Georgia Trend Daily – May 8, 2025
May 8, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Work begins on Georgia Power battery storage systems
Dave Williams reports that construction is underway on battery energy storage systems (BESS) at four locations across the state, Georgia Power officials announced Wednesday. The state Public Service Commission voted late last year to certify the four projects, which will add 765 megawatts of electrical generating capacity to the Atlanta-based utility’s energy supply portfolio. One megawatt is enough electricity to power 750 homes.
May 8, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Ups, Downs and In-Betweens
Kenna Simmons reports, State Sen. Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta) will be signing bills of a different kind as the treasurer of the United States. Beach, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, was appointed to the position by Trump in March.
May 8, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pepsi makes incursion into Coca-Cola territory on National Have a Coke Day
Kelly Yamanouchi and Olivia Wakim report, deep in the heart of Coca-Cola territory in Georgia, PepsiCo is launching a new front in the cola wars — with the return of the Pepsi Challenge blind taste test. The skirmish comes to the Peach State on Thursday — which is National Have a Coke Day, no less.
May 8, 2025 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Georgia farmers will get Hurricane Helene disaster relief ‘soon,’ official says
Kala Hunter reports that several months after relief funding was passed for the farmers who were hurt by the historically-damaging Hurricane Helene, those impacted got an answer to when they’ll see their approved money from the federal government. The hurricane, which killed 227 people across multiple states, swept through Georgia in September.
May 8, 2025 Newnan Times-Herald
180-Day moratorium placed on data centers in county
Jeffrey Cullen-Dean reports that the Coweta County Board of Commissioners placed a moratorium on data centers as county staff prepares a data center ordinance to regulate the developments within Coweta. Chairman Bill McKenzie suggested the moratorium at the commissioner’s work session Tuesday afternoon and it was approved that night at their regular meeting.
May 8, 2025 GPB
How federal cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities touch Georgia
Grant Blankenship reports, among the ideas in President Trump’s proposed Federal budget is completely ending the National Endowment for the Humanities. That took out Georgia Humanities’s annual operating budget of about $1.5 million a year with it, too.
May 8, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal
Phones Away, but No Pouches: Marietta High to Test New Device Policy
Isabelle Manders reports, after hearing from the Marietta Board of Education Tuesday, Superintendent Grant Rivera has decided to find a “middle ground” for parents, students and staff regarding the proposed expansion of a cellphone ban to the high school. Although no action was taken at Tuesday’s work session, Rivera said he would work with Marietta High School’s principal, Dr. Marvin Crumbs, “within the existing policies” to limit access to personal devices — cellphones, smartwatches, earbuds and laptops — during instructional time.
May 8, 2025 Calhoun Times
$90 Million Industrial Park Proposed for Trimble Hollow Road
Blake Silver reports that developers have their sights set on another large industrial project in southern Gordon County, with the proposal currently in the regional impact study process. Currently tabbed the “BPG Logistics Park,” the proposed project is targeting a 94-acre parcel north of Trimble Hollow Road west of Interstate 75 and east of U.S. 41 just above the Bartow County line.
May 8, 2025 WABE
Why Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp passed on a Senate bid
Sam Gringlas reports that all spring, politicians, journalists and strategists eagerly awaited Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision. Of the states President Donald Trump won in 2024, Georgia is the only one with an incumbent Democratic senator defending a seat.
May 8, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Georgia U.S. senators warn Trump’s proposed budget threatens to gut state’s growing EV manufacturing
Stanley Dunlap reports, Georgia’s U.S. senators say they are outraged at the prospect of large job losses for clean energy workers if the Republican Congress implements its proposed cuts to the Inflation Reduction Act. Georgia Democratic U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are opposing Republican members of Congress backing the Trump administration’s budget spending plans that could lead to the repeal of federal manufacturing incentives fueling Georgia’s clean energy projects, including solar energy projects and the state’s growing battery storage and electrified vehicle industries.
May 8, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Quiet before a storm, as hopefuls size up run for U.S. Senate
Ty Tagami reports, with Republicans’ top potential candidate on the sidelines for Georgia’s next U.S. Senate election, the 2026 GOP primary promises to be a live one. When Gov. Brian Kemp announced on Monday that he will pass on a bid for Senate, he kicked off fervent prognosticating about who in his party could unseat the Senate’s top fundraiser.
May 8, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Buddy Carter’s US Senate campaign is the first of many GOP bids to come
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report, Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision not to run for U.S. Senate was just three days ago, and other Republicans are rushing to fill the vacuum. The first prominent GOP figure to jump in is U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter of St. Simons Island, who entered the race this morning with a pro-President Donald Trump ad that levels scathing criticism at Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
