Georgia Trend Daily – Sept. 12, 2025
Sept. 12, 2025 Augusta Chronicle
Data centers could help Augusta area prosper, development officials say
Joe Hotchkiss reports that even with the promise of more tax revenue, data centers aren’t always welcomed warmly into communities. Citing possible environmental impact and excessive resource consumption, some advocates say such projects gobble up power, water, and surface area.
Sept. 12, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
A Gentleman and a Scholar
Loran Smith writes, high school kids today still are the beneficiaries of the grant-in-aid system that went into effect in 1956. However, attitudes have become skewed, and today, kids negotiate agreements that make them the highest paid people on campus, some getting millions of dollars – before they enroll. This started in 2021, with NIL (name, image and likeness) court rulings.
Sept. 12, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s not your imagination. Flying this summer was worse, Delta execs say.
Emma Hurt reports that the summer of 2025 “threw challenge after challenge at us,” Delta Air Lines executives wrote in a company-wide memo this week. The Atlanta-based airline this summer saw a higher percentage of operations affected by weather than “in the recent past,” Chief of Operations John Laughter and Chief Customer Experience Officer Erik Snell wrote to employees.
Sept. 12, 2025 Savannah Morning News
Savannah Job Palooza connects paper mill workers and other job seekers with opportunities
Joseph Schwartzburt and Evan Lasseter report, “If you couldn’t see it coming you weren’t looking,” said a job seeker, who asked to only be identified as a maintenance mechanic for International Paper, of the company’s recent closures in Savannah and Riceboro. He shared this insight on the floor of the Enmarket Arena during the Regional Industry Support Enterprise (RISE) Job Palooza on Thursday.
Sept. 12, 2025 GlobalAtlanta.com
Rare Earth Magnet Producer to Invest $223M in Columbus Amid Threat of Chinese Export Controls
Trevor Williams reports that a Korean producer of rare-earth permanent magnets used in electric vehicle motors, weapons systems, wind turbines and other critical industrial applications is setting up shop in Columbus, with plans to invest $223 million and hire 520 people. JS Link, based in Seoul and founded as a biotech company in 2000, is setting up its U.S. subsidiary to help reduce dependency on China, which has recently intensified its use of rare earths and magnets as leverage in global trade disputes.
Sept. 12, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal
Joyette Holmes named chair of State Parole Board
Staff reports that former Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes was appointed to chair the State Board of Pardons and Paroles Tuesday. Holmes was chosen by the board to become chair at the agency’s monthly operational meeting at Valdosta State University.
Sept. 12, 2025 WABE
DeKalb conducts first ever urban tree canopy study
Marisa Mecke reports that DeKalb County tree lovers have a new data source for managing the county’s urban canopy in the future. The county recently conducted its first-ever comprehensive urban tree canopy assessment, a study that looked at how much of the unincorporated county — about 59% of DeKalb — is covered by trees as opposed to other surfaces like roads, water, grass, or buildings, for example.
Sept. 12, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Health insurance changes coming to Georgia
Ty Tagami reports that health-care advocates warned Thursday that Georgia residents who have to find their own insurance in the government marketplace should expect significant rate increases next year. Insurance companies are filing rate increase requests with regulators, arguing that federal budget cuts and the end of COVID-19 tax credits are the main drivers, said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA.
Sept. 12, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Warnock pitches plan to encourage troops to eat healthier meals as new defense bill advances
Ross Williams reports that service members could have easier access to healthy meals under a bipartisan proposal introduced Thursday by Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock. The Commissary Healthy Options and servicemember Wellness Act – or the CHOW Act – introduced by Warnock and Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, creates a limited year-long pilot program to give junior enlisted servicemembers a monthly credit to use at on-base commissaries.
Sept. 12, 2025 Macon Telegraph
Macon is introducing a new tax on hotels, Airbnbs, more. Here’s why.
Lucinda Warnke reports that Macon will introduce a $3 per night occupation tax on hotels, short-term vacation rentals and other lodgings starting in 2026. The tax is part of a broader push to make Macon competitive in attracting tourists and events as the county revitalizes downtown — the money generated by this tax will go primarily towards funding the hotel and convention center and upgraded sports arena the county is planning.
Sept. 12, 2025 The Brunswick News
Mediation ordered in ongoing dispute between DA, Glynn County
Michael Hall reports that District Attorney Keith Higgins and Glynn County have been ordered to mediation to try to settle an argument that has been stirring for more than a year over a nearly million-dollar budget shortfall in Higgins’ office. The order filed in Glynn County Superior Court in late August by Senior Brunswick Judicial Circuit Judge Kathy Palmer calls on both parties to complete mediation within 90 days but does not mandate settlement.
Sept. 12, 2025 Georgia Recorder
All eyes on CDC vaccine panel as Georgia officials mull access for the COVID-19 shot
Maya Homan reports that Georgia residents may face an uphill battle accessing COVID-19 vaccines this fall, as federal agencies consider sweeping changes to eligibility requirements for immunizations. The process of updating vaccine guidelines — which for many years has been a matter of routine — is now increasingly uncertain amid shifting federal guidance on public health policies.
Sept. 12, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Newest class of state troopers includes Georgia governor’s daughter
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report, Gov. Brian Kemp has sworn in plenty of state troopers as governor. But none hit closer to home than when he administered the oath to his 24-year-old daughter Lucy.
