Georgia Trend Daily – Aug. 15, 2025
Aug. 15, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Georgia unemployment rate down to 3.4%
Dave Williams reports that Georgia’s unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.4% last month, down from 3.5% in June, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday. Georgia joblessness was eight-tenths of a point lower than the national unemployment rate of 4.2%.

Technical analysis. Vector illustration. Technical analysis helps traders analyze market trends and make informed trading decisions The analysis economic indicators provides insights into overall
Aug. 15, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Bellwether Cities
Kathleen Conway reports, Americans are familiar with the political maxim, “as Maine goes, so goes the nation.” When it comes to the Georgia economy, the saying could be, “as Gainesville, Milledgeville and Warner Robins go, so goes the state.”
Aug. 15, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rivian to hold groundbreaking events next month for $5B Georgia factory
Zachary Hansen reports that electric vehicle startup Rivian plans to hold two ceremonial events to christen the forthcoming construction of its long-delayed $5 billion factory an hour east of Atlanta. The company will play host to a community event Sept. 14 and a formal groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 16 with stakeholders, media and government officials, including Gov. Brian Kemp.
Aug. 15, 2025 WSB Radio
MARTA announces new interim GM and CEO
Staff reports that the MARTA Board of Directors appointed a new interim General Manager and CEO on Thursday. Jonathan Hunt will serve as the new interim GM and CEO, after the retirement of Collie Greenwood on July 17th.
Aug. 15, 2025 Valdosta Daily Times
Valdosta Regional Airport breaks ground on new projects
Bailey Wilson reports that the Valdosta Regional Airport has begun the process of building two new projects, bringing the airport into the 21st century with an updated air traffic control tower and a new terminal. The brief ceremony Tuesday was attended by Mayor Scott James Matheson, Lowndes County Commissioner’s Chairman-At-Large Bill Slaughter, City Manager Richard Hardy and other members of the Valdosta community.
Aug. 15, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal
Kennesaw State economic impact on the rise to $2.3 billion
Staff reports that Kennesaw State University’s economic impact in metro Atlanta increased to more than $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2024, according to a University System of Georgia report. Kennesaw State’s fiscal 2024 economic impact in the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area marked a 7.1% increase from $2.15 billion the previous year.
Aug. 15, 2025 Augusta Chronicle
‘High level of demand’: City of Augusta suspends emergency rent assistance
Joe Hotchkiss reports that “High level of demand” is forcing the city of Augusta to indefinitely suspend disbursement of emergency rental funding in what also seems to be a local response to federal cuts in housing assistance. In Georgia, the federally assisted Georgia Rental Assistance Program is no longer accepting new applications.
Aug. 15, 2025 State Affairs
No. 1 state for tourism? Georgia lawmakers says ‘yes’
Beau Evans reports that lawmakers are looking to make “the No. 1 place to do business” also the top spot for tourism amid stiff competition from neighboring states for sports events and convention dollars. Georgia drummed up nearly $80 billion in spending, jobs and taxes from tourism last year, including $5 billion in state and local revenues to pay for schools, roads and other infrastructure.
Aug. 15, 2025 Georgia Recorder
Ossoff, health care advocates ratchet up calls to renew tax credits set to expire this year
Maya Homan reports that Georgia residents could see as much as a 40% increase in their health insurance premiums if Congress does not act to extend the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff said at a press conference Thursday. Ossoff, a Democrat, said he is urging congressional Republicans to “reverse course” on allowing the credits — which help subsidize ACA health care premiums for low-income and middle class families — to expire.
Aug. 15, 2025 WABE
DOJ drops Georgia from sanctuary jurisdiction list
Emily Wu Pearson reports, the Department of Justice has removed all Georgia localities from its list of sanctuary jurisdictions. In May, the DOJ released a list of more than 500 places across the country that it considered a sanctuary jurisdiction.
Aug. 15, 2025 Capitol Beat News
Opponents of Rivian plant might have to pay other side’s legal fees
Ty Tagami reports that a judge in Morgan County could set a precedent by forcing Georgia property owners who sued to halt development of a massive state-backed auto factory near their properties to pay for the other side’s legal costs. The case involves the proposed Rivian electric automobile plant on a rural stretch near Social Circle off Interstate 20.
Aug. 15, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Derek Dooley says his coaching career kept him out of the voting booth
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report, state voting records show former football coach Derek Dooley, now a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, did not vote in presidential elections in 2016 in Texas and 2020 in New York, where he lived at the time. He also didn’t cast a ballot last year in Georgia’s presidential primary, two years after registering to vote here.