Sunday Solutions — Dec. 7, 2025
Good morning! We’ve got a whale of a lineup today, complete with a dramatic whale rescue and some good news for a change. And, there’s a look at a few things to note before the legislature opens in January and others we didn’t want you to miss. Let’s push off and go.
NEWS: ENVIRONMENT
Team’s harrowing 2-day effort partially untangles whale
On Wednesday, a team from Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources took an emergency call: An aerial survey team spotted a distressed North Atlantic right whale entangled in more than 300-feet of commercial fishing gear off Cumberland Island. With fewer than 400 individuals left, these highly endangered large whales draw quick attention. The Current‘s Mary Landers got the play-by-play and photos from the effort that put the rescuers in a 26-foot rigid inflatable boat alongside a young bus-size whale in distress while they tried to cut the lead-weighted ropes from the young whale known as Division.
Whole whale catalog
Champagne and Millipede, a pair of right whales, are the first known mothers in this year’s calving season, The Current GA’s Mary Landers reports.
Scientists know Champagne has at least 11 siblings because researchers collect skin and blubber samples from the endangered whales to add to a browsable, public national catalog of North Atlantic right whales. It’s open to you, too. Check out Division, Callosity Back and their families.
NEWS: ENVIRONMENT
Tightening up car sales laws
As with most things tied to technology, staying current isn’t easy. Legislators may already need to update a law that takes effect in January, according to some used auto dealers. That law will curb fraud by thousands of shell companies and unscrupulous used car dealers in the state by limiting the number of temporary tags they can receive. It also will allow the Department of Revenue to monitor tags and to suspend access to cut down tax fraud. The law will require the state’s 4,000 dealers who sell vehicles online to have a business license and to lease office space separate from their residences. It’s a tall task to tighten things up and The Current‘s Jasmine Wright, in her second of two reports on this topic, looks at how the law will affect smaller dealers and where the pitfalls are for them.
🎉 Congratulations to Stacy for knowing that last week’s location was the Moss Cottage at Jekyll Island Club on Jekyll Island. We had 12 correct answers last week — let’s see how you do this week.
Test how well you spy details in Coastal Georgia. Give us the location of the item in the photo above. Some spots may be easier to identify than others; some will be tougher. We’ll collect correct answers each week and draw for a weekly winner.
CLICK HERE TO GIVE YOUR ANSWER
NEWS: HIGHER EDUCATION
Making education affordable to all
A couple weeks ago, we featured an analysis of Georgia and educational attainment that shows that 104 counties — mostly all rural — fall into the bottom national quartile for per capita income. This statistic, along with other data showing the lack of higher educational attainment in rural areas, was a warning sign of the ever-growing division between the state’s rural and urban areas, stunting the state’s economic growth. This week a Georgia Senate study committee took on the income divide and the fact that Georgia is one of two U.S. states that doesn’t provide needs-based scholarships for university students. It’s recommending a new set of awards, separate from the HOPE scholarships, to fill that gap. However, the debates over funding from unrestricted lottery money could make a plan tough to pass, particularly in an election year. Read the report from Capitol Beat about how the plan might work and whom it would serve.
ALSO FROM THE WEEK
- Georgia’s first floating oyster farm engages students with coast: Learn how Coastal Georgia students are finding out more about where they live from The Current’s Mary Landers and Justin Taylor.
- Daughter’s battle for father’s care sparks scrutiny on Georgia War Veterans Home: Follow one woman’s fight to draw attention to inconsistent care and staffing at one of Georgia’s War Veterans Homes. From The Current‘s Margaret Coker.
- Georgia prisons push for drone mitigation as contraband deliveries rise: Officials request more staff and new ways to crack down on drone deliveries. From Grant Blankenship at GPB News.
- Georgia public schools to receive overdose reversal kits: Ty Tagami at Capitol Beat reports that the national opioid settlement funds will pay for safety measures in schools.
RESEARCH: EDUCATION
☕ Your second cup: Girls vs. boys & math
Girls and boys solve math problems by taking different routes, according to math and psychology researchers. And, the differences highlight cultural pressures and rewards for both; it’s an indicator of how creatively they may attack problems in general. The research also helps us understand the challenges teachers face to help every student grow and test their own skills creatively. It’s yet another reason we should all appreciate the work our instructors put in as we learned the multiplication tables, algebra and more. Here’s the breakdown from The Conversation.
Enjoy.
In two-day effort at sea, team partially frees whale of fishing gear off Georgia coast
By Mary Landers
A team from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources disentangled a four-year-old male North Atlantic right whale, nicknamed Division, from commercial fishing gear after two days of exhausting and dangerous work.
Georgia’s new law targets fraudulent temporary car tag market
By Jasmine Wright
New legislation may challenge Georgia’s reputation for fraudulent use of temporary operating permit tags for cars.
Senate panel floats proposal to create aid for Georgians who cannot afford college
By Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
A state Senate study committee in Georgia has released a report calling for a comprehensive needs-based aid program for college students, funded by the Georgia Lottery, to help make higher education more affordable and accessible to those who need it most.
Georgia’s first floating oyster farm engages students with coast
By Mary Landers
Laura Solomon co-founded ECO, a nonprofit that uses oysters to teach Coastal Georgia students about environmental stewardship and to instill in them a sense of place.
Daughter’s battle for father’s care sparks scrutiny on Georgia War Veterans Home
By Margaret Coker
Connie Sewell has been advocating for better care standards for her father and other veterans at the Georgia War Veterans Home due to inadequate staffing levels and systemic problems that have occurred since a new company took over management.
Georgia prisons push for drone mitigation as contraband deliveries rise
By Grant Blankenship/GPB News
The Georgia Department of Corrections is struggling to retain enough guards for its growing prison population, while also lobbying for permission to use technology to stop drones from delivering contraband into prisons.
Georgia public schools to receive overdose reversal kits
By Ty Tagami/Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia is installing overdose reversal kits at all 2,300 public schools in the state using money from a legal settlement with the pharmaceutical industry, in order to combat the spread of opioids.
Analysis: Georgia’s education chasm threatens state’s rural revival – Part 3
By Charles Hayslett/The Daily Yonder
Educational attainment gaps in rural Georgia will threaten the state’s economic productivity in near future.
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