By Jill Nolin | Editor
Happy Saturday!
Okefenokee Swamp is now a World Heritage site: While you were sleeping, an international committee in South Korea voted to recognize the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge as a World Heritage site. Achieving that designation, which puts the swamp in the same tier as the Grand Canyon in the eyes of the world, culminates a decade of advocacy and work. We talked to some key players who are there for the big meeting to get their reactions.
Trump’s visit: The big political news from the week unfolded in a Cobb County public school gym. By the time President Trump wrapped up his 75-minute speech in Marietta, it was clear that the event was more campaign rally than the official White House policy launch that it was billed as. Trump did eventually get to the new investment accounts for children, but he also used the platform to boost Republican allies like GOP Senate candidate and Congressman Mike Collins while bashing U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff — “your terrible senator” — and congressional “Dumocrats.”
Outrage over Cobb County School District’s decision to let Trump use Wheeler High School as the venue was a common theme among the hundreds of people who came out on the hot July day to protest Trump’s visit. One 1972 alumna of Wheeler High School said she sent emails to the local school board voicing her concerns.
“I am sickened to know that they are hosting him,” Lisa Crain said as she held a sign that said “Trump has declared war on education! And my alma mater is hosting him?”
The Cobb County School District defended the decision Thursday in a comment from an unidentified spokesperson.
“The President of the United States requested the use of a Cobb school for an official White House event focused on education and the new Trump Accounts savings program for children,” the statement read, adding the district had hosted President George W. Bush and then-candidate Barack Obama.
“As with those visits, the focus for the district was on showcasing our outstanding students, educators, and schools,” the statement continued.
New state hospital: I also want to flag a story written by our rockstar Atlanta Press Club summer intern, Ellie Fivas, who dug into a new state hospital for Georgians in the criminal justice system. In the story, she also explores what the project means for the state’s work to comply with a landmark disability case that originated out of Georgia.
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge has been named a UNESCO World Heritage site. Larry Woodward/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
ENVIRONMENT
By Ross Williams
The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is now a World Heritage site.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage committee approved the addition around midnight Saturday morning in Georgia time and about 1 p.m. in Busan, South Korea, where the meeting was held. The international committee came to the decision without debate from the international committee set up to recognize sites of universal environmental or cultural importance, but the effort to join that coterie was more than four decades in the making.
“The Okefenokee is a place where nature still reigns,” Kim Bednarek, executive director of Okefenokee Swamp Park and Adventures, said in an acceptance speech. “Across more than 400,000 acres, water, fire, peat, and time continue to shape an intact wetland, reminding us that conservation is about protecting the natural systems that sustain life itself.”
The Georgia Regional Hospital, a state-operated psychiatric hospital managed by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, in DeKalb County on July 15, 2026. Alander Rocha/Georgia Recorder
MENTAL HEALTH
By Ellie Fivas
After spending 16 years moving away from a psychiatric care system centered on institutionalization, state officials are preparing to build Georgia’s largest state hospital in decades.
More than 700 Georgians in the criminal justice system are currently waiting for a spot in a state psychiatric facility, according to Kevin Tanner, commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. That’s why state lawmakers made room for $409 million in the budget for a 300-bed forensic state hospital, which will be built near Georgia Regional Hospital, located in south DeKalb County, during the 2026 legislative session earlier this year.
The waiting list is putting pressure on county jails across Georgia. According to Tanner, the hospital will serve only forensic patients — people who have a mental illness or disability and have been charged with or convicted of a crime. When lawmakers announced the hospital project at a February press conference, several sheriffs were standing alongside them.
President Donald Trump and GOP governor candidate Rick Jackson share the stage at a White House event at Cobb County's Wheeler High School. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
2026 ELECTION
By Ross Williams
When President Donald Trump departed Georgia after his Cobb County rally Wednesday, he left something behind: fresh endorsements for governor nominee Rick Jackson and other aspiring GOP leaders who will be on the ballot in November.
The president invited Jackson to join him on the stage, calling the Republican healthcare executive “a true champion for the people.”
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff speaks with reporters after qualifying to run for reelection on March 2, 2026, at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. Alander Rocha/Georgia Recorder
2026 ELECTION
By Maya Homan
Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is calling on his rival in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race, Republican Congressman Mike Collins, to be more transparent about the role a white nationalist and social media influencer allegedly had in his trucking business.
In a press briefing Thursday, Ossoff argued that Collins’ silence on the issue is “disqualifying” for a candidate seeking higher office.
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