CORRECTION, 9 a.m., Sept. 16, 2025: A newsletter item has been corrected to reflect that Stacey Abrams was Georgia House minority leader.
Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025
Good Morning! In the news today: New party and new run for Geoff Duncan, federal authorities seek more information on financial scams targeting soldiers by a Walthourville-based church, the Chatham County Commission receives another legal setback in its CAT fight, and some local reaction to the horrifying killing of Charlie Kirk. Finally, we note five things you may have missed. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
NEWS: POLITICS
Democrat Duncan opens campaign
Georgia’s former lieutenant governor, a Republican whose firm anti-Trump stance got him blackballed from the state party, is announcing his campaign as a Democratic candidate for governor.
Geoff Duncan, a longtime state legislator and proud conservative, announced his shift to the Democratic Party earlier this year, saying the contemporary GOP led by President Donald Trump was unrecognizable to him. The announcement to run for governor trumpeted Duncan’s state votes to expand access to health care in Georgia’s rural communities and support for the historic hate crimes law that passed in the wake of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder by three white vigilantes in Glynn County. Watch Duncan’s launch video here
NEWS: COURTS
Defrauding soldiers
The FBI is asking Liberty County residents for help in its investigation of the House of Prayer Christian Church following the federal indictment last week of eight of its leaders on charges of financial fraud.
The church’s head, known only by the alias Rony Denis, as well as Anthony Oloans and five other associates, face allegations they defrauded soldiers at Fort Stewart and other Army bases around the U.S. through real estate and education scams, The Current’s Robin Kemp reports.
The allegations are contained in a 26-count indictment released by federal prosecutors last week. The church, which has congregations across the U.S., is headquartered on Airline Drive in Walthourville.
Denis is scheduled to appear in federal court in Augusta for a detention hearing on Wednesday. A hearing date for Oloans, who is also in custody, has not been set. The five others named in the 41-page indictment have been released after each depositing a $50,000, no-cash bond.
NEWS: COURTS
CAT fight continues
The Chatham County Commission has suffered another legal setback in its attempts to reinstate the disbanded board of directors of the region’s transit authority.
Superior Court Judge Timothy R. Walmsley on Friday ordered the commission and its chairman, Chester Ellis, to immediately stop any attempts to restore Chatham Area Transit’s former, nine-member board, which was replaced July 1 by the state legislature to expand panel with broader regional representation.
Walmsley’s ruling is a victory for the reconfigured board, which asked the court for the emergency injunction. It is also the latest turn in a months-long legal battle that has roiled the usually placid relations between the commission and Ellis, on the one hand, and the area’s legislative delegation to Atlanta and local business and political leaders, on the other, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
NEWS: POLITICS
Horrifying
The horrifying shooting death of Charlie Kirk, the co-founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, has dominated the news and political events.
The Chatham County GOP, for instance, opened its quarterly meeting with a moment of silence for Kirk and the victims of 9/11, and the top of its Facebook page read: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Charlie Kirk, 1993-2025.”
Elected officeholders, political candidates and party officials in Coastal Georgia weighed in, too. Following are links to what some of them said:
U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter called Kirk “a beacon of conservative politics.” 1st District congressional candidate Kandiss Taylor saw an analogy to Jesus. Jim Kingston, another candidate in the race, counseled, “Remember the good Charlie did and reject political violence.” Still another, Pat Farrell, condemned “the unhinged political violence from Leftists” that “has become all too common over the past few years.”
Beth Majeroni, the head of Ladies on the Right, echoed Farrell: “The radical Left thinks that murder is justified for unwanted speech.”Jon Ossoff, one of Georgia’s two Democratic senators, called political violence “unacceptable.” His counterpart, Raphael Warnock, said: “Either you have a democracy or you have political violence. You cannot have a democracy that’s awash in political violence.”
NEWS: POLITICS
5 thing for your radar
• The Georgia House’s Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Election Procedures is scheduled to hold a hearing in Savannah from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18, at the Savannah Technical College’s Eckburg Auditorium, 5717 White Bluff Road.
• “As good as the state of Georgia has been to these companies, to close their doors in such a way … was a disservice to the industry, a disservice to the communities it impacts, and a disservice to those employees,” says state Commissioner of Agriculture Tyler Harper, commenting on International Paper’s decision to close two pulp and paper mills in Coastal Georgia.
“Georgia farmers, foresters still awaiting disaster relief a year after Helene,” Capitol Beat reports.
• Former Georgia House minority leader and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams outlines what she views as the 10 steps to autocracy.
• “From New York to Savannah and now to Paris, Mashama’s journey is proof that Black excellence knows no boundaries. Her vision and talent continue to inspire entrepreneurs everywhere, showing what’s possible when passion meets purpose,” Moncello Stewart, president of the Greater Savannah Black Chamber of Commerce, writes from the French capital, where award-winning chef Mashama Bailey last week marked the formal opening of L’Arrêt, a venture of Savannah-based restaurant The Grey.
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Liberty County-based House of Prayer indictment details years of alleged fraud
The FBI is investigating The House of Prayer Christian Church in Walthourville for allegedly defrauding soldiers and veterans out of their GI Bill and VA housing benefits through a real estate and education scam.
Chatham County Commission dealt another setback in CAT dispute
Judge Timothy R. Walmsley has ordered the Chatham County Commission to refrain from creating a parallel board of directors for the region’s transit authority, granting a victory to the reconfigured board and halting the commission’s attempts to restore the disbanded board.
Scientists detected a potential biosignature on Mars – an astrobiologist explains what these traces of life are, and how researchers figure out their source
The Perseverance rover has found a potential biosignature in a Martian rock sample, which could suggest the red planet once hosted microbial life, although further research is needed to determine the source of the minerals.
Measles case reported in Fulton County, possible exposure near Georgia State University
An unvaccinated resident of Fulton County, Georgia was diagnosed with measles, and potential exposures occurred at various locations between Sept. 2 and 11, 2025.
Georgia timber industry faces struggle as large mills close
International Paper’s decision to close two pulp and paper mills in Coastal Georgia will have a far-reaching impact on the local economy, affecting more than 1,100 jobs and leaving 4.5 million tons of timber without a buyer.
Judge: Georgia can prohibit groups from sending unsolicited absentee ballot applications to voters
U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee upheld the absentee ballot application provisions of Georgia’s Senate Bill 202, ruling that the use of pre-filled absentee ballot applications increased confusion among voters and that the secretary of state’s office had demonstrated “interrelated compelling governmental interests” in curtailing their use.
Brunswick DA, Glynn County ordered to mediation over deficit dispute
A Glynn County Superior Court judge has ordered mediation between Brunswick-area District Attorney Keith Higgins and Glynn County to resolve a yearlong conflict over budget shortfalls and alleged financial mismanagement.
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