Georgia Trend Daily – Sept. 28, 2026

Sept. 28, 2026 Capitol Beat News

Georgia still tops for business

Ty Tagami reports, it might not be a lucky number, but Georgia’s political leaders are celebrating the state’s ranking as the top location for corporate expansions for the 13th year in a row. The designation was based on a survey of 50 corporate site selection consultants nationwide.

Sept. 28, 2026 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!

Jesup: Wayne County | Built on Timber

Kristen Soles McCracken reports that Wayne County has never relied on a single announcement or marquee project to define its future. Instead, the Southeast Georgia community continues to build on the assets that have shaped its economy for generations: abundant timber, a skilled manufacturing workforce, strategic transportation connections and a collaborative approach to economic development.

Sept. 28, 2026 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This Georgia Tech professor broke barriers for women in aerospace

Grace Donnelly reports, as a Star Trek-loving adolescent, Marilyn Smith wanted to be the first American woman astronaut. While less-than-perfect eyesight quickly scuttled that dream, her interest in space and science launched her into a career in aerospace engineering at a time when the field included very few women.

Sept. 28, 2026 GPB

Two Middle Georgia mental health providers merge as the state streamlines its safety net care

Sofi Gratas reports that two top behavioral health service providers in Middle Georgia have merged under an effort to streamline services. River Edge Behavioral Health, based in Macon, officially took over services at Oconee Center Community Service Board last month.

Sept. 28, 2026 WABE

1906 Atlanta Race Massacre gains official remembrance days in Fulton County, honors history’s 120th anniversary

DorMiya Vance reports, in the 1900s, Atlanta experienced one of its deadliest events in the city’s history. Tension around class and race led to four days of racial brutality against Black Atlantans, causing at least 25 deaths. The multi-day string of violence became known as the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre.

Sept. 28, 2026 Savannah Morning News

Chatham County institutes new short-term rental regulations

Evan Lasseter reports that the Chatham County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an amended short-term rental ordinance Friday, creating new STR districts in the unincorporated area with license caps in each. The new STR districts touch over 60 neighborhoods based on the Chatham County Police Response Neighborhoods.

Sept. 28, 2026 The Current

Sapelo Island residents challenge new zoning with lawsuits

Mary Landers reports that less than a month after the McIntosh County Commission approved new zoning for the Gullah-Geechee enclave of Hogg Hummock on Sapelo Island, two lawsuits are seeking to invalidate it. Both complaints were filed on Sept. 4 by residents of Sapelo Island, one by a single island resident and the other by three residents, plus a newly formed non-profit and and a St. Simons-based corporation.

Sept. 28, 2026 Saporta Report

An eminent domain battle in North Georgia reaches a conclusion

Mark Lannaman reports, with eminent domain involved, pushback is almost always imminent. Tallulah Falls was no different. Residents of Tallulah Falls, Ga., pushed back against the nearby City of Demorest, Ga., which was planning to use eminent domain for a water expansion project that would “establish a new surface-water treatment facility designed to protect the region’s drinking water security for generations to come,” according to a press release from Demorest.

Sept. 28, 2026 Augusta Chronicle

Where the fight over Fort Gordon hospital services stands now

Joe Hotchkiss reports that a bipartisan effort in Congress seeks to prevent Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center from reducing services for Augusta-area soldiers, veterans and military families.

Sept. 28, 2026 Savannah Morning News, The Imprint

Georgia Parents Shouldn’t Pay State For Kids No Longer in Foster Care, Federal Court Rules

Jordan Anderson reports that a federal judge has ordered Georgia’s child welfare agency to stop charging parents for their children’s time in foster care when they are no longer in state custody. The preliminary injunction, issued Wednesday, is the latest turn in an ongoing federal civil rights suit filed in August 2025 on behalf of Annalinda Martinez, a Georgia mother who lost custody of her six daughters after the family became homeless in 2018.

Sept. 28, 2026 Georgia Recorder

Mail-in voting is still an option for this year’s midterms. Here’s what voters should know.

Maya Williams reports that voting by mail remains a reliable form of voting in Georgia after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked an effort to restrict the practice over unfounded fears of widespread noncitizen voting. But Georgia officials and advocates say voters should still pay careful attention to the rules and deadlines in order to cast an absentee ballot this year.

Sept. 28, 2026 The Current

Georgia’s third-party candidates struggle for ballot access; local independents feel impacts acutely

Jabari Gibbs reports, papers are scattered across the desk. Two cellphones sit to the side. Both details offer a glimpse into the many hats Rachael Thompson wears in Glynn County. The 36-year-old nonprofit leader has spent the past seven months juggling her duties as director of the Glynn Environmental Coalition and wearing out shoe leather in an attempt to become an independent candidate for the Glynn County District 4 School Board seat.

Sept. 28, 2026 Athens Banner-Herald

Felony conviction clouds District 47 Senate race in Georgia

Wayne Ford reports that Frank Ginn, the incumbent District 47 state Senator, said Friday he is still deciding what he might do following the news that his challenger in the November General Election is now a convicted felon serving time behind bars.

Sept. 28, 2026 Georgia Recorder

Top U.S. Senate Republican stumps with Collins in Georgia as seat appears to slip out of reach

Ross Williams reports that U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune came to Atlanta to keep hope alive for the Mike Collins campaign as Collins challenges Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in the Nov. 3 midterm election. Thune’s visit came amid reports that national Republicans are deprioritizing Georgia’s Senate race in favor of states they feel they have a better shot of winning, like Texas, Maine, Alaska, Ohio, Michigan and New Hampshire.

Sept. 28, 2026 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Four things Rick Jackson says he’d do to boost Georgia agriculture

Riley Bunch reports, Georgia’s agriculture industry contributes more than $91 billion to the state’s economy each year, but farmers are facing growing pressures driven by high fuel costs, the impact of tariffs and an increasingly unpredictable climate. During a visit to Cagle’s Farm in Cherokee County, Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson announced a slate of agriculture policy proposals he’d advocate for if elected.