Central

  Leaders in the middle Georgia city of Macon and Bibb County learned that diversity is a key to economic development and the vibrancy of a community. Nine years ago, the departure of tobacco giant Brown & Williamson left a…

  Fresh blood is revitalizing Newton County. From the $1.3-billion deal with Baxter International, which will produce plasma-based treatments at a new manufacturing facility in Covington, to the tourism generated by the locally filmed television show The Vampire Diaries, the…

  Back in 2007, word swept through Dublin that a stranger was in town, and there were suspicions that he meant business. His name was Josh Nichols, and folks learned he was bent on taking downtown buildings apart and putting…

Macon and Bibb County, sitting at the intersection of two interstate highways, have long claimed to be the economic heart of the “other Georgia” – that largely rural expanse lying south of Atlanta. The community has also endured a bruising…

  Butts County Commission Chairman Roger Mc-Daniel is fond of calling his community “Georgia’s best kept secret,” an oblique reference to assets like his county’s position as a part of the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and its manageable commute…

Macon, middle Georgia’s mid-sized capital at the intersection of Interstate 16 (to Savannah and I-95) and I-75, has plenty of advantages from northern Bibb County to the southern end, where Georgia drops down to sea level. The beautiful Ocmulgee River…

On a crisp winter day, Heart of Georgia Regional Airport in Eastman is a hive of activity. Groups of young men and women gather around planes and move between hangers. Aircraft of all kinds line the expansive 6,600-foot runway, at…

Standing in front of a jury delivering a summation is routine business for Lonzy Edwards, an experienced Macon trial lawyer, but when he rose to speak to an apprehensive crowd of 300 South Bibb County residents last April, he found…

There are times when the residents of McDuffie County appear pleasantly distracted in the face of double digit unemployment, thanks to unique, even eccentric, sources for their economy. This small county of 21,500 near Augusta enjoys annual retail sales of…

The story of economic development in Wilkinson County may start with kaolin, the white mineral that comes out of the ground along the fall line and makes it way into everything from toothpaste to tires, but area leaders are determined…