Georgia Trend Daily – Nov. 17, 2025

Nov. 17, 2025 Augusta Chronicle

Changing weather patterns have big implications for Georgia farmers

Erica Van Buren reports that Pam Knox is the Weather Network director at the University of Georgia. In a recent interview with climate change reporter Erica Van Buren, Knox highlights evidence that climate change is happening now and impacting agriculture in Georgia.

Nov. 17, 2025 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!

DeKalb County | Global County

Arthur Brice reports that Atlanta has long called itself the “world’s next great city,” and its large number of diverse multinational residents have helped propel it to international stature. DeKalb is one of the counties in Metro Atlanta with a sizable foreign-born population. Of DeKalb’s 765,000 residents, the U.S. Census says more than 18% were born outside the United States.

Nov. 17, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

PSC won’t delay key Georgia Power vote after Democrats’ election wins

Drew Kann reports that the Georgia Public Service Commission has rejected a bid by two environmental groups to delay a key vote on whether to allow Georgia Power to execute a historic, multi-billion dollar expansion of its power generation fleet. The groups that sought to postpone the decision — the Sierra Club and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy — were doing so, in part, so that two new Democrats elected to the PSC last week could participate in the vote.

Nov. 17, 2025 WSB Radio

Georgia awards $42M in new grants to fight opioid crisis, more than 100 projects funded

Staff reports that Georgia is rolling out more than $42 million in new grants to help combat the opioid crisis, directing funding to 109 projects across the state. The money comes from multiple national opioid lawsuit settlements, with the Georgia Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust expecting more than $1 billion to flow into its fund over the next 18 years.

Nov. 17, 2025 Savannah Morning News

Georgia to include PFAS in its state drinking water rules

Jillian Magtoto reports that last week, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) proposed a draft update to its Rules for Safe Drinking Water that includes two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into its regulation of drinking water contaminants. PFAS are a class of synthetic molecules known as “forever chemicals” designed to endure in the environment.

Nov. 17, 2025 Macon Telegraph

East Macon gets long-awaited new park honoring Muscogee Nation

Jesse Fraga reports that Muscogee spirits live within a grassy new park between downtown and east Macon that pays homage to the tribe forced out of Macon over two centuries ago, according to an indigenous artist and team involved in the park’s creation. Bicentennial Park at 271 Clinton St. sits in Mill Hill, a historically Black and low-income neighborhood across from the Marriott hotel on Coliseum Drive. Local residents say it was a long-awaited improvement for the area.

Nov. 17, 2025 Marietta Daily Journal

Council backs legislation allowing Mableton to create tax allocation districts

Megan Jackson reports that Mableton is moving forward with a process that will grant the city redevelopment powers under state law after passing a resolution at this week’s City Council meeting. The city passed a resolution asking state Rep. Terry Cummins, D-Mableton, to introduce legislation during the Georgia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session that would grant Mableton redevelopment powers.

Nov. 17, 2025 Decaturish

Opposition to Ellenwood data center grows at community forum

Lydia Magallanes reports that nearly 50 people attended a data center community forum Nov. 15 in Decatur about data centers where advocates voiced concerns about their impacts. South DeKalb County resident Quanda Stroud and advocates shared concerns about energy costs and the environmental and health implications associated with a proposed 1 million-square-foot data center in Ellenwood.

Nov. 17, 2025 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

Columbus Council OKs use of ex-Georgia State Farmers Market. Here is what’s coming

Brittany McGee reports, after a years-long process to clean up the site of the former Georgia State Farmers Market, the Columbus Council voted to transfer ownership of the land back to the state, allowing it to be subleased to a private soccer club. The Columbus Consolidated Government acquired the property from the state in 2018 with deed restrictions requiring public use.

Nov. 17, 2025 The Brunswick News

DNR announces Chris Harper to lead Wildlife Resources Division

Staff reports that Chris Harper is the new director of the Wildlife Resources Division of the state Department of Natural Resources, effective Dec. 1, the DNR announced Friday. Harper has worked with the WRD since 1999, the DNR said, most recently serving as assistant chief of the fisheries management section.

Nov. 17, 2025 WABE

Many Georgians still struggling to access care despite 2022 Mental Health Parity Act

Jess Mador reports that mental health care can be hard to come by in Georgia for the more than 1.4 million adults and more than 100,000 adolescents with a mental health condition, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reports. Georgia ranks 46 in the nation for access to care, according to the latest State of Mental Health in America report. And, Georgia has one of the nation’s highest rates of uninsured, KFF reports.

Nov. 17, 2025 Rome News-Tribune

Greene says Trump’s GOP ‘traitor’ label puts her life in danger; locals react

Tony Czuczka reports that U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said President Donald Trump is putting her life in danger with a social media post calling her a traitor to the Republican Party amid a falling-out centering on government files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Republicans in Greene’s district appear split on where their loyalties lie.

Nov. 17, 2025 Georgia Recorder

Lawmakers weigh seismic changes to Georgia’s voting equipment

Maya Homan reports, ahead of the momentous 2020 presidential election, Georgia’s state leaders faced a choice. The state’s voting system prior to that year consisted of 27,000 electronic voting machines that had been in use since 2002, which were reaching the end of their life and needed to be replaced.

Nov. 17, 2025 Capitol Beat News

Intoxicating THC from hemp to be banned in a year, with implications for business and consumers

Ty Tagami reports, a year from now, people in the hemp industry expect booming growth in a black market for marijuana and illicit hemp consumables. That is when beverages, gummies and other products made with THC from the hemp plant will become illegal.

Nov. 17, 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Bottoms reframes her record as 2026 races takes shape

Greg Bluestein reports, on stage at the Politically Georgia forum this month, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms described herself as a political iconoclast — someone not easily pinned to a single ideological lane. “If people look back on my record as mayor, they would likely say that I’m more of a moderate,” she said.