Author: Karen Kirkpatrick

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  September marked Georgia Trend’s 35th anniversary of delivering stories and news about the broad and diverse state in which we live and do business. Our goal is for these stories to help support local economies, businesses and careers. Georgia is constantly…

Going the Extra Mile

The word unprecedented has been thrown around a lot lately. But the truth is, nobody has seen challenges like cities around the country are facing these days. Businesses are shuttering or learning new ways to work. Restaurants, bars, art galleries,…

There and Back Again

Once upon a time the American Panorama Co. in Milwaukee hired a group of German artists to create an enormous work of art to depict and celebrate the Union victory in the Battle of Atlanta, an important win in the…

100 Most Influential Georgians: Visionary Forces

“There are no secrets to success,” said former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. “It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.” His description could apply to the individuals included in Georgia Trend’s 22nd annual listing…

Infrastructure and Beyond

Thirty years ago when the state’s first community improvement district (CID) formed in Cobb County, CIDs were conceived primarily to tackle infrastructure improvements – roads, traffic signals, all the things that help get folks where they want to go. Today,…

All Aboard

If it feels like MARTA is suddenly bursting out all over Atlanta, that feeling isn’t wrong. Gwinnett may have voted down the MARTA option in March, but expansions are underway in Clayton County. More MARTA in the city of Atlanta…

Legal Bootlegging

You might say that the manufacture of distilled spirits has come full circle in the Peach State. Before the days of revenuers chasing moonshiners out of the hills of North Georgia, the production of liquor was a well-respected endeavour. During…

Back In Time

Most Georgians – and a large number of tourists from much farther away – are familiar with coastal hotspots like Tybee, Jekyll and St. Simons islands. The beaches are beautiful, the shopping, golf, activities, hotels and restaurants plentiful. And these…

Funding the Future

These days if you can get 80 percent of people to agree that it’s raining outside even as they’re soaking wet from the downpour, it’s pretty close to a miracle. But there’s a piece of legislation that passed last spring…

Take It Easy

If an afternoon – or a week – spent on the water sounds like a little slice of heaven, Georgia’s got you covered. Rivers crisscross the state, from the Oostanaula in the northwest to the St. Marys that flows into…

State of The Art

The words economic development may bring to mind visions of Amazon’s HQ2, the influx of cybersecurity jobs in Augusta or a booming tech industry, but those companies don’t set up shop in Georgia just because of generous incentive packages or…

Hidden Gems

Georgia is filled with major tourist sites – from Six Flags and Stone Mountain in Atlanta to architecture and history in Savannah to the natural beauty of our beaches and mountains – that draw thousands of people from all over…

Unconventional Learning

We all know about mainstream universities and colleges, but there’s a whole world out there of specialized education that can help train you for a career. Think higher education options in Georgia range from technical colleges to state universities or…

Gate of Opportunity

Private college and affordable to all aren’t generally phrases that appear in the same paragraph, much less the same sentence. But that’s the mission at Berry College in Rome, where a tradition of students working on campus while going to…

Legal Evolution

Until the early 2000s, the practice of law and legal education hadn’t changed much since the days of powdered wigs. Even now, legal communication is filled with Latin phrases – a dead language – and the study of law still…