Georgia Trend Daily – March 25, 2026
March 25, 2026 Georgia.org
UCB to Invest $2 Billion in Georgia, Establish First U.S. Manufacturing Facility
Staff reports, Gov. Kemp on Tuesday announced that global biopharmaceutical giant UCB, Inc. is planning a significant investment of $2 billion in Georgia to establish its first U.S. pharmaceutical biologics manufacturing facility. The investment will generate 330 new jobs over the next several years at the Rowen Foundation’s state-of-the-art, 2,000-acre science and learning campus in Gwinnett County.
Lucius Sanford, Jr. Photo credit: Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
March 25, 2026 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
A Quiet Competitor
Loran Smith writes, campus life can be a very good life, and love of alma mater can lead to lifelong commitment to the institution. Lucius Sanford, executive director of the Letterwinner Association at Georgia Tech, is an example of the many college faculty members and employees who are homegrown, and who eventually return to campus and find a way to stay put.
March 25, 2026 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tariff uncertainty throttles trade, but not expansion, at Georgia’s ports
Adam Van Brimmer reports, maritime trade is crawling at Georgia’s ports, but the state authority that operates the nation’s third-busiest cargo terminals isn’t throttling back its expansion efforts. Container traffic is flat while wheeled and tracked cargo, such as autos, has experienced a double-digit decline for the fiscal year through February, Ports Authority CEO Griff Lynch told his board of directors Tuesday.
March 25, 2026 Georgia Ports Authority
GPA’s Gainesville Inland Port set for May opening
Staff reports, the Georgia Ports Authority’s new inland port in Gainesville, Ga., opens May 4, 2026, a development GPA says will strengthen Northeast Georgia’s attractiveness and business competitiveness. With a direct connection to Savannah’s 40 ships per week global ocean carrier network, local manufacturers — including poultry, heavy equipment, and forest product companies — can reach international markets more efficiently.
March 25, 2026 Augusta Chronicle
Hurricane Helene debris could make wildfires worse for years to come
Erica Van Buren reports, as Georgia and South Carolina plunge into wildfire season, as recently evidenced by a wildfire in McCormick County this month, leftovers from Hurricane Helene might potentially feed some of the blazes. Hurricane Helene debris remains a concern in parts of Georgia and South Carolina, blocking access for firefighters and hindering wildfire suppression.
March 25, 2025 The Brunswick News
BHA hears affordable housing proposal
Taylor Cooper reports, the board of the Brunswick Housing Authority heard a proposal from an affordable housing developer Monday but declined to take action. Board members were interested but wanted more information.
March 25, 2026 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Columbus residents don’t get answers from developers of proposed data center
Mark Rice reports, six weeks after a proposed hyperscale data center in northeast Muscogee County was announced by Choose Columbus, the Columbus Consolidated Government hosted an information session in the Psalmond Road Recreation Center to highlight “the benefits”, but many residents didn’t get answers they sought.
March 25, 2026 Milledgeville Union-Recorder
Solar project coming to Coopers
Billy Hobbs reports, officials with The Development Authority of Milledgeville-Baldwin County agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Monday morning with Grenergy USA for the construction of a new solar project. Beaver Creek Solar is slated to be built in the Coopers area of Baldwin County.
March 25, 2026 Georgia Recorder
Local election workers ready for midterms as lawmakers ponder big changes to Georgia’s voting system
Maya Homan reports, sixty miles away at the state Capitol in Atlanta, lawmakers are mulling a proposal to overhaul Georgia’s election system ahead of the 2028 presidential election. But in a ballroom in Athens, hundreds of election workers charged with implementing the laws passed by the General Assembly are preparing to uphold Georgia’s election laws, whatever those laws may be.
March 25, 2026 Georgia Press
Property tax bill moving forward in Senate committee
Zoe Seiler reports that the Georgia General Assembly is considering legislation that would significantly reduce property taxes and create a new local homestead option sales tax to go toward property tax relief. The House advanced House Bill 1116, known as the Homeownership Opportunity and Market Equalization Act of 2026, on Crossover Day, March 6.
March 25, 2026 State Affairs
Literacy bill faces scrutiny over costs, coaches in Senate
Beau Evans reports that a major bill to help children learn how to read is facing sharp scrutiny in the Senate with days left before the 2026 legislative session ends. Backers of the literacy measure have hailed it as a game changer for Georgia schools that have seen years of low scores for third grade students, with key aspects of the proposal centered on hiring more than 1,300 hands-on coaches to work with students and teachers on reading skills.
March 25, 2026 Capitol Beat News
College scholarships for low-income students closer to becoming Georgia law
Ty Tagami reports that a state-funded college scholarship based on financial need rather than academic merit took another step toward becoming a reality in Georgia on Tuesday when a Senate committee approved the bipartisan measure. House Bill 1413 passed the Senate Higher Education Committee unanimously after three other bills were merged with it.
March 25, 2026 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Delta suspends major travel perk for members of Congress
Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Beam report, with airport security lines stretching for hours and the congressional stalemate over Homeland Security funding now in its sixth week, Atlanta’s Delta Air Lines is suspending major travel perks for members of Congress. “Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta,” a Delta statement read.
