Georgia Trend Daily – June 16, 2025
June 16, 2025 GlobalAtlanta.com
Belgian Pharma Giant With Atlanta Base to Invest Billions in U.S. Factory
Trevor Williams reports that a Belgian pharmaceutical company with its American base in Atlanta is teasing a transformative factory for biologics in the United States. UCB, which unveiled a jazzed-up headquarters in Cobb County during Belgian Princess Astrid’s Atlanta trade mission in 2023, plans to create 300 new jobs in the U.S. (and 500 more during construction), but it has yet to reveal which shortlisted locale will ultimately cash in on the Belgian bonanza.
Win-Win: Savannah College of Art and Design’s film studios offer an affordable production space and allow film students to get hands-on experience in TV and film production. Photo credit: Daemon Baizan
June 16, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Cliffhanger: Georgia’s Film Industry
Arthur Brice reports, Georgia’s blockbuster film industry had a major slump in 2024 that has continued into this year. No one knows whether it’s just an intermission before taking off again or a weak second act that will linger for years. “You could see the growth of Georgia as a filming spot until 2022, that was sort of the peak,” says Marty Lang, the University of Georgia director of graduate studies in film, television and digital media.
June 16, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He once led Delta. Now he’s taking chairman’s role at this Atlanta giant.
Kelly Yamanouchi reports, a familiar face in Georgia business and in the transportation industry globally is again taking a top spot at a major Atlanta-based corporation. Richard Anderson, former CEO of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, has been named chair of Norfolk Southern.
June 16, 2025 Griffin Daily News
Pace beginning to pick up at new Griffin-Spalding County regional airport project
Larry Stanford reports, after months of surveys and appraisals and testing, activity at the new Griffin-Spalding County Area Regional Airport is beginning to pick up. The new airport will be located on the opposite side of Highway 16 from The Lakes at Green Valley in an area bordered by Banks Road, Sapelo Road, Jackson Road and Highway 155.
June 16, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal
How Cobb Leaders Are Spending $6 Million in Annual Contingency Funds
Annie Mayne reports, each year, all five members of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners get $1.2 million in discretionary dollars. This money is delivered to board members in two separate “contingency funds,” a $200,000 pot and a $1 million pot, both pulled from the county’s general fund.
June 16, 2025 The Brunswick News
DDA awards $6,000 in grants to downtown businesses
Taylor Cooper reports, the Brunswick Downtown Development Authority awarded $6,000 in grants to three businesses on Thursday, two on Newcastle Street and one on Gloucester Street. Fat & Fine Seafood at 1600 Newcastle St. and Pip’s Candy and Crafted Soda at 504 Gloucester St. received $2,000 jump-start grants to help pay the deposit on their storefront leases — a valid use of the DDA’s jump-start grant.
June 16, 2025 The Current
Savannah Police Department to include civilian participants on use of force review committee
Tyler Davis reports that the Savannah Police Department (SPD) will be making a few crucial updates to their use-of-force policy violation reviews following two police encounters that circled social media in the last year. The Use of Force Review Committee will now include three civilian participants — one faith leader from the local community and two representatives appointed by City Council, SPD Chief Lenny Gunther shared during a press conference Friday morning.
June 16, 2025 Athens Banner-Herald
How the revenue-sharing era will look for Georgia athletics. Josh Brooks, coaches weigh in
Marc Weiszer reports, in the first week since the much-awaited approval by federal judge Claudia Wilken of a final settlement of three antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA and major conferences, it looked like a typical June around Georgia athletics on the surface. Behind the scenes, Georgia athletics’ months of preparation for a sea change that will allow players to be paid directly by schools was now about to be a reality starting July 1.
June 16, 2025 WABE
Feds reverse decision to close metro Atlanta office monitoring flooding and pollution
Marisa Mecke reports that the federal government reversed its decision to close a government office in Norcross, Georgia, that monitors flooding and water pollution around the state. The U.S. Geological Survey’s office in Norcross was one of Georgia’s federal offices slated to have its lease cancelled, according to the Department of Government Efficiency’s wall of savings.
June 16, 2025 Rome News-Tribune
Harris Launches Second Bid for GA-14 Congressional Seat Held by MTG
Diane Wagner reports that Democrat Shawn Harris has launched a campaign for Northwest Georgia’s 14th Congressional District seat — his second try at unseating incumbent U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome. “Our district has shifted toward Democrats more than nearly any other in the country,” Harris said in a fundraising email sent out Sunday.
June 16, 2025 Macon Telegraph
Macon libraries face potential program cuts as federal government slashes funding
Lucinda Warnke reports that middle Georgia librarians said a program providing wifi hotspots to the community is ending after the terms changed for a grant that pays for the program and funding for a courier service that allows patrons to request a book from one library and have it driven to another is in danger as Congress considers cuts to the Institute for Museum and Library Services, an agency run by the federal government that provides money and resources to libraries across the U.S.
June 16, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Thousands of anti-Trump protestors pack ‘No Kings’ protest outside Georgia’s Capitol
Ross Williams, Amber Roldan and Stanley Dunlap reports, some “No Kings” protesters around metro Atlanta got drenched by sudden showers Saturday, but the protests against President Donald Trump’s policies were well-attended and largely peaceful in Georgia, with the exception of an unaffiliated protest in Atlanta. Minutes after Atlanta’s “No Kings” protest began Saturday outside the state Capitol, organizers announced that the venue’s 5,000-person capacity had been reached.
June 16, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Unusual odd-year primaries on tap for Georgia PSC
Dave Williams reports, elections for state and federal offices usually take place only in even years. But this year, Georgia voters will head to the polls to fill two seats on the five-member state Public Service Commission, starting this Tuesday with Republican and Democratic primaries.
June 16, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta leaders snub former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ run for governor
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report, during the brutal battle over Buckhead cityhood, Humberto García-Sjögrim was one of the most vocal opponents of the secession push. As co-founder of Neighbors for a United Atlanta, he fought aggressively to keep the city intact.
