Georgia Trend Daily – Dec. 31, 2025
Dec. 31, 2025 Georgia.gov
CMS Awards $218.8 Million for First Year of GREAT Health Initiative
Staff reports that Gov. Kemp, in partnership with the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), announced yesterday that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded the State of Georgia $218.8 million for the first of five years of the Georgia Rural Enhancement and Transformation of Health (GREAT Health) Program. This comprehensive effort will strengthen rural healthcare systems and improve outcomes statewide while introducing innovation and greater flexibility into the health system.
Sean Dietrich
Dec. 31, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
The 19th Savannah Book Festival
Jana Lawrence reports that the 19th Savannah Book Festival runs Thursday, February 5 through Sunday, February 8, 2026. The Headliner Addresses at the Trustees Theatre will feature: Sean Dietrich, author of Over Yonder, providing the Opening Address on Thursday, February 5; Brad Thor with Ward Larsen, whose latest collaboration is Cold Zero, giving the Keynote Address on Friday, February 6; and Leigh Bardugo, with her latest work The Familiar, delivering the Closing Address on Sunday, February 8, 2026.
Dec. 31, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What is the future of local media in Atlanta?
Savannah Sicurella reports that an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article in May 2002 warned that the internet was beginning to change the newspaper business, from ad revenue to subscribers. The piece proved prescient. More than two decades later, today — Dec. 31, 2025 — marks the final printed edition of the AJC after more than 150 years.
Dec. 31, 2025 Savannah Morning News
Ghost Pirates Training Facility, road projects nearing completion in 2026
Destini Ambus reports, as 2025 winds to a close, municipalities in Chatham County are gearing up for upgrades and improvements for the new year. For Port Wentworth, the city hopes to start or conclude several projects, including the Ice Cove and Amphitheater.
Dec. 31, 2025 WABE
An Atlanta toy store will be featured in the Obama Presidential Center opening next year
Marlon Hyde reports that Brown Toy Box, an Atlanta Black-owned toy store, is set to be featured in a new center dedicated to former President Barack Obama in Chicago. Terri-Nichelle Bradley opened her first brick-and-mortar toy store this year in downtown Atlanta.
Dec. 31, 2025 Athens Banner-Herald
Mikhayla Smith reflects on 2-year term as Athens Poet Laureate
Andrew Shearer reports, as the second-ever Poet Laureate of Athens, Mikhayla Smith was intent upon continuing to build on predecessor Jeff Fallis’ work in establishing poetry as a component of community events and outreach in town. Smith told the Banner-Herald that she spent the first year of her term meeting with the elders of the local poetry scene, listening to them and making connections with anyone who was looking to collaborate with her.
Dec. 31, 2025 The Brunswick News
Rep. Townsend to focus on insurance, taxes, public safety in new session
Hank Rowland reports, taxes, public safety and insurance companies will be among state Rep. Rick Townsend’s topics of interest when the St. Simons Island Republican returns to his lawmaking duties in Atlanta next month. As with other members of Glynn County’s state delegation, Townsend’s support of eliminating the income tax will depend on what is being proposed.
Dec. 31, 2025 State Affairs
Tax cuts and car insurance: Georgia lawmakers line up for 2026 session
Beau Evans reports that affordability is the name of the game for lawmakers heading into the 2026 legislative session in an election year with the state’s top offices up for grabs. The session that starts Jan. 12 is set to feature big debates over how to lower costs for housing, groceries, power bills and health care.
Dec. 31, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Wild Hog Supper, Eggs and Issues and more: It’s another new year under the Gold Dome
Jill Nolin reports, it’s a new year at the Gold Dome, though technically it’s really the start of the tail end of the two-year biennium. Long seen as the kick-off event of the legislative session, the Wild Hog Supper will be held at the Georgia Freight Depot Jan. 11.
Dec. 31, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Tech industry the target of potential legislative backlash
Ty Tagami reports that big tech has reached so far into the lives of children that some Georgia lawmakers want to push back. After legal missteps in an effort to restrain the industry, the state Senate got new recommendations this month from a study committee that heard grim stories about the impact of social media and other platforms.
Dec. 31, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia hurtles toward 2026 as Trump’s return reshapes the political map
Greg Bluestein reports, it was supposed to be a quieter year in Georgia politics — a pause between election cycles, a chance for both parties to regroup before the 2026 onslaught. Instead, 2025 became a prelude to what is sure to be a political tempest.
