Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025
Good Morning! In the news today: A possible federal government shutdown renews attention on state’s looming health crisis; federal cuts hit senior, low-income Georgians; and residents of Savannah’s Yamacraw Village get some good — and bad — news. Finally, we note some things for your radar. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com
And yes, if you got this newsletter last night, we are republishing it at the correct hour. Thanks for reading!
NEWS: HEALTH CARE
High budget stakes
The federal government appears poised to shut down starting at midnight tonight. As of late Monday, Congress hadn’t passed legislation to fund government operations, which means many government offices will temporarily be closed, and nonexempt federal employees will be furloughed.
The three lawmakers representing Coastal Georgia in Washington — 1st District Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter and Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock — have weighed in on the looming shutdown.
In an interview with Coastal Georgia talk show host Scott Ryfun on Thursday, Carter, a Republican, put the blame for the impending shutdown squarely on Democrats. “Democrats just want to spend your money,” while “Republicans want to save you money,” he said, without indicating what, in the current dispute, they wanted more money for.
Meanwhile, while Ossoff urged President Trump to work with congressional Republicans and Democrats to “find a bipartisan path forward,” his Democratic colleague put the onus for ending the impasse and keeping the government open directly on Republicans.
“DC Republicans control Congress. They decide if the government stays open,” Warnock wrote Monday on the social media platform X. “DC Republicans control Congress.” The senator then added: “If they want my vote on their budget, they need to put forward a bill that funds health care.”
Indeed, as the The Current’s Margaret Coker details, at the heart of the funding dispute is health care. And for consumers and hospitals in Georgia, the stakes could not be higher.
NEWS: JOBS
‘It was a help’
Nearly a thousand senior Georgians are facing unemployment and uncertainty after the U.S. Department of Labor halted funding for the nation’s only job training and employment initiative designed specifically for low-income adults over the age of 55, The Current’s Justin Taylor reports.
The halt to the Senior Community Service Employment Program means that Georgians in 107 counties, including Chatham and other Coastal Georgia counties, have lost part-time jobs that once helped them cover rent, groceries, and other basic expenses.
Many of those people who benefited from the program now face the possibility of falling behind on bills and are facing the threat of losing their housing, according to Legacy Link, a nonprofit based in Oakwood that ran the program in Georgia.
“It was not a lot of money, but it was a help,” said Richmond Hill’s Lenease Reed, a 73-year-old former substitute teacher. “If I don’t have the money to pay my rent, this is just going to be hard. Where am I going to go?”
NEWS: HOUSING
Good news, bad news
The last of Yamacraw Village’s residents may now be going through the grinding work of packing up and vacate their apartments as the 84-year-old affordable housing development in Savannah gets set for demolition.
But last week, city housing officials gave them some news to buoy them through the sweaty task: As long as they meet federal eligibility requirements, they will be allowed to return to Yamacraw after it is rebuilt, The Current’s Jasmine Wright reports.
Yet while the officials assured Yamacraw’s last handful of residents of a future place to live, they could not say when the demolition and reconstruction would be completed. Worse yet, they said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal agency that oversees aid for subsidized housing, has yet to approve demolition plans or hire the contractor to rebuild the neighborhood.
NEWS: UPDATES
10 things for your radar
• End of an era: The end of business today officially marks the end of International Paper’s presence in Coastal Georgia, as the company officially closes two facilities in Savannah and two in Riceboro, in Liberty County. In all, some 1,100 jobs have been eliminated as part of the company’s effort to “maintain a high relative supply position as part of its ongoing transformation journey.” The company has owned the Savannah facilities since 1999, and its paper mill, along the Savannah River north of downtown, has been in operation for nearly 90 years.
• Millage rate hike? Camden County’s Board of Commissioners holds the second of three hearings on a new millage rate that would increase 2025 property taxes. The proposed tax increase is to finance the FY 2026 county budget adopted by the board, which calls for a new jail and sheriff’s office, an animal control facility, and additional funds for the joint development authority. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. this morning at 200 East 4th Street in Woodbine and will be streamed.
• More candidate announcements: Michael McCord, a Democrat, is running for the 1st District’s seat in Congress, and state Rep. Ruwa Romman of Duluth, also a Democrat, announces her run for governor.
• SPLOST: At a meeting today of the Savannah Traffic Club, Bert Brantley, president and CEO of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, is expected to urge voters in the November 4 election to approve another SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) to fund capital projects in Savannah.
• Anti-trafficking: Saying it’s urgent to address the problem of human trafficking, Chatham County Sheriff Richard Coleman announces the creation of a new, five person unit to address the scourge.
• Milestone: Coleman also announces the appointment of McArthur Holmes as chief deputy, the first Black officer ever to hold the post in the office’s 293-year history.
• Gambling: The House Study Committee on Gaming in the State of Georgia held its third public hearing in Savannah yesterday. Savannah’s Rep. Ron Stephens (District 164), a longtime supporter for more liberal gambling laws in Georgia, is a member of the committee. Effingham County’s Jeanne Seaver, founder and president of Moms Against Gambling, testified.
• Getting out the vote: Black Voters Matter holds a town hall today from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at St. Philip African Methodist Episcopal Church, 613 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., in Savannah.
• Let states collect data: Coastal Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter praises announcement by Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina of their “readiness to coordinate to collect data and manage the South Atlantic red snapper at the state level.”
• ‘Dead canary’: President Donald Trump tells the United Nations that climate change is “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.” For the home insurance industry, especially on the nation’s seacoasts, it appears to be all too real. “The insurance crisis in the U.S. is the canary in the coal mine, and the canary is dead,” one former California insurance commissioner says. “We are marching toward an uninsurable future in this country and across the globe; marching into the abyss.”
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Report: Ending Affordable Care Act subsidies could raise Georgia health costs by $2 billion
If Congress ends Obamacare subsidies, Georgia residents will face an estimated $2 billion in higher costs for health insurance, and hospitals in the state will lose $1.6 billion in revenue, according to a report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.
Yamacraw residents have no clear timeline for relocation
The last residents of Yamacraw Village, a subsidized housing complex that has survived for 84 years in downtown Savannah’s oldest Black neighborhood, will have a home to return to after the Housing Authority of Savannah completes the redevelopment of the area as long as they continue to meet federal eligibility requirements, officials said last week.
Seniors in Georgia lose jobs lifeline as federal funds stall for program
Nearly 1,000 senior Georgians have lost part-time jobs and face financial uncertainty after the U.S. Department of Labor halted funding for the Senior Community Service Employment Program, which was designed to help low-income adults over 55 find employment.
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