Georgia Trend Daily – May 20, 2025
May 20, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Georgia Power offers to freeze customer rates
Dave Williams reports that Georgia Power will not seek to raise base rates for the next three years under a proposed agreement the Atlanta-based utility announced Monday. The agreement between the company and the state Public Service Commission’s (PSC) Advocacy Staff – if approved by the five-member PSC – would cancel the rate case Georgia Power was planning to submit to the commission by July 1.
May 20, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Putting People First: Georgia’s Best Places to Work
Amritha Alladi Joseph reports, some offices have foosball tables or full-time baristas serving caffeinated beverages, while others lure employees with the promise of unlimited vacation time. Increasingly, however, those workplace perks aren’t the ones attracting employees or compelling them to stay.
May 20, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How an acquisition boosts Atlanta startup’s plan to compete with Amazon Prime
Mirtha Donastorg reports that Atlanta-based logistics startup Stord has acquired Ware2Go, a subsidiary of UPS, the company announced Monday, as it seeks to get bigger in e-commerce. Stord is both a software and a logistics company.
May 20, 2025 Savannah Morning News
Bryan County: Industrial growth continues apace in once-rural Ellabell
Staff reports that Bryan County remains the fastest growing county in all of Georgia, with a population spurt of 48% within the last decade based on U.S. Census numbers. Nationwide, Bryan County ranks sixth in growth, transforming once rural areas such as Ellabell and Black Creek into industrial centers and towns such as Pembroke in suburbia.
May 20, 2025 Athens Banner-Herald
How much does Georgia expect athletic budget will rise with start of athlete revenue sharing?
Marc Weiszer reports that the Georgia Athletic Association Board of Directors will be asked this week to approve a fiscal year 2026 budget approaching $223 million, an increase of nearly 16% from the previous year. The majority of that increase is directly related to institutional NIL payments that are part of the budget for the first time, Georgia deputy athletic director for finance Stephanie Ransom told the board’s finance committee last week.
May 20, 2025 Augusta Chronicle
Power on? Solar farm developers propose new 40-acre Columbia County facility
Joe Hotchkiss reports that another solar farm wants to come to Columbia County, this time across from Patriots Park. Applicant Bijan Solar LLC, a company in Bloomington, Conn., and landowner GVS Holding LLC, represented by Augusta-area hotelier G.B. Sharma, are requesting a zoning change on almost 40 acres of land fronting Columbia Road.
May 20, 2025 Macon Melody
State juvenile justice department to construct $82.7 million detention facility in East Macon
Casey Choung reports that Georgia’s Department of Juvenile Justice plans on building an expanded 98,000-square-foot facility at the edge of East Macon, citing a need for updated facilities and cost savings. The department requested $82.7 million to add an 80-bed facility to an existing all-girls detention facility.
May 20, 2025 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
National publication names Columbus as the most welcoming city in the US
Sundi Rose reports, last year, Columbus embarked on a mission with the MakeMyMove program to incentivize people to move here, and as a result, Travel +Leisure Magazine published the MakeMyMove report, announcing Columbus as “The Most Welcoming Community in the U.S.” This award notes what makes Columbus so special, saying “strategic planning, a commitment to personalized engagement, and a focus on long-term integration” is what makes residents feel so at home here.
May 20, 2025 WSB Radio 95.5
Douglas Co. partners with Work Source Georgia to help laid off federal workers find jobs
Staff reports, in Douglas County are looking to help federal employees who were laid off find new jobs. According to Douglas County Commission Chair Dr. Romona Jackson-Jones, the county is partnering with Work Source Georgia and Elevate Douglas to help connect former federal workers with new employers.
May 20, 2025 WABE
Libertarians working to regain ballot access in Georgia
Rahul Bali reports that Georgia Libertarians are working to regain ballot access for the critical 2026 midterm elections, which include races for an open governor’s seat and the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Jon Ossoff. Libertarians lost automatic ballot access in Georgia because of the 2024 election results in Georgia.
May 20, 2025 Capitol Beat News
New state law targets corporate landlords, as U.S. senator investigates ‘mistreatment of renters’
Ty Tagami reports that corporate landlords have been consolidating ownership in Georgia’s single-family housing market, drawing increasing criticism and political attention, including from U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff. The Georgia Democrat said Monday that it’s too soon to know how a new state law requiring local managers might change things.
May 20, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Will Keisha Lance Bottoms’ ties to Joe Biden hurt her campaign for governor?
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report, now that former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is officially running for governor, one of the biggest questions she’ll face is whether her alliance with Joe Biden is a political boost or a burden. In an extensive interview that we published this morning, Bottoms discussed her decision to forgo a second term as Atlanta mayor, her bitter feud with Gov. Brian Kemp and lessons learned from her time in Biden’s inner circle as a senior White House adviser.
