PSC Primary Heads to a Runoff

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Good morning! First up today we have results from Tuesday’s Public Service Commission election. Then we turn to a new effort to address plastic waste in area waterways. Next, it’s National Pollinator Week and we have a roundup of bee-related events in Savannah. We end with three news tidbits worth noting. Don’t forget, you can read these stories and more at The Current.

Questions, tips or concerns? Send me a note at mary.landers@thecurrentga.org

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NEWS: ELECTIONS

PSC primary results

Everybody complains about electric bills, but given the chance on Tuesday to influence how electric rates are regulated, few Georgians showed up. About 2% of voters cast ballots in the Public Service Commission primary held Tuesday. A spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State called the turnout “unprecedentedly low.”

The vote confirmed incumbent Tim Echols as the Republican candidate for District 2. In November, he’ll face Democrat Alicia Johnson, who ran unopposed in the primary.

In the Democratic primary for District 3, preliminary results indicated no candidate garnered more than 50% of the vote. That means the top two vote getters, Keisha Sean Waites and Peter Hubbard, will likely battle it out next month in a second round of voting. The winner of the runoff will face incumbent Fitz Johnson, who ran unopposed in the primary.

Only voters who voted in the Democratic primary or who didn’t vote at all are eligible to vote in the runoff. The low turnout means there’s still a chance for most Georgia voters to make a choice in the runoff.

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NEWS: ENVIRONMENT

Litter catchers

The Savannah Riverkeeper is installing litter booms along canals in Savannah to collect trash and begin to address the problems of single-use plastics in the area, as The Current’s Mary Landers reports. Those problems are multiple, including costly ones for urban residents.

“From the stormwater perspective, it is clogging up all our storm water drains,” said the Riverkeeper’s Cloe Lemaire. “And we already have such an issue with flooding.”

Plastic production and use has surged worldwide this century. A 2017 paper coauthored by University of Georgia researcher Jenna Jambeck documented that plastic production in the 13 years prior to the study’s publication was equal to that produced in the previous half century. Studies have also shown rising levels of plastics in human brains and other tissues.

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EVENT: ENVIRONMENT

Pollinator Palooza

Savannah recently joined the national network of Bee City USA communities. To celebrate, the city and its cosponsors are hosting events aligned with this week’s National Pollinator Week, including educational workshops, garden installations, pollinator-inspired menus at local restaurants, and a community science initiative — highlighting pollinators’ critical role in local ecosystems.  

The week culminates with a free community festival featuring honey tastings, workshops and hive tours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 21, at Savannah Bee Company, 313 Stiles Ave. in Savannah.

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Also noted:

• As we head into what’s expected to be two weeks of weather that’s even hotter and stickier than usual, a look back at May shows it was also unusually warm and wet. The average temperature of 76.77°F in Savannah was 2.72° above normal, and the 10.14 inches of precipitation was 280.11% of the 1991-2020 normal amount, Climate Central reports. It will soon be harder to learn about climate statistics like these as the NOAA-sponsored climate.gov site appears to be shutting down, The Guardian reports.
• University of Georgia researchers report high levels of mercury in alligators from the Okefenokee Swamp, Jekyll Island and Yawkey Wildlife Center, with Okefenokee gators showing the highest burden. The report comes as the EPA has proposed weakening the rules limiting the release of mercury from coal-fired power plants such as Georgia Power’s Plant Scherer and Plant Bowen.
• The EPA’s popular “Energy Star” program that vets the efficiency of appliances is on the chopping block despite reducing climate-warming emissions and saving consumers an average of $15 billion a year, UCLA Professor of Management Magali A. Delmas writes in The Conversation.

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