Georgia Trend Daily – July 3, 2025
July 3, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Atlanta to get Shriners children’s medical research facility
Ty Tagami reports that Shriners Children’s will establish a new pediatric medical research facility near Georgia Tech, bringing jobs and significant investment, the health-care nonprofit announced Wednesday. Gov. Brian Kemp touted the new development as “an incredible addition to Georgia’s growing nonprofit, R&D, and life sciences communities.”
July 3, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Creating a Beloved Community
Ben Young writes, it’s hard to imagine a more powerful affordable housing effort than Atlanta’s Westside Future Fund. With over $100 million in philanthropic investment and impact funds to date, it could provide a model for similar initiatives, but it’s also difficult to imagine this happening anywhere else.
July 3, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia startup’s solar tech can power spacecraft. It won a key contract.
Mirtha Donastorg reports that technology created by a metro Atlanta firm could soon be orbiting the Earth on a satellite or planted on the south pole of the moon to help make it potentially habitable for humans. And the federal government is helping make that happen. Atomic-6, a Marietta-based startup that makes lightweight structures for extreme environments used primarily by the aerospace and defense industries, has received a $2 million contract from the U.S. Space Force, the company announced Wednesday.
July 3, 2025 Appen Media
Steel fabrication company to bring 90 jobs to Forsyth County
Jon Wilcox reports, FICEP Corporation, a subsidiary of an Italian steel fabrication company, will establish a North American headquarters in Forsyth County. The $38 million investment is expected to bring 90 new jobs to the county, the Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce said.
July 3, 2025 GlobalAtlanta.com
Latest Japan Legislative Caucus Roadshow Heads to Gwinnett
Trevor Williams reports, a series of roadshows by lawmakers designed to celebrate Japanese investment around Georgia made its latest stop in Gwinnett last week. On June 26, a group of Georgia-Japan Legislative Caucus members and business leaders joined Japanese Consul General Mio Maeda on a visit to Ricoh Electronics and Etria Inc., affiliated companies co-located on a 66-acre campus in Lawrenceville.
July 3, 2025 Newnan Times-Herald
Georgia investors reeling after First Liberty collapse; feds reportedly involved
First Liberty Building and Loan, a Newnan-based private lending firm operated by the Frost family, abruptly shut down this week, suspending all payments to investors and announcing it is cooperating with federal authorities as it winds down operations. In a notice posted to its website, First Liberty said it would no longer accept new investments or make bridge loans, and that interest payments on existing promissory notes and other investments were “indefinitely suspened.”
July 3, 2025 Milledgeville Union-Recorder
Bluestem Brands Distribution plant closing
Billy Hobbs reports that the economic future of Eatonton and Putnam County will soon take a hit due to a longtime distribution plant shutting down operations and eliminating 160 jobs. Putnam County Manager Paul Van Haute expressed shock when he was informed by The Union-Recorder in a telephone call Monday morning that officials with Bluestem Brands Distribution Center plan to cease operations at its Eatonton plant in August.
July 3, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal
Kennesaw Seeks Public Input on Proposed ADU Ordinance
Isabelle Manders reports that the city of Kennesaw is inviting residents to voice their opinions on a proposed ordinance allowing accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in residential neighborhoods. In May, the Kennesaw City Council heard a presentation from zoning administrator Darryl Simmons on the secondary housing structures, which would be restricted to just a few zoning categories, capped at 900-square-feet and barred from being rented.
July 3, 2025 Savannah Morning News
Downtown Port Wentworth gets major infrastructure investment
Destini Ambus reports that downtown Port Wentworth is getting a major infrastructure investment. The city is investing a $2.6 million rehabilitation project to improve the downtown sewer system’s efficiency and reliability, according to a press release.
July 3, 2025 Rome News-Tribune
Floyd County Prison inmates restore classic tractors
Adam Carey reports that part of an education program designed to reduce recidivism among inmates of the Floyd County Prison, several inmates have been rehabilitating old tractors that are then put to work in other county-affiliated operations. Warden Mike Long said it’s a win-win for the county and the inmates, who are taught needed skills that will hopefully provide for themselves and their families when they leave prison.
July 3, 2025 The Brunswick News
McIntosh County joins Tri-95 JDA
Gordon Jackson reports thata McIntosh County officials have joined with Long and Liberty counties to form Tri-95 Georgia, a new regional development authority designed to attract businesses to the region. Tom Draffin, president and CEO of the McIntosh County Development Authority, said the concept of a new development authority was two years in the making.
July 3, 2025 WABE
New Georgia law offers domestic violence survivors pathway out of prison
Chamian Cruz reports, LaToya Dickens’ testimony is one of several that were shared with Georgia legislators earlier this year to garner support for what’s also known as House Bill 582. It later passed with near-unanimous votes in both chambers, giving domestic violence survivors increased opportunities to argue that they acted in self-defense, fairer sentences if they are convicted of a crime related to their abuse and the ability to apply for a sentence reduction if they are already serving time in prison.
July 3, 2025 Georgia Recorder
In a closely watched 2026 midterm in Georgia, even down-ballot legislative races are already abuzz
Ross Williams reports, the 2026 general election is still more than a year away, but plenty of hats are being thrown into the proverbial ring to run for U.S. senator, Georgia governor and other top positions. But there are other, smaller proverbial rings into which more modest hats are also already being tossed.
July 3, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trump’s spending bill nears finish line after Georgia lawmaker changes vote
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report that President Donald Trump’s signature domestic policy legislation is poised to finally pass Congress today, but only after he spent all day and most of the night convincing a final group of Republican holdouts, including U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde of Athens. Clyde was among a group of GOP lawmakers who held up the bill into the early morning hours through a series of procedural votes.
