By Jill Nolin | Editor
“I think it is recognition that the Okefenokee is really one of a kind, that we are lucky in Georgia to have such a beautiful, biodiverse, special place, and it will mean that the entire world recognizes how special the Okefenokee is.” - Jennette Gayer, director of Environment Georgia, referring to the refuge’s still-pending UNESCO World Heritage nomination.
A kayaker paddles through Chase Prairie in the Okefenokee Swamp on Nov. 13, 2025. Credit: Justin Taylor/The Current GA/Catchlight Local/Report for America
ENVIRONMENT
By Ross Williams
Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp could soon be elevated to the same level as Yellowstone National Park, the fjords of Norway or Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage Committee is meeting this week in Busan, South Korea, with an agenda that includes deciding whether to add the 400,000-acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to its list of World Heritage sites.
Doulas participate in a simulation training session. The Trump administration recently proposed to rescind a requirement that certain employers report the demographics of their workforce. (Photo courtesy of Kenda Sutton-El/Birth in Color)
ECONOMY
By Nada Hassanein, Stateline
A federal commission voted Tuesday in favor of a Trump administration proposal to rescind requirements that larger employers report the demographics of their workers — information that’s used to help enforce racial and gender antidiscrimination laws.
Most employers with 100 or more workers have been required to submit data annually on staff sex, race and ethnicity since 1966 to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Earlier this summer, the administration submitted a proposed rule that would eliminate that reporting requirement for companies as well as for state and local governments.
Democrats in Congress are raising questions about a draft rule proposed by the Trump administration that would change the way grants, such as those by the National Institutes of Health, are administered. Shown is an NIH Pediatric Oncology Branch researcher’s lab jacket, embroidered with the NIH logo. (Photo courtesy NIH)
DC BUREAU
By Amelia Twyman
Democrats in Congress are pushing back against a proposed Trump administration rule introduced by the Office of Management and Budget that would substantially change the way federal grants are reviewed and distributed.
Over the past few weeks, several groups of lawmakers have written public comment letters to Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought expressing strong opposition to the new draft rule, which would give political appointees the power to decide what institutions receive grant funding, among other revisions.
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