Sunday Solutions — March 9, 2025
Good morning! Your Sunday editor has flown the coop for the day, so Craig Nelson’s on the case. Before we start, don’t forget to move your clocks one hour forward today — daylight savings time went into effect at 2 a.m. Now for some news this week that we hope will inform you, and some stories from U.S. history we hope will inspire you through the week.
NEWS: ENVIRONMENT
‘Growing demand’
Last week, we saw two significant developments on a subject all Coastal Georgians care about: water.
One left us extremely alarmed; the other left us guardedly hopeful that it isn’t too late to avert even more trouble.
Let’s start with the first. The Current’s environment reporter, Mary Landers, writes that Gov. Brian Kemp’s showcase economic development project, Hyundai’s $7.6 billion electric vehicle plant in Bryan County, violated wastewater disposal regulations almost as soon as it began production.
Drawing on state and municipal records disclosed to The Current, Landers reports that permit violations led Hyundai and its suppliers in recent months to abandon wastewater facilities in Coastal Georgia and instead truck their industrial wastewater to treatment sites elsewhere in Georgia and outside the state.
On the (slightly) positive side: Kemp on Thursday signed into law an amended fiscal year 2025 budget of $74.9 billion, including $501.7 million for the “development and construction of water infrastructure in Georgia’s coastal region to meet the growing demand due to historic economic development” — an apparent reference to Hyundai.
Those water infrastructure improvements focus on the expanded use of Savannah River water for drinking and industrial uses. Plans include construction of a river water treatment plant for Effingham County, an upgrade to Savannah’s existing river water treatment plant and new water transmission lines in Bryan County.
NEWS: GOVERNING
Mixed results
Coastal Georgia lawmakers marked a crucial deadline on the state legislature’s calendar last week, helping push through measures for further action while watching others fall along the wayside, as the current legislative session heads into its final, frenetic days.
For the region, the outcome of so-called Crossover Day — the deadline for bills to be voted out of the House or Senate and remain on track to land on the governor’s desk — was mixed, the findings of an informal survey of Current readers suggest.
On environmental measures — in particular, for those Coastal Georgians worried about the fate of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge — the outcome of Crossover Day was harsh, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
🎉 Congratulations to both Jason Baker and Taylor for knowing that last week’s Spyglass was the the one-room Seabrook Schoolhouse, built in 1875 by and for free Geechee people, preserved at Seabrook Village in Midway’s Trade Hill Community. Volunteers found the original blackboard behind a wall, still bearing chalk writings, during restoration. They were the only two correct answers, so we’ll honor them both!
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 IDENTIFY THIS SITE
NEWS SERVICE: EXPLAINER
Recalling the Black women ‘behind the curtain’
Friday marked the 40th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in the U.S. — that day in Selma, Alabama, when white citizens and state troopers, some on horseback, attacked voting-rights activists of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. At least 67 people were wounded, some grievously.
Much has been written about John Lewis, Hosea Williams and other marchers who were run down, beaten and tear-gassed. Lewis went on, of course, to serve 17 terms as a U.S. congressman from Georgia’s 5th District.
Little has been written, however, about the courageous, indefatigable Black women who worked behind the scenes in support of the march and were the backbone of the civil rights movement. The 19th provides a stirring look at their contributions.
PROFILE: HEROES
☕ Your second cup: American spy story
We’re always looking for ways to inspire our perspectives on past, present and future in this space. Today we look at Harriet Tubman, best known for helping enslaved people escape from owners via The Underground Railroad, but also recognized for her work as a Civil War spy for the Union. Her biographer highlights her valuable work driven by experience and her belief that everyone has a right to liberty. Tubman’s work has been honored by the US Army Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame. Here’s more to her story from a researcher from Brandeis University, partially funded by the National Park Service.
Enjoy.
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Hyundai fails wastewater standards
By Mary Landers
Hyundai’s Metaplant America has been struggling with wastewater processing and disposal since September 2024, with permit violations forcing the company to abandon treatment at two Coastal Georgia communities and instead truck industrial wastewater to sites in Jacksonville and Goose Creek, South Carolina, among others.
Crossover Day’s winners and losers
By Craig Nelson
Coastal Georgia lawmakers and their constituents face mixed results on key bills by Crossover Day.
Dozens of bills make the cut as Georgia lawmakers hit home stretch, DEI ban dies
By Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder, Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder, and Stanley Dunlap
Georgia lawmakers passed several bills, including a proposal to expand medical cannabis program. But many high profile proposals were left behind like legalizing online sports betting and overhauli compensation for Georgia’s wrongfully convicted.
60 years after Bloody Sunday, activists remember the Black women behind the curtain
By Alexis Wray, Eden Turner, Sabreen Dawud / The 19th News
Sixty years after the Bloody Sunday march in Selma Alabama, the contributions of Black women civil rights activists are still being acknowledged today.
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