect Georgia residents?
Sundi Rose reports that the latest phase of President Donald Trump’s “reduction in force” initiative takes aim at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the ongoing restructuring of the federal government. This is the latest effort to uphold Trump’s Executive Order “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative tasked to Elon Musk, who heads up the DOGE department.
April 1, 2025 The Current
Buddy Carter scores campaign donation from Elon Musk
Craig Nelson reports that tech mogul and White House adviser Elon Musk has donated $6,600 to Buddy Carter’s campaign committee, an apparent boost the Coastal Georgia congressman’s political profile ahead of a possible run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Jon Ossoff. “Thank you, Elon Musk! Together, we will #MakeAmericaGreatAgain!” gushed Carter in announcing the donation Wednesday on his Facebook page and the social media site X, which Musk owns.
April 1, 2025 State Affairs
Georgia Democratic Party chair resigns amid internal strife
Beau Evans reports that U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams has stepped down from her post as chairwoman of the state Democratic Party of Georgia, according to an announcement issued Monday. Party leaders voted over the weekend to change the chairmanship from a voluntary position to a full-time job, barring Williams from remaining in the role due to federal ethics rules.
April 1, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Intellectually disabled could be shielded from Georgia’s death penalty, pending governor’s signature
Jill Nolin reports that Georgia is the only state with the death penalty that requires defendants to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they are intellectually disabled to be spared execution – a high legal standard that no one charged with intentional murder has cleared. But that would change under a bill that is now sitting on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk that would lower the standard of proof.
April 1, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Trump administration dropping challenge to Georgia election overhaul
Dave Williams reports that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered the Justice Department to drop a lawsuit the Biden administration filed in 2021 challenging an overhaul of state election law passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly. Senate Bill 202 replaced the signature-match verification process for absentee ballots with an ID requirement.
April 1, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bipartisan legislation aims to address housing crisis in Georgia
Michelle Baruchman reports that Ashley Rodriguez loves living in Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood. But because she’s renting her home, she may not be able to stay.
