Sunday Solutions — Sept. 24, 2023
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So what are you doing with these first few days of fall? Your Sunday editor is deciding whether to rake or watch a few more leaves come down. Today we look at more weighty decisions driven by forces we can’t often control and those we might be able to. Here’s to hoping you have time do a little reading as the days get a little cooler.
Chemical legacies
In Glynn County, the deadly toxic waste left from old chemical plants has been an unwelcome entity that shapes nearly all community moves somehow. It factors into larger municipal decisions around growth, planning and zoning, businesses and customers, housing development, drainage and stormwater runoff, school and recreation sites. And 40 years later, the poisons play roles in more individual choices like where where to fish or go crabbing for your dinner catch. Now, early research from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University shows the mercury, PCBs and toxaphenes plus adjacent substances are now literally part of longtime residents’ lifeblood. All health-related problems for each person living near the remains of 4 federal Superfund sites will also have to factor in the presence of chemicals companies left behind. The results announced last week are stark lessons: As we make Coastal Georgia great for business, it has to be great for its citizens, too, in the short-term and in its legacy. Read an update on the results from environment reporter Mary Landers.
From the week
- “Second yellow-legged hornet nest found near Savannah, after species ‘very likely’ entered via port” We’ve got hornets that eat bees. GPB’s Benjamin Payne reports on the second nest destroyed and how they may have gotten here. If you’re following along, there’s a map, too.
- “Georgia lawmakers to tackle fishing rights issue” Last year, legislators ensured the rights of fisherman in boats to drop a line in navigable Georgia streams and rivers even if they were sitting near private property. Now they’ve got to figure out what “navigable” means.
- “Manufacturers defend Georgia tax incentives” Another legislative committee is researching the effects — good and bad — of Georgia’s healthy tax credit programs. Not everyone thinks the investment is paying off as it should and others point to new job providers like automotive and film industries as proof the credits work.
- “Georgia Supreme Court declares revenue from COAM leases exempt from taxes” In another struggle for definitions, the state’s highest court ruled the Georgia law on taxing revenue from coin-operated amusement machines is too vague. As a result, income generated from people who play the machines (think crane or claw games and video arcade games) isn’t taxed and neither is the revenue generated from leasing the machines.
Free Covid tests are back
Starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to order more free Covid tests from the COVIDtests.gov and the new vaccine boosters are arriving at area providers. If you still have a few of the last homes tests, here’s a link to check and see if their expiration dates have been extended. While there are a lot of things we can control, a nasty virus isn’t one of them — but we can use our abilities to recognize and fight it. We can also stay home for a few days if we have it so we don’t endanger others. And no, we haven’t found evidence of any new shutdowns despite a recent spike in cases and rhetoric popping up in campaigns. Our only goal is to give you the info you need to make up your own mind.
How did you do?
Ready to test your news quiz prowess? Be sure to leave a first name or nickname below so we can track your scores. Last week’s scores were close, but no perfect 10s. Will you change that this week?
Here’s the link to this week’s quiz.
Leaderboard:
• First Place (9/10): Sonny
• Second Place (8/10): Savannah Agenda
• Third Place (7/10): johnj
Your second cup: Are public schools dead?
As employers scramble for well-trained and educated workers, we often hear questions about how our systems are preparing students for the world. Author and journalist Cara Fitzpatrick has covered education for years, and now she’s written a book, “The Death of Public School,” to look at timely questions about basic education and the impacts of school voucher and charter programs. She sits down with Chalkbeat reporter Matt Barnum to talk about the early history of vouchers, school choice arguments and how education has become central to American culture wars. Here’s her interview.
Study shows high exposure to PCBs in Brunswick
Blood samples from 100 long-term residents of the area showed higher than average levels of chemical pollutants that had been manufactured nearby.
Second yellow-legged hornet nest found near Savannah, after species ‘very likely’ entered via port
Another nest of yellow-legged hornets was identified Friday on Wilmington Island, following the nation’s first sighting of the invasive species there in August.
Georgia lawmakers to tackle fishing rights issue
The panel plans to hold two of its meetings in the cold-water trout stream country of the North Georgia mountains and a third in Statesboro, a city through which the Ogeechee River flows.
Manufacturers defend Georgia tax incentives
Opponents say lower tax taxes may be better incentives than credits, hwile others say exemption is necessary for large projects.
Georgia Supreme Court declares revenue from COAM leases exempt from taxes
State argued the Georgia law exempting coin-operated machines from taxes only applies to income generated from the customers who play the games. Both the Fulton County Superior Court and, subsequently, the Georgia Court of Appeals, ruled against the state, declaring lease income from COAMs also is tax-exempt.
Is public education dead or just redefined? Author Cara Fitzpatrick on the history of school choice.
Author discusses the early history of school vouchers that started with resistance to desegregation; the more progressive arguments for school choice; choice advocates’ recent focus on culture war issues; and how the title of her book could be true when most students still attend a public school.
Brunswick takes Honeywell to court over decades of pollution
Brunswick argues that mercury and PCBs on its property from a long-defunct manufacturing facility and a more recently retired electric power plant amounts to a continuing trespass and nuisance.
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