Georgia Trend Daily – Aug. 11, 2025
Aug. 11, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Georgia Milestones: students improve in math and other subjects but struggle in English
Ty Tagami reports that Georgia students posted modest academic gains in most of the tested grades and subjects last school year except in one key area. English Language Arts scores fell in all but two of the seven grade levels that were given Milestones exams, according to scores released by the Georgia Department of Education Friday.
Aug. 11, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
The Same House Hosts Fundraising Event
Julia Roberts reports that the Same House, an Atlanta-based community service organization, is holding its Beloved Benefit on August 14 at the Woodruff Arts Center. Each year, the benefit raises money for local organizations. This year’s organizations are Atlanta Technical College, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta, City of Refuge, Latin American Association, Morehouse School of Medicine, New Life Community Alliance, Partners for HOME, and Westside Future Fund.
Aug. 11, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Civil construction giant FlatironDragados moves HQ to Atlanta
Emma Hurt reports that FlatironDragados is the second-largest civil construction company in North America, with $6.8 billion in revenue in 2024. After a recent merger of Colorado-based Flatiron and Spain-based Dragados’ North American arm, the company decided to relocate its combined U.S. headquarters to Perimeter Center this summer.
Aug. 11, 2025 Valdosta Daily Times
Morehouse School of Medicine president named to Georgia Power Board of Directors
Staff reports that Georgia Power announced Thursday that it has elected Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, FACOG, to the company’s board of directors. Montgomery Rice currently serves as the president and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), an institution she has served since 2011.
Aug. 11, 2025 GlobalAtlanta.com
Georgia’s Women-Led Manufacturers Are Dealing With the T-Word — and They Don’t Mean Trade
Trevor Williams reports that “T-word” is having varied effects on some women-led manufacturers in Georgia, with some largely unaffected as of yet and others engaging head-on with the new realities of international business. Not trade, of course, which has always been core to what manufacturers do, whether exporting finished goods or sourcing inputs from abroad.
Aug. 11, 2025 Macon Telegraph
GA among 5 worst states to have a baby, new study says. Here’s where it ranks & why
Chelsea Madden reports that WalletHub’s study shows that Georgia ranked the fifth worst state to have a baby, with an overall score of 36.89 out of 100. WalletHub experts evaluated four key dimensions (Cost, Health Care, Baby-Friendliness and Family-Friendliness) with factors such as delivery charges, infant mortality rate, quality of hospitals, parental leave policies and more.
Aug. 11, 2025 WABE
Trump administration cancels Georgia free solar program
Emily Jones reports that environmental groups are vowing to fight after the Trump administration canceled the grant funding for a no-cost rooftop solar program in Georgia. The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it’s canceling the $7 billion Solar for All grant program, part of the Biden administration’s signature climate law.
Aug. 11, 2025 Augusta Chronicle
Do you want to eat gruel? See how climate change is impacting honeybees and taste buds
Erica Van Buren reports that Symptoms of climate change are affecting the honeybee population as well as other pollinators, which are vital to the economy and way of life. “We’ve seen a decline, not just in our honeybees,” said Jennifer Berry, adjunct professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Georgia.
Aug. 11, 2025 Appen Media
Sandy Springs approves bond to overhaul three fire stations
Hayden Sumlin reports that state-of-the-art fire stations, all within the city limits, are on the horizon in Sandy Springs. The Sandy Springs City Council and Public Facilities Authority approved issuing $50.5 million in revenue bonds Aug. 5 for reconstruction or renovation of three of its fire stations.
Aug. 11, 2025 The Brunswick News
CRD to hold town hall on new private dock construction rules
Staff reports that the Coastal Resources Division of the state Department of Natural Resources will host a public town hall next month to inform and gather input from the public on potential new rules for private recreational dock construction in Coastal Georgia. Since 1996, the construction of private recreational docks has been under CRD’s purview, the agency said.
Aug. 11, 2025 Rome News-Tribune
Local lawmakers tapped for special committees
Diane Wagner reports that State Rep. Eddie Lumsden, R-Armuchee, is the latest local lawmaker to go to work on a special study committee during the Georgia General Assembly’s down time.Lumsden is vice chair of the House Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Insurance Rates, which will hold its first meeting at the state Capitol at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 28.
Aug. 11, 2025 State Affairs
How a rural farm kid aims to rebuild Georgia’s Democratic Party
Beau Evans reports that Charlie Bailey’s election as state party chairman in May comes as Georgia Democrats are pushing to rebound following losses in the 2022 gubernatorial and 2024 presidential races. Meanwhile, Republicans have dominated the General Assembly for more than two decades, maintaining a firm foothold at the Capitol following two cycles of redistricting.
Aug. 11, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Trans people in Georgia prisons are being forced to detransition. Now they’re suing.
Candice Norwood reports that a group of incarcerated transgender women and men have sued Georgia corrections officials, challenging a new law that prevents them from receiving gender-affirming medical care. The lawsuit, filed Friday morning, accuses the state of violating the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
Aug. 11, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Local elections officials give lawmakers wish list for changes
Dave Williams reports that local elections officials recommended a series of changes to state election laws Friday aimed at restoring public trust in the voting process. “Nothing bothers me more than knowing that the process is not trusted,” Deidre Holden, elections director in Paulding County, told members of a Georgia House study committee formed to evaluate the state’s current election laws and propose improvements.
Aug. 11, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CDC shooting intensifies conversation over public health misinformation
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report that Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was already a symbol of President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda long before a gunman opened fire at four buildings on the agency’s campus. But the attack on Friday, which left a police officer dead after he tried to stop the gunman, turned the CDC into something more: a tragic flashpoint in a broader political conversation about public health and misinformation.
