Today’s moderator: Rick Badie

Rick Badie joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution as an education reporter in 1997. A South Georgia native, he’s covered the region’s immigrant communities, was a feature obituary writer and opinion columnist for the AJC’s Gwinnett edition.

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Space, the profitable frontier? Some say it could be for a state’s economy, especially down South. Georgia recently made a bid to land Space X, a rocket ship company, as the inaugural tenant of a proposed “spaceport” in Camden County. Today, a guest columnist says creation of a commercial space industry bodes well for Georgia, while the other writer encourages state officials to embrace a golden opportunity.

Guest column by Michael Mealling
South Georgia needs space industry
Guest column by Bob Scaringe
Create a commercial space industry

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Members of the conversion crew take a break as the main scoreboard is lowered to the floor to be worked on as the arena gets ready for the next concert at State Farm Arena, Thursday, October 2, 2025, in Atlanta. The crew was working on creating a stage for the Friday, Oct. 3 Maxwell concert. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com