Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for September 22, 2025

On September 22, 1862, Republican President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which stated,

“. . . on the first day of January [1863] . . . all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

President Rutherford B. Hayes visited Atlanta on September 22, 1877. Click here to read the text of his speech in Atlanta.

White vigilantes seeking to assault African-Americans after reports of four white women being assaulted led to the Atlanta Race Riots on September 22-24, 1906, which would claim the lives of at least 25 African-Americans and one white person.

On September 22, 1918, the City of Atlanta gasoline administator prohibited non-emergency Sunday driving to conserve fuel for the war effort.

Friends first aired on September 22, 1994. Next year will be the 30th Anniversary. My back hurts. Ross’s line “I don’t want to be single, I just want to be married again,” hits different after the death of Mrs. GaPundit.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Governor Brian Kemp issued Executive Order #09.19.25.01, a Writ of Election setting a November 18, 2025 Special Election to fill the State Senate District 35 seat vacated by Sen. Jason Esteves (D-Atlanta), who is running for Governor.

Governor Kemp also issued Executive Order #09.19.25.02, empaneling a committee to investigate allegations against Towns County Sheriff Kenneth Henderson. From WRDW:

Kemp signed the order Friday, one day after Atlanta News First Investigates exclusively published body camera footage from a December 2024 shooting scene that involved a deputy.

The footage showed Henderson arresting the lone Hiawassee police officer, José Carvajal, who had responded outside the city to help the wounded deputy.

Carvajal, a combat veteran who served in both the U.S. Navy and Army, was responding to a shooting out of his jurisdiction to help Deputy Austin Bradburn, who had been shot in the leg.

According to body camera video obtained exclusively by Atlanta News First Investigates, Carvajal used his military training to direct the use of a tourniquet to stop the bleeding and called in a description of the suspect.

The confrontation began when Henderson arrived at the scene and questioned Carvajal about handling the deputy’s gun.

In the chaos of providing aid, Carvajal accidentally picked up the deputy’s weapon instead of his own. Carvajal can be seen on video putting the gun back in the holster, but other emergency personnel on scene told him to take the gun.

Carvajal then secured it in his waistband once he realized it was evidence[.]

When Carvajal said he wouldn’t touch the gun again until the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrived, Henderson became increasingly agitated. The situation escalated when Carvajal walked away, telling the sheriff to “get away from me.”

Henderson followed Carvajal and put his hands on the officer, spinning him around[.]

Multiple deputies captured on body camera expressed shock and dismay at their sheriff’s actions. Some held their boss back during the altercation.

The governor’s order was signed the same day he received a request from the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association requesting “the appointment of a committee under Code Section 15-16-26 to investigate alleged misconduct by Mr. Kenneth Henderson, Sheriff of Towns County.”

That code section allows the governor to call for an investigation that could lead to a sheriff’s suspension, removal, or prosecution.

“The Georgia Sheriffs’ Association has been informed that Sheriff Henderson is not performing the duties required of his office due [to] such misconduct,” the executive order reads.

The incident reflects ongoing tensions between Henderson and the Hiawassee Police Department.

In 2022, Henderson interrupted a Hiawassee police traffic stop, arguing the officer was outside his jurisdiction. The officer insisted video would show the stop began in Hiawassee, but the driver was pulled over just outside the city limits.

That same year, a deputy secretly recorded Henderson berating his staff for eating lunch with city police officers while failing to acknowledge the sheriff when he walked into the same restaurant.

“Let me ask you, are you gonna hang out all the time with my enemies,” Henderson asked on the recording. “I don’t want my people sitting with my damn enemies and being buddy-buddy with my damn enemies.”

Kemp has appointed Attorney Chris Carr, Coweta County Sheriff Lenn Wood, and Newton County Sheriff Ezell Brown to the investigative committee. The governor ordered the committee to report back to him within 30 days.

Atlanta News First Investigates has reached out to Henderson for comment but have not heard back.

National Democrats are working to elect Debra Shigley in State Senate District 21, according to the AJC.

DNC Chairman Ken Martin knocked doors with candidate Debra Shigley on Saturday in Alpharetta, reminding residents in Senate District 21, which covers parts of Fulton and Cherokee counties, to vote Tuesday.

“This is a big election, and we’ve got to get out to the polls. Election Day is Tuesday,” he said to one Alpharetta resident. “Do you plan on voting?”

Both parties see Tuesday as a significant race and potential test case for the 2026 midterms.

It should be a solidly GOP seat: The previous occupant, Republican Brandon Beach, who left earlier this year to serve as U.S. treasurer, won reelection less than a year ago with 70% of the vote.

Shigley is competing against Republican Jason Dickerson, a trucking company executive, who came in second on Aug. 26.

In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Martin said Saturday’s visit is part of a broader effort from the DNC to more deeply invest in local contests instead of only focusing on federal power.

“For many years now, (the DNC has) ignored state legislative seats. We’ve ignored county seats, municipal seats, school boards. And we can’t do that any longer,” he said.

Democrats, he said, must be supported up and down the ballot.

From Georgia Recorder:

Martin, who became the new DNC chair in February, said his visit to Georgia represents an effort to rebuild after Democrats suffered devasting losses last year and to broaden the party’s focus beyond federal power. That includes supporting candidates running for mayor, school board and other local races too, he said.

“We’ve made the mistake as a national party for too long of just focusing on what happens in Washington DC,” he told reporters Saturday.

He said Democrats are overperforming in special elections since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Some are even winning, such as a Democrat who flipped a state Senate seat representing a farming community in Pennsylvania.

“We’re happy that we’re overperforming, but there’s no brownie points when you come in second place, and you can’t get anything done when you’re in the minority,” Martin said. “But guess what? Every inch of ground that we win adds up. Every race that we flip adds up. That’s how we start rebuilding our party again, and Debra is an important part of that rebuilding process.”

Shigley acknowledged the challenge of winning the right-leaning district Saturday as she stood outside her Milton home, where Martin, state Senate leaders Harold Jones and Elena Parent and volunteers gathered before fanning out to knock on the doors of voters.

“We surprised the Republicans (last month), and I’m here to say that we are going to surprise them again. It is going to be an uphill battle until the finish line,” she said.

Shigley said her team had visited about 35,000 houses. Her door-knocking outings have featured a long list of prominent Democrats, with former House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams and ex-GOP Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who is now running for governor as a Democrat, set to join in for the final push.

On the Republican side, Dickerson has touted a long list of endorsements from high-profile Georgia Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp.

“We are continuing to focus on the citizens of District 21 with Meet & Greets and knocking on doors,” Dickerson said in a comment Saturday.

United States Senator Jon Ossoff predicted Medicaid cuts in the “Big, Beautiful Bill” will hurt Republican candidates, according to the AJC.

Ossoff predicted Republicans campaigning against him will face tough questions from voters.

“I certainly would not want to be in their shoes and have to travel the state for the next year defending this,” he said. “They own this now, and they need to explain their votes.”

Ossoff also discussed the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits that were implemented during the pandemic and have helped millions more Americans afford health care.

Some congressional Democrats say they are willing to allow the government to shut down if Republicans remain unwilling to extend the subsidies as part of negotiations on temporary government funding.

Ossoff joined most Democrats in the Senate in a vote Friday rejecting a House-passed funding bill that did not extend the tax credits. He voted in favor of a Democrat-led proposal that included the health coverage language.

He told “Politically Georgia” that Congress needs to find a way to prevent the anticipated price increases for health coverage if the subsidies expire.

“Why right now is the president of the United States and Republican leaders in Congress not working with us as swiftly as possible to prevent these health insurance premium increases?” he said. “This should be something that we can agree on, and I think it’s going to be very difficult for the administration and for Republican elected officials and candidates in Georgia over the next year to explain why they allowed those kinds of increases in health insurance premiums.”

Hyundai Motor Group announced it will spend $2.7 billion dollars expanding the Bryan County Metaplant, according to the Associated Press via WTVM.

Hyundai Motor Group on Thursday confirmed it is going forward with previously announced plans to expand its Georgia plant, just weeks after an immigration raid delayed the startup of an electric vehicle battery plant at the site.

As part of a broader investment strategy, Hyundai said it would spend $2.7 billion to increase production capacity at the Ellabell site by 200,000 over the next three years, to a total of 500,000 vehicles a year.

The company first announced the expansion in March at the grand opening of the plant west of Savannah, and had said in August that it would invest an additional $5 billion in United States overall. But the raid, which included arrests of more than 300 South Korean citizens, led to questions about the wisdom of the Asian nation investing in the U.S..

The company said it now plans to produce 10 models of electric and hybrid gas-electric vehicles in Georgia, up from the current two the plant has been assembling as it ramps up production. Hyundai says it’s still on track to expand production worldwide to 5.6 million vehicles a year by 2030. The automaker pledged that 60% of those vehicles will be electric or hybrid powered, targeting sales in South Korea, North America and Europe.

Hyundai said that it plans to make more than 80% of vehicles sold in the United States domestically by 2030, with total domestic content increasing from 60% to 80%. For the first time, the vehicles would include a mid-sized pickup truck, a key vehicle class in the U.S. market. The company already makes the Santa Cruz model, a four-door compact pickup, that it started selling in 2021.

Hyundai CEO José Muñoz has said the immigration raid will delay opening the battery plant by at least two to three months. Spokesperson Michael Stewart said Thursday that the facility will open in the first half of 2026.

Both Hyundai executives and Georgia officials have been trying to calm the situation since the raid, which mushroomed into a diplomatic dispute between South Korea and the United States.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters Tuesday at a ceremony marking the groundbreaking of a Rivian Automotive electric vehicle plant that he remains confident Georgia’s business advantages would “win out” in terms of foreign investment. The raid may even wind up smoothing the way for South Korean employees to more easily obtain legal permission to help build and operate facilities in the United States, he said.

“I’ve had good conversations with companies that are here doing business in Georgia, companies that are looking to do business here,” Kemp said. “And I’ve had good conversations with people in the White House about the visa issue.”

Brent Stubbs, the chief administrative officer of the Ellabell site, wrote in an opinion piece published Wednesday in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the company is still committed to Georgia.

“This situation doesn’t change our plans to continue expanding and localizing in the United States,” Stubbs wrote. “Our investments in America are part of a long-term strategic plan.”

The $2.7 billion investment confirmed Thursday will go to expanding capacity at the plant and group affiliates, Stewart said. That would bring total investment in the auto plant to $10.3 billion, not counting the $4.3 billion that Hyundai and its joint-venture partner, LG Energy Solution, are putting into the battery plant.

Hyundai and its onsite affiliates currently have 3,129 employees in Ellabell, Stewart said. Hyundai pledges to hire at least 8,500 workers by the end of 2031. State and local governments have promised $2.1 billion in tax breaks and other incentives.

The boost at the Ellabell site is the biggest part Hyundai’s plan to raise production by 1.2 million vehicles a year worldwide. That includes another 250,000 vehicles out of Pune, India; and 200,000 more at Hyundai’s electric vehicle plant in Ulsan, South Korea. The automaker said it would also deliver parts for assembly into an additional 250,000 vehicles at plants in Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and North Africa.

Hyundai underlined a previous announcement to deepen its investment in robotics and said that by 2027 it would launch extended-range electric vehicles with gasoline motors to extend the range of its electric batteries to more than 600 miles (960 kilometers).

Governor Kemp will visit South Korea, according to the AJC.

Gov. Brian Kemp is set to make his third trip to South Korea since taking office, but this economic development mission will have a distinctly different tenor than previous visits.

Emails obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reveal Kemp and other Georgia officials finalized the long-planned trip to Seoul days after the high-profile immigration raid at Hyundai’s factory site near Savannah. The federal operation detained 475 workers, mostly Korean nationals, and prompted a diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and South Korea.

Emails in both English and Korean, sent four days after the Sept. 4 raid, reference Gov. Brian Kemp’s request to meet with Hyundai executives. The messages note that the automaker “is an important investor and partner of our state.” Specific details, including the dates of the meeting, were redacted for security purposes.

“This travel, as with any economic development mission, was scheduled well before the events of Sept. 4, with the logistics required to organize such a mission taking months to finalize,” a Kemp spokesperson said.

It comes at a pivotal moment, as both Kemp and President Donald Trump try to navigate tensions from the raid, which turned into an international flashpoint and raised broader concerns about the stability of foreign investment well beyond Georgia’s multibillion-dollar project.

With new U.S. tariff terms reshaping economic ties between Georgia, Korea and Japan, the governor is tasked with selling Georgia to Asian executives who are recalculating supply chains, financing and U.S. market access in real time.

The visits also come at a key moment for Kemp’s political future. In the twilight of his second term as governor, he’s still keeping a door open for a potential White House bid as he works to build a foreign policy portfolio and burnish his national profile.

The State Senate Study Committee on the Impact of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence on Children and Platform Privacy Protection heard testimony last Wednesday, according to the Capitol Beat News Service.

In a rare bipartisan act to protect children, Georgia legislators adopted a law last year that regulated social media companies.

But the industry sued and, for now, has sidelined the prohibition on advertising to children. The law also required platforms to obtain parental consent when minors signup for service.

The age verification mandate forces everyone to share identifying information to prove their age, placing what a federal judge called “severe burdens” on adults, leading to her decision in June to issue a preliminary injunction against enforcement.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has appealed the decision. His office said he is helping to defend similar laws in other states, including Texas, Florida and Ohio.

The platforms are fighting a tide of legislation as states react to congressional inaction. Stories about heedless harm in the pursuit of advertising dollars have galvanized parents and politicians.

Georgia lawmakers have not given up. They have been meeting over the summer to consider other ways to rein in social media.

“I don’t think we can wait for the federal government to do this for us,” said Sen. Sally Harrell, D-Atlanta, who has been leading a study committee looking for another approach. “So, we’re going to do it.”

The industry has made itself a target for lawmakers across the political spectrum.

The state law that was sidelined in federal court was a top priority for Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, the Republican who leads the GOP-dominated Senate and, like Carr, is running for governor in next year’s GOP primary.

Jones and his allies picked Democrat Harrell to lead the bipartisan study committee on the impact of social media on children.

She and fellow senators recently heard from parents whose children had died by suicide after social media exposure.

Industry insiders such as Ravi Iyer, a technologist and academic psychologist at the University of Southern California, who led data science, research, and product teams at Facebook, have been educating Georgia lawmakers.

At a hearing this week, he described internal company documents that suggest platform designers knew their algorithms were harmful but deployed them anyway.

The documents, referenced in a lawsuit against Meta by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, describe how Meta undercounted harmful content and experiences reported on its platforms, including bullying and harassment.

Iyer did the math using the leaked statistics. “That is millions and millions of kids,” he said.

Pete Furlong, a researcher with the Center for Humane Technology, said in the hearing that numerous whistleblower complaints indicate Meta has “abundant” research showing its algorithmic feeds harm kids and adults but that the company is not taking clear steps to address it.

“They could make it better,” he said. “It’s their business incentives that drive them to design these products in this way.”

After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead in Utah last week, the state’s Republican governor said social media companies were addicting Americans to outrage and hate. Gov. Spencer Cox called technology companies “conflict entrepreneurs.”

It may be a cultural turning point that opens a window for successful legislation. But Georgia’s senators are wading into a legal thicket. Social media companies are sheltered by a foundational 1996 federal law that established the legal framework for the internet. Known as Section 230, the law immunizes platforms from liability for hosting users’ content.

Instead of choosing which content to promote like a typical publisher, internet platforms use algorithms to drive feeds that are tailored to each user to increase their engagement — and their value to advertisers.

The companies monitor users’ behavior on their platforms to inform the kind of custom results that frustrate critics such as Cox.

Lawmakers in California targeted this practice.

The Age-Appropriate Design Code Act regulates how platforms allow minors to use personalized recommendation algorithms.

NetChoice, the same industry group that sidelined Georgia’s law on First Amendment grounds, also filed a federal suit in California. A district judge ruled against the law, but the state appealed and earlier this month the federal appeals court there ruled partially in the state’s favor.

“It upheld the addictive feeds regulation,” said Matt Lawrence, a law professor at Emory University who is an expert on addiction law and has been following tech industry lawsuits.

It remains unclear to what extent courts elsewhere in the country will define algorithms as protected speech though.

Other states are targeting age verification. The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld a law that does that in Texas.

The high court’s decision in June was about minors accessing websites with sexually explicit content rather than social media platforms.

Even so, Eric Segall, a federal courts and constitutional law professor at Georgia State University, said it suggests a shift in the court’s thinking.

Under Chief Justice John Roberts, the nation’s top court has prioritized the First Amendment, Segall said.

But in recent years, parent rights have become a growing priority for conservatives, and the Texas decision may reflect that, he said. If there is a recalibration, it could create an opening for laws like Georgia’s that target social media.

“There’s a big movement out there for parents’ rights to control their children and that’s going to affect how judges view these laws,” Segall said. “As long as it’s a parent consent law, not a ban law, it’s much more likely to be upheld.”

But pendulums swing and the window for regulation could close. After all, the platforms have made themselves indispensable to people across the globe.

Last week, a government crackdown on social media in Nepal inspired deadly riots among the youth.

Any attempts to blunt the power of algorithms to make them less invasive will also dull their utility, said Noah Giansiracusa, a mathematician and author of the book “Robin Hood Math: Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life.”

“We don’t want to make these powerful systems that help us worse,” he said. Like many who have watched the attempts to regulate social media unfold, he drew an analogy to the battles against the automobile industry for seatbelts, airbags and cleaner emissions.

Cars pollute and kill, he said, yet we need them.

“We want to make them better, but we don’t want to ban them,” he said. “So, that’s where we are with social media, except we don’t really know how to make them safer, and we have all these free speech issues.”

Lawrence, the Emory professor, said lawmakers will have to keep trying and see what sticks.

Harrell said she and her committee will focus on algorithm design and age verification. They are also turning to future tech.

An explosive report by Reuters in August said an internal Meta policy document permitted provocative chatbot behavior on topics including sex, race and celebrities.

Harrell’s committee will hear about artificial intelligence when it meets Oct. 8.

“Be prepared for an intense meeting,” Harrell said, “because what’s happening with AI is a little overwhelming.”

The Georgia Supreme Court’s removal of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting allegations against Trump allies may have long-lasting effects, according to the AJC.

For Willis, it all came to an abrupt halt Tuesday when a divided Georgia Supreme Court declined to step in after a lower court removed her and her office from the case because of a romantic relationship between the DA and her former special prosecutor. Adding insult to injury, three of the justices suggested in their opinion that the outcome could have been different had Willis adopted a better legal strategy as she appealed.

It’s not quite over. The case will soon be transferred to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, a nonpartisan state agency that steps in when a prosecutor is removed or has a conflict. Whomever the executive director appoints to replace Willis could decide to pick up where she left off, slim the case down or dismiss it entirely. What is clear: There is no guarantee Willis’ evidence will ever go before a jury.

“In a sense, the case could have gone a long way toward resolving some issues,” said former Gwinnett County DA Danny Porter, who has closely followed the case.

“The problem that I see is now neither side is satisfied,” he added. “The people who believe that Trump and the other co-defendants are innocent will continue to believe that they’re innocent and argue on that side. And the people who believe that he’s guilty will continue to believe that he’s guilty.”

Willis has remained unapologetic about her conduct in the case and said she did nothing wrong regarding her relationship with Wade, who resigned from his position in March 2024 after the trial judge gave the DA’s office an ultimatum.

Charlie Bailey, a former Fulton prosecutor and close Willis ally who now chairs the Democratic Party of Georgia, said the closely divided court made a bad call. He said Willis’ relationship with Wade did not pose a conflict of interest.
Now Bailey hopes the case’s next prosecutor will make decisions “based on the evidence and the law.” He said it’s still a strong case.

“It has nothing to do with the substance of why this case exists,” Bailey said of the Willis-Wade controversy. “It’s the strongest case because of what (the defendants) did.”

“We used to have a bright line” for removing prosecutors from a case, said Porter, the former Gwinnett DA. “It used to be related to a party or a financial interest, and that was the only legal reason to ask for a prosecutor to be recused. Now we have this amorphous standard that is much more difficult to apply … and that’s unfortunate.”

Bibb County Superior Court Judge Jeffery Monroe disqualified the District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting an alleged rape case, according to the Macon Telegraph.

The Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office has been barred from prosecuting a rape case after a local judge ruled Thursday that a prosecutor violated the defendant’s constitutional rights.

Monroe ruled that investigator Trinicholas Carswell spoke to the defendant, while Assistant District Attorney Breanna Foster and investigator Nicholas McCane were in the room, without his attorney present. Monroe said this violated Housley’s 5th and 6th Amendment rights, which granted him the right to remain silent to avoid being self-incrimination, and the right to be represented by legal counsel.

The prosecutors’ actions also violated the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, which “prohibit communication regarding the subject of representation with a person known to be represented by an attorney,” Monroe wrote in his order.

At the time of the conversation, Housley was represented by attorney Allyson Yates, court records show. But Yates wasn’t present. Assistant District Attorney Kayla Calloway was prosecuting Housley’s case before the district attorney’s office was disqualified, but Calloway was not accused of wrongdoing in this incident.

Monroe ordered the district attorney’s office to appoint another district attorney’s office in the case, court records say.

“This right is so fundamental and so interwoven into the fabric of our system of justice that this Court is left astonished that the subject agents of the state did what they did without investigating whether Mr. Housley had a lawyer,” Monroe said in his ruling.

In his ruling, Monroe wrote that District Attorney Anita Howard, though she didn’t engage in “personal impropriety,” was also responsible for showing an indifference to the defendant’s rights, which was evidenced by the “improper training of her lieutenants.”

Fort Eisenhower will be renamed Fort Gordon, according to the AJC.

On Friday, the U.S. military will hold a ceremony for renaming Fort Eisenhower in Augusta in honor of Gordon. President Donald Trump announced the change in June. Trump’s move was part of a broader effort to restore the names of military installations after they were changed during the Biden administration because they honored Confederate leaders.

The Augusta post was originally named after John Gordon, a Confederate general and slave owner who was generally recognized as the head of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia. Its name was changed in 2023 in honor of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Without questioning whether Gary Gordon deserves such recognition, critics have blasted Trump’s move as calculated and divisive. In contrast, [former Army helicopter pilot Michael] Durant supports the decision, calling it “an elegant solution.”

“A lot of us felt like the legacy of our military and our military installations was being just flipped on its head with all these name changes,” he said. “To be able to come up with this elegant solution where it is going to be Fort Gordon again and honor Gary at the same time — that is just a win-win.”

Gordon joined the U.S. Army at 18. Eventually, he was selected to join the military’s elite Delta Force, a group of highly trained soldiers assigned to daring missions. He excelled in the military, Owens said, through his stubbornness and determination, both Gordon family traits.

Gordon deployed overseas during the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989 and the Persian Gulf War in 1990, the same year he married Owens. They raised two children. Gordon was 33 when he died in Mogadishu.

Gordon and Shughart pulled Durant out of the wreckage and then took up positions on the exposed side of the downed chopper, where the attackers were approaching. The trio was vastly outnumbered. Durant joined the firefight with his submachine gun, though it kept jamming. At one point, he used it to sweep away what he thought was a grenade that had landed just to his right. He covered his face with his arms as whatever it was exploded with a concussive blast, covering him with dust.

Lightly armed, Gordon and Shughart killed some of the attackers before they both ran out of ammunition. Gordon was fatally wounded first. Shughart handed Durant Gordon’s rifle. And then he returned to the battle before he was killed. At that point, Durant expected to die.

The attackers broke Durant’s nose, cheekbone and eye socket. They ripped his gear off and threw dirt in his face, yelling that he was going to die in Somalia. The beatings finally stopped. Durant’s life was spared, though he became a prisoner. The mob hoisted him in the air and paraded him through Mogadishu. Wounded later by a gunshot and interrogated, Durant spent 11 harrowing days in captivity before he was finally released.

Eighteen U.S. service members were killed and dozens of others were injured in the battle, which also claimed the lives of hundreds of Somalis. Those casualties and the images of a dead U.S. soldier being dragged through Mogadishu helped change public opinion in America.

In 1994, both Gordon and Shughart posthumously received the Medal of Honor. Durant provided eyewitness testimony supporting their commendations.

Statesboro City Council voted to adopt an ordinance permitting a local microdistillery in downtown, according to the Statesboro Herald.

Really, the city law amendment enacted by a 4-0 vote of the Statesboro City Council this week could allow “local distilleries” in any appropriately zoned area of town. But it has been described as being sought by “local investors” who want to put “a micro distillery downtown.”

“What it would do is add a new definition and license classification to Chapter 6: Alcoholic Beverages,” said City Attorney Cain Smith.

That chapter of Statesboro Code of Ordinances already defined a “local brewery” with a specific reference to state law.

But a distillery is a different type of beverage manufacturer, including at least one still to produce distilled spirits such as vodka, whiskey or gin. A circa 2017 state law, Official Code of Georgia, Annotated 3-4-24.2, allows what Smith and the new ordinance section call “local distilleries.”

Ordinance 2025-09 would actually allow a single business to function as both a brewery and a distillery. It defines “local distillery” as “an establishment in which malt beverages and distilled spirits are manufactured, subject to the barrel production and sales limitations prescribed in O.C.G.A. § 3-4-24.2 and 3-5-36.”

The first of those Georgia laws allows “a licensed distiller to sell up to 750 barrels of distilled spirits per calendar year to individuals on such distiller’s licensed premises for personal use.” The second law section refers to breweries.

One provision of the new ordinance, specific to Statesboro, would require that a distillery that sells drinks to consumers “derive at least 40 percent of its total annual gross food and beverages sales from the sale of prepared meals.” Package sales of alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption would be exempted from the formula.

Georgia’s Secretary of State will visit South Georgia today, according to WALB.

Secretary Raffensberger will host a roundtable with the Colquitt-Miller County Chamber at 10 a.m. at the Colquitt State Theater, at 152 S. First St. in Colquitt.

Later on at 1:30 p.m., he will host an event with the Blakely-Early Chamber of Commerce at 214 Court Sq. in Blakely.

LaKeisha Gantt announced she will run for Mayor of Athens, according to the Athens Banner Herald.

Gantt is now the third person with plans to qualify as a candidate for the office now held by Mayor Kelly Girtz, who cannot seek re-election after serving two terms.

Gainesville City Council member Danny Dunagan resigned for health reasons, according to AccessWDUN.

Gainesville City Councilman for Ward 1 Danny Dunagan has notified the Mayor and council that he is resigning immediately due to health issues.

Dunagan was first elected to the council in 2006 before serving two terms as mayor starting in 2013. He rejoined the council in 2021.

“Simply put, I am unable to do my work on the Council, so with deep regret, I must resign. I thank God, my family, the citizens of Gainesville, the Council and city staff for many years of productive service,” Dunagan said in a release.

A special election is slated for the spring of 2026 to fill out the remainder of his term.

Savannah Fire Department Chief Elzie Kitchen tendered his resignation effective immediately, according to the Savannah Morning News.