Georgia Trend Daily – Nov. 3, 2025

Nov. 3, 2025 Saporta Report

Goodwill to work around federal order that halts training for SNAP recipients

Adrianne Murchison reports, while the Trump administration has been ordered by two courts to use emergency funds to pay SNAP recipients, the ripple effects of potentially halting payments to 42 million people extend beyond the program participants. Goodwill of North Georgia is preparing to bear the full cost of its SNAP Employment and Training program — at a cost of $200,000 per month — to protect the eligibility of SNAP  recipients to receive their monthly payment.

Nov. 3, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!

Navigating the Future

Betty Darby reports, imagine being tasked with seeing a decade into the future of global shipping, with billions of dollars in infrastructure construction riding on the accuracy of your prediction. Not easy, but if you get it right, you end up with things like the fastest-growing container port in the nation (the Port of Savannah) and the country’s largest automotive and heavy equipment specialty port (the Port of Brunswick).

Nov. 3, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Amazon’s layoffs won’t hurt Atlanta’s largest landlord. But it is watching.

Zachary Hansen reports, as an office landlord, seeing your largest tenant announce 14,000 layoffs is often a bad omen. But the CEO of Atlanta-based Cousins Properties, whose largest office tenant nationwide is Amazon, told investors Friday he’s not concerned about the e-commerce giant’s plans.

Nov. 3, 2025 Savannah Morning News

This Georgia town is among the 10 most ‘breathtaking’ on the Atlantic Coast, WorldAtlas says

Miguel Legoas reports, on Wednesday, WorldAtlas released its list of the 10 most breathtaking towns on the Atlantic Coast. The only Georgia town to make the list was Tybee Island just east of Savannah.

Nov. 3, 2025 Access WDUN

Jackson EMC donates $90,000 to support local food assistance organizations

Lawson Smith reports that Jackson Electric Membership Corporation announced Thursday it will invest $90,000 to support three food assistance organizations serving the northeast Georgia community. “Jackson EMC believes in neighbors helping neighbors,”  Chip Jakins, Jackson EMC President and CEO, said in a release.

Nov. 3, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal

Cobb commissioners discuss proposed new stormwater fee

Hunter Riggall reports that Cobb County commissioners were briefed this week on a proposed new fee that county staff say could be used to fix aging stormwater infrastructure. The fee would nearly double the stormwater division’s budget by charging every homeowner in unincorporated Cobb and Mableton $4.75 a month.

Nov. 3, 2025 The Brunswick News

Special election on Sapelo zoning rules set for January

Michael Hall reports that McIntosh County voters will once again have a chance to decide the fate of a zoning amendment that would change the size of homes allowed in Sapelo Island’s Hog Hammock community. McIntosh County Probate Judge Harold Webster issued an order Friday setting Jan. 20, 2026, as the date for the special election that will include one question.

Nov. 3, 2025 Savannah Morning News

Effingham County says they are not banning books

Latrice Williams reports that one week after an Oct. 7 county meeting where Effingham commissioners voted to withdraw from Live Oak Public Libraries, County Chair Damon Rahn says the county has parted ways with library consultant Nate Ball. Ball began working for the county Dec. 31, 2024. According to his contract, Ball was hired to “provide professional consulting services related to an evaluation and assessment of needs, technology, buildings and financial matters of the county library system.”

Nov. 3, 2025 Albany Herald

Georgia House speaker addresses education, agriculture during stop in Albany

Alan Mauldin reports that literacy and learning are going to be top issues for Georgia lawmakers in the coming months, Georgia Speaker of the House Jon Burns declared during a trip to Albany this week. “Literacy, when they leave the hospital … before they leave the hospital,” the Newington Republican said. “We want literacy to start early, early, early.”

Nov. 3, 2025 The Current

Georgia energy workers donate thousands to GOP regulators

Craig Nelson reports that dozens of executives and employees of Georgia’s largest energy utilities have contributed at least $77,000 to the two Republicans running for re-election to the Public Service Commission, the state body charged with regulating them, according to filings with the state ethics commission. Commissioner Fitz Johnson’s campaign committee has received at least $45,110 — almost a quarter of his campaign war chest — since September 2021 from individuals working for energy utilities, according to those documents.

Nov. 3, 2025 Georgia Recorder

Battle for two seats on Georgia regulatory body heats up as campaigns enter homestretch 

Alander Rocha reports that campaigning for two contested seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission has intensified during the early voting period, turning a relatively quiet election cycle into a partisan fight over utility rates and energy policy. Two Republican incumbents, Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson, are being challenged by Democratic nominees Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson in an unusual off-year election delayed by litigation.

Nov. 3, 2025 WABE

Kemp does not plan to backfill federal funding on SNAP, Head Start, other programs as shutdown continues

Rahul Bali reports, as Democrats call on Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to help backfill funding for programs affected by the federal government shutdown, Kemp is pointing the finger back at Democrats. When asked whether the state considered backfilling funding for food aid through SNAP or Head Start programs, Kemp said the solution is for Georgia’s Democratic U.S. senators to vote for a continuing resolution to reopen the federal government.

Nov. 3, 2025 Capitol Beat News

Courts order federal government to fund food program, but some still preparing for disruptions

Ty Tagami reports that judges in two federal lawsuits Friday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to continue funding its food assistance program during the government shutdown, but it was unclear how quickly payments would resume to recipients, who had been warned that no more money would be coming starting Saturday. The news created some measure of relief — but also uncertainty — for communities and organizations that were preparing to fill the gap.

Nov. 3, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgians in both parties prefer property tax relief to scrapping income tax

David Wickert reports that most Georgia Republicans favor repealing the state’s income tax, while most Democrats oppose the move. But a majority of both groups would pick local property tax relief over eliminating the income tax if given a choice, a new Atlanta Journal-Constitution survey shows.