Big Challenge for Tiny Houses

Sunday Solutions — Oct. 13, 2024

Good morning! You know this one: Early voting for the Nov. 5 election starts Tuesday. We’ve retooled our voter guide for practical matters: where to get info about voting, ballots and candidates. We add more every day. It’s at this link. Send us your questions about voting, and we’ll try to answer them. In the meantime, read on, because it’s been a busy week and there’s more to come. …and don’t miss this week’s Second Cup if you need a shot of practical optimism!

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EXPLAINER: COMMUNITY

Tiny houses, big challenges

Glynn County residents and officials are still grappling with how to serve its homeless citizens while 50 tiny houses sit vacant. In an ever-growing snarl of miscommunication, incorrect information and cross-blame, people remain on the street while the Brunswick Housing Authority, community housing group Hand in Hand of Glynn (which raised $6 million to help) and the state try to sort things out. Each entity has a requirement or hurdle that another can’t seem to meet. During all the wrangling, the citizens who might benefit and have qualified to live there are dying. Glynn County reporter Jabari Gibbs has talked to all involved and he’s written an explainer of the competing problems.

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NEWS: ELECTIONS

Chatham DA race: Who pays

Last week was the final deadline for candidates to file legally required forms that show who’s backing their campaigns through donations and personal income disclosures. These filings ensure transparency to citizens about who’s backing whom and the personal finance forms show sources of income for candidates. In the highest profile race in Chatham County, the top law enforcement officer for the county — incumbent district attorney Shalena Cook Jones — didn’t file her forms. And while late filings aren’t unique to Chatham County candidates, it’s noteworthy because she was fined by the State Ethics Commission last December for failing to file 11 documents required by law. At the time, she said it was an administrative error; she hasn’t commented on what happened this time. Her challenger, former assistant DA Andre Pretorius, reported $256,000 in donations. The Current’s Jake Shore looks at the campaign finance picture.

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Practice your news skills

It’s your day to test your news knowledge with a few short questions related to stories we published in recent weeks. Below you’ll find our leaderboard with the top scores from the previous week, and the overall leaderboard, which tracks scores over time. 

We will continue to track scores and update the leaderboard each week. 

Make sure you compete every week and leave your nickname below for a chance to win an exclusive prize from The Current! 

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NEWS: PUBLIC SAFETY

Sheriffs and Liberty

Incumbent Liberty County sheriff Will Bowman was the first Black sheriff elected in the majority Black county. He’s running against one of his lieutenants, Gary Eason. For some, the race brings back reminders of the Sikes family dynasty once in charge of the office. However, when Liberty County reporter Robin Kemp asked people about public safety, none of that came up. While public safety seems to be an issue moving the needle elsewhere, it may not be the ticket in Liberty.

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FEATURES: EDITOR’S CHOICE

☕ Your second cup: ‘A wave of democracy’

While the long election season can dampen our optimism about how choices are made, here’s a story that shows that democratic ideas for change can take root and thrive. The 74, an independent news site dedicated to education, brings us a story about “participatory budgeting,” which started as a way to teach high school students and is now a model used for groups to have a say in how public money is spent across Rhode Island.

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