Georgia Trend Daily – Oct. 21, 2025

Oct. 21, 2025 The Current

Georgia reports more than $14.6 billion in the bank

Maggie Lee reports, in yet another budget year, Georgia spent nearly $2 billion less than it collected, according to state accountants, giving the state’s Republican governor and GOP-led legislature additional funds to spend or save in what’s expected to be an intense election year. Early indications show that Gov. Brian Kemp wants little or no new spending by the state, despite the more than $14 billion in the state’s coffers reported by the Georgia State Accounting office.

Oct. 21, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!

30 Years of Culture: The Economic Impact of the Wildlife Arts Festival

Jana Lawrence reports that Thomasville Center for the Arts, a dynamic non-profit located in the bustling, small town of Thomasville, Georgia pays annual tribute to a powerful idea—one that has evolved into a cherished tradition throughout the Southeast. This idea flourished and became the Wildlife Arts Festival—an event which celebrates the vital role of the arts in driving cultural vibrancy, shaping Southern identity and inspiring economic growth in the Southeast.

Oct. 21, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia Power says answer to state’s data center surge is more natural gas

Kristi E. Swartz reports, Georgia Power officials will make their case to state regulators beginning Tuesday to build gas-fired power plants and add solar and battery storage to the power grid over the next five years to support an unprecedented amount of electricity demand driven by data centers. The state’s largest electric company wants to add to its fleet 10,000 megawatts — roughly the capacity of 10 nuclear reactors at its Plant Vogtle power station near Augusta.

Oct. 21, 2025  Valdosta Daily Times

In just a few short years, farmers see innovation in irrigation

Adelia Ladson reports, Wesley Webb, a fifth-generation farmer in Calhoun County put it, “Water is a number one resource to us. Water is very important.” He also told the Georgia House of Representatives Special Committee on Resource Management Water Subcommittee, in August, that he irrigated everything on his farm.

Oct. 21, 2025 The Brunswick News

Hercules holds town hall on plant site remediation

Taylor Cooper reports, Brunswick residents came to a Thursday town hall meeting on the cleanup of the former site of the Pinova and Hercules resin plant with plenty of questions but left with answers. That’s partly because many of the residents wanted to connect two topics — a 2023 Emory University pilot study, which revealed higher-than-average human exposures locally to chemicals like PCB and toxaphene, and the ongoing cleanup at the former plant site and Terry Creek outfall superfund site across U.S. 17 from the former plant.

Oct. 21, 2025 Gainesville Times

Project Turbo will hold town hall on $1.2B data center proposed in Hall County. Here are the details.

Ben Anderson reports that the developer for a proposed $1.2 billion data center in Hall County will hold a town hall about the project next week.  The Hall County Planning Commission gave its blessing for the project earlier this month, and it will now go before the Board of Commissioners for final approval.

Oct. 21, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal

State approves Wellstar’s application for 230-bed hospital in Acworth

Staff reports that the Georgia Department of Community Health has approved Wellstar Health System’s plans for a new 230-bed hospital on Cobb Parkway. Wellstar announced the proposal in May as a way to address “growing need for hospital beds in Acworth and the surrounding areas,” and subsequently filed a certificate of need application in June.

Oct. 21, 2025 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

$8 million in stipends will pay more money to most Muscogee school employees

Mark Rice reports, most employees of the Muscogee County School District will receive more money this year with retention stipends expected to arrive before the holidays. During its meeting Monday night, the MCSD board unanimously approved superintendent David Lewis’ recommendation to give a one-time retention stipend.

Oct. 21, 2025 WABE

Georgia Tech announces spending restrictions as shutdown continues

Kendall Murray reports that Georgia Tech is announcing plans to enforce mitigation strategies as the U.S. government enters its third week of the federal shutdown. The university said in a Friday press release that the decision comes in the wake of delayed payments for Tech’s federally funded research activities, which is set at $100 million in monthly expenses.

Oct. 21, 2025 Rome News-Tribune

Committee seeking to end Ga income tax to meet Tuesday

Diane Wagner reports that a special Senate committee working on eliminating Georgia’s income tax will hold its third meeting Tuesday in Gainesville. It will be livestreamed starting at 1 p.m. on the Georgia General Assembly website. Local state Sens. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, and Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, are part of the 11-member committee chaired by Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, whose parents grew up in Rome and Cedartown.

Oct. 21, 2025 GPB

‘Health care cannot wait.’ Warnock speaks on government shutdown

Sarah Kallis reports that U.S. senators are continuing to try to reach a funding deal to reopen the federal government as the shutdown reaches day 20. Sen. Raphael Warnock said that the funding solution should include Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidy extensions, despite Republicans’ push for a funding solution that does not renew money for ACA subsidies.

Oct. 21, 2025 Georgia Recorder

Will Georgia join a GOP-led state exodus from a multistate voter accuracy group?

Maya Homan reports that Georgia election officials credit an embattled voter accuracy organization with helping them identify over 180,000 voters who have moved out of state just this year. But the state could be poised to end its participation in the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, ahead of the 2026 election after the once-obscure organization became the target of right-wing groups.

Oct. 21, 2025 Capitol Beat News

Foundation ranks Georgia near bottom for Medicare

Ty Tagami reports, Georgia ranked near the bottom of a first-ever analysis of Medicare performance by a foundation that promotes access to quality health care. The new rankings by The Commonwealth Fund put Georgia in 42nd place out of 50 states and Washington, D.C. — behind Alaska and ahead of New Mexico.

Oct. 21, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia to lose 33,600 jobs if health insurance subsidies expire, study says

Ariel Hart reports that Georgia is expected to lose about 33,600 jobs next year if federal subsidies on the Affordable Care Act marketplace exchange expire, according to a new forecast. The study was done by researchers at George Washington University and funded by the left-leaning Commonwealth Fund.