TODAY’S FEATURED STORY
Tybee bans beach smoking
Tybee Island passed an ordinance to ban smoking on its beaches, crosswalks and pier effective June 1, 2022.
Liberty County sheriff opens probe into traffic stop, drug search involving HBCU student-athletes
The Tide: Presentation shows segregated history of Savannah facilities, parks
What a spaceport study in Michigan means for Camden
Hyundai considers Ellabell for new Kia EV plant
CAT buses go electric
Think tank study blames government rules for soaring house prices as speculation drives market
Coastal Georgia early voting guide
Let’s get there together.
Subscribe to our newsletters delivered twice weekly to your inbox.
georgia
MAY 24 PRIMARY: MAKING YOUR CHOICES COUNT
Indicted Brunswick DA, Arbery killer allegedly in contact 16 times
Drug overdoses due to fentanyl spike in Georgia
REFERENCE POINTS
Georgia U.S. House District 1 Watch: Buddy Carter
Follow key votes, funding sources, speeches, social media, legislation
Georgia U.S. Senate Watch: Ossoff, Warnock
Follow key votes, funding sources, speeches, social media, legislation
Your news: Choose wisely
Quizzes, videos, discussion points to help us all make decisions based on facts, not fiction.
MAY 24 PRIMARY: MAKING YOUR CHOICES COUNT
Candidates who qualified for May 24 primary for state, local offices in Coastal Georgia
Support our publication
Your donation today supports in-depth journalism for Coastal Georgia.
ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE
Georgia ‘refilleries’ are having a resurgence, helping customers cut back on plastic
A Savannah company reduces waste by offering consumers products with limited packaging and refillable options.
McIntosh County rethinks roadside spraying
McIntosh residents pushed back against a plan to switch from mowing to chemical control of roadside vegetation.
Environmental groups petition to intervene in coal ash case
An executive with Georgia Power said last month that ash from four of 10 ponds will continue to be exposed to groundwater after the closures are completed.
Juliette residents tap into new county water line, but coal ash concerns remain
Targeted strategy may keep wildlife safer from cats
The Tide: Camden leader job hunts in Florida without spaceport on his resume
Sporting goods tax program stirs debate over conservation priorities
ELECTIONS
Georgia election-year politics jolted by Supreme Court draft abortion opinion
Democratic group requests DOJ investigation into Herschel Walker’s financial disclosure forms
Kemp signs bill giving GBI power to handle election fraud complaints
Watch the forum: First District, U.S. House candidates
Kemp, Perdue trade blows in first televised debate of Republican gubernatorial race
Use of Civil War-era law used to challenge Marjorie Taylor Greene candidacy a longshot
Question for Congressional candidates? Send it to us.
PUBLIC HEALTH
Georgia’s rural hospitals are holding on. But communities where they’ve closed face a brutal reality
Delays for autism diagnosis, treatment grew even longer during pandemic
State commission expedites hearings to help speed cannabis oil to patients
politics
Your County Officials, Services
Want to give cheers or a complaints or a suggestion? Want to attend council or commission meetings, or just find out about garbage services or complain about potholes? Click on your county to get started.
DATA
Follow News Through Data with 538
Fivethirtyeight.com is a website that tells stories and news through statistical analysis using reliable, credible data to do it. Click here each day for new stories in politics, science, economics and more.
GOVERNING
Find Out What’s on the Agenda
Click here to see this week’s lineup of what’s being proposed and what’s up for discussion on various committees, boards and councils that represent you.
EDUCATION
6 takeaways from 20 polls on race discussions in classrooms
Kemp signs off on laws he says will keep ‘woke politics’ out of public schools
Georgia college students learn hard economics lessons as cost of living rises
LGBTQ community, people of color in the crosshairs of banned book movement
Bill proposing ban on free-speech zones at college campuses clears Georgia Legislature
Legislature sends required recess bill to Kemp’s desk
General Assembly sends library book-banning measure to Gov. Kemp
Controversial plan to ease school library book ban process clears the House
The Tide: Camden leader job hunts in Florida without spaceport on his resume
Howard did not mention Spaceport Camden on the five-page resume or accompanying cover letter he submitted to Collier County. Howard has been the county administrator in Camden since 2007. He was named as spaceport project leader…
The Tide: Taxes and the .001%
The stories from the nonprofit news site ProPublica helps to explain who billionaires are, how they got that way and how they are taxed.
Prosecution, defense rest in Arbery hate-crimes trial
Federal attorneys present racist communications as evidence against three men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery.
Jury hears opening arguments about motives in Arbery case
Both the prosecutors and defense attorneys also said that though racist slurs and language was reprehensible, it was not illegal.
Justice for Ahmaud: Jury selection begins in federal hate crimes trial
Knowledge of the case will not be a disqualifying factor for the trial stemming from the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.
Denied spaceport injunction heads to Court of Appeals
Coastal Georgia’s state delegation picks Kemp, party unity
New ‘Dirty Dozen’ includes climate change on Georgia Coast
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Historic report on Federal Indian Boarding Schools finds two in Georgia, 400 nationwide
Federal Indian boarding school system had 2 Georgia sites where children were taken from families and attempted to assimilate them through education, punishment. Many never returned home.
Hottest year since ’84: who benefited in 4 charts
Measuring by net worth, it’s likely that the vast majority of Americans are better off than they were in 2020 – or even before the COVID-19 pandemic – meaning…
Pandemic’s gardening boom shows how gardens can cultivate public health
In the the survey, most gardeners seemed to either experience a heightened sense of joy and reassurance or feel more attuned to the natural world. This seemed to have…
Ukrainian teens’ voices from the middle of war: ‘You begin to appreciate what was common and boring for you’
The words of Ukraine teens have several messages: All intend to stay in Ukraine. Despair is absent. The students expect the war to end with a Ukrainian victory, and…
FROM THE CURRENT
Some Georgia tax credit scholarships go to anti-LGBT schools
Websites of 100 SSO scholarship schools in Georgia and found 15 with explicitly anti-gay policies. Many others assert religious stances but do not specifically mention homosexuality.
Red flags about Savannah’s concrete industry reveals wrongdoing
Ten years ago a Savannah whistleblower alerted federal authorities to a cartel costing Georgia taxpayers millions of dollars. This month, U.S. attorneys won their first admission of guilt.
Scholarship Tax Credit Program: $600M with little oversight
With no data or complaint process to guide, Georgia’s School Scholarship Organizations have shifted more than $600 million from state coffers to scholarships at private schools around the state – including more than 40 in the Savannah area.
Brunswick residents living next to a Superfund site worry about cleanup 40 years later
Brunswick is surrounded by toxic industrial sites that threaten humans, fish and waterways. Residents want more accountability.
Robberies keep violent crime top of mind for many Savannahians
American cities are suffering a gun-fueled crime wave, and Savannah is no different. Violent crime is at a 10-year high, according to Savannah Police Department statistics.
‘It seemed like our lives didn’t matter.’
Generations of Black residents in Brunswick and Glynn County moved away to find opportunity and equality. A Better Glynn wants to improve things at home instead.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTERS
Two notes each week bring you timely, in-depth environment notes and a roundup of news and ideas to help make our communities stronger.