Georgia Trend Daily – May 23, 2025
May 23, 2025 Athens Banner-Herald
Georgians ‘be prepared’: NOAA predicts above-normal Atlantic hurricane season for 2025
Miguel Legoas reports that some Georgians are still haunted by the destruction of Hurricane Helene. But it wasn’t the first storm and it won’t be the last. On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its outlook for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season (June 1 through Nov. 30).
Barry Gentry, President and CEO of the Murray County Chamber of Commerce, sitting outside the Wright Hotel, Chatsworth, GA.
May 23, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Murray County | Reaching New Heights
Demi Guillory reports that until recently, Murray County seemed like Georgia’s best-kept secret. It was just four years ago that local officials and the chamber of commerce began mobilizing efforts outside county limits to fill the many empty storefronts in downtown Chatsworth and Eton.
May 23, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Midtown Atlanta eyesore acquired for future park in eight-figure deal
Savannah Sicurella reports that a Midtown site once pitched for a future symphony hall and later for the opulent “Opus Place” high-rise residential project is now one step closer to its transformation into a public park. The Midtown Improvement District closed on its purchase of the 4-acre undeveloped lot at 98 14th St. earlier this week, paying about $46 million, according to Midtown Alliance President and CEO Kevin Green.
May 23, 2025 Georgia.gov
Gov. Kemp: Mercedes-Benz Establishing North American Headquarters, new Research & Development Hub in Metro Atlanta
Gov. Kemp on Wednesday announced that Mercedes-Benz will establish Atlanta as Mercedes-Benz’s headquarters in North America by centralizing and uniting key corporate functions. The company will move up to 500 jobs to the existing Mercedes-Benz facility, known as “1MB,” in Fulton County, and make a multi-million dollar investment in a future state-of-the-art Research & Development (R&D) facility to also be located nearby.
May 23, 2025 Macon Telegraph
Will new Atlanta development threaten Macon’s claim to largest pickleball facility?
Lucinda Warnke reports that Macon’s Rhythm & Rally may soon face competition as America’s largest pickleball complex, and the threat is coming from within the Peach State. The proposed facility, which is known as Pickleball Club of Georgia, will be located in an existing warehouse in Atlanta’s Midtown and will have 34 pickleball courts, according to project architects Terminus Design Group.
May 23, 2025 Appen Media
Perimeter business district touted as commercial hub
Hayden Sumlin reports that elected leaders and several hundred members of the business community gathered May 20 for the inaugural Envision Perimeter on the 12th floor of the King building. Envision Perimeter is the product of several groups coming together, the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts, the new Greater Perimeter Chamber and the business community that backs both.
May 23, 2025 Albany Herald
Dougherty County portion of Flint River declared impaired
David Dixon reports that Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s Water Protection Branch recently added the section of the Flint River from the Lee County line to the Mitchell County line to the GAEPD Impaired Streams List (Section 305(b)/303(d)). In 2022, that portion of the Flint was designated as impaired for mercury in fish tissue and in 2024 for the human pathogen indicator bacteria E. coli.
May 23, 2025 WABE
Metro Atlanta gardens help refugees provide for themselves and feel at home
Emily Wu Pearson reports that Susan Pavlin is the executive director of the Global Growers Network, a nonprofit that helps refugees and immigrants get access to land so they can grow their own food. The Kitchen Garden is one of a few properties the nonprofit has around DeKalb and Rockdale counties.
May 23, 2025 The Current
Brunswick human exposure study leaves more questions than answers for participants
Jabari Gibbs reports that dozens of Brunswick natives participated in a peer-reviewed study that examined how residents have been affected by two of Glynn County’s Superfund sites. The groundbreaking study shows that 40% of the 97 study participants have higher concentrations of a toxicant associated with the defunct LCP Chemicals plant than the national average.
May 23, 2025 Georgia Recorder
North Georgia lakeside parks and beaches temporarily close ahead of Memorial Day weekend
Ross Williams reports that just ahead of the summer tourism season, the United States Army Corps of Engineers has announced the closure of lakeside parks, campgrounds and beaches across the southeast, with most in Georgia. Republican Congressman Rich McCormick, whose district includes part of Lake Lanier, said he spoke with the Corps and the closures will be more limited than originally announced.
May 23, 2025 Capitol Beat News
State policy makers need better data on data centers
Dave Williams reports that an early task for Georgia lawmakers in determining how to regulate data centers should be determining how much electricity and water they’re sucking up, the head of a local nonprofit group said Thursday. Amy Sharma, executive director of Science for Georgia, spoke to members of a House special committee Speaker Jon Burns created early this year to formulate policies for handling the growing demand for energy and water power-dependent industries including date centers are putting on the state’s resources.
May 23, 2025 Athens Banner-Herald
Rep. Andrew Clyde, who owns Athens gun shop, takes credit for gun silencer tax break in Trump bill
Miguel Legoas reports that on Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Tax Bill,” a very controversial package. Before the bill was voted on, one of Georgia’s representatives proudly took credit for one part of it: Around 4 a.m., Rep. Andrew Clyde spoke about a particular section of the bill that would eliminate certain taxes around gun silencers.
May 23, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Public town halls shut down by confrontation shy members of Georgia congressional delegation
Ross Williams reports that Congressman Barry Loudermilk recently walked into an International House of Pancakes in Woodstock for a meeting with constituents. Loudermilk was the featured speaker for a weekly breakfast meeting series for local conservatives.
May 23, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Abortion rights advocates blame confusion around Georgia law for plight of brain-dead pregnant woman
Ty Tagami reports that groups that promote access to abortion and medical services for Black women said Thursday that uncertainty about Georgia’s abortion restrictions were to blame for the decision to keep a brain dead, pregnant woman on life support. Georgia’s so-called “heartbeat” law bans abortion once cardiac activity is detected in a fetus, typically six weeks into pregnancy.
May 23, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How Lake Lanier closures brought Republicans and Democrats together
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report, Lake Lanier has suddenly become a new symbol of President Donald Trump’s government-shrinking agenda just in time for the Memorial Day break. As word spread of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to shutter 20 parks along the sprawling reservoir due to staff shortages, Democrats berated the White House for closures that could upend countless vacations.
