CLEVELAND, Ga. – The green light to begin construction of updates to the City of Cleveland’s wastewater treatment plant was given by the Cleveland City Council Monday night. This much-needed project has been in the works since 2018, with COVID and other factors delaying the project.
During that time, the construction cost has steadily increased, but the city was blessed to get grant funding to help with the extra cost.
The city council voted to award the contract to M.B. Kahn Waterworks, LLC, which provided the lowest bid from three companies that submitted bids, of $27,981,100.
The project calls for construction and upgrades to both the treatment method and the capacity of the existing facility. The city will be utilizing $18.9 million in grants and a $12.6 million Georgia Environmental Finance Authority loan to complete the work.
Cleveland Mayor Josh Turner thanked our federal and state legislative leaders who helped obtain funding for the project, “It was a lot of work and a lot of lifting by a lot of people and I thank all of our staff and all of those previously mentioned so it was a team effort by all the team Cleveland and I can’t wait to get this project completed,” commented Turner.
The Director of Economic Development and Planning for the City of Cleveland, Tom O’Bryant, said they will be working with the contractor to fine-tune the project, which is expected to take around 18 months to complete.
Patrick Nix steps down as Coach (Central High School)/NowGeorgia.com
Phenix City Schools announces that Patrick Nix has stepped down as the Head Football
Coach at Central High School to pursue opportunities in Ministry.
During his six seasons at Central, Coach Nix led the Red Devils to an exceptional run of success that included four region championships, six semifinal appearances, three state championship appearances, and the 2023 Class 7A State Championship.
“Coach Nix has left a lasting impression on Central High School,” said Chris Lindsey, Central High School Principal. “The culture and values that he brought to our school were invaluable. Those same cultures and values far outweigh the wins and championships that were won on the field. We are very thankful for the lasting impact that Coach Nix and his family have left on Central High School, and we wish them nothing but the best in the future.”
Before his tenure at Central, Coach Nix served as the head coach at Scottsboro High School and Pinson Valley High School. Across thirteen seasons as a head coach, he holds a record of 131-36, capturing three state championships: two at Pinson Valley and one at Central.
Indiana wide receiver Elijah Sarratt (13) makes a touchdown catch past Alabama defensive back Dijon Lee Jr. (5) during the second half of the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones insists there’s no real secret to the Hoosiers defensive success.
They prepare hard, follow coaches’ instructions, stick to the fundamentals and trust one another to do their jobs. It’s as old-school as it gets, hardly a surprise in coach Curt Cignetti’s program.
But No. 1 Indiana is here, one win away from playing for its first national championship because the players remain motivated to prove something to themselves — and to the college football world.
“You’re always chasing that perfect game as a defense and for us that chip will always be there,” Jones said Tuesday. “A lot of these guys had chips (on their shoulders) before they got to Indiana and so did I. So having that chip is what got us here, and I don’t think it’s ever going to go away.”
These Hoosiers have been trying to show their values to a wider audience for years.
Jones grew up in central Ohio but didn’t get much attention from his home state Buckeyes. Linebacker Aiden Fisher landed at James Madison as a zero-star recruit. Defensive end Mikail Kamara joined him with the Dukes after receiving several other scholarship offers from smaller schools, and cornerback D’Angelo Ponds grew weary of hearing constant questions about his 5-foot-9 frame.
And even though Stephen Daley suffered a right leg injury that will keep him out of Friday night’s Peach Bowl against No. 5 Oregon, he didn’t let anyone deter his journey from 230-pound, two-way star to all-conference defensive linemen. Yes, the guy his local fans once compared to Derrick Henry because he qualified for the Virginia state track and field championships in the 100-meter dash, as the anchor of the 4×100-meter relay and, yes, in the discus, started his career at Kent State and created one of the sport’s most unusual one-year transitions — going from the 0-12 Golden Flashes in 2024 to the top-ranked and still unbeaten 14-0 Hoosiers this year.
Together, they’ve formed one of the nation’s stingiest defenses — one still trying to demonstrate its stifling performance in October’s 30-20 win at Oregon was no fluke. The Ducks (13-1) understand the challenge.
“Obviously, they have great players,” Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq said. “Second to that, they have great schemes. So, I mean, when you look at the stunts they do, the same pressures, all those things, just even players winning their one-on-ones on the edges, the edges do a great job.”
Current and former coaches have often praised Indiana’s defense for its uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time on almost every play. That’s by design.
But the Ducks defense also has something to prove after losing twice in the past 13 months.
In last January’s Rose Bowl rematch against Ohio State, the Buckeyes jumped out to a 34-0 lead and avenged their only loss of the season with a 41-21 rout over No. 1 and previously unbeaten Oregon, the Big Ten champs.
Then in October, Oregon took advantage of a Pick-6 thrown by Indiana’s first Heisman Trophy winner, Fernando Mendoza, to tie the score at 20 in the fourth quarter — only to watch Mendoza march the Hoosiers right down the field for the tiebreaking touchdown on Indiana’s next series.
Oregon certainly would like to steal a page out of Ohio State’s playbook in this rematch with the Big Ten champs.
The Ducks (13-1) certainly have the bodies to get the job done.
Nearly half of Oregon’s defensive starters are projected to be NFL draft picks. They also might have the most frustrated player on the field in Atlanta — second team Associated Press All-American safety Dillon Thieneman, a transfer from Purdue who grew up in suburban Indianapolis.
“Props to them for what they’ve done. I definitely have my own kind of feelings about the (Oregon) game and that team and stuff,” he said before cracking a smile. “I know a few guys on that team. Just coming from Purdue, I think you know how I feel about them, don’t need to say it.”
But this game won’t be decided simply by who wants it more, especially with the stakes so high.
Instead, it will come down to matchups, game plans and, of course, the most basic element of all in football — execution. It’s a message that seems tailor made for the blunt-talking Cignetti, who uses short phrases and quick quips to make his point.
Implementing that message is up to the Hoosiers as they try to defy history one more time.
“They’ve improved drastically. So for me, I’m scouting a whole new team,” Fisher said. “To me, it’s two teams seeing each other for the first time, in my mind. You treat it like that. You prepare for it like that. I can speak for a lot of guys with that, our coaches, too. We’re treating it like it’s the biggest game of the year because it’s the next one and you’ve got to prepare for it like that.”
On January 7, 2026, at approximately 1130 hours, Officers responded to 601 Broad Street, (LaGrange College) in reference to a potential explosive device being located inside Hawkins Dormitory.
Upon arrival, it was determined that a Resident Advisor had located a device that he believed to potentially be a bomb inside of a dorm room that was currently unoccupied, while students had not returned from Christmas break.
In accordance with protocol, the area was secured and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Bomb Squad was immediately notified of the incident and requested to respond to assess the device.
The LaGrange Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division responded and initiated an investigation into the incident which quickly determined that the student occupying the room where the device was located had in fact created the device as part of an assignment to create a prop for a Theater class project and that the project had simply not been discarded or otherwise secured by the student, as required. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations was contacted and advised to disregard their response and the device was subsequently seized to be properly disposed of.
It should be noted that at no point was there ever any danger to any students or general public.
The LaGrange Police Department is grateful to the LaGrange College staff for their full and complete cooperation in this matter, as well as their obvious concern for the ongoing safety of their students.
Anyone with information pertaining to this investigation are encouraged to contact Captain John Slonaker at (706) 883-2643.
(Source: HCSO Rob Moore) - Shown during the recent filming of a Habersham Central Raiders hype video are, from left, SRO Anthony Sullo, SRO Austin Martin, SRO Kristopher Stout, SRO Lynn Moore, SRO Sgt. Wesley Addis, SRO Sgt. Wesley Littlejohn, SRO Lt. Aaron Autry, SRO David Perkins, SRO Evaleez Gonzalez, SRO Kyle O’Kelley, and SRO Graciela Margolla.
The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office is starting 2026 with a full roster of School Resource Officers. New hire Joel Compton has begun his SRO duties, ensuring every public school in the county has an officer. This addition brings the total number of deputies in this role to 12, doubling the force from the previous year.
These officers are trained to provide on-campus security while building relationships with students and staff.
“We value our partnership with the school system, and I especially appreciate the hard work and dedication of our school superintendent, Patrick Franklin,” said Sheriff Robin Krockum. “It has been a goal of ours to fully staff these positions so every school in Habersham County will have their own school resource officer.”
Pausing during the recent Habersham County Sheriff’s Office Shop with a Hero event in Cornelia are, from left, SRO Anthony Sullo, SRO Austin Martin, SRO Kristopher Stout, SRO Sgt. Wesley Addis, SRO Lt. Aaron Autry, SRO Joel Compton, and SRO Kyle O’Kelley. (Rob Moore/Habersham County Sheriff’s Office)
Lt. Aaron Autry leads the unit, which includes Sgts. Wesley Addis and Wesley Littlejohn. The team also comprises officers Evaleez Gonzalez, Graciela Margolla, Austin Martin, Lynn Moore, Kyle O’Kelley, David Perkins, Anthony Sullo, Kristopher Stout, and Compton.
The Habersham County Board of Education Police Department covers Habersham Central High School. Elementary schools within the city limits of Baldwin and Demorest are served by their respective police departments. Sheriff’s deputies cover the remaining schools and provide backup as needed.
The district includes Baldwin, Clarkesville, Cornelia, Demorest, Fairview, Hazel Grove, Level Grove, and Woodville elementary schools. Middle schools include North Habersham, South Habersham, and Wilbanks. The system also encompasses the Habersham Ninth Grade Academy, Habersham Success Academy, and Habersham Central High School.
The Habersham County Board of Education will hold a work session Jan. 8. (Patrick Fargason/Now Habersham)
The Habersham County Board of Education will revisit its strategic plan Thursday during a work session that is expected to largely build on discussions held in December.
The board is scheduled to meet at 4:30 p.m. for a work session that includes a strategic plan progress report and technology presentation, along with updates on facilities and family engagement initiatives, according to the agenda.
At its December meeting, board members received an update on early literacy efforts, which district leaders described as a central focus of the system’s long-term strategic goals. That discussion included progress on reading instruction at the elementary level, the use of data to guide instruction, and ongoing professional development for teachers.
The board also reviewed elements of the proposed 2026-27 academic calendar in December, continuing a broader conversation about aligning instructional priorities with long-range planning goals.
Thursday’s strategic plan progress report is expected to provide a follow-up to those topics rather than introduce new initiatives. The presentation will include a technology component led by district staff, continuing the board’s review of how instructional and operational technology supports the district’s strategic objectives.
Also on the agenda is a facilities report from district leadership and a presentation from Family Connection, which works with schools and community partners to support students and families.No votes are scheduled during the work session
The Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission voted on a new ordinance amendment addressing public area interference that could affect the homeless population.
Item 11 on the agenda for the recent Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission meeting was an amendment to a previous ordinance that addressed right-of-way use in public areas. The amendment provides more detailed definitions for what constitutes an interference in public areas.
Commissioner Dexter Fisher clarified that this amendment is not an attack on the unhoused.
“This is not to criminalize our homeless population,” he said, “However, though, I think that those businesses downtown and other places in Athens should not have their business impeded because somebody is sleeping on their doorstep.”
Commissioner Tiffany Taylor of District 3 emphasized the need for ACCPD to be part of this conversation, as they will be the ones enforcing the amended ordinance, and she hopes that the people the ordinance affects will be treated with care.
She said, “At the end of the day, it’s about the people and a lot of them have mental health issues or just fell on hard times and have nowhere to go, and I just want us to be mindful to not just fill our jails up with unhoused residents because we don’t wanna look at them.”
All of the commissioners voted in favor of the amendment.
FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ga. — One person was killed in a two-vehicle crash early Wednesday morning on Georgia 17 in Franklin County.
According to the Georgia State Patrol, troopers responded to the crash around 7:08 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 7, in the area of Georgia 17 near Brogdon Circle and Cedar Lane Drive.
Investigators said a 2004 Jeep Liberty was possibly stopped and disabled in the roadway, facing north on Georgia 17. A 2011 Ford Expedition, also traveling north, struck the left rear of the Jeep with its right front.
After impact, the Jeep left the east shoulder of the roadway and overturned. The driver of the Jeep, identified as Thomas Robert Hyde, 55, of Royston, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Ford Expedition came to rest facing south in the southbound lane of Georgia 17. The driver of the Expedition, Sheila Denise Willis, 48, of Royston, sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Troopers said heavy fog in the area may have been a contributing factor in the crash. No impairment is suspected, and no charges have been filed at this time.
The crash remains under investigation. The Georgia State Patrol Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team is assisting with the case.
The Baldwin City Council. (Patrick Fargason/Now Habersham)
BALDWIN, Ga. — The Baldwin City Council has confirmed receipt of an annexation request from Cook Construction for property near Duncan Bridge Road and Georgia Highway 365 — land that appears to be the same tract involved in a recently failed annexation effort in Cornelia.
Baldwin City Manager Tiera Morrison said the application was submitted at 3:15 p.m. Friday, Jan. 2, and was publicly acknowledged during the City Council’s work session in the interest of transparency.
“Cook Construction submitted their application for annexation, and we wanted to be sure that you guys were made aware of this,” Morrison said. “We wanted to ensure transparency with you guys regarding this.”
Mayor Doug Faust said council members have not yet had time to review or analyze the request, noting the application was first included in the council’s packet for the work session.
“This application was just received Friday at 3:15 p.m., and we haven’t had any time to really review it,” Faust said. “This is the first time council has seen it.”
Faust said the materials submitted largely consist of documentation from the property owners requesting annexation, along with preliminary information outlining proposed uses for the land and expectations for both the applicant and the city.
Faust also confirmed the property is contiguous to land already within Baldwin’s city limits.
“We already have land at that location that is within the city of Baldwin, so this annexation request is contiguous to ours,” he said. “At this point, that’s really all we’re prepared to talk about. We just received this and have not had time to analyze it.”
Faust said the annexation request will undergo further review and public discussion before any action is taken.
“This will be examined much more publicly,” Faust said. “We will ask for public meetings and make sure the community has the opportunity to provide input.”
Faust said the request represents both a potential opportunity for new revenue and job creation and a significant change for the affected area.
“It does represent a substantial opportunity for the city,” he said, “but it’s also a substantial change to that particular area. We’re going to need to know a lot more about it.”
The Baldwin request comes weeks after Cook Construction’s attempt to annex the same property into Cornelia collapsed following a lengthy public hearing. Cornelia later enacted a 180-day pause on new annexation requests.
This is a developing story. Now Habersham has submitted an open records request with the City of Baldwin. Phone calls made to Cook Construction in Gainesville were unreturned at the time of publication.
Georgia State Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, speaks to reporters about a proposal to eliminate the state's personal income tax on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, at the Capitol in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)
ATLANTA (AP) — Eliminating state income taxes sounds great to many voters, but Republicans backing the push in multiple states still face questions about whether such big tax cuts can be made without raising other taxes or sharply cutting state funding for education, health care and other services.
Georgia on Wednesday became the latest state to launch a bid to abolish its personal income tax, with Republican leaders in the Senate backing a proposal to zero it out by 2032. This year, Georgia’s personal income tax is projected to collect about $16.5 billion, or 44% of the state’s general revenue.
The push is driven by politics. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, the Republican who leads the state Senate, has made eliminating income taxes a centerpiece of his 2026 campaign for governor. State Sen. Blake Tillery, a Vidalia Republican who led a committee to abolish the tax, is among candidates to succeed Jones as lieutenant governor.
“This is the first vote that we are going to get to take to address affordability,” Tillery said.
FILE – Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones speaks at a rally kicking off his 2026 campaign for governor, Aug. 26, 2025, in Flovilla, Ga. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy, File)
But it’s unclear if the proposal will pass. Georgia House Republicans may want to continue nibbling away at the tax in smaller bites, preferring a “measured” approach. Republican House Speaker Jon Burns of Newington said Wednesday that his big 2026 goal is to eliminate property taxes for homeowners, but said he’s willing to consider the Senate plan.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, serving his last year, has been cool to total elimination of the income tax. He declined to comment Wednesday on the Senate plan, but spokesperson Carter Chapman said Kemp wants “to continue lowering taxes and putting more money in Georgians’ pockets as he has throughout his term.”
The state’s Democratic minority opposes the move, saying it would mostly benefit high earners and the state needs money to provide services.
Multiple GOP-led states seek tax cuts
Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri have all set goals to abolish the personal income tax, joining eight other states that don’t tax personal income. Eight other states besides Georgia are cutting personal income tax rates this year, according to the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C., group generally skeptical of higher taxes.
“We’ve seen a lot of states cut their income tax rates in the last four or five years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and coming out of it,” said Aravind Boddupalli, senior researcher at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
Supporters say cuts help a state compete for new residents and businesses, pointing to growth in Texas and Florida, two states without personal income taxes.
“Your income tax is a tax on productivity,” said Manish Bhatt, who studies state taxes for the Tax Foundation. “If you are taxing productivity, you are potentially losing out on economic gains.”
Front-loading cuts for lower earners
Georgia has already been cutting income taxes, taking what was once a top income tax rate of 6% and lowering it to a 5.19% flat rate. Republicans broadly support a further cut for individual and corporate taxpayers to 4.99% this year, worth an estimated $800 million in foregone tax revenue.
The Senate plan would then freeze the corporate rate and focus on individual tax cuts. It proposes in 2027 to exempt the first $50,000 of income for a single person or $100,000 for a married couple, up from $12,000 and $24,000 now.
Faced with Democratic criticism about affordability, the big increase in exempt income is central to Republicans’ own arguments about how they can make money stretch farther. About 70% of Georgians reported less than $100,000 of taxable income in 2024, according to state figures.
“It is a plan that gives benefits first to hardworking families,” Tillery said.
The initial rate cut, plus the exemption proposal, would lower Georgia revenue by $3.8 billion in its 2027 budget year. Tillery says the state could pay by using surplus tax revenue and shifting back to paying for capital expenditures through borrowing instead of cash. But those moves probably wouldn’t cover the foregone revenue even in the first year, much less $13 billion more in cuts to get to zero.
Tillery said revenue should be bolstered by trimming business income and sales tax breaks, saying legislators should reduce “corporate welfare.” But lawmakers and Kemp have balked at curtailing those measures in recent years.
Some tax cuts backfired
Tax cuts haven’t always been a political bonanza. In Kansas, after Republicans under Gov. Sam Brownback cut income taxes steeply more than a decade ago, voters revolted at budget cuts and lawmakers imposed multiple tax increases to cover persistent budget shortfalls, including restoring some income tax cuts. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly won her first term in 2018 by framing the race as a referendum on Brownback’s policies.
“State income taxes are only bad if you fundamentally don’t believe that the services, the public investments that state governments provide, are worth anything,” said Matt Gardner, a senior fellow with the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy .
In Missouri, Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe and GOP legislative leaders have made phasing out the state’s income tax a top priority for the session starting Wednesday. They’re looking to expand sales taxes to services which currently are untaxed to help offset lost revenue.
“We want to do this in a smart, efficient way that’s not going to have the state go off some sort of fiscal cliff,” Missouri House Majority Leader Alex Riley told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
But expanding sales taxes could fall more heavily on poorer taxpayers. The liberal-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute estimated that if Georgia doesn’t expand its sales tax, the combined state and local sales tax rate would have to rise sharply from the current 7.42% to recover revenue losses.
All that leads to questions about income-tax elimination plans, even from Republicans. Burns, the Georgia House speaker, said he’s “open” to any plan that benefits Georgians.
“But we’ve got to have the details, and it has to work,” Burns said. “We need to make sure we can continue to do vital services — health care, public safety, education, all the things we talked about.”
FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ga. — Authorities have arrested a 64-year-old man following a drive-by shooting in Northeast Georgia that narrowly missed two people sitting on a front porch.
According to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched around 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6, after a 911 caller reported gunshots fired at a residence along Gumlog Road.
Investigators determined that an unknown person drove past the home earlier that day and fired multiple rounds toward the residence. No injuries were reported. Sheriff Scott Andrews said deputies found shell casings on Gumlog Road in front of the home and observed possible damage to the residence.
During the investigation, deputies identified a suspect vehicle and learned it may have been involved in a similar shooting in Lavonia in Hart County.
Search warrants for the vehicle and a related residence were obtained and executed Tuesday evening. Authorities took Richard Albert Watkins, 64, into custody without incident. Firearms were recovered from the residence, officials said.
Watkins faces multiple charges, including two counts of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, discharging a firearm from a public highway, possession of marijuana (misdemeanor), and drugs to be kept in the original container. Additional charges may be filed in connection with the Hart County incident.
Andrews credited assistance from the Hart County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, noting the cooperation helped lead to Watkins’ arrest within about 12 hours of the incidents.
Just after 4 p.m., a deputy with the Hart County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop on a 2008 white Chrysler Aspen on Whitworth Road near Interstate 85.
According to a social media post by the Sheriff’s Office, while the deputy was speaking with the driver, she suddenly drove away, turned around, and traveled back toward the patrol vehicle before running over a curb to re-enter the roadway.
Deputies pursued the vehicle as it entered Interstate 85 northbound toward South Carolina. They were able to safely box in the vehicle just before reaching the state line and bring it to a stop, officials said.
The driver was identified as Angela Rae Smith, 54, of Liberty, South Carolina. Smith was taken into custody and transported to the Hart County Jail, where she is charged with fleeing or attempting to elude, obstruction of a law enforcement officer, and vehicle equipment violations.
