Georgia Trend Daily – June 17, 2026

June 17, 2026 GPB

Sarah Kallis and Sofi Gratas report, Rick Jackson will be the Republican nominee for governor, according to a race called by the Associated Press on Tuesday evening. Jackson, a billionaire and healthcare executive, defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a runoff election.

June 17, 2026 Georgia Secretary of State

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June 17, 2026 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!

Jana Lawrence reports that the state is bursting at the seams with visitors here for the World Cup games and festivities. It’s been so much fun watching folks from other countries experience Georgia, the Southeast, and the United States for the first time. This issue of the Unofficial Guide will hopefully give some ideas of places to stop into for visitors and residents alike, as they travel the state.

June 17, 2026 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Emma Hurt reports, within days of the CrowdStrike outage that crippled Delta Air Lines’ operations in July 2024, then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced his department would open an investigation into Delta “to ensure the airline is following the law and taking care of its passengers during continued widespread disruptions.” The Trump administration in November opted to quietly close that investigation, a Delta spokesperson confirmed this week after Politico first reported on the development.

June 17, 2026 Savannah Morning News

Vanessa Johns reports that a tropical disturbance being monitored in the Gulf could become the first named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, and some forecast models show the system potentially affecting parts of Georgia later this week. The National Hurricane Center is tracking the system as Invest 90L, a designation used for areas of disturbed weather that have the potential to develop into a tropical depression or tropical storm.

June 17, 2026 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

Sundi Rose reports that Georgia continues to build its reputation as one of the South’s economic powerhouses, landing in the top 15 in a new national ranking of state economies. According to WalletHub’s 2026 Best & Worst State Economies report, which evaluated all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 28 metrics, Georgia ranks 12th overall.

June 17, 2026 Augusta Chronicle

Erica Van Buren reports that University of Georgia researchers are studying controlled environment agriculture to help growers combat the effects of climate change, such as extended periods of drought. Ruchika Kashyap, an urban and controlled environment plant pathologist at the University of Georgia, said controlled environment agriculture can range from growing crops in a hoop house to a high-tech greenhouse.

June 17, 2026 Marietta Daily Journal

Isabelle Manders reports that the Cobb County School District has filed a lawsuit against the county government and Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson over what it alleges are “exorbitant and unlawful” administrative fees being charged against school tax revenues. According to the complaint, the county has charged the school district more than $130 million in administrative fees since 2011 as reimbursement for collecting school taxes.

June 17, 2026 Savannah Morning News

Destini Ambus reports, less than a week after residents of neighboring city Port Wentworth met to organize a protest against data centers, Garden City City Council unanimously approved a six-month moratorium for these centers. The moratorium doesn’t halt the rezoning of a land for this use, but it does halt the acceptance of applications, issuance of permits, licenses of approvals within the limits of Garden City.

June 17, 2026 Newnan Times-Herald

Jeffrey Cullen-Dean reports that Fayetteville residents and Flint Riverkeeper recently announced their plans to file a lawsuit against the QTS data center. The lawsuit will be filed on July 27, according to the announcement, after a 60-day notice.

June 17, 2026 Augusta Chronicle

Joe Hotchkiss reports that Augusta will have a new mayor. Steven Kendrick, a local blueprint company owner whose civic involvement includes more than 13 years leading Richmond County’s tax office, defeated incumbent Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson on Tuesday in a nonpartisan runoff election.

June 17, 2026 Capitol Beat News

Ty Tagami reports that two current state senators defeated two former state senators in the Georgia runoff for lieutenant governor Tuesday, with Sens. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, and Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, set to face each other in the November general election. Dolezal defeated John F. Kennedy of Macon, who resigned from the Senate in December to focus on his campaign for the GOP nomination.

June 17, 2026 Georgia Recorder

Maya Homan reports, Georgia’s special legislative session starts Wednesday, and while partisan fights about redistricting are likely to dominate and attract daily protests, there is one issue that legislators must come to an agreement on: What to do about Georgia’s election system. The state’s current election equipment uses QR codes to count ballots, but has faced criticism from cybersecurity experts and proponents of hand-marked paper ballots, who say that ballots should be counted based on text that can be deciphered by humans.

June 17, 2026 The Brunswick News

Gordon Jackson reports that the special legislative session called by Gov. Brian Kemp that begins today has an added agenda item besides redistricting and replacing the QR codes to count ballots. Elected officials will also consider a new 1% Local Homestead Option Tax, also known as LHOST.

June 17, 2026 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Greg Bluestein reports that Gov. Brian Kemp spent years building a political machine that dominated state politics. On Tuesday, Republican voters delivered one of the clearest rebukes of his political career. The governor’s hand-picked U.S. Senate candidate, Derek Dooley, lost to U.S. Rep. Mike Collins. His surprise pick for governor, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, was defeated by billionaire Rick Jackson.