Sunday Solutions — Nov. 2, 2025
Good morning! The Great Pumpkin has come and gone. We’ve fallen back a hour. It’s now somehow November. Good grief.
Before we start swapping Thanksgiving recipes we’ve also got a little more info for you as you study up for the statewide votes on Tuesday for two Public Service Commission seats. We also cheer those who run for office and check in on a few other pressing issues. Let’s go!
INVESTIGATIVE: ELECTIONS
PSC candidates & war chests
In an analysis of the campaign finance documents, The Current’s Craig Nelson has found that executives and employees of the state’s largest energy utilities contributed more than $77,000 to two candidates races for seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission. Both are incumbents. This financial support highlights a core theme for voters ahead of Tuesday’s election — whether the current five-member commission has favored the corporate interests over consumers who are struggling to afford basic services, including their energy bills. The Districts 2 and 3 seats for the PSC top every statewide ballot on Tuesday. The panel regulates the rates charged and the services provided by most intrastate, investor-owned electric, telecommunications, natural gas and electric utilities. (For an FAQ of what the PSC does and doesn’t do and candidate profiles, go here.) Those regulated utilities cannot contribute to the candidates running for the PSC seats, but officers and employees and others associated with the utilities can.
EXPLAINER: ELECTIONS
Support those who run: Vote
If you’re deterred by elections that feature a ballot full of unopposed incumbent candidates, this is the year many of you should be racing to the polls. If there’s one thing that should give us heart, it’s this: In local municipalities up and down the coast we see 54 candidates for 27 races for council seats. Cheers especially go to Tybee Island with 9 candidates for 3 seats and Midway for 11 candidates for 4 seats. More candidates and healthy debate can lead to more representation for all citizens over time. So when you are looking for excuses not to go vote on Tuesday, support those who put their names and voices out there committing to work for the public good and cast that ballot.
NEWS: GOVERNING
State park fees likely to rise
The summer heat has broken and family and friends are streaming in to visit Coastal Georgia. The state’s parks and historic sites offer time out at an affordable price for the day. That affordability may change soon. Vehicle fees for park visitors will double Jan. 1 if a plan for new fees goes through, and charges for campsites and golfing may rise based on demand for the spot or the tee time.
We’d say congratulations, but no one guessed the photo from last week — we had a form glitch. So, let’s try again. Here’s another view!
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: COMMUNITY
Help: On hold or on the way?
Two federal judges have ordered the federal government to continue funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka SNAP, benefits for families despite the government shutdown. Already challenged by , food banks and other groups haven’t stopped efforts to fill the gaps that will grow today as uncertainty replaces the benefits 1 in 10 Georgia families count on: There’s still no word on how the government will respond to the court orders and how long it would take to add money to the EBT cards if the money comes through. In the meantime, various states, including neighbors South Carolina and Alabama, are working to help in various ways. Georgia, which has $14 billion in reserves, will not be helping according to Gov. Brian Kemp, who says his hands are tied because the state can’t add money to federal accounts. Here are some stories to help explain what’s happening in a quickly changing — and challenging — landscape.
- Courts order federal government to fund food program, but some still prepare for disruptions A look at the situation in Georgia. From Capitol Beat.
- USDA canceled 94 million pounds of food aid. Here’s what never arrived.: This striking data story from ProPublica details why food banks are already strapped since the government cut $500 million deliveries of American-grown farm goods so far this year.
- Georgia SNAP seeks at least $60 million after federal budget cuts: A summary from last week that outlines the challenges in Georgia from The Current’s Maggie Lee.
- Halt in SNAP benefits will hurt millions of rural families: The picture across the nation and the South, from The Daily Yonder.
When spotty documents are the news
A group of five southeast Georgia counties hired auditors to review the spending by their district attorney’s office after Brunswick Judicial Circuit DA Keith Higgins reported he was short of money.
But auditors found so many gaps in recordkeeping that they couldn’t perform some of the reviews requested. Read the auditors’ report or skip straight to The Current GA’s coverage of the mounting woes for the Brunswick DA.
NEWS: TECHNOLOGY
☕ Your second cup: Having the chat
If you find yourself talking to your friends Gemini, CoPilot or Claude more often, you are not alone. AI-assisted questions and answers are now a part of daily life — not work — for millions of us. Using artificial intelligence to help with everyday tasks is becoming normal and is shaping how we view the power as a tool to fix things, find a recipe or navigate a tough situation. A Kennesaw State University researcher is finding AI isn’t a new toy, it’s becoming integral to our homes and habits. See what she’s finding here.
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