Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025
Good Morning! In the news today: The outlines of this fall’s elections and next year’s mid-terms in Coastal Georgia become clearer; three chiefs of police address guns, crime and immigration in Savannah and Chatham County; and the Chatham County Commission continues on a collision course with area state lawmakers. Finally, we note a few things you have may have missed. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com
NEWS: POLITICS
Telling moves
With election campaigning poised to quicken in Coastal Georgia after Labor Day, the outlines of November’s contests and next year’s midterm battles are beginning to emerge, The Current’s Craig Nelson and Jabari Gibbs report.
As usual, incumbents such as Cosby Johnson, the mayor of Brunswick, and Roger Moss, president of the Savannah-Chatham County school board, appear to dominate the scene.
At the same time, there is evidence of ferment, brought on in part by uncertainty across the economic and political landscape. For instance, in the Liberty County city of Midway, there are already three declared candidates for mayor and 10 for city council.
Then there is the case of Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, who roiled the waters in his own way last week when he declared he would not enter a race many fellow Democrats hoped he would. At the very least, it all means an unusually raucous 18 months ahead.
NEWS: PUBLIC SAFETY
Crime report
Overall crime in Savannah is down but incidents of domestic violence are up. Theft of guns from unlocked vehicles is down but persists. And if requested, county police will assist federal immigration agents in cases of “violent criminal things” but will not “knock on doors” to determine someone’s immigration status.
Those are just a few of the points made by three local police chiefs — Lenny Gunther of the Savannah Police Department, Jeff Hadley of the Chatham County Police Department, and Terry Enoch of the Savannah-Chatham County public schools’ police force — at a briefing sponsored by the Savannah chapter of the NAACP on Sunday, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
In related immigration news, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday that some 75 Georgia National Guard soldiers and airman will join agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in efforts to find, detain and deport illegal immigrants in the state, The Current’s Craig Nelson and Margaret Coker report. The National Guard personnel will provide “logistical and administrative support” to ICE “at several of [the agency’s] locations/facilities across the state,” according to the governor’s office.
NEWS: GOVERNING
Collision course
The Chatham County Commission is stepping up efforts to reinstate the disbanded board of the region’s transit authority, insisting that a recent state law mandating the board’s replacement was unconstitutional.
By a vote of 6-3, the commission on Friday approved a resolution that seeks to nullify a new law that dissolved the board of directors of Chatham Area Transit (CAT) on June 30 and replaced it with a new, expanded board the following day.
The vote puts the commission and its chairman, Chester Ellis, even more firmly on a collision course with the area’s legislative delegation to the General Assembly in Atlanta, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
NEWS: UPDATES
ICYMI
- Any means necessary: “Drones, lasers, 3D maps: Inside Tybee Island’s high-tech fight against erosion.”
- To speed up training for the estimated 10,000 new deportation officers that ICE plans to hire before the end of this year — many of whom it plans to train at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Brunswick — the agency is cutting out five weeks of Spanish-language training.
- The Georgia secretary of state’s office set to purge 478,000 registered but inactive voters from the voting rolls.
- More than 180 FEMA employees sent a letter to members of Congress and other officials, arguing that the agency’s direction and current leaders’ inexperience harms the agency’s mission and could result in a disaster on the level of Hurricane Katrina.
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State troops to assist ICE with immigration enforcement tasks
By Craig Nelson and Margaret Coker
Georgia National Guard troops will provide logistical and administrative support to ICE officers in the state, supplementing the agency’s efforts to find, detain and deport illegal immigrants.
Chatham area police chiefs address gun violence, financial scams, immigration
By Craig Nelson
Savannah police chiefs reported a decrease in overall crime, but an increase in domestic violence, as well as a decrease in gun thefts from vehicles, and a commitment to assisting federal immigration agents in cases of “violent criminal things”.
International Paper to close Savannah, Riceboro plants
By Robin Kemp and Craig Nelson
According to a press release on its website, International Paper is cutting 1,100 jobs at the Savannah containerboard mill and packaging facility, and at the Riceboro containerboard mill and Riceboro Timber and Lumber.
Campaigning begins in Coastal Georgia, election contests intensify
By Craig Nelson and Jabari Gibbs
Leading figures in Coastal Georgia, such as Brunswick Mayor Cosby Johnson and Savannah-Chatham County school board president Roger Moss, are making moves to secure their positions in the upcoming elections, while Savannah Mayor Van Johnson has ruled out running for the 1st District House seat.
Ellis, Chatham County Commission step up CAT board campaign
By Craig Nelson
The Chatham County Commission voted 6-3 to pass a resolution to nullify a state law that replaced the board of the region’s transit authority, claiming it was unconstitutional.
Drones, lasers, 3D maps: Inside Tybee Island’s high-tech fight against erosion
By Emily Jones/WABE, Grist
Researchers from the University of Georgia’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography are using LiDAR technology to create detailed maps of Tybee Island’s beach and dunes, providing data to help local leaders protect the coastline from rising seas and extreme storms.
$20 million in fines issued for insurers violating Georgia’s Mental Health Parity Act
By Ellen Eldridge/GPB
Georgia’s Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John King has fined health insurance companies over $20 million for violating the state’s mental health parity laws, but an advocacy group says more can be done.
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