On October 27, 1775, King George III addressed Parliament, raising concerns about an American rebellion.
The First of the Federalist Papers, an essay by Alexander Hamilton published under the pseudonym Publius, was published on October 27, 1787.
The United States and Spain signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo, also called Pinckney’s Treaty on October 27, 1795, setting the 31st parallel as the border between Georgia and Florida.
The nation’s first Gold Rush started after Benjamin Parks discovered gold in what is now Lumpkin County, Georgia on October 27, 1828.
Theodore Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 27, 1858.
President Woodrow Wilson vetoed the Volstead Act, which implemented the Eighteenth Amendment prohibition on alcohol, on October 27, 1919; the House overrode his veto that same day and the United States Senate overrode the veto on October 28, 1919.
Navy Day was established on October 27, 1922.
October 27 was suggested by the Navy League to recognize Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday. Roosevelt had been an Assistant Secretary of the Navy and supported a strong Navy as well as the idea of Navy Day. In addition, October 27 was the anniversary of a 1775 report issued by a special committee of the Continental Congress favoring the purchase of merchant ships as the foundation of an American Navy.
Ronald Reagan delivered the “A Time for Choosing” speech on October 27, 1964.
And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man.
This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.
You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down—[up] man’s old—old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.
You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.
We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.
Gladys Knight and the Pips reached #1 with “Midnight Train to Georgia” on October 27, 1973.
Jimmy Carter campaigned in New York on October 27, 1976.
Andrew Young was elected Mayor of Atlanta on October 27, 1981.
Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy accepted the last Ford Taurus built in Hapeville, Georgia on October 27, 2006.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Brunswick voters continue going to the polls in early voting, according to The Brunswick News.
This week is the last week to cast a ballot early in the elections for Brunswick mayor, North and South ward city commissioners and two Public Service Commission seats.
As of last week, 2,339 ballots have been cast in the election, 52 of them by mail. That’s a turnout of around 3.9%.
Incumbent Mayor Cosby Johnson is facing only one challenger, former City Commissioner Vincent T. Williams. Williams did not seek reelection to his North Ward seat in 2021 to run against Johnson in the last mayoral race.
City Commissioners Kendra Rolle and Felicia Harris, representing the North and South wards, respectively, are unopposed. North and South wards are divided roughly by L Street, but commissioners are elected in at-large races. Candidates must live in their respective ward, however.
Voters must live in Brunswick’s city limits to vote in the municipal elections, but the Public Service Commission elections are open to all registered Georgia voters. While Public Service Commissioners represent one of five districts, they are elected at-large.
Early voting ends on Friday. Three polling places will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The three are the Glynn County Board of Elections office, 1709 Gloucester St. in Brunswick; Glynn County Fire Station No. 2, 1965 Demere Road on St. Simons Island; and the Ballard Community Building, 30 Nimitz Drive in Brunswick.
Over a third of the current votes were cast at the St. Simons Island early voting location.
Election Day for city and PSC candidates is next Tuesday, Nov. 4. All polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Braselton will elect a new Mayor in November, according to AccessWDUN.
With municipal elections in Georgia taking place on November 4 this year, one fast-growing Jackson County town has a three-way race for mayor.
Incumbent Braselton Mayor Kurt Ward is seeking re-election, but he has two opponents in this year’s race. Those challengers are Michael Cronic and Brandon Reed.
The election for Braselton mayor will be Tuesday, November 4. The race is non-partisan, and if no candidate gains at least 50 percent of the vote, the election will go to a runoff later in the year between the top two vote-getters.
Early voting is available at the Jackson County Election Office on Gordon Street in Jefferson.
While the article might lead one to believe that Braselton is entirely within Jackson County, the city comprises parts of Barrow, Gwinnett, and Hall, and Jackson Counties.
City of Rome voters are choosing between five candidates seeking three seats in Ward Two on the city commission.
The candidates are Elaina Beeman, Jamie Doss, Jill Fisher, Vic Hixon, and Randy Quick.
Nine candidates are vying for seven seats on the Rome City School Board.
They are Toni Blanchard, Brenda Boyd, Pascha Burge, Will Byington, Faith Collins, Marquita Davis, Karl Gyden, Alvin Jackson, and Ron Roach.
Voters countywide are also voting on the implementation of a one-penny sales tax to offset property taxes.
If approved, the sales tax would be collected for five years and used exclusively for property tax relief.
The revenue must be used to directly reduce the property tax millage rate.
Also on the ballot is a referendum to allow liquor by the drink and Sunday liquor sales in unincorporated Floyd County.
You can vote in advance until Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Floyd County Elections Office on East 12th Street.
In Cave Spring, there are three contested city council races.
Kristi Reed and Nancy Fricks are running in Post 3.
Incumbent Charles Jackson and Greg Webb are vying for Post 4.
In Post 5, the contest is between Warren Baker Harbin and Tom Lindsey.
In Cave Spring, early voting is taking place at the city hall between the hours of 8:00 am to 4:30 pm each day.
Cave Spring voters are reminded that the municipal election is separate from the Floyd County General Election.
To vote in the countywide referendums, voters who reside in Cave Spring must cast their ballots at the elections office in Rome during advance voting or at their designated precinct on Election Day.
Gwinnett County Public Schools and Buford City Schools are asking voters to extend the county’s E-SPLOST for another six years. The sales tax is expected to generate $1.47 billion for schools, including $1.44 billion for Gwinnett County Public Schools and $34.8 million for Buford City Schools.
Proponents argue the sales tax needs to continue in order to maintain existing school facilities. GCPS built several new schools with previous E-SPLOSTs, and the average age of a school in the district is 24 years old and maintenance issues such as HVAC and roof replacements are becoming key needs.
Buford City Schools is also looking at spending money from the proposed E-SPLOST on school safety as well as CTAE programs.
Opponents, however, say GCPS isn’t spending property tax dollars wisely and needs to tighten its belt after rapidly growing its budget by more than $1 billion in the last five years. Some have pointed to the district’s $7 million purchase on a 16-acre church property near Central Gwinnett High School at the beginning of the year, without having a plan at the time for what to do with the property, as one example of what they see as wasteful spending while others argue salaries at the J. Alvin Wilbanks Instructional Support Center have gotten out of control.
At the same time, many property owners were upset with the school board’s decision to opt out of a floating statewide sales tax designed to bring them some tax relief.
Turning off the E-SPLOST spigot, the opponents argue, would force the district to economize and spend property tax dollars that might otherwise go toward administrator salaries on building and equipment maintenance instead.
Turnout has not been high for the county wide elections, which also include the Public Service Commissioner elections and a special election for House District 106 in addition the E-SPLOST referendum. Data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office showed just 1.7% of Gwinnett’s 585,903 registered voters had cast early ballots for the county election as of Tuesday night.
Part of that could be due to voters having to cast multiple ballots at two different locations if they live within one of the 13 Gwinnett cities that are having municipal elections this fall.
The county is only running the E-SPLOST, PSC and House District 106 races. The cities are running their own elections.
Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols (R) campaigned in Columbia County, according to WJBF.
Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols made a campaign stop in Columbia County Saturday—with the proposed data center project becoming the main topic of discussion.
Echols, who’s running for re-election, said the project could bring new opportunities for the area.
“I think it’s going to bring a lot of revenue into the county, and you’re going to be able to do some improvements that you weren’t able to do,” Echols said.
“My job on the Public Service Commission is to build power plants to provide power and gas for anyone coming here—to make sure that we have enough so we don’t have rolling brownouts like they do in California.”
County leaders say they’re working to address those concerns.
“The Columbia County Board of Commissioners are working on a new zoning ordinance that’s specific for data centers,” said Alison Couch, Vice Chair of the Columbia County Board of Commissioners.
“And it’s sort of a guardrail that we would like to put in place for data center development in Columbia County.
She says the data center issue is not a done deal “in the sense that we are still working through this new zoning ordinance.”
She said the ordinance should help address potential issues like lighting, sound, water usage, and other environmental factors.
Meanwhile, Congressman Rick Allen described the data center as a “huge employer” and “economic development opportunity,” emphasizing the balance between growth and environmental protection.
Residents can continue to share their thoughts during the next Columbia County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, November 4.
Echols faces Democrat Alicia Johnson the same day.
[Echols] spoke at the Columbia County GOP meeting Saturday morning and touched on topics including the proposed data center, which has caused a lot of controversy.
He is encouraging people on both sides of the aisle to be involved in their local government if they want their voices heard.
“It’s a wonderful thing about local government. You elect your county commissioners, they make zoning decisions, and so you need to get with them. And going forward, the CSRA is continuing to grow,” said Echols.
He is running to keep his commission seat and is on the ballot on Nov. 4 and during early voting.
Alicia Johnson is looking to take Echols’ seat and will be in Augusta on Wednesday.
Over the weekend, one GOP commissioner openly urged U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, to vocally support his campaign.
“Her endorsement in this PSC race would energize 14th District voters,” Tim Echols posted on social media, a public plea that underscored just how tight these races have become.
As for Echols’ plea? It appears Greene was listening. She posted on social media this morning, urging Republicans to vote.
“I’m voting today — join me!” she said.
Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie is requiring registered sex offenders to report in on Halloween, according to WTOC.
For the safety of trick-or-treaters this Halloween, the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office is implementing special measures again this year.
Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie announced Friday that all sex offenders under probation or parole supervision are required to report to the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office Halloween night between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Deputies will also be increasing patrols throughout Halloween eve and Halloween night, with double-checks on registered sex offender home addresses before trick-or-treat hours.
If you have any questions or concerns, as it relates to registered sex offenders in Effingham County, the sheriff’s office says you can contact Dep. Kathy Dillard at 912-754-3449.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shermela Williams is being sued for allegedly wrongfully imprisoning a woman, according to the AJC.
A Fulton County judge has been sued by a young woman she jailed after the then-21-year-old testified in support of her mother during contentious divorce proceedings.
The state’s judicial misconduct watchdog has already said Superior Court Judge Shermela Williams broke the law when she ordered that Molly Dennis be locked in a courthouse cell in 2023. The “illegal” jailing of Dennis, combined with other inappropriate behavior, warrants Williams’ removal from the bench, the hearing panel of the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission said in early October.
Williams had already acknowledged she was wrong in jailing Dennis but said she wanted to teach her a lesson.
Now Dennis, an Alabama resident, is suing Williams and Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, alleging her constitutional rights were violated. She’s also brought claims against the county and the sheriff’s deputy who handcuffed her and locked her in the cell under Williams’ direction.
Williams’ woes go beyond Molly Dennis’ lawsuit and the JQC hearing panel’s recommendation to the Georgia Supreme Court that she be ousted.
The judge has also been asked to recuse herself from handling a yearslong dispute between Atlanta attorney John Da Grosa Smith and film industry entrepreneur Ryan Millsap.
A day after the JQC hearing panel published its report on Williams, Smith sought her recusal, saying the report shows her ability to judge with integrity, impartiality and competence is significantly impaired.
The Trump Administration’s Department of Agriculture announced SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits will not be paid on November 1, 2025, according to the Associated Press via WTVM.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid will not go out Nov. 1, raising the stakes for families nationwide as the government shutdown drags on.
The new notice comes after the Trump administration said it would not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP, flowing into November. That program helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries.
“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA notice says. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”
The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is now the second-longest on record. While the Republican administration took steps leading up to the shutdown to ensure SNAP benefits were paid this month, the cutoff would expand the impact of the impasse to a wider swath of Americans — and some of those most in need — unless a political resolution is found in just a few days.
The administration blames Democrats, who say they will not agree to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate with them on extending expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans say Democrats must first agree to reopen the government before negotiation.
Democratic lawmakers have written to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins requesting to use contingency funds to cover the bulk of next month’s benefits.
But a USDA memo that surfaced Friday says “contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits.” The document says the money is reserved for such things such as helping people in disaster areas.
It cited a storm named Melissa, which has strengthened into a major hurricane, as an example of why it’s important to have the money available to mobilize quickly in the event of a disaster.
The prospect of families not receiving food aid has deeply concerned states run by both parties.
Some states have pledged to keep SNAP benefits flowing even if the federal program halts payments, but there are questions about whether U.S. government directives may allow that to happen. The USDA memo also says states would not be reimbursed for temporarily picking up the cost.
Other states are telling SNAP recipients to be ready for the benefits to stop. Arkansas and Oklahoma, for example, are advising recipients to identify food pantries and other groups that help with food.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., accused Republicans and Trump of not agreeing to negotiate.
“The reality is, if they sat down to try to negotiate, we could probably come up with something pretty quickly,” Murphy said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We could open up the government on Tuesday or Wednesday, and there wouldn’t be any crisis in the food stamp program.”
The Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) announced Friday they have been notified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that there is insufficient funding to cover November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits if the federal government shutdown continues.
WSAV News 3 reached out to DHS for an official comment on how many people will be affected. Ellen Brown, director of the DHS office of communications, said, as of September 2025, there were 687,664 SNAP households in Georgia and in August 2025, $272,893,195 had been issued in SNAP benefits.
At this time, SNAP recipients can use existing funds on their EBT cards but, based on current USDA guidance, cards will not work beginning Nov. 1.
Recipients should plan ahead now and shop for needed items.
Feeding the Valley Food Bank has less than a month’s supply of food on hand, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture warns states that it does not have sufficient funding to cover Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in November because of the government shutdown.
The federal government shut down Oct. 1, with Democrats refusing to vote for a funding bill that does not extend tax credits under the Affordable Care Act.
States were notified by the USDA that it did not have sufficient funding to cover SNAP benefits, Ellen Brown, Georgia Department of Human Services communications director, told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.
The program is 100% federally funded and disbursed by the Georgia DHS, she said. As of September, Georgia has 687,664 SNAP households in the state, Brown said. She didn’t answer how many are in Columbus.
“We understand how important SNAP benefits are to Georgia families and are closely monitoring the situation,” Brown said.
It has not been determined how quickly households will receive benefits again after the shutdown ends, she said.
“We have asked our payment vendor for a project plan on how quickly they can issue benefits once the shutdown has ceased,” Brown said.
It will require $8 billion to fund the SNAP program next month, U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) said during an Oct. 23 news conference in Columbus. He called on the Secretary of Agriculture to utilize reserve funding in the department to fund the program.
“Nutrition is medicine,” Bishop said. “Nutrition is essential to life, and so we will do everything in our power to see that the SNAP benefits are not discontinued or cut off because of the shutdown.”
The SNAP program provides close to 10 times the amount of food that the nation’s food bank network does on a regular basis, Sheppard said, so it concerns him to hear SNAP benefits may not pay out.
“When you all of a sudden have that many people who are no longer receiving SNAP benefits and able to purchase food, then they’re going to look for help elsewhere,” he said. “And where are they going to go but the food bank? And we’re in the midst of a food shortage.”
Rally-goers in Atlanta pressed for state action on SNAP, according to Atlanta News First via WALB.
1.4 million Georgians will be without their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits come November unless federal lawmakers can reach an agreement to fully fund the government.
SNAP is a federally funded program that provides money every month for low-income households to help pay for food.
“It means the difference between going a day, two days, three days, a week hungry or not,” said Ngaya Swai, a Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) organizer. ”Families rely on these benefits and without them they could really be suffering.”
The PSL was already planning on rallying outside of the Georgia State Capitol Friday afternoon demanding Gov. Brian Kemp keep SNAP funded by releasing hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding to keep the program available for Georgia families.
The Governor’s office told Atlanta News First on Friday that state dollars generally can’t be used to fund federal programs, and the governor doesn’t have the ability to move funds unilaterally.
The Georgia Department of Human Services released this statement Friday night:
“In accordance with 7 CFR 271.7(b), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is suspending all November 2025 benefit allotments until such time as sufficient federal funding is provided, or until FNS directs state agencies otherwise. This suspension is effective November 1, 2025. Households may continue to redeem benefits issued to their electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card prior to Nov. 1, 2025, at any SNAP authorized retailer. The suspension applies only to November 2025 benefit issuance to households and does not impact any prior benefits, and as such, the authorization or redemption of benefits at eligible retailers is not impacted.”
“It’s a life-or-death situation for people across the country for SNAP benefits,” Jeremiah Boxely, a PSL organizer, said.
Boxely, one of dozens rallying outside the state capitol, grew up in Jackson, Mississippi.
“Our family struggled to even receive SNAP benefits and when we did finally get them it could be as little as $50 a month,” he said.
He knows what’s at stake if the government is not funded and therefore neither is SNAP.
“Somebody simply goes without, people eat less,” Boxely said.
WALB has a list of local sources for food assistance in SoWeGa.
From Atlanta News First via WRDW:
13% of Georgians rely on SNAP to put food on the table.
If the federal government remains shut down, more than 1.4 million people in the Peach State will be without that assistance in November.
“We can tell that there’s a need, because this morning I believe we definitely had over 100 cars that we’re serving, so there’s definitely a need in the community,” said Teresa Martin-Bowers, a volunteer at Ray of Hope Christian Church’s food pantry.
Ray of Hope Christian Church handed out bags of food containing items they say are meant to last three to four days.
“People are really rumbling about the SNAP benefits going away in Georgia,” said Pam Noud, director of FoodCommune.
Noud described FoodCommune like a thrift store because they salvage food. She told Atlanta News First that it is in between a grocery store and food pantry because patrons make a token donation of $15 and then fill up a crate with whatever they want in it.
“So (Saturday) was crazy,” she said. “We were wiped out by 5 p.m. in the afternoon and usually by 5 p.m. we still have a lot of food left to give to our evening shoppers, but we were wiped out. We had twice the number of people that we usually have.”
FoodCommune is not normally a place for SNAP shoppers because they don’t take the card that 1 in 8 Georgians use to help make ends meet.
In 2022, families with children received a SNAP benefit of around $541 every month, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
In November, if the federal government does not reopen, that stomach-filling funding will evaporate.
“Even for people who don’t have a lot of spending money to spend on food which is what SNAP addresses, this is really affordable for people,” Noud said.
FoodCommune is open every Saturday.
If the shutdown continues, next Saturday would be the first Saturday where Georgians do not receive a SNAP benefit.
The State House Study Committee on Abandoned Child Placement Following Hospital Discharge heard testimony last week, according to the Imprint via the Savannah Morning News.
Georgia parents who voluntarily give up their children to foster care aren’t necessarily abusive, neglectful or unloving, numerous speakers have told state lawmakers in a series of public hearings that concluded this week. Oftentimes, they’re simply out of options for securing the critical mental health treatment their children need.
“This is an act of desperation — parents do not want to abandon their children,” said Joe Sarra of the Georgia Advocacy Office, one of the many experts who’ve testified.
The Abandoned Child Placement Following Hospital Discharge committee has been investigating the crisis since September. The third and final hearing was held Wednesday in the state capitol complex.
At present, the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services estimates there are 500 children who have been “relinquished” by their parents and turned over to the agency due to complex behavioral or psychiatric needs.
Many, if not most of the cases, involve parents who say they cannot bring their child home from in-patient treatment in a psychiatric facility. They fear that violent or unpredictable behavior cannot be safely managed at home. In those instances, child protective services is called, and Georgia’s child welfare agency becomes legally responsible for the child’s care and custody.
To date, child welfare officials, family advocates and mental health professionals have testified for more than 10 hours. This Wednesday marked the final public hearing before lawmakers compile policy recommendations in a report. Those who’ve testified at all three hearings largely agreed: Relinquishment doesn’t involve “bad” kids or parents. The real driver is a growing mental health crisis and a fragmented health care system that is too under-resourced to adequately meet the needs of teenagers in acute distress, whose families — financially or otherwise — cannot meet their needs.
The pivotal decision to relinquish is typically made when hospitals and residential treatment centers set a discharge date.
“Parents are feeling they can’t carry forward and bring that child home for so many reasons — guilt, exhaustion, feeling they’re not a good parent. They’ve lost hope,” state Sen. Katie Dempsey said in the Sept. 15 hearing.
Waiting lists for treatment
The hearings laid bare some systemic problems plaguing mental health care in Georgia, problems that to varying degrees are evident nationwide: a severe shortage of psychiatric and residential treatment beds, restrictive insurance coverage plans and poor coordination between child welfare staff, mental health providers and insurers.
Caught in the middle are families, who often face their own hardships — unstable housing, lack of childcare or transportation — on top of the emotional challenges of caring for a child with complex needs. The kids often have multiple psychiatric diagnoses and can exhibit violent, aggressive behaviors toward parents and siblings.
In Sarra’s advocacy work, he receives desperate calls from parents struggling with isolation, guilt and burnout. He said many are forced to leave the workforce, spending their days calling treatment facilities and insurance companies while trying to keep the rest of the household afloat.
When the state child welfare agency is forced to step in as a last resort, parents are often determined to have abandoned their children. This form of neglect is vaguely defined and can involve any conduct on the part of the parent showing “an intent to forgo parental duties or relinquish parental claims.”
State child welfare leaders here and nationwide say these situations put their agencies in a bind, and they do not encourage the practice of leaving kids stranded in medical settings. Georgia officials have stated publicly that most relinquishment cases don’t meet the abuse and neglect criteria that is typically applied when removing kids from their families.
“For a child that is abandoned, there were so many other ways to prevent that, so many other options along the way to get them care or to keep them in their home with other interventions, instead of them becoming an orphan or a child of care,” Georgia Department of Human Services Commissioner Candice Broce said last month.
For parents, foster care can appear to be the only path to long-term treatment after a psychiatric crisis. Doctors, hospital staff and even police will tell them so, advocates and child welfare staff testified.
But social workers often confront the very same problems as parents. Georgia operates six residential facilities for youth, with waiting lists that delay care for weeks and months. Not all facilities will accept children presenting with aggressive behaviors and certain co-occurring diagnoses such as some forms of autism. What’s more, Georgia families aren’t just competing with each other for placement — about 40% of the state’s residential treatment beds are filled with out-of-state children.
“Ultimately, you are looking for recommendations for change,” Broce said. “I don’t have a list for you, but I know that if I were to poll case managers, they would say that they wish there were more beds, especially for residential care.”
‘We’re all flying blind’
Because high-level care is so elusive, the first place kids in psychiatric distress end up is the emergency room. Often, over and over again.
Between 2015 and 2022, the number of visits to the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s emergency department primarily for a behavioral or mental health concern more than doubled.
“We’re all flying blind,” said Dr. John Constantino, the hospital’s chief of behavioral and mental health.
But hospitalizations last just roughly three to seven days. If the child is no longer deemed a danger to themselves or others, they can be discharged. Long-term or outpatient care is still nowhere in sight, he said.
The problem was evident in a recent 14-year-old patient. Constantino recounted that the girl has struggled to access treatment outside the ER, despite being hospitalized 18 times for mental health crises. She harms herself and once attempted to end her life.
“No one would ever say that residential treatment is a panacea for all of these youth, but the right kind of residential programs that deliver the right kind of care at the right time is extremely important,” Dr. Constantino said.
Still, through all three recent public hearings it’s been made clear: More residential treatment isn’t the catch-all solution. Commissioner Broce and advocates for families called out facilities for releasing kids without plans for follow-up care at home and failing to include parents when deciding discharge dates.
Treatment providers who’ve testified before lawmakers defend their practices, saying they’ve spent their organizations’ own funds to create new staff positions focused on family engagement, and continue services for children left in their care after insurance coverage runs out.
“We continue to serve them every day,” Tanya Anderson, executive director of Youth Villages Georgia told lawmakers on Wednesday.
The nonprofit runs a residential program in Douglasville, with 144 beds for youth ages 6 to 18. Anderson testified on Wednesday that the facility had five cases of young people who were left in care between 2023 and 2025. The longest stay was more than six months.
While providers are forced to become temporary caregivers of sorts, the impact on the children is the most devastating, Anderson said. They know what is happening, but struggle to process it — particularly after completing what can be lengthy stints in regimented institutional programs, far from family life.
“They have done a really good job in improving their behaviors to the point where the provider is saying that they are discharge-ready,” Anderson said. “When no one shows up, that begins to communicate to them that, ‘I’m unloved, I’m not valued.’ The sense of hopelessness begins.”
Still, Anderson and other experts see solutions — including boosting state funding for in-home mental health services, residential beds and step-down care options to help kids transition home from months-long stays in treatment. Other suggestions included creating uniform, statewide policies on abandonment and leaning more heavily on voluntary placement agreements, which can provide parents with CPS case management for up to 90 days while they retain custody.
“The experience of abandonment is not something new,” Anderson said. “But I think that this conversation is certainly on time, because there’s continuing to be a rise in kids being abandoned.”
The lawmakers’ final report on the issue, which could include state funding and policy changes, is set to be released in early December.
The State House Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Georgia’s Medical Marijuana and Hemp Policies met last week and heard conflicting ideas about Georgia’s medical cannabis program, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Moultrie Observer.
Doctors gave Jennifer Conforti’s little girl powerful drugs to help her live with profound autism.
Abby, who is 15 now, was 3 when she was taking benzodiazepines to help with her reactions, such as biting the skin off her arm, Conforti said. The drugs were not helping, she said, and after Abby had to be restrained at school, Conforti decided to break the law.
She figured out how to source marijuana and break it down into a concentrate in her kitchen, she told lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol last month.
A decade ago, lawmakers passed a medical cannabis law that lets patients on a state registry obtain low-THC oil.
That helped, said Conforti, but she testified that patients need a product with higher levels of THC — the intoxicating psychoactive agent in marijuana — and in more forms than oil, for instance, vape products or the flower from the plant itself.
“People are still breaking the law to get the type of medicine that they need for the people they want to help,” she said.
But lawmakers have also heard from medical experts who spoke of the dangers of using THC, including an increased risk of psychosis, heart attack and pancreatitis.
It has also been associated with a higher risk of suicide and death, said Dr. Elizabeth McCord, who is trained in internal medicine and psychiatry. She teaches at a public safety net hospital in Atlanta that she disclosed to a reporter but said she didn’t want broadcast publicly during her testimony Friday, the last of four legislative hearings about medical marijuana and hemp products.
Marijuana use can reduce brain volume and permanently reduce IQ in children, she said.
There is not much research on the effects because of the challenges of studying users of a Schedule 1 drug, especially children, McCord said. Because of that, she told the lawmakers, “The word ‘medical’ cannabis is really misleading.”
Members of the legislative study committee have been squeezed by impassioned people on both sides of the debate, from those who want freer access to those who want something close to prohibition, at least for children.
Absent clear and compelling research, the lawmakers will have to chart a path forward based on anecdotes and tangential data, such as testimony from a poison control official about the explosion of childhood visits to the emergency room after Congress legalized intoxicating hemp products in 2018.
The legislative panel has been gathering information since the summer and concluded its hearings Friday.
House Speaker Jon Burns empaneled the Blue Ribbon committee after pandemonium broke out around the issue of THC regulation during the legislative session last winter.
The Senate had rejected a measure to increase the legal limit for THC in medical cannabis and had pushed back with an attempted crackdown on the consumable hemp industry, even trying to ban hemp beverages.
Members of the House meanwhile had talked of expanding sales locations for hemp beverages and of the benefits of medical cannabis.
Lack of an extensive body of research is only part of the problem. The other is the complexity surrounding two different yet essentially identical products under different regulatory schemes: THC from hemp and THC from marijuana.
Hemp is a close cousin of marijuana. The latter is still illegal at the federal level, but in 2018 Congress allowed hemp consumable products containing 0.3% THC by “dry weight,” a measure that has caused some confusion.
The prospect for profit drove innovation and now there are ample hemp-derived products on the market, from gummies to vape liquids. They are widely available, including at gas stations.
This has led to general confusion about the difference between the two categories.
Micah Gravley, a former Republican member of the state House who helped pass Georgia’s medical cannabis law, testified last month that a woman with cancer could not get on the state cannabis registry because her condition was not yet end stage.
“Well, can I just go to the Shell station down the road,” he said she asked him. “I saw that they had some stuff and I could use that, couldn’t I?”
He said a parent of a child who could benefit from marijuana would still find it easier to buy illegal product on the street than obtain “pharmaceutical grade lab-tested safe medical cannabis” from one of the six licensed providers in Georgia.
Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, is a member of the committee who was sympathetic with Gravley.
“We know that the doctors can’t prescribe because the doctors are absolutely petrified to deal with it,” Powell said. “They might step across the line with DEA or some of their pharmaceutical licensing because it’s still illegal” at the federal level.
Meanwhile, the less constrained hemp products industry has been engineering intoxicating products with an expanding menu of ingredients.
The state Department of Agriculture enforces compliance with legal limits, but local law enforcement and justice officials have testified about obtaining products from gas stations and hiring private labs to test them, finding routine violations.
Gregg Raduka, founder of Georgians for Responsible Marijuana Policy, noted that many new derivatives from hemp plants are not even regulated. He held up a bottle of gummies on Friday that he said he bought at a vape shop in Woodstock.
He noted that the state only regulates “Delta-9” THC per the 2018 federal law, then he read the ingredients on the label: “D8, D9, D11 THC, THCP — which preliminary research shows is at least five times as strong as Delta-9 THC — THD, THCB, THCX.”
At a prior hearing in September, Gaylord Lopez, executive director of the Georgia Poison Center, said his agency had received 1,900 calls since 2022 about children eating hemp edible products, many of them winding up in a hospital emergency room.
He complained about “loopholes being exploited by dorm room chemists” and of a proliferation of intoxicating products causing problems in the health care industry.
“My 10-year-old niece could walk into a gas station and buy these products,” he said. “It’s just heartbreaking.”
Yet, on Friday, the panel heard from another mother who vouched for the healing power of THC. Corey Lowe said her daughter, now 24, suffers from seizures. She was diagnosed with an incurable mitochondrial disease and Lowe said doctors told her she would not live past adolescence. Lowe obtained a nasal cannabis spray with high levels of THC that she said provided instant relief from the seizures. She credits marijuana with extending her daughter’s life.
“Medicine is why we still have her today,” she said, adding that both of her parents have advanced cancer and have benefitted from marijuana use too. “It’s because of the whole plant, full plant medicine,” she said, asking for expanded legal access to marijuana.
Rep. Mark Newton, R-Augusta, is the chairman of the study committee. A medical doctor, he said members of the panel want to consider options besides THC oil in the medical cannabis program.
But he wrapped up the final hearing by noting the challenge of crafting legislation that could satisfy a majority at the Capitol.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture announced a third outbreak of avian flu, according to the Rome News Tribune.
A case of highly pathogenic avian influenza case has been discovered at a Gordon County commercial poultry flock, according to state officials.
All commercial poultry operations within a 6.2-mile radius have been placed under quarantine and are undergoing surveillance testing that will last at least two weeks, officials said.
Georgia Department of Agriculture, together with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reported Friday, Oct. 24, having confirmed a case of HPAI — commonly referred to as “bird flu” — at a local poultry operation.
“This poses a serious threat to Georgia’s No. 1 industry and to the thousands of Georgians whose livelihoods depend on poultry production,” Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said. “Our team is working around the clock to contain the spread and protect our flocks.”
State Rep. Derrick McCollum (R-Chestnut Mountain) discussed state action on local issues, according to AccessWDUN.
Georgia State House District 30 Representative Derrick McCollum recently spoke on WDUN, updating the progress of the Ga. 211 widening project in the Braselton and Chestnut Mountain areas.
The Georgia Department of Transportation has been working on widening the highway from two lanes to four lanes, and adding roundabouts at the Interstate 85 interchange and Braselton Parkway at the entrance to the Chateau Elan winery. McCollum said that work, which is set to finish in April of 2026, is Phase 1 of a larger project for Ga. 211.
McCollum said he had pushed for the project with state officials to try to alleviate traffic in the booming area.
“I had conversations with the Georgia DOT about, we just need one road to get from (Interstate) 985 to I-85. I said, just pick one, widen Ga. 53, Ga. 211 or Spout Springs Road,” McCollum said. “The obvious conclusion was 211. It’s the shortest distance.”
McCollum said work is set to begin soon on the second phase of the project, which will widen the road from Chateau Elan northward to Friendship Road.
“It will start in April of 2026,” McCollum said. “The contractors that will potentially be building the road will be let on January 15, and that’s a one-month bidding process there.”
“The second phase will be a huge advantage, because it bottlenecks there at the bridge when you’re going up towards Chateau Elan…That will be a huge, huge help there,” McCollum said.
McCollum said the third phase is currently projected to finish in either 2032. He said the cost of purchasing right-of-way and the rising cost of road-building materials like asphalt have slowed the process.
He said the total cost of the widening project will be over $100 million.
“That’s one thing that we’re struggling with as a state, is really just the cost of widening these roads,” McCollum said. “It’s just such a huge number when you start widening these.”
McCollum thanked GDOT and other state officials for their help in pushing the widening project forward.
“I had really reached out to the Governor (Brian Kemp,) and he’s been a tremendous help in getting that project moved up,” McCollum said.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Board is considering doubling parking fees at state parks, according to Georgia Recorder.
The next time you want to take in some of Georgia’s natural beauty at one of its state parks, it could cost you a little more.
Or at least it will if the Board of Natural Resources signs off Tuesday on a proposal to raise fees. Under the plan under consideration, the cost to park at Georgia’s state parks for a day would double.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ State Parks and Historic Sites Division spent just over $109 million in the 12 months preceding July 1, according to a new report from the state Department of Audits and Accounts, about half of which – $55.5 million – came from self-generated revenue sources like park passes, campsite rentals, golf course fees and gift shop sales.
State funds and bonds pay for about 43% of the division’s expenses, or about $46 million, and the federal government chipped in about $7 million, good for around 7%.
The auditors called the self-generated portion of the division’s revenue “significant.”
“However, we noted additional revenue-generating opportunities related to price adjustments, marketing, and targeted future investments,” the report reads. “Generating revenue to staff and maintain parks must be balanced with ensuring Georgians can access these public resources.”
In all, the auditors came up with more than two dozen recommendations dealing with topics from planning and maintenance to marketing and pricing.
In response to a request for comment, State Parks and Historic Sites Division Chief of Finance Katherine Darsey said the department “recently received the report and will be reviewing its findings and suggestions in the coming weeks.”
Vehicle entry passes
The price to park your car at a state park has been unchanged since 2009 – $5 for a day or $50 for an annual pass, and the auditors found that among southeastern states that charge for park access, Georgia’s fees are the lowest. The report found that Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee do not charge for daily or annual passes, and Tennessee does not charge for the majority of its state parks.
The state Board of Natural Resources is set to meet Tuesday and vote on increasing next year’s fees to $10 for one visit or $70 for a year, according to the proposed amendments to the existing rules. Using 2024 visitation numbers, auditors found a $10 fee could increase revenue by $3.7 million.
Under the proposed changes, groups like senior citizens and disabled veterans who receive discounted rates would see price increases as well, though they would still pay less than the general population.
The auditors also called on the division to push for visitors to opt for annual passes since they bring in more money and drive down the number of potential daily noncompliers.
They note that some states offer discounted annual park passes along with vehicle tag renewal. In one such program in Michigan, 38% of the population purchased discounted passes, generating $42 million.
The auditors found that if owners of 10% of Georgia’s 8.5 million registered vehicles opted for a $20 discounted park pass, state parks could see a $15.8 million revenue bump.
The DNR parks division expressed concerns with the vehicle registration plan, noting fears that such a program could reduce revenues from the state’s license plate program, which allows people to buy a specialty plate and fund conservation efforts.
Reaction
Georgia Rivers Executive Director Rena Peck said bringing Georgia parks’ prices more in line with neighboring states makes financial sense and will help fund the work needed to keep facilities attractive and bring in more customers.
“I think it’s a good plan,” she said. “You’ve got to upkeep these places so that people can come, and then it’s a good, positive cycle with outdoor recreation because those state parks and historic sites, most of their budget comes from income from outdoor recreation. So, you’ve got to keep the facilities up in order to keep the stream of money in order to maintain them for people and nature.”
But Sierra Club legislative chair Mark Woodall said it doesn’t make sense for the state to increase prices at all when it is in a strong fiscal position.
“The state parks of Georgia should be for all the people of Georgia, regardless of income. With over $14 billion in reserve, it would be outrageous for the state parks to increase fees,” he said.
“In these difficult times, we ought to be encouraging people to get outdoors, not making it harder,” he added.
Savannah leaders received a report on the first 90 days of enforcing their urban camping ordinance, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson made a request when he supported an urban camping ordinance earlier this year—the city must provide an update on its impacts after 90 days. Now, the data is in.
Savannah Police have made 15 arrests and issued 179 citations under the ordinance, which banned camping activities on public spaces since its passage on June 12, according to statistics provided at a city council workshop Thursday. Of those 179 people, about 75% have interacted with the community’s homeless service network.
“There is nothing in the data for the first 90 days of this ordinance that gives me pause that we are implementing this in a way that is detrimental to either our community or to people in our community who are experiencing homelessness,” said Savannah City Manager Jay Melder.
Many advocates for the ordinance said it provided an added tool for law enforcement to deal with vagrancy, and unsafe or indecent camping practices. But those within the city’s homelessness support network also have advocated for using the ordinance as a tool to connect individuals with services.
Of the 135 connected with the care network, 30% entered shelter with support services, according to the presentation. The other 70% engaged with services such as case management, legal aid, food and clothing. Stephanie Kaple, executive director of Savannah’s Interagency Council on Homelessness, said the ordinance has helped strengthen partnerships within the care network.
The city’s urban camping ordinance requires an official warning before an arrest is made. And data shows that a small portion of warnings lead to arrests.
In data provided to the Savannah Morning News from SPD, there were 231 verbal or undocumented warnings issued through Oct. 13. The number of arrests in that data set also totaled 15. In the data provided by SPD, 12 of the arrests were from the northwest precinct, which encompasses downtown.
Liberty County Public Schools is rolling out weapon detection systems, according to WTOC.
Starting Monday morning, a new weapons detection system will be in place. The ‘Opengate’ weapons detection system will be rolled out in all middle and high schools.
Click here to read more about the system on the Liberty County School System’s website.
These walk-through systems are designed for rapid, unobtrusive scanning of individuals for dangerous items, adding an extra layer of security to the school environment. Students and visitors will walk through the gates upon entry. Laptops and certain items will need to be removed from backpacks for separate screening to prevent alerts.
Staff will be present to assist and address any detected threats, with a secondary screening process in place for repeated alerts.
Whitfield County Commissioners are working to adopt a lower-than-advertised property tax millage rate, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen.
The Whitfield County Board of Commissioners is advertising a 2025 property tax rate of 5.25 mills, higher than the tentative 5-mill rate they adopted in June. But county officials said that they still hope to adopt a rate of no higher than 5 mills when they vote on a final tax rate in November.
In 2024, commissioners set the tax rate at 5.536 mills.
“Due to the unusual timing and multiple assessments for 2024-2025, we did not receive the digest until Friday evening, Oct 17, and had to send the newspaper our ad by Wednesday per state law,” Board Chairman Jevin Jensen told the Dalton Daily Citizen. “So, we advertised a rate that our staff advised was the worst-case scenario of 5.25 mills. In normal years, we receive the digest in late August.”
County officials — including Tax Commissioner Danny Sane, the Dalton City Council, and the Board of Commissioners — had raised concerns that the 2024 digest contained widespread inconsistencies and could not be certified in time for tax collection.
All local Superior Court judges recused themselves, forcing the case to be heard by a senior judge from Floyd County. In October 2024, that judge issued a temporary order allowing Whitfield County to collect property taxes based on the 2023 digest plus a 10% across-the-board increase.That temporary measure stayed in effect until the 2024 digest was finalized earlier this year.
The Board of Assessors was also working on the 2025 digest during that period.
“It’s important to keep in mind Georgia law requires advertising a ‘not to exceed’ millage rate,” said County Administrator Robert Sivick. “That means the advertised rate of 5.25 mills is the maximum the Board of Commissioners could set, but they have discretion to set a lower rate. The rollback rate would be 4.262 mills producing $19.5 million. The advertised not to exceed rate of 5.25 mills will produce $24 million or an additional $4.5 million than the rollback rate.”
Tax revenue from the 2025 property tax rate will fund this year’s budget. The 2025 budget was set in January and forecast $24 million in property tax revenue.
Jensen said commissioners didn’t count on having to pay $1.9 million in refunds on 2024 taxes after the digest for that year was finalized.
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