Georgia Trend Daily – July 28, 2025
July 28, 2025 The Brunswick News
Okefenokee nomination unaffected by UNESCO withdrawal
Gordon Jackson reports that U.S. Department of State’s withdrawal from UNESCO this week has raised questions by some about the status of the Okenokee National Wildlife Refuge’s nomination as a World Heritage Site. “Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States,” the state department’s announcement said.
July 28, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Americus | Sumter County: The Americus Advantage
Kristen Soles McCrackin reports, in the heart of Southwest Georgia, the small town of Americus has quietly emerged as a model for rural economic transformation. Once struggling with downtown vacancies and economic stagnation, Americus has flipped the script – revitalizing its historic core, attracting new investment and proving that even the smallest cities can make a significant impact with community vision and leadership.
July 28, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Synovus merger could benefit Atlanta but raises questions for bank’s hometown
Amy Wenk and Zacharay Hansen report, two Southeastern regional banks will combine in the largest bank merger of the year, bringing a new corporate headquarters to Atlanta but sparking concerns about growth in another major Georgia city. Columbus-based Synovus Financial Corp. said July 25 it will combine with Nashville-based Pinnacle Financial Partners in an all-stock transaction valued at $8.6 billion.
July 28, 2025 Saporta Report
Atlanta Regional Commission names first Chief Research and Innovation Officer
Delaney Tarr reports, on July 28 the Atlanta Regional Commission announced Ann Carpenter as the agency’s Chief Research and Innovation Officer, a new role aimed at bringing data into public policy decisions. Carpenter will head up the 11-county agency’s Research and Analytics Department, previously led by Mike Carnathan.
July 28, 2025 Rough Draft Atlanta
Explore Brookhaven earns top honors for sustainable tourism efforts
Logan C. Ritchie reports that Explore Brookhaven, the city’s tourism and marketing arm, has received kudos for ongoing excellence and leadership in the destination marketing field. At the 2025 Destinations International annual convention held in Chicago earlier this month, industry leaders met to discuss the evolving landscape of destination marketing and management with a spotlight on community engagement, sustainability, and responsible tourism.
July 28, 2025 Augusta Chronicle
Augusta mayor unveils riverfront development proposal to extend the Riverwalk, rebuild Boathouse
Joe Hotchkiss reports, standing in front of the city’s shabby Boathouse Community Center on Riverfront Drive on Friday, Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson announced a proposed redevelopment of Riverwalk Augusta into a Savannah River showpiece to help stoke tourism and economic development. The money is there, he said – an estimated $22 million through a renewed 1-cent special-purpose local option sales tax and re-allocation of funds from another development project that went bust.
July 28, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Brown University study says 37 Georgia nursing homes in danger of closing
Dave Williams reports that cuts to Medicaid contained in President Donald Trump’s new budget bill put 37 Georgia nursing homes at risk of closing, according to a study released by Brown University’s School of Public Health. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the legislation, which the Republican-controlled Congress passed this month, will slash Medicaid by $1 trillion during the next 10 years.
July 28, 2025 State Affairs
‘My worst fear’: Small-town Waycross grapples with Georgia pedestrian safety crisis
Beau Evans reports, the highway in her hometown keeps Katrena Felder up at night. Commonly called “Corridor Z,” the four-lane Highway 520 sees hundreds of cars and trucks hurrying each day from rural Middle Georgia to coastal cities, passing through the heart of this small town along the way.
July 28, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Georgia’s new voucher program is starting, with lower demand than expected
Ty Tagami reports that thousands of Georgians will soon be spending money from the state’s new subsidy for private K-12 education, as the first quarterly payouts appear in “promise scholarship” accounts. More than 15,000 students applied for one of the $6,500 annual subsidies, and about 8,500 were approved.
July 28, 2025 The Current
Thousands to start private school year with Georgia public money under voucher system
Maggie Lee reports that about 8,600 students will be eligible for $6,500 in public money for their families to spend on private schools, home school materials or other educational services this school year, according to a July 22 statement from the Georgia Student Finance Commission. And Georgia won’t activate a rule prioritizing poorer families — instead, it will fund every eligible applicant.
July 28, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Trump-aligned members of Georgia’s State Election Board push to hire former leader’s spouse
Maya Homan reports, in a special meeting held Thursday, Georgia’s State Election Board voted to hire Hope Coan, the wife of the board’s former executive director Mike Coan, as a temporary paralegal. Coan’s hiring came at the request of James Mills, the new executive director who joined the board in May.
July 28, 2025 Capitol Beat News
With school about to start, Georgia anticipates release of rest of federal education funding
Ty Tagami reports, the federal government has told Georgia it will soon release the rest of the education funding it had held back from public K-12 schools. The Georgia Department of Education said Friday that the administration of President Donald Trump will send the state tens of millions of dollars tied to federal law.
July 28, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Brian Kemp hoped to avoid a messy Senate primary. It might happen anyway.
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report, Gov. Brian Kemp desperately wanted to avoid another U.S. Senate race in Georgia that doubled as a proxy fight with President Donald Trump. But with U.S. Rep. Mike Collins’ campaign launch this morning, that fear is fast becoming reality.
