The United States government took out its first loan on September 18, 1789, the proceeds of which were used to pay the salaries of the President, and First Congress. Was that the first payday loan? On the same day, future President Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to E. Rutledge in which he requested that a shipment of olive trees be sent via Baltimore.
President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the United States Capitol on September 18, 1793.
We know from that newspaper article, and from Masonic ritual, that Washington placed an inscribed silver plate under the cornerstone at the southeast corner of this building. However, we do not know whether that meant the southeast corner of the Senate wing, the first section of the building to be completed, or the southeast corner of the whole building as intended, which would locate it over on the House side. Two centuries later, the Architect of the Capitol is still searching for that cornerstone. Metal detectors have failed to locate the silver plate.
President George Washington gave his farewell address on September 19, 1796.
The period for a new election of a Citizen, to Administer the Executive government of the United States, being not far distant, and the time actually arrived, when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person, who is to be cloathed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those, out of whom a choice is to be made.
I beg you, at the sametime, to do me the justice to be assured, that this resolution has not been taken, without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation, which binds a dutiful Citizen to his country–and that, in withdrawing the tender of service which silence in my Situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness; but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.
President Millard Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Act on September 18, 1850, requiring that slaves be returned to their owners even if they were in a free state.
General Robert E. Lee retreated from Antietam Creek on September 18, 1862, following the bloodiest day of fighting in the Civil War.
On September 19, 1863, the Battle of Chickamauga was joined between the federal Army of the Cumberland under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans and the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. Braxton Bragg.
On September 20, 1863, the Confederate Army of the Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg repelled Union forces under General William Rosencrans at the Battle of Chickamauga. After Gettysburg, Chickamauga is generally considered the second-bloodiest battle of the Civil War, with 18,500 Confederate casualties and 16,100 Union dead.
Thirteen marchers were shot and killed and forty more wounded in Camilla, Georgia at the Camilla Massacre on September 19, 1868 as marchers to a Republican Party rally were gunned down.
President James Garfield died on September 19, 1881, of wounds sustained on July 2d of that year. Garfield is one of seven Presidents born in Ohio – he and William McKinley, were both killed by assassins.
Chester A. Arthur was sworn in as President of the United States on September 20, 1881.
The year 1881 began with Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in office. Hayes served out his first and only term and officially turned over the reins of government to James A. Garfield, who happened to be a close friend of his, in March 1881.
Just four months into his term, on July 2, Garfield was shot by an assassin named Charles Guiteau. Guiteau claimed to have killed Garfield because he refused to grant Guiteau a appointment. Garfield sustained wounds to his back and abdomen and struggled to recover throughout the summer. Though it appeared he would pull through in early September, the autopsy report revealed that the internal bullet wound contributed to an aneurism that ultimately killed Garfield on September 19.
Chickamauga National Battlefield was dedicated September 19, 1895.
The first classes at Oglethorpe University under it’s current non-denominational charter were held on September 20, 1916. Happy 101st Anniversary to the Stormy Petrels. The university was originally affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and located in Midway, Georgia. In 1870, after a period of closure during the Civil War they relocated to the Atlanta area.
On September 18, 1973, Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter filed a report claiming that he saw an Unidentified Flying Object in the sky above Leary, Georgia in 1969.
Carter was preparing to give a speech at a Lions Club meeting. At about 7:15 p.m (EST), one of the guests called his attention to a strange object that was visible about 30 degrees above the horizon to the west of where he was standing. Carter described the object as being bright white and as being about as bright as the moon. It was said to have appeared to have closed in on where he was standing but to have stopped beyond a stand of pine trees some distance from him. The object is then said to have changed color, first to blue, then to red, then back to white, before appearing to recede into the distance. Carter felt that the object was self-luminous, but not a solid in nature. Carter’s report indicates that it was witnessed by about ten or twelve other people, and was in view for ten to twelve minutes before it passed out of sight.
Click here to view a copy of the report, allegedly on file at the Carter Center.
On September 20, 1976, Playboy magazine released an interview with Jimmy Carter, then a candidate for President.
The Georgia General Assembly approved a new state Constitution on September 18, 1981, which was placed on the 1982 ballot and after approval by voters, went into effect in 1983.
On September 18, 1990, Atlanta was announced as the location for the 1996 Summer Olympic games.
Ted Turner announced on September 18, 1997 his intent to donate $1 billion to the United Nations.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Governor Brian Kemp issued Executive Order #09.17.26.01, appointing Nikia Smith Sellers as a Superior Court Judge for the Atlanta Judicial Circuit.
Former State Rep. Dexter Sharper (D-Valdosta) was sentenced after pleading guilty to COVID-related fraud, according to WALB.
According to the U.S. Northern District of Georgia Clerk of Court’s office, Dexter Sharper was sentenced to time served. He was also ordered to pay $10,096 in restitution and a $2,000 fine.
Sharper was one of three state representatives who were accused of lying on pandemic unemployment forms. The investigation involved multiple state and federal agencies, including the FBI and the Georgia Office of the State Inspector General. Authorities said Sharper collected nearly $14,000 in benefits.
“I respect the process and the outcome. I’m grateful to move forward, and my focus now is on my family, my faith, and continuing to serve my community in positive ways.” [said] Dexter Sharper, Former Georgia State Rep.
Sharper served District 177, which covers parts of Lowndes County, from January 2013 to March 2026, when he resigned. Sharper entered his guilty plea days after announcing he was stepping down in a post on social media.
The former state rep. says he has no plans for politics in his future; he is focused on the next chapter.
Alvin Payton Jr. now serves District 177 after winning a special election for the seat in June.
Early voting for November’s General Election opens Tuesday, Oct. 13, according to the Savannah Morning News.
If a runoff is necessary in this year’s general midterm, it will be on Dec. 1 with early voting possible Nov. 23-25.
Georgians can still vote by mail, but they have to submit a request first. You can request an absentee ballot by submitting an application on securemyabsenteeballot.sos.ga.gov, by email, by mail, by fax, or in person.
Mail-in ballots may be requested 11-78 days prior to Election Day. More information can be found at georgia.gov/vote-absentee-ballot.
Those requesting a mail-in ballot must also be one of the following:
• Over 65 years old
• Have a physical disability
• Live overseas
• Be an active member of the military or a spouse or child of an active service member.
I think that last part is incorrect. I’ve checked the “Absentee voting in Georgia” guide and it does not appear that a qualifying condition is required to vote Absentee by Mail. The only place in the guide those conditions are mentioned is on Page 2, after “You may use the application to request that absentee ballots be sent to you automatically for every election remaining in the current election cycle, if you are eligible. To be eligible, you must be either:”
A Rasmussen survey shows Republican Rick Jackson with a lead in the race for Governor, according to Atlanta News First via WTVM.
Republican nominee Rick Jackson holds a narrow lead over Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia’s gubernatorial race, according to a new survey released by Rasmussen Reports.
The poll of 1,019 likely Georgia voters found 48% would vote for Jackson if the election were held today, compared to 45% for Bottoms. Seven percent of respondents said they remain undecided.
Because the three-point spread falls within the survey’s margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points, the race remains a statistical dead heat heading into the November midterms.
The survey was conducted via telephone and online on Sept. 14, 2026, by Rasmussen Reports, with fieldwork by Pulse Opinion Research.
Jackson, a healthcare business founder who secured the GOP nomination after defeating Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a runoff, and Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, have both largely unified their party bases. The poll shows Jackson backed by 89% of Republicans, while Bottoms holds support from 88% of Democrats.
Among independent and unaffiliated voters, Jackson holds a slight edge at 43% to Bottoms’ 41%, with 16% undecided.
The survey highlights significant demographic splits across Georgia’s electorate, particularly by gender and age:
• Gender: Men favor Jackson by a 15-point margin (53% to 38%), while women favor Bottoms by seven points (51% to 44%), creating a 22-point net gender gap.
• Age: Older voters strongly back Jackson, who leads 63% to 34% among voters aged 65 and older. Bottoms holds a commanding lead among voters under 30, topping Jackson 58% to 34%.
• Race and ethnicity: Jackson leads among white voters (66% to 27%), while Bottoms carries strong support among Black voters (77% to 18%) and leads among Hispanic voters (52% to 38%) and other minority groups (49% to 39%).
• Household income: Jackson claims majorities among middle- and upper-middle-income voters earning between $50,000 and $200,000 annually, while Bottoms leads among households earning more than $200,000.
• Marital status: Married voters favor Jackson by 17 points (57% to 39%), while unmarried voters lean toward Bottoms (49% to 42%).
Voter preference closely aligns with the 2024 presidential contest. Approximately 83% of respondents who backed Donald Trump in 2024 said they plan to support Jackson, while 82% of those who voted for Kamala Harris back Bottoms.
From the Savannah Morning News:
For weeks, Bottoms held a slight lead over Jackson, who entered the governor’s race late and threw his personal fortune into his campaign to supersede the Trump-endorsed primary candidate.
Now, however, the tides appear to be turning to favor Jackson in the race’s final weeks.
Both maintain strong leads within their own parties. Jackson is supported by 89% of Republicans, and 88% of Democrats support Bottoms. Among unaffiliated voters, 43% said they would support Jackson, 41% said they would support Bottoms and another 16% said they were unsure, according to the report.
In a financial analysis published by AdImpact on Sept. 15, Republicans, in this case Jackson, is outspending Bottoms on advertisements nearly 10-to-1.
In future linear ad reservations, Republicans have spent $40.5 million, while Democrats have only spent $42,000.
In general election campaigned aired spending and future reservations, Jackson has spent $75.8 million, compared to Bottoms’ $8.2 million. Bottoms’ funding, however, largely comes in coordination with Project Battleground that has spent $7.9 million of Bottoms’ total.
Ms. Bottoms joined other Democratic candidates at an event in Macon, according to 13WMAZ.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, joined other local and statewide candidates for a voter forum in Macon ahead of Georgia’s Nov. 3 election.
The event, Middle Georgia Decides, was hosted by Middle Georgia Matters at the Mill Hill Community Arts Center. It gave voters a chance to hear candidates discuss issues and speak directly with people preparing to cast their ballots.
Bottoms told the crowd Middle Georgia residents need a governor who focuses on issues affecting their communities, including concerns over data center development and the potential demand on the Ocmulgee River.
“There are so many issues that are facing Middle Georgia,” Bottoms said. “Middle Georgia deserves to have a governor who is focused on the things that matter most, whether it be the construction of data centers that will draw millions of gallons from the Ocmulgee River.”
She also discussed health care access, calling for Georgia to expand Medicaid and create easier access for families.
“We need to make sure that we immediately begin to work to expand Medicaid in this state,” Bottoms said. “We also need to make sure that we have mobile health clinics in our communities.”
An[] attendee, Christina Howard, said affordable health care is among her biggest concerns.
“I feel that health care is the biggest issue right now,” Howard said. “Issues of it being affordable, you know, for children, pregnant women, the elderly.”
Roberson said voting allows people to take part in the political process.
“It’s important to vote,” Roberson said. “It’s a good feeling that you participate in something.”
Howard encouraged voters to cast a ballot.
“If you don’t get out there and vote, you have no say-so,” Howard said.
Bottoms will campaign in Augusta today, according to WRDW.
With less than 30 days until early voting begins in Georgia’s governor’s race, Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms will make multiple campaign stops in Augusta on Friday to talk about the cost of living, health care and education.
Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, will begin the day at Paine College, where she plans to meet with students and discuss how cuts to federal higher education funding under former President Donald Trump are affecting students at historically Black colleges and universities in Georgia.
She is scheduled to speak at Paine College at 3 p.m. The event will take place on campus at 1235 15th Street in Augusta.
Later in the afternoon, Bottoms will hold a “Community Conversations” event with Augusta residents to outline her plans as governor to lower grocery prices, expand Medicaid and boost education funding, including guaranteeing pre-kindergarten and raising teacher pay.
That meet-and-greet is set for 4 p.m. Friday at Central Station, 1857 Central Avenue in Augusta.
Her campaign says the visits are part of a broader push around the state to highlight economic issues facing Georgia families and to draw a contrast with her Republican opponent on education funding, health care access and utility costs tied to large data centers.
U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Atlanta) leads Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Jackson) in the Senate race, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Ossoff is the only Democratic senator up for reelection in a state President Trump won in 2024, and he’s running against a Trump-endorsed candidate with a complicated history.
Still, Ossoff has maintained a strong lead in polls and now, a month out from the start of early voting in Georgia, his lead only seems to be growing.
In a poll published by Rasmussen Reports on Sept. 15, Ossoff has a strong lead in the Senate race, and it’s a gap Collins may not be able to close even by convincing undecided voters.
Ossoff earned 51% support among likely Georgia voters, while Collins would bring home 42% if the election were held today, according to the poll. There were still 6% of undecided voters, but even if they all voted for Collins, Ossoff would still take home the win, the poll shows.
Ossoff is popular across races, with 34% support from white voters, 84% support from Black voters, 57% support from Hispanic voters and 55% support from those who identify with a different minority group. Collins, on the other hand, had majority support from white voters, 60%, but only 12% support from Black voters, 31% support from Hispanic voters and 34% support from other minority groups.
Ossoff leads by 15 points among women, 55% to 40%, while Collins leads by just 2 points among men, 47% to 45%.
Collins does take home the majority of support from voters over the age of 65, with an 18 point lead over Ossoff, 59% to 40%.
The largest difference, however, comes from voters who are earning more than $200,000 a year. Ossoff leads Collins by 23 points for this demographic, according to the poll.
Previous polls from across the state have all said the same thing: the economy is the top issue in Georgia.
About 40% listed the economy as a top priority in surveys by AARP and Fox News.
Inflation and the cost of living was the top issue for survey takers from the UGA School of Public and International Affairs. The economy and jobs, as well as taxes were also listed as top concerns.
One third of poll takers for State Navigate said they believe Georgia’s economy has gotten “much worse” over the last year, with a majority of Wick poll takers agreeing the economy is getting worse overall.
Former Southern Company Chair Thomas A. Fanning will succeed Sonny Perdue as Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Statesboro Herald.
It took five months to find a successor to University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue, and after looking far and wide the Board of Regents picked someone close to home.
The new university system leader already has a building named after him at Georgia Tech and served on the Tech Foundation board.
Thomas A. Fanning will come out of retirement to be the next leader of Georgia’s 25 public colleges and universities.
He comes to the job with a grounding in business, having led Southern Company for 13 years and chaired the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta board.
The Regents named him the sole finalist for the job on Wednesday.
“Our university system’s strong reputation brought us exceptional candidates from across the country, but Tom Fanning stood out immediately,” Board Chair David B. Dove said in a statement. “With four decades of experience running one of the largest energy companies in the nation, Tom knows how to manage complex operations, solve big problems and lead people. He cares deeply about Georgia, understands the power of higher education and has the proven leadership to guide USG forward.”
Southern Company serves about 9 million electric and gas customers in Georgia and eight other states. Fanning started there in 1980 as a financial analyst.
The Tech grad, who also earned a master’s degree in industrial management from the Institute, rose through 15 roles at Southern Company before being named chairman, president and CEO in 2010, a position he held until his retirement in 2023.
On the way, he served in management, finance, technology and strategy roles.
He has also served as inaugural chair of the federal Cybersecurity Advisory Committee when it first met in 2021. The group advised the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Fanning was awarded an honorary doctorate by Tech, where the new Student-Athlete Performance Center is named in his honor.
“The University System of Georgia is second to none when it comes to keeping a top-tier college education affordable and connecting students directly to great careers,” he said in a statement. “Having earned my degrees here and worked alongside these campuses throughout my career, I know how much this system means to Georgia families.”
Fanning succeeds Perdue, who announced his retirement in April, after leading the university system for four years. Before that, Perdue served as Agriculture Secretary for President Donald Trump during his first term in the White House and as Georgia’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction starting in 2003.
Record diesel prices are affecting Georgia farmers, according to the Albany Herald.
“It’s very costly,” [Sedrick] Rowe, a first-generation farmer who works his operation alone with one tractor, said. He has cut back on hired help as prices for nearly everything have climbed, and the fuel bill now limits how often he can put the tractor in the field.
Diesel set an all-time high Sept. 4, when AAA’s national average reached $5.85 a gallon, topping the record set in June 2022. It has kept climbing. By Sept. 14, the U.S. Energy Information Administration put the national average at $6.285 a gallon, up about $2.55 from a year earlier.
“We’re entering harvest season, and some of these large horsepower tractors, combines and cotton pickers — they use a lot of fuel,” Seth McAllister, the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agent in Terrell County, said. A cotton picker typically holds 150 gallons of diesel and runs every day, he said.
Larger peanut operations often run three to five peanut pickers in a single field, McAllister said. That means at least five tractors, usually two more pulling dump carts, and a semi hauling peanuts from the field to the buying point.
“If we made the exact same yield in the exact same field, we would have double the cost for the fuel and the logistics getting it to market than we had a year ago,” he said.
Farmers have few ways to soften the blow.
“We’re price-takers, not price-makers,” McAllister said. “We have to harvest when the crop’s ready.”
Growers who didn’t lock in fuel prices ahead of time are paying current rates, and storage space for fuel on farms is limited, he said. Most farm equipment runs on red-dyed diesel, which is exempt from highway fuel taxes but can’t be used in on-road trucks. Most farmers took out their operating loans in January, before prices spiked.
“At this point, they’re either burning up equity or taking out additional loans to get them to the end of the season,” McAllister said.
Some growers are already cutting back in ways that could hurt yields. Most irrigation systems in the area run on electricity, but fields far from power lines depend on diesel pumps. Cotton and corn are largely finished with irrigation, McAllister said, but peanuts still need water — and the one expense farmers can cut right now is “simply not cutting the pivot on.”
The price spike also wiped out a rare bit of good news. Grower sentiment over the past year and a half has been “as dismal as I have heard in my career,” McAllister said. About six weeks ago, commodity prices began rising slightly for the first time in two years.
“But now that fuel has jumped up so much, it’s pretty much taking all that sting out of it,” he said. “It’s even worse now than it was.”
Diesel fuel prices have climbed above $6 a gallon at some gas stations across the CSRA, putting additional pressure on truck drivers and businesses that depend on fuel to make a living.
Truck driver Ronald Douglas said the rising cost of fuel is already affecting the routes he takes and what he earns at the end of the week.
“It lessens the routes of the mileage and it kind of goes into effect what I’m making at the end of the week,” Douglas said. “Sometimes I can do OK, but as of right now, the way the market is shifting and changing with fuel prices going up, it’s very hard.”
Douglas said the financial pressure is especially difficult for independent drivers and owner-operators who may not have some of the benefits and resources available to drivers working for larger companies.
“When it comes to the lease owner-operators and the independent guys out here, it’s very tough out here,” Douglas said. “Especially at the end of the week, if you got a house, you got kids, you spend most of your time 365 days a year over the road and you coming home with a little bit of nothing.”
The impact is also being felt by businesses that rely on vehicles to serve customers.
Dexter Chancey, co-owner of Chancey Towing Service, said the company is trying to keep more of its work closer to home as fuel costs rise.
“We still try to take care of any customers that want to go out of town, but we try to keep everything more local-based right now so we could take care of the customers in town,” Chancey said. “Try to stay a little bit closer to here due to fuel being what it is.”
Chancey said lower fuel prices could eventually allow the company to bring its rates back down as well.
“I’d love to see it come back down, you know, $4, $3 a gallon for regular gas, $4 for diesel,” Chancey said. “That would be great, that we could bring our rates back down to kind of make everybody happy.”
For drivers and businesses that repeatedly fill up throughout the week, even relatively small increases at the pump can add up as they work to keep their vehicles on the road.
Cotton harvesting season is about to begin on Lee Nunn’s 1,600-acre family farm near Madison, but what’s normally a highlight of the year couldn’t come at a worse time.
Diesel fuel prices have hit record highs practically every day in recent weeks, and Nunn is about to run two cotton harvesters up to eight hours per day.
“That’s almost $2,000 per day in diesel fuel expense running these pieces of equipment,” Nunn said. A year ago, he paid about half that cost. The extra expense is cutting into already “razor-thin” profit margins on the farm, he said.
“It’s depressing,” said Nunn, estimating he’ll pay $100,000 more this year in fuel costs compared to last year. “This is an expense that we don’t have any control over, and we can’t do anything about. I just have to suck it up and pay it.”
Record diesel prices ultimately could ripple through the economy as it’s the primary fuel used in freight transportation and agriculture.
“I don’t have an economics degree. I just got a common sense degree,” said Nunn, the farmer near Madison.
“No one is going to be shielded or sheltered from this expense,” he said. “You name a product, and I can guarantee you diesel was in it, either making it, supplying it, hauling it, delivering it some way.”
Fourteen unpermitted Flock surveillance cameras were removed in St. Lucie County, Florida, according to WPEC via WTOC.
More than a dozen Flock cameras were installed without permits in one Florida county, and nobody is claiming them.
St. Lucie County commissioners recently voted to remove Flock and other automated license plate readers from county roads and stop granting permits for the cameras.
The county said of the 66 known cameras, 14 do not have the permits to be installed there.
St. Lucie County Commissioner James Clasby said that’s concerning.
“Not knowing who they belong to, I think, is another issue. Perhaps that goes about the entirety of Flock camera reform,” Clasby said.
Commissioners said they don’t know who put up the unpermitted cameras, but they do have an idea for how to disable them.
“It’s like a bright red notice that says you have 30 days to remove this, and we will also bag the cameras so they’re not operable,” St. Lucie County’s interim administrator Mayte Santamaria said.
This is just the latest in the ongoing Flock camera dilemma.
An Indian River County deputy was recently put on paid leave after being accused of using Flock cameras for unauthorized reasons.
Last week, a Fort Pierce police officer was fired for using Flock cameras to track his ex-girlfriend’s car hundreds of times.
All over America, communities are trying to decide whether the benefits to investigators outweigh the risk to citizens.
St. Lucie County has decided it does not.
“There’s the potential for non-law enforcement to have cameras out there, and I’m not OK with that,” Clasby added.
St. Lucie County said all 52 previously authorized devices received revocation notices as of Monday. That gives the owners 30 days to remove them.
Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a man after receiving a Flock alert and deploying a drone, according to WTVM.
A man is in custody after a FLOCK camera alert led deputies on a pursuit through three counties and an hours-long search that ended when a drone equipped with thermal imaging technology located him hiding in the woods, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies received a FLOCK camera alert at approximately 4 a.m. on September 15, 2026, on a vehicle reported stolen out of Atlanta, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies located the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop in Pine Mountain, according to the sheriff’s office. The driver fled, nearly striking a Pine Mountain Police Department officer, leading deputies on a pursuit through Harris, Meriwether and Talbot counties, the sheriff’s office said.
The vehicle crashed on Highway 190 in Talbot County, and the driver fled into a wooded area on foot, according to the sheriff’s office. Georgia State Patrol responded and worked the crash.
An extensive search involving multiple agencies and a K-9 team did not locate the suspect that morning, the sheriff’s office said.
At approximately 12:35 p.m., the Harris County 911 Center received a report of a suspicious person in the Shiloh area near Highway 85 and Trammell Mill Road matching the description of the suspect involved in the pursuit, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Shiloh Police Department responded, helping establish a perimeter and direct responding units to circulate the area, the sheriff’s office said.
After hours of searching, the suspect continued to evade law enforcement, according to the sheriff’s office. A drone equipped with FLIR thermal imaging capabilities was deployed, and within minutes, a heat signature was detected in a heavily wooded area, the sheriff’s office said. Responding officers located the suspect hiding in thick brush and took him into custody without incident.
The suspect was identified as Alan Starling of Atlanta, Georgia, according to the sheriff’s office.
Starling was charged with:
• Fleeing or Attempting to Elude Law Enforcement
• Reckless Driving
• Theft by Receiving (Stolen Motor Vehicle) (F)The Pine Mountain Police Department will pursue an additional charge of Aggravated Assault related to the suspect nearly striking an officer during the initial traffic stop, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office thanked the Shiloh Police Department, Meriwether County Sheriff’s Office, Talbot County Sheriff’s Office, Pine Mountain Police Department, Hamilton Police Department, Waverly Hall Police Department, Columbus Police Department K9 and the Georgia State Patrol for their assistance in the case.
“We also thank the citizens in the surrounding area for remaining calm, patient, cooperative during this difficult time. Their understanding and support helped Law Enforcement Officers safely bring the incident to a conclusion,” Sheriff Mike Jolley said.
A Tennessee woman is suing the City of Fargo, ND and its police department alleging an incorrect facial recognition match led to her arrest, according to KVLY via WTOC.
Angela Lipps, of Elizabethton, Tennessee, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in North Dakota against the city of Fargo and Fargo Police Department detective Lucas Heck.
Lipps was arrested in July 2025 after facial recognition software used by West Fargo police and a North Dakota intelligence center flagged her as a possible match to a suspect in a series of bank fraud incidents in the Fargo area.
According to the lawsuit, a woman used stolen identities and false identification to fraudulently obtain money from several banks in April and May 2025.
Fargo police investigated the thefts, and Heck received facial recognition results from a West Fargo police analyst and North Dakota’s state intelligence center suggesting Lipps was a possible lead.
The lawsuit alleges Heck moved forward with charges despite knowing Lipps lived in Tennessee, had never been to North Dakota, didn’t match the physical description of the suspect on surveillance video, and had no unexplained funds connecting her to the thefts.
The complaint said Heck failed to disclose that the facial recognition result was actually based on a photo from the suspect’s fake identification card, not the surveillance footage, and that facial recognition results were meant to be treated only as investigative leads requiring independent corroboration, not positive identification.
According to the lawsuit, West Fargo police noted that they did not believe the facial recognition results were strong enough on their own to bring charges.
Authorities ended up charging Lipps with eight felonies related to the bank fraud, the most serious of which carries up to 10 years in prison, according to the complaint.
A nationwide warrant was also issued for her arrest.
The lawsuit states that Lipps was arrested at gunpoint at a neighbor’s home in Tennessee by a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force while she was babysitting.
Lipps was allegedly held in a Tennessee jail before being extradited to North Dakota and detained at the Cass County Jail on a $100,000 bond.
The lawsuit claims Lipps remained in custody through Thanksgiving and her 50th birthday, and that jail staff denied her access to her dentures and medication for extended periods.
Prosecutors ultimately dismissed the charges on Dec. 24, 2025, after, according to the complaint, Lipps’ attorney produced bank records showing she was in Tennessee at the time of the reported thefts.
Lipps said she was released from custody with just four cents on her and no winter coat, in temperatures near 10 degrees while relying on an area nonprofit and a neighbor to get home to Tennessee.
The lawsuit accuses the Fargo Police Department of having no policy, training, or supervision governing officers’ use of facial recognition technology at the time, unlike the West Fargo Police Department, which restricts the tool to specially trained officers and prohibits arrests based solely on a facial recognition match.
Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski said in a March press conference, before resigning later that month, that the department made “investigative errors” but that the department implemented new facial recognition policies and training.
The lawsuit brings five claims, including unlawful seizure and arrest, due process violations, a civil rights claim against the city over its policies and training, false arrest and imprisonment, and malicious prosecution.
Lipps is seeking $10 million in damages, along with punitive damages against Heck and attorneys’ fees, and has requested a jury trial.
These are allegations contained in a civil complaint. Those named in the complaint did not immediately respond to the accusations.
Artificial Intelligence use in government raises issues, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times.
Some worry artificial intelligence could one day rule humanity.
Robots have not taken over yet, but AI may be helping with a core function of democracy in Georgia’s largest county: writing ordinances and resolutions.
A Fulton County commissioner used an online tool to analyze legislation introduced by a couple of her colleagues and found that four proposals, including two that would change ethics policies and procedures, were likely written by AI.
“The idea that we’re going to have machines write what humans should be doing ethically … it opens a can of worms for me,” said Commissioner Dana Barrett, who did the review.
She said the two commissioners behind the legislation, Marvin Arrington Jr. and Bob Ellis, might be exposing the public to unintended consequences because, she said, in her experience AI tends to go overboard on details.
Capitol Beat ran the legislation through the same online tool, called GPTZero, and got similar results. The tool determined it was 100% likely that a proposed ordinance and two proposed resolutions were generated by AI, and it assigned another proposed resolution a 90% likelihood of AI authorship.
The tool cited qualities such as a lack of creativity, “robotic formality,” impersonal tone and mechanical precision.
The company behind GPTZero does not go into much detail on its website about how it works, except to say that it collects raw data, looks for similarities and draws a line between what it considers to be human- versus AI-generated text.
Ellis said in a statement that he, “like the rest of the world,” used “technology tools” to research his ideas and to refine his thoughts. He said he also asked the county attorney’s office to review his work.
He did not say whether he had outsourced the writing of his proposed ethics resolution to AI. He placed the 32-page document on the agenda for the commission’s meeting this week.
Arrington, who also had his legislation on the agenda, said AI use was widespread.
“Artificial intelligence is already being used throughout government, business, education, law, medicine, and nearly every other profession,” he said in a statement. “Public officials who are not learning how to use this technology responsibly are behind the ball. They need to catch up or get left behind.”
Arrington did not say AI had written his proposals, but, like Ellis, he said he had used technology “tools” and that those tools did not diminish or replace his judgment informed by 30 years as a lawyer and 12 years as a county commissioner.
“Suggesting that responsible AI assistance invalidates legislation or policy is like claiming that someone cheated because they used a computer instead of a typewriter,” he said.
Ellis, a Republican, accused Barrett, a Democrat, of launching a “juvenile” attack.
Arrington, a Democrat, said Barrett was taking “cheap political shots.” Arrington also found hypocrisy in Barrett having used an AI tool to sniff out AI writing.
Barrett said she used AI but only to confirm what she already suspected after reading the legislation and noting unusual language and formatting. She said she used AI with her own policy proposals, but she said she only used it for analysis and for editing of her original writing.
Barrett said she sympathized with her fellow commissioners’ desire to amend ethics policies and procedures but could not support their legislation as written.
She characterized her colleagues’ new proposals as “very extreme, especially where there is potentially not as much critical thinking or thoughtful lawmaking as there should be because of the use of AI.”
One of Arrington’s three proposals — about food insecurity and community gardens — did not pass in a vote Wednesday evening. He then held his other two items for a future meeting. One was about abolishing the county ethics board and the other was about limiting public comment at commission meetings.
Ellis also decided to hold his own ethics resolution.
Barrett and Arrington will leave office in a few months. In the meantime, Arrington said he planned to introduce a comprehensive county policy for AI use.
He said he developed it with help from AI.
United States Senator Raphael Warnock wants legislation to address AI-created photos, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Georgia Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock is speaking out against the use of artificial intelligence-generated images after photos falsely claiming he was sick and fighting cancer circulated online.
According to Warnock, Georgia constituents not only commented on the images hoping for his recovery, but friends called the senator to wish him well, despite Warnock not currently experiencing any ill health.
The images ranged from what Warnock called “funny,” like an photo claiming he had regrown his hair, to what the senator called “bizarre,” and “scary.”
“Congress needs to act,” Warnock said in a video posted on social media Wednesday.
In photos shared by Warnock’s congressional office, the senator is depicted as having experienced a serious medical episode while delivering a speech.
“Panic spread across the packed square as Raphael Warnock suddenly experienced health issues and collapsed while delivering a speech,” the caption on the AI photo read.
Warnock was depicted with his eyes closed while three others surround him with concerned looks on their faces.
The issue is this never happened.
“I recently ran across this Facebook page that was posting tons of fake AI-generated images and stories about me. Some of it was funny. (One) post, for example, says that apparently I have regrown a full head of hair. I should be so lucky. I checked the mirror this morning. Not true,” Warnock said in a video posted on Instagram. “Some of it was bizarre, like (one) post that says I’ve had twin grandchildren.”
“As these tools become increasingly powerful, it will get harder and harder to distinguish fact from fiction, and there are already bad actors out there who are doing everything they can to divide us and confuse us, and this has huge implications for our democracy,” Warnock said. “What if hours before an election, someone created a page with AI-generated images, fake stories about candidates? How will voters know what’s true and what’s not true?”
“We have a whole lot of work to do where AI is concerned. AI is here; it is a part of our lives. We must deal with issues related to safety and jobs, but this underscores yet another issue: our democracy itself,” Warnock said. “Social media companies have to move quickly to label this material. Congress needs to act. We need guardrails. We need regulations. We need to figure this out. The future is already here.”
The Georgia General Assembly’s Joint Election Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee heard testimony, according to Atlanta News First via WALB.
Georgia’s Joint Election Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee met for a third time Thursday. The committee of lawmakers is tasked with carrying out testimony and will eventually recommend a new way to cast and tabulate ballots in Georgia elections to their colleagues when the new session of the General Assembly resumes.
The third meeting focused primarily on cybersecurity around elections systems. The committee also heard from representatives of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.
Testifying before the committee, Blake Evans, who has been the agency’s director of elections since 2021, told lawmakers what many already have: that no matter what system they choose, election officials and poll workers, as well as voters, need time to learn it.
“Election officials start preparing for elections years in advance, really, and it takes time on the front end to really invest the energy and effort,” Evans said. “One of the main messages we wanted to get across is whatever the method is that is chosen for the future, that we want to make sure that election officials have the time to implement it.”
What seems likely – and has been from the early stages of switching voting methods – is a move to hand marked paper ballots, where voters bubble in their selection in a race.
A recent audit conducted by the SOS office after this year’s June runoff election showed the 23 discrepancies found in that election all occurred in ballots that had been marked by hand, most of them being absentee ballots. None of the 1,079,408 ballots utilizing a touchscreen ballot-marking device showed discrepancies.
Evans told the committee that errors in a hand marked paper ballot system needs to be a consideration they make when they make their recommendations to fellow lawmakers.
“There might be some unreadable marks that the scanner just can’t pick up and there needs to be a path laid out in law for how election officials can adjudicate those ballots to best express voter intent,” he said. “Many of them will do it perfectly, and some of them might make unreadable marks and we want to make sure that for those voters that we can catch as many unreadable marks as we can.”
Lawmakers also heard from several cybersecurity experts. Some suggested lawmakers factor more frequent updates of Georgia’s election software into their appropriations process, including the iOS operating systems that function on poll worker’s iPads that help them check voters in and make sure they’re at the right voting precinct.
“How many of you have a phone that is older than three years right now?” Michael Specter, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, asked lawmakers during his testimony. “Three or four years and basically something goes wrong. So when we talk about appropriations, I would recommend the committee consider every three to four years expect to have to switch out most things.”
The committee will meet again in early October to hear from vendors of election equipment.
Georgia seems poised to switch to a hand-marked paper ballot system for the 2028 election, but researchers and cybersecurity experts say there is a lot more to consider to ensure that voting stays secure and free from undue influence.
Election security concerns have long been at the forefront of the conversation around election equipment. Georgia’s current voting machines, which use a QR code to tally votes, have repeatedly faced criticism from advocates of hand-marked paper ballots, who say that ballots should be counted based on text that can be deciphered by humans.
State lawmakers have passed legislation to phase out the use of QR codes on ballots, but are still developing the guidelines that state lawmakers will use when selecting their next statewide voting system.
Sen. Max Burns, a Sylvania Republican who is co-chairing a special committee tasked with helping select Georgia’s next statewide election system, said he is hoping to land on a system that is as secure as possible, while maintaining the convenience that he said Georgia voters have come to expect.
“100% [security] is a goal,” he said. “We have to get as close to that as we can, and then we have to build other processes and mitigation opportunities around it to ensure that we address any potential challenges that we find.”
At a Thursday meeting at the state Capitol in Atlanta, cybersecurity experts and researchers gathered to share their insights with members of the legislative panel. Here are some of the election security issues state lawmakers will have to consider.
Equipment maintenance
Georgia’s current ballot-marking devices were purchased under a 10-year contract, and used statewide in Georgia for the first time in 2020. More than half a decade later the machines are still in use, but experts say the lack of software upgrades has left vulnerabilities in the system.
Whichever system the state turns to next, state leaders say, will likely be in use for at least the next decade. However, Geoff Hale, a fellow at the nonpartisan Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology, said technology and cybersecurity risks often evolve much more quickly, meaning that Georgia’s voting equipment will likely need to be updated several times over the course of its lifespan.
“Georgia is not purchasing something that will remain permanently secure,” Hale said. “Election security is a process and not a purchase.”
In addition to picking equipment that meets Georgia’s current specifications, Michael Barnes, the deputy director of information technology for voting systems for the secretary of state’s office, said lawmakers should ensure that the vendor they select has a plan to continue providing support, technology updates and spare parts for however long the state plans to keep using the system.
“What is the vendor providing, and what is their plan for providing that, not only for the initial deployment, but for five, 10, 15 years down the road?” he said.
Voter secrecy
The question of how to ensure that a voter’s selections remain private is another issue lawmakers will have to juggle.
Georgia’s constitution mandates that voters’ ballots be kept secret. However, rapid developments in artificial intelligence and other technology can make that harder to guarantee, especially in smaller counties. Last month, a Princeton University researcher claimed that he was able to use AI to tie thousands of voters in Heard and Cherokee counties to specific ballots with relative certainty by putting publicly available data through an AI tool.
The intersection of privacy and accessibility is another challenge. Precincts are required to keep at least one voting machine on hand for voters with disabilities according to federal law. But in jurisdictions where most voters mark ballots by hand, it may be fairly easy to determine how voters who used accessibility software voted.
Mark Lindeman, Philadelphia-based Verified Voting’s policy and strategy director, said that while he supported minimizing the role of ballot-marking devices in Georgia’s elections, there shouldn’t be restrictions on who gets to use the machines.
He noted that many voters who don’t consider themselves disabled may benefit from using a machine-marked system. A larger pool of people casting ballots marked by voting machines will also give voters with disabilities an increased level of anonymity when casting their ballot.
“It doesn’t have to be hundreds in a polling place, but to protect voter privacy and dignity, it shouldn’t be just a handful,” he said.
Foreign interference
Federal cuts to election security systems and a recent spike in cyberattacks may also fuel the risk of foreign interference in the midterm elections. Already this year, several Georgia counties have been hit by cyber attacks targeting their water systems. States like Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin have also faced similar attacks, according to the FBI. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency put out an advisory in April warning that such attacks may be linked to Iran.
But experts say it’s impossible to implement a system that completely eliminates the risk of bad actors interfering with elections. According to Michael Specter, an assistant professor and cybersecurity researcher at Georgia Tech, the most secure systems assume that a breach will happen at some point and develop transparent protocols to disclose and adapt to such instances.
“A system is only secure if the adversary knows how the system works and it is still secure,” he said.
Switching to hand-marked ballots may lessen the risk of certain security breaches, but experts emphasized that no technology is impervious to manipulation.
“Ballot on demand [printing] does not remove software from the election entirely,” said Hale, the Center for Democracy and Technology fellow. “Instead, it changes where software sits in the process.”
Paulding County Elections Director Deirdre Holden said that she worries about bad actors trying to access voter data, but added that in her experience, state officials had been quick to respond in instances where counties had faced cyberattacks.
“We have a very, very robust state system that takes care of us that knows when things like that are going on and they alert us very quickly,” she said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigated local Georgia governments that printed election materials in non-English languages, according to the AJC.
Internal records reveal the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has examined which jurisdictions in Georgia offer election materials in languages other than English, raising new questions about the administration’s pursuit of investigating claims of noncitizen voting.
A Dec. 19 email from the acting director of border policy for the Department of Homeland Security references a “Criminal Checklist outlining requirements for prosecution of voter related charges.”
The checklist itself is redacted. But the email includes an attachment listing local election laws by state that require ballots be printed in languages other than English, suggesting the administration’s intent to potentially target those jurisdictions for law enforcement actions.
Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties are among the jurisdictions mentioned.
Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett are all densely populated counties with a majority of Democratic voters. Federal law requires Gwinnett County to distribute ballots in Spanish and English because a significant share of its residents primarily speak a language other than English. Cobb and DeKalb counties both distribute sample ballots in Spanish and Korean, according to the documents.
The email was delivered to Rob Law, the DHS undersecretary for strategy, policy, and plans. Other department officials also received the email, including Heather Honey, a prominent election denier and the department’s deputy assistant secretary for election integrity.
Georgia will elect a new Secretary of State in November, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Georgia will elect a new secretary of state this year after the incumbent, Brad Raffensperger (R), made an unsuccessful run for governor in the primary. Penny Brown Reynolds (D) of Atlanta and state Rep. Tim Fleming (R) of Covington are the two nominees on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The Georgia secretary of state is the official keeper of the Great Seal of Georgia and oversees licensure and registration for nonprofits and businesses. Certain workers also require state licensing, such as nurses, contractors and plumbers.
The office also oversees elections, which is a hot topic for this year’s race in the wake of the SAVE America Act, a bill that would add more stringent identification requirements for U.S. voters. Supporters argue the bill will increase election security and limit voter fraud, while opponents say it will limit the ability of American citizens who lack transportation or certain forms of ID.
With a high-profile incumbent in Raffensperger out of the race, two newcomers — coming from different backgrounds — will face off for the seat.
Democratic nominee Penny B. Reynolds worked in the state legal system for around a decade, most notably as a judge. She left in 2008 to run the Daytime Emmy-winning show, “Family Court with Judge Penny.” She spent the better part of the 2010s involved in business ventures before returning to her alma mater, Georgia State University, as a professor. Reynolds joined the Biden administration in 2022, working as the USDA deputy assistant secretary.
The former judge has spent 2026 campaigning throughout the state with other prominent women of color. Organizations like the Krimson PAC and Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys endorse Reynolds.
Reynolds has said that she will fight for the rights of women and minority groups in the South. Activists and researchers say minorities are disproportionately impacted by restrictions on voter identification.
“This is my civil rights moment, and this is my moment,” Reynolds said in the August interview with Georgia Conservation Voters. “And it’s for Georgia, for all of us.”
Republican nominee Tim Fleming represents Georgia House District 114, comprising all of Morgan County and parts of Newton County and Walton County. He has been in Georgia politics for 24 years, so he is running on the slogan “Experience Matters.”
He has worked for Gov. Brian Kemp in several political campaigns, including an eight-year tenure in the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office as Kemp’s assistant. Before joining the Georgia House of Representatives in 2022, Fleming served as Kemp’s first chief of staff.
`Fleming received an endorsement from President Donald Trump via a post on Truth Social, in which Trump called Fleming a “MAGA Patriot.”
“I will be ready to lead — not learn,” Fleming said at a Marietta rally in July. “I also appreciate President Trump’s leadership in championing the SAVE America Act.”
Fleming, along with other Republicans, has called for investigation into Georgia’s 2020 election. He said there were “irregularities” in the polling. At the state house, Fleming chaired the Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Election Procedures.
“The legitimacy of our government — local, state and federal — rests squarely on the public’s trust in the electoral process,” Fleming said in July during the committee’s first meeting.
Two first-time candidates are running for Labor Commissioner, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Republican Barbara Rivera Holmes to this position March 18, 2025, after Commissioner Bruce Thompson died from cancer.
Holmes was president & CEO of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce before becoming the vice president of the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission. She has also been an award-winning journalist.
Democratic challenger Nikki Porcher has served in the U.S. Air Force and has had a career working as a teacher and advocating for small businesses.
Holmes faced no opposition in the Republican primary May 19, receiving 775,173 votes.
In the Democratic primary, Porcher received 200,734 votes (61.9%) against Michelle Sanchez, who received 123,306 votes (38.1%) during a runoff held June 16.
State School Superintendent Richard Woods (R-Tifton) faces a general election challenger, according to the Macon Telegraph.
The State School Superintendent manages public education in Georgia, serving as chief executive officer of the Georgia Department of Education and as executive officer of the State Board of Education. The superintendent oversees the allocation of state and federal education funds to local school districts, and sets and administers policies for curriculum standards and statewide testing.
Republican Richard Woods, the incumbent, taught high school social studies for 14 years and later served in various leadership roles that included principal, pre-K director and curriculum director. He was elected state school superintendent in 2014.
Democrat challenger Lydia Powell, an assistant high school principal, is also a former social studies teacher. In addition to educator and administrator, her roles have included culture and inclusion trainer and cheer and step team coach.
Woods held off challenger Fred Longgrear in a tightly contested Republican primary, winning with 51.5% of the vote to Longgrear’s 48.5%.
Powell won three-candidate Democratic primary, narrowly avoiding a runoff with 50.5% of the vote but finished far ahead of second-place vote-getter Anton Anthony, who had 29.8%.
Republican Georgia Insurance Commission John F. King faces a challenger in November, according t0 the Ledger-Enquirer.
The Georgia insurance and safety fire commissioner is a four-year, no term-limit executive role in the state government. The commissioner leads Georgia insurance industry regulation and state fire safety efforts through standards and best practices set by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
This seat is up for election on the Nov. 3 ballot. The incumbent, John F. King (R) is running against Keisha Sean Waites (D) and Colin McKinney (L).
Appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019 before being elected to a full term in 2022, King became the first Hispanic statewide official in Georgia. He grew up in Albany, served in the U.S. Army National Guard, worked as an Atlanta police officer and was chief of police for Doraville.
“When I was appointed Insurance Commissioner, I inherited a broken agency,” King wrote in an Aug. 18 Facebook campaign post.
Democratic nominee Keisha Sean Waites served three terms as the Georgia House District 60 representative for southeast Atlanta. She is a former Atlanta City Council member, though she resigned before completing her full term. She worked in the U.S. Small Business Administration Disaster Assistance Division and held roles in the Legislative and External Affairs divisions of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
At FEMA, Waites worked on recovery response efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and was on the external affairs team to help after the Haiti earthquake in 2010. She also helped organize tests of lead in Flint Michigan’s water in 2016.
Waites faces several ethics violations for using taxpayer money to print and mail campaign newsletters, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. After resigning from city council, she received cease-and-desist letters for filming campaign videos inside Atlanta City Hall.
Cost of living is a high priority for Waites in her campaign.
“Georgia families are paying some of the highest insurance rates in the country — for their homes, their cars, and their healthcare,” Waites wrote in an Aug. 13 Facebook post. “As a homeowner, driver, and taxpayer, I know exactly how painful and frustrating this system has become. Georgians deserve relief, accountability, and leadership that understands their struggle firsthand. I’m running for Insurance Commissioner to deliver that change.”
State Rep. Chas Cannon, (R-Moultrie), who also serves as Colquitt County Administrator, spoke to a group of retired educators, according to the Moultrie Observer.
The program was presented by Chas Cannon, Colquitt County Administrator/Georgia State Representative. He informed the members of his duties on the local and state level and gave updates on current legislation. A question and answer session followed his presentation.
State Rep. Cannon also received the Georgia Municipal Association’s (GMA) 2026 “Champion of Georgia’s Cities Award,” according to the Moultrie Observer.
State Rep. Chas Cannon of Moultrie received a 2026 “Champion of Georgia’s Cities Award” from the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) in recognition of his support for Georgia’s cities during the 2025–2026 session of the Georgia General Assembly. The award was presented during the Moultrie City Council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
The “Champion of Georgia’s Cities Award” is presented at the end of each two-year legislative term to state legislators who have demonstrated strong support for major municipal initiatives and priorities, the GMA said in a press release.
During the 2025–2026 legislative term, Cannon was a key voice on local government matters, sharing his expertise from experience in the area, the GMA said. In particular, he sponsored House Bill 244, revising the standards for local government audits while maintaining transparency.
His work in the General Assembly helped advance issues important to cities and the residents they serve across Georgia, the GMA said.
GMA CEO and Executive Director Larry Hanson and Deputy Executive Director Jim Thornton presented the award to Cannon on behalf of the association.
“We greatly appreciate Representative Cannon’s support for Georgia’s cities and his willingness to work with municipal leaders on issues that directly impact their communities,” said Hanson. “His leadership and commitment to strong local government have made him a valuable partner to cities across our state.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens will propose legislation to regulate the city’s use of Flock surveillance cameras, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Atlanta’s mayor, Andre Dickens, has announced a new legislation attempt that would codify and strengthen the city’s existing privacy standards as the city continues to partner with Flock Safety.
In an announcement Tuesday, the mayor said he would be introducing legislation at the Sept. 21 City Council meeting to “build on the existing safeguards established by the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and create a permanent, citywide framework for the responsible use of public safety cameras and other technologies.”
The mayor’s office hopes the members will move toward approving the steps in the next 60 days.
The legislation is aimed at attacking ten key areas, according to the mayor’s office: citywide standards, use policies, access controls, data governance, mandatory audits, independent oversight, vendor accountability, review of new technology, public transparency and temporary deployment safeguards.
“The legislation would also explicitly prohibit discriminatory or viewpoint-based use of covered technology and prohibit the use of City systems or data for personal, commercial, or other unauthorized purposes,” according to the mayor’s office.
“Technology that gives government extraordinary capabilities must come with extraordinary accountability,” Dickens said in the announcement. “Public safety is not a blank check, and neither is privacy an excuse to deny law enforcement tools that can help save lives and solve crimes. Atlanta will have both: effective public safety technology governed by clear rules, meaningful oversight and consequences when those rules are violated.”
Wayne County Commissioners voted to amend their data center ordinance, according to WSAV.
Some of the amendments include requiring private companies to pay for cleanup and removal a center goes out of business, requiring details about how they will reduce their massive water demands during regional drought or utility disruption and giving yearly compliance reports to ensure companies operate under county rules after approval.
The Richmond County School System fired five employees, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
The Richmond County School System has fired five school resource officers after an internal investigation and a review by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.
The resource officers were terminated after POST recommended revoking their peace officer certifications.
Another officer will remain employed because her certification was not recommended for revocation. She will serve a 24-month probationary period and complete an ethics course under POST guidelines.
Superintendent Malinda Cobb said the district would reinforce expectations for accountability, professionalism, and public trust within its police department.
Some Baldwin County property owners expressed their thoughts on higher property taxes, according to 13WMAZ.
“If it goes up, I’ll probably end up losing my home,” [Milledgeville resident Tracy] Hall said.
Several commissioners presented possible approaches for resolving the county’s debt, including adjustments to the millage rate and the sale of county-owned property.
Vice Chairman Scott Little said the county has options beyond relying solely on a tax increase.
“We have several tools at our disposal that’s not only the mill rate,” Little said.
Little suggested Baldwin County consider selling Sibley Industrial Park, echoing an earlier recommendation from Interim County Manager Paul Van Haute.
Van Haute has recommended a 9-mill increase, though he emphasized that commissioners — not the county manager — will make the final decision.
While residents raised concerns about affordability, Little said county officials must find a solution to prevent more cuts to essential services.
“Are we ready to not have a fire department?” Little said. “I mean, the county would close.”
Hall said even a smaller increase would create financial strain for residents already dealing with higher costs.
“Times are hard; they’re not going to increase my pay,” Hall said.
Commissioners are expected to hold another week of hearings and gather additional feedback from taxpayers before voting on a final millage rate increase.
The Chatham County Tax Commissioner’s Office announced that second-installment property tax bills are being sent, according to WTOC.
Second installment property tax bills are officially in the mail to property owners across Chatham County, and payments are due Monday, Nov. 16.
The Chatham County Tax Commissioner’s Office announced that some homeowners may notice savings this year due to local homestead exemption changes and the state-approved Homeowner Tax Relief Grant (HTRG).
Under the relief grant, eligible homesteaded properties receive up to an $18,000 reduction in assessed value, which can lower the overall bill. The relief grant does not apply to non-homesteaded properties.
“We want homeowners to understand exactly what they are seeing on their 2026 tax bills,” Chatham County Tax Commissioner Sonya L. Jackson said. “This year’s bills include important tax relief provisions, including changes to Chatham County’s homestead exemptions and the state’s Homeowner Tax Relief Grant. We encourage everyone to review their bill and make sure they understand their exemptions, credits and payment responsibility.”
Dalton Public Schools revised their required property tax notice because the math wouldn’t math. From the Dalton Daily Citizen:
Dalton Public Schools has revised its legally required property-tax notice after receiving a new rollback rate, lowering the advertised percentage increase from 6.33% to 5.78%.
The district’s proposed rate remains unchanged at 8.05 mills.
Whitfield County Tax Commissioner Danny Sane said Thursday that his office compiles tax-digest figures supplied by the Whitfield County Board of Tax Assessors and provides the resulting rollback calculation to Dalton Public Schools. The district does not set the rollback rate.
The rollback rate is the millage rate calculated to produce approximately the same property-tax revenue as the previous year from property already on the tax digest, after accounting for reassessments and excluding revenue associated with new growth.
Because statutory notification schedules can begin before the tax digest is final, state rules allow estimated digest figures to be used earlier in the process. Those figures may later be revised.
The Dougherty County School System is creating a task force to address student meals, according to the Albany Herald.
The Dougherty County School System plans to create a task force to help families retain food assistance and navigate new reporting requirements as district officials warn that declining SNAP participation could eventually affect the federal provision that allows every student to eat free at school.
Superintendent Kenneth Dyer announced the plan Monday during his report to the Dougherty County Board of Education. He said the district intends to help parents understand benefit requirements, find work or job training, and complete required reporting online.
“I don’t believe people are losing their benefits because their financial situation has improved significantly,” Dyer said. “I think they’re losing the benefits because they’re not doing the reporting that’s required. So the needs are still there.”
Dougherty County schools participate in the federal Community Eligibility Provision, which allows eligible high-poverty school systems to serve breakfast and lunch to all students without collecting individual household meal applications.
The federal reimbursement calculation depends on the share of students who are directly certified for free meals through their participation in programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Dyer said a substantial drop in that directly certified population could weaken the basis for the district’s universal meal program. He did not say Monday that free meals are ending or identify a date when the district might become ineligible.
“If our direct certification goes down, then we no longer qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision, so no longer do all of our students eat free,” he said, describing the potential consequence.
The concern, Dyer said, is that children could lose nutritional assistance at home while a decline in family enrollment also affects how the school district is reimbursed for meals.
The district plans to educate families about work, training and reporting requirements and connect them with employment and training opportunities. Dyer said online reporting may be one of the barriers preventing eligible families from maintaining assistance.
“We hope that we’ll be able to maintain their benefits so that our children won’t go hungry because of a lack of government assistance,” he said.
The National Park Service wants to acquire additional land on Cumberland Island and a local nonprofit opposes, according to WSAV.
The Park Service is looking to acquire land that includes live oak maritime forests, archaeological resources and habitat for nesting shorebirds and threatened sea turtles.
A Park Service spokesperson said the goal is to protect those resources, while moving private development potential to areas without those concerns. Even with some federally owned property becoming private ownership, conservation easements could limit how much of the land could be used.
A Wild Cumberland spokesperson, however, said 80% of the property would be conserved, while the remaining 20% could include up to six single-family homes with building footprints of up to 15,000 square feet each.
Kelly Cox, with Defenders of Wildlife, said, “It also is about clearing habitat, forests, and wetlands. It’s about new roads and vehicles, and noise and lights and sounds, and permanent human activity that can cause disturbance. And we’re concerned about that. Those changes can alter how wildlife uses their habitat and how they exist on this largely undeveloped island.”
A Wild Cumberland spokesperson said the two exchange proposals could set a precedent for more exchanges on the island.
