Holiday Edition – Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024
☀️ Good morning!
We hope your stockings held more surprises than coal and that you’re taking the final week of the year in stride.
If you want to refresh your memories of the year, you’re in luck: Here are our favorite stories of the year from The Current’s reporters in their own words. Here’s a shortened version of their notes; check out the entire discussion on thecurrentga.org.
From environment reporter Mary Landers
The climate is warming, plastic pollution is growing, species are disappearing. All that negativity makes it hard to stay hopeful covering environmental issues. That’s why my favorite stories focus on solutions. In February I reported on a solar panel installation project, Georgia Bright, that’s making clean energy affordable and accessible to lower income families, many of them people of color who have been largely left behind in solar adoption. The project received a federal grant in April to fund its expansion. Closer to home, in my Savannah backyard in fact, I reported on how I found a monarch butterfly chrysalis on the ground and managed to coax it to adulthood with the help of a dab of super glue. A small triumph, but one that came with a sense of awe at seeing the monarch emerge and joy in sharing the experience in a time-lapse video.
From data reporter Maggie Lee
The giant statues of serious-looking men outside Georgia’s government buildings guard some nonsensical activity. I don’t even mean the stunts meant to capture headlines; I mean nonsense that is legal. The Current’s Craig Nelson covered two cases this year. Take the Savannah lawmaker who spent tens of thousands of dollars of campaign money on personal use. After years, he got in trouble – but was allowed to pay a state ethics fine with dollars donated to his political campaigns. Or take the 16 current and former state judicial leaders who complained publicly about a “partisan” judiciary — without noting their or their firms’ political campaign spending.
From Glynn County reporter Jabari Gibbs
Back in November, I reported on the polarizing elementary school rezoning plan that is set to be voted on in January. This plan is likely going to discontinue the longstanding arrangement of busing students who stay south of Gloucester Street to the schools on the island. These students, who are living below the poverty line, assist the schools on the island in maintaining a Title I status, which provides them with additional federal funds.
Another story that I was particularly fond of was Jake Shore and Justin Taylor’s piece that exposed the conditions in the Camden County Jail. Without The Current, this type of information would not be shown to the public.
From Liberty County reporter Robin Kemp
Whether you live in a mobile home park that’s being relocated, or on pricey waterfront property, at the crossroads or at the end of a dirt road, the people who call Liberty County and Coastal Georgia home deserve to be heard by those whose dollars-and-cents decisions can devastate—or uplift—real lives.
From public safety reporter Jake Shore
As a reporter who writes about public safety, I’ll be the first to say that the subject is hard on the soul. Cycles of violence, complex legal systems, and competing desires for safety and fairness often make change feel far afield. You see a lot of pain and anger.
But I feel most uplifted on this beat, when citizens stand up and demand more of their leaders and each other in response to a problem. That’s what I saw in July when residents of Cann Park and Jackson Park in Savannah convened at a neighborhood meeting after a 16-year-old’s shooting death days before.
Residents of multiple ages and backgrounds congregated in the evening, after work, on a hot Georgia day. They complained and some pointed fingers but, more importantly, they listened to each other. The Savannah Police chief and his top brass were there, but the conversations centered on residents, not leaders telling them what to think. It created a space for nuanced conversations, which are necessary for communities to work through their issues.
From politics reporter Craig Nelson
The stories of Jake Shore, The Current’s public safety reporter, are a testament to great beat reporting. He never averted his eye from the criminal case involving Jackie Johnson, the former Brunswick district attorney accused of shielding the killers of Ahmaud Arbery. By diligently poring through official records and cultivating sources, Jake showed how enforcement agencies and courthouses operate — or don’t — to ensure our well-being.
Whether it was her stories about Georgia’s election system, affordable housing, or a primer on how the General Assembly works, the work by Maggie Lee, The Current’s data reporter, showed her dogged determination, intelligence and hard-earned experience in prying loose information from reluctant local and state government bureaucracies.
Other news outlets reported this year on the water issues brought on by the construction of the Hyundai Metaplant in Bryan County, the Kemp administration’s showcase economic development in Bryan County. But no one did it before The Current’s Mary Landers. And no one has done it better since.
The importance of local accountability journalism is nowhere more evident than when it’s addressing matters of life and death. Nothing better exemplified that this year, perhaps, than the stories by Liberty County reporter Robin Kemp about the county’s dangerously porous fire protection system.
Then there was Jabari Gibbs, The Current’s Glynn County reporter, who joined with photographer Justin Taylor to explore the harrowing life of Melissa Bullard, a single mother in Brunswick who was forced to live apart from her 10-year-old daughter so both of them could have a roof to sleep under.
Jabari not only explored the dilemmas faced by impoverished single mothers and their children; he masterfully dissected the institutional forces producing those dilemmas. Justin’s moving, troubling photograph of Bullard, her child Heaven, and their dog Ivory in a cluttered hotel room off I-95 wasn’t just an example of great photojournalism. It was great journalism. Period.
Be sure to check out the longer narratives from the reporters at this link and explore the stories again or for the first time.
A REMINDER: We’ll be publishing these missives on Sundays and Thursdays until Jan. 5. Up next: We welcome the new year with favorite photos from 2024. See you Sunday!
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From school districts to butterflies: Staff favorites from The Current GA
By The Current
From uplifting conversations to exposure of tough conditions, The Current’s reporters share their favorite stories from 2024.
On the verge of a government shutdown, Carter votes for temporary spending bill
By Craig Nelson
Carter joined other Republicans and Democrats in voting in favor of a slimmed-down spending bill.
Liberty County, Midway reach tentative deal for full city fire service
By Robin Kemp
Midway would pay for the first year up front. After that, the city would ask for a fire district tax to cover the cost of operations.
Midway would make quarterly payments to the county for service during the first year. Then, if the city’s proposed fire district tax passes, Midway property owners would see it in […]
Flemington city council decides not to levy property taxes
By Robin Kemp
In order to collect the one-cent sales tax, which is tied to the rate of inflation, a municipality or county has to have a property tax in place. The idea behind the sales tax is to shift the tax burden off property owners and partly onto non-residents who shop locally.
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to be nominated for UNESCO World Heritage Site status
By Mary Landers
An effort to gain international recognition for the Okefenokee advances.
Okefenokee mining controversy spotlights property rights
By Mary Landers
Timber magnate Joe Hopkins keeps mining hopes alive by championing private property rights, even though he distrusts the company poised to strip mine near the Okefenokee.
Georgia will allow southwest farms to make new water wells after decade-long ban
By Marisa Mecke/WABE
The new permits have provisions for decreasing water use during droughts as well as automated technology, which will make sure farmers don’t create issues with Florida again.
Georgia Senate panel urges prisons to focus on mental health, feds to ban cellphones
By Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
Panel recommends increasing mental health services, pay study for guards and measures to block cellphone use in Georgia state prison, recently found by the Justice Department
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