Georgia Trend Daily – June 23, 2025
June 23, 2025 WABE
Conservation land deal stops Okefenokee mining plan
Marisa Mecke reports, after six years, the controversial plan to mine next to Georgia’s beloved Okefenokee Swamp has been halted. The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit organization specializing in the acquisition of at-risk lands for environmental conservation, has purchased the land adjacent to the Okefenokee Swamp from Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals, LLC.
June 23, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Brunswick | Golden Isles: Beauty and Brawn
Betty Darby reports, Glynn County has long had a dual personality – part brawn, part beauty. On the brawny side is the booming Port of Brunswick, which just became the nation’s leading gateway for auto and heavy equipment, along with industries producing everything from frozen seafood for the fast-food industry to the elevators that carry jets to aircraft carrier decks.
June 23, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Are you a scrappy business or developer? This $50M campaign is here to help.
Zachary Hansen reports, many small businesses and young development firms across Atlanta have plenty of passion and grit to spare, but nothing can replace capital and financial know-how. Assistance on those fronts is about to become more available as a national nonprofit expands its loan, financing and training services to the capital of the South.
June 23, 2025 GlobalAtlanta.com
It’s a Start: After Delta’s Brussels Flight Launch, Belgian Business Community Pushes for Year-Round Connection
Trevor Williams reports, Atlanta’s Belgian business community reveled in its newfound nonstop flight to Brussels while also lobbying for it to be upgraded to year-round operation. Delta Air Lines Inc. launched the thrice-weekly seasonal flight June 10, bringing back the direct connection that has been lacking since it was paused after the 2016 terror attacks, briefly restored, then abandoned for good during the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 23, 2025 Macon Telegraph
Bibb County seeks developer for new Macon convention center and hotel. What we know
Lucinda Warnke reports, Macon-Bibb County has begun the search for a developer to help build a new convention center and hotel downtown. The county put out a request for qualifications on Wednesday, which is a form that interested development firms have to submit outlining their qualifications, according to a news release.
June 23, 2025 Savannah Morning News
These are the 3 best Georgia companies to work for, says US News & World Report
Miguel Legoas reports, recently, U.S. News & World Report released its list of the best companies to work for, which included three headquartered in Georgia. This was determined by looking at 5,000 large publicly traded companies, analyzing metrics like pay and comfortability, and giving each a score.
June 23, 2025 Gainesville Times
NGMC Braselton gets $300K from fundraiser. Here’s how it will be used
Jeff Gill reports, Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton got a $300,000 boost from a recent fundraiser. The money, raised through the Northeast Georgia Health System Foundation’s annual Cheryl Shippey Memorial golf tournament, will go toward the hospital’s emergency department expansion, according to Northeast Georgia Health System.
June 23, 2025 Newnan Times-Herald
Grantville eyes data center for key property near I-85
Laura Camper reports, while Coweta County commissioners face backlash for approving a zoning request for a company proposing a data center in the Coweta County portion of Palmetto, one local mayor is inviting data centers to look at the city. As people exit Interstate 85 at U.S. 29, they are met with a sign welcoming Grantville, a couple of gas stations and a wide-open 196-acre wooded property that would be perfect for a data center, said Grantville Mayor Richard Proctor.
June 23, 2025 Cartersville Daily Tribune
Taylor discusses potential data center on Spring Place Road
David Herron reports that Bartow County Commissioner Steve Taylor discussed his decision on the vote June 4, involving Spring Place Road and a potential data center. “We did give the zoning to the investors, Mr. Freeman from Cobb County,” Taylor said. “He got a zoning for a data center. This property has been an investment property of that family for many years. He’s been turned down I think about maybe four times for zonings that he’s requested.”
June 23, 2025 Milledgeville Union-Recorder
DAMBC receives $2M grant for Sibley Place project
Staff reports that the Development Authority of the City of Milledgeville – Baldwin County (DAMBC) has received a $2 million grant – the maximum available – from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs’ (DCA) Rural Site Development Program. The award will accelerate infrastructure work at Sibley Place Industrial Park, further advancing the site toward full industrial readiness.
June 23, 2025 State Affairs
Playgrounds for disabled students, new rules on missing class and more school bills signed into law
Devyn Woodard reports, schools in Georgia are set for some changes after Gov. Brian Kemp signed several bills passed during the 2025 legislative session into law, from new playgrounds for children with disabilities to a reprieve for students who miss class.
June 23, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Cursive writing in schools? Georgia schools are about to loop it back into the classroom
Ross Williams reports, the next generation of Georgia youths may be able to decipher those birthday cards from grandma without any help from a grown-up. That’s because Georgia’s new English language arts standards, which take effect in July, will include an emphasis on handwriting, and particularly cursive.
June 23, 2025 Capitol Beat News
State to pay for thousands to get a private K-12 education this year
Ty Tagami reports, this fall, thousands of Georgia students will attend a private school or study at home, and state government will help them pay for it. Republican lawmakers led a push last year to give families $6,500 a year per student toward private education.
June 23, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roe v. Wade anniversary sparks new abortion fight in Georgia
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report, three years after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Georgia Democrats are ramping up efforts to spotlight abortion access — and target GOP Senate hopefuls who back new restrictions. The Democratic Party of Georgia is launching a campaign tied to Tuesday’s anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision ending the constitutional right to an abortion.
