Georgia Trend Daily – April 17, 2025
April 17, 2025 Georgia.gov
Gov. Kemp: CRH to Expand Metro Atlanta Footprint
Staff reports that Gov. Brian P. Kemp on Wednesday announced that CRH, the leading provider of building materials solutions, plans to create more than 300 new jobs in metro Atlanta and invest $1.7 million in a new Finance & Accounting Shared Services Center (SSC) in Fulton County. The new SSC will support CRH’s Americas Materials Solutions business that is also headquartered in Atlanta.
April 17, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
The Breaking Point
Tharon Johnson writes, when President Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, I was shocked. Like many other political analysts, I underestimated voters’ willingness to tolerate blatant corruption and misinformation for the sake of change. While there is no doubt in my mind that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would have been a remarkably capable president, she represented a status quo that tens of millions of Americans were eager to break.
April 17, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mercedes-Benz USA names new CEO
J. Scott Trubey reports that Mercedes-Benz has named a new leader for its U.S. division, which is based in Sandy Springs. Adam Chamberlain will become CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA and the automaker’s head of sales and marketing in North America starting July 1, the company said in a news release.
April 17, 2025 WABE
Georgia Tech public policy school to be renamed after former President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn
Kendall Murry reports that the University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved Wednesday the naming of a Georgia Tech school after former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy will now be named the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech.
April 17, 2025 State Affairs
$20M to buy 227 new buses makes small dent in massive shortage
Beau Evans reports that schools are poised to enter the fall term with thousands of buses older than the reasonably safe lifespan despite the General Assembly’s recent approval of $20 million for replacements. Lawmakers earlier this month passed a state budget for the upcoming fiscal year that includes funds for local school districts to purchase 227 new buses.
April 17, 2025 WABE
Georgia will remove diversity, equity, inclusion programs in public schools to avoid losing federal funds
Meimei Xu reports that Georgia joins a number of states that will comply with a directive from the U.S. Department of Education to remove diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools or face the termination of federal funds. Meghan Frick, director of communications at the Georgia Department of Education, told WABE in an emailed statement that public schools need federal funding.
April 17, 2025 Macon Melody
Bills to add third mayoral term, seats to Macon Water Authority stall
Laura Corley reports that bills to change the governing charters for Macon-Bibb County and the Macon Water Authority did not make it off the ground in the most recent legislative session under the Gold Dome. One of the bills would remove term limits for county commissioners and add a third, four-year term for the mayor.
April 17, 2025 Macon Telegraph
Monroe County school officials wanted big pay hike. Why legislators disapproved.
Myracle Lewis reports that the Monroe County School Board of Education’s plan to raise its pay by 700% failed to advance after falling short of the support required from the county’s legislative delegation. House Bill 825 proposed to boost the board members’ compensation from $75 per meeting to a flat rate of $600 per month, attempting to align Forsyth school officials’ salaries with the pay rate of board members in neighboring districts.
April 17, 2025 WABE
US Congressman Hank Johnson of Georgia says ‘draconian’ tariffs threaten small businesses
Jim Burress reports that small businesses across metro Atlanta are raising concerns about the Trump administration’s new and rapidly-changing tariffs. Democratic U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson of DeKalb County said he’s been meeting with local business owners and his constituents are worried about staying in business.
April 17, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Chancellor Perdue frowns on growth of online studies as system hits spring enrollment record
Ross Williams reports that University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue is bemoaning an increase in online classes in the state’s colleges and universities. “It’s somewhat concerning to me as we look at this trend from post-COVID time over more and more online,” Perdue said at a Board of Regents meeting held at Georgia Southern University Tuesday.
April 16, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Sapelo Island Conservation at Stake in Lawsuit Over Zoning
Ty Tagami reports that the Georgia Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in cases that could decide in the near term whether large oceanfront houses can be built on a sleepy island while in the long term reverberating far from the coast. The dispute is over the preservation of the Gullah-Geechee way of life lived in small bungalows on Sapelo Island, where officials in McIntosh County have voted to allow the construction of larger houses.
April 17, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No time frame: Brian Kemp keeps GOP guessing as pressure builds on Senate bid
Greg Bluestein reports, for months, Gov. Brian Kemp has deflected questions about a potential Senate bid by saying his top priority is passing a legal overhaul and navigating the Georgia legislative session. With the revamp now awaiting his signature and lawmakers back home for the year, the pressure from Republicans for him to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff is only intensifying.
