Savannah Morning News
Trump clemency erases $1.7 billion in penalties
President Donald Trump loves a good pardon. His generosity is so well known, in fact, that an industry of lobbyists, lawyers and other insiders has reportedly sprung up to facilitate clemency for wealthy criminals. Clemency, meaning mercy or leniency,...
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Labor report shows inflation up again
For the third straight month, workers’ paychecks did not keep pace with rising prices, the Labor Department’s final inflation report ahead of the midterm elections revealed. U.S. consumer prices rose 0.6% from the month before in September, per the...
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North Bryan adds EV charging for Tesla semis
Tesla electric semis will soon have an additional location to power their vehicles along the I-16 corridor. Pilot Travel Center, which opened a facility in Ellabell in 2024, celebrated the installation of six new Tesla charging stations Thursday...
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Port of Savannah sees record September volumes
Nearly two weeks ago Georgia Ports Authority executives forecasted September would be a strong month for Savannah’s port. Now, those final numbers are in. This installment of On Our Radar provides an update on the latest volumes through the Port of...
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REBRANDING NICOTINE
An ironic development emerging alongside the “Make America Healthy Again” movement is the portrayal of nicotine as a wellness and performance-enhancing product. Across social media, podcasts, wellness communities and tech startups, prominent wellness...
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Recess Hotel brings wit, fun to Johnson Square
Visitors walking through the halls on any floor of Downtown Savannah’s new Recess Hotel & Club may notice a large room that resembles a gathering space. That’s the Rumpus Room. Inside the space features games and a cocktail cart from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m....
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Savannah State honors top donors in new society
Savannah State University has recognized 20 donors and donor couples whose lifetime contributions to the institution exceeded $100,000. The new inductees are the inaugural members of the Richard R. Wright, Sr. Giving Society, according to a community...
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The AI of the storm
Artificial intelligence has revolutionized weather forecasting in just a few years, with global AI weather models now able to produce forecasts that rival some of the world’s best physics-based prediction systems. h This remarkable progress has been...
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Loud sounds have hidden health risks
The human body is remarkably good at getting used to the environment around it. You’ve probably experienced this if you’ve ever gone to a matinee and emerged from the dark theater into sunshine. Your eyes sting, so you squint and shield your face until...
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‘We want to bring a little bit of Colombia to Savannah’
Marisol Borrego, also known by the artistic name Mari Borr, knows her grandmother’s arepa recipe like she knows her own name. When asked the ingredients, Borr can recite them instantly and with ease. White corn, cheese, salt and a little bit of sugar...
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Edna Jackson’s legacy celebrated in Savannah
Savannah state Rep. Edna Jackson announced during this year’s legislative season that it would be her last. Now, she is getting her flowers. This installment of On Our Radar brings a recap of a recent event honoring Jackson as a major interchange in...
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Turning Savannah pink, one screening at a time
Savannah famously turns green in March. In October, it turns pink. St. Joseph’s/Candler launched the 19th year of its Paint the Town Pink initiative on Thursday, Oct. 1, the medical system’s flagship initiative for breast cancer awareness and...
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Officials forecast strong September
This storm season in Coastal Georgia has been notably quiet, but that hasn’t stopped extreme weather events from straining shipments to the Port of Savannah in recent weeks. There was a trifecta of consecutive major storms on China’s coast in August...
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Patricia Heaton’s message: Trust God
Two-time Emmy Award winner Patricia Heaton on Wednesday headlined the 24th annual St. Joseph’s/Candler Smart Women Luncheon and Expo, a fundraising event for the Telfair Mammography Fund. In 2025, the fund, which supports breast health services and...
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PATCHWORK OF POLICIES
Standing in your local retail store, it can be mindboggling to try to weigh the pros and cons of all the packaging options. Take shampoo, for example. Shampoo can come in a rigid plastic bottle, a flexible squeeze tube, a refillable metal canister or...
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Finding community alongside bulk buys
With their busy schedules, Los Angeles besties and social media influencers Analyse Talavera and Carmen Rene Smith don’t always spend as much time together as they’d like. Their solution? Tag-teaming their Costco errands. The outings double as...
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Tybee Island secures critical beach repair money
This April, when erosion from storms, sea-level rise and ship traffic had eaten away about 60% of Tybee’s beach, Tybee Island officials received some unwelcome news: The federal funding that has allowed for periodic reinforcement of the beach for the...
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Cumberland Island naturalist saved sea turtles
When Will Harlan first met Carol Ruckdeschel on Cumberland Island in the 1990s, she was “on the beach holding a bloody knife and waving me over.” Harlan had recently graduated from college and was working as a seasonal park ranger on Cumberland....
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Cursive is making a comeback in schools
Learning to read and write cursive was once a rite of passage for practically every American schoolchild. Until the early 20th century, children in the United States were generally taught to write in cursive or script, rather than the print writing...
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Suit alleges negligence and abuse at nursing home
A Chatham County nursing facility has been accused of negligence for allegedly failing to respond to and protect a resident from instances of abuse, according to a civil suit filed in Chatham County Superior Court on Sept. 14. The complaint alleges...
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The invention of lactose intolerance
Lactose intolerance makes drinking milk or eating ice cream a literal pain. For some people, eating a dairy treat can lead to bloating, nausea and diarrhea. You might’ve experienced its effects yourself. If so, you may think of lactose intolerance as a...
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SAVANNAH CELEBRATES HISPANIC HERITAGE
Festival attendees dance during the Savannah Hispanic Heritage Festival on Sept. 19 at Eastern Wharf. Son Del Callao performs during the festival. Splash of Paint Studio provided face painting during the Savannah Hispanic Heritage Festival.
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‘GOING TO BE FINE’
Nine live oak trees in Daffin Park allegedly damaged in part by construction from Savannah Bananas contractors are “going to be fine,” according to Savannah City Manager Jay Melder. Damage to the root systems were identified by city park and tree...
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New guide explores the world of author Pat Conroy
“Never meet your heroes,” cautionary advice often offered to curb disappointment in case those on the pedestal are less than imagined once experienced in person. But when veteran travel writer Lynn Seldon met revered novelist Pat Conroy, the exchange...
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FREE JAZZ FESTIVAL
As a teenager growing up in Ontario, Canada, Robert Faircloth played piano and saxophone and was known to occasionally sneak into jazz shows – including the one where none other than Duke Ellington was playing. The Duke summoned Bob and his young pals...
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U.S. human rights scores plummet
In the lead-up to the 2026 midterm elections, how is the U.S. government performing in terms of human rights? Listening to politicians, it can be difficult to know. On one hand, some have pointed to a number of potential human rights abuses committed...
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DIGITAL DETOX
A trove of recent articles bemoan the collapse in recreational reading among younger Americans, with COVID-19 pandemic-related reading declines, artificial intelligence and social media often described as causes. But as the authors of “How Gen Z...
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City lands millions to grow Stormwater Master Plan
The City of Savannah just received a boost to its long-term stormwater planning. This installment of On Our Radar brings announcement of state and federal funding for the city to develop its stormwater master plan. If you have neighborhood updates,...
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ECSD, OpenAI talk investment for school meals
OpenAI announced a $4.8 million commitment to pay for student breakfast and lunch costs in the Effingham County School District for the 20262027 school year beginning Sept. 8. The commitment fulfills the agreement under the Community Fund for Project...
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Residents raise noise concerns over data center
Megan Burchette Newton was on vacation visiting friends in Americus when she learned residents who live there were fighting a planned data center. She wondered how she would handle the news should a data center be built near her home in Effingham...
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25th anniversary of 9/11 commemorated
NEW YORK – As the United States marked 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Americans across the country gathered to honor the nearly 3,000 people who perished and reflect on the day that forever changed the nation. A quarter-century...
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A GENERATION OF AFTERSHOCK
Aquarter-century later, 9/11 still echoes. The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history has been followed by other seismic events, from a once-in-a-century global pandemic to the rise of artificial intelligence that is transforming commerce, education...
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SEX-TRAFFICKING CRACKDOWN STALLS
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has repeatedly said the fight against sex trafficking is one of its top priorities. But investigations have stalled and prosecutions declined because of staffing shortages, funding cuts, immigration enforcement...
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Houthis attack 4 Saudi Arabia cities
CAIRO – Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthis attacked four cities in the south of U.S. ally Saudi Arabia on Sept. 8, wounding more than 70 people and setting oil installations ablaze in what appeared to be a major expansion of the six-month-old Middle East...
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Schools rethink technology use in the classroom, examine student screen time
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced in-person classroom instruction to go virtual, students suddenly needed to have their own laptops or tablets in order to interact with teachers and complete assignments. Most states used federal pandemic funding to...
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Flock blocks audit data that led to misuse probes
At least 19 police and sheriff ’s office employees in five states were arrested, fired, put on administrative leave or placed under investigation over the past two months for using Flock Safety’s vast network of license plate reader cameras to track...
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AN IDLE THREAT
Abus company that left its buses’ engines running while parked in Boston neighborhoods has settled a lawsuit by agreeing to pay $5.6 million in damages for the resulting air pollution. The settlement came in a citizen-enforcement lawsuit under the...
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Immigration delays separate couples
Nicholas Miller hasn’t tried Taco Bell. Or Whataburger. Not because they are hard to find; they are everywhere in Austin. He is saving them for Irina Miller, his wife, for when her green card clears and she crosses the border for the first time. Until...
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PRESS UNDER PRESSURE
In his White House Correspondents’ Association dinner speech on July 24, President Donald Trump made his usual diatribes against the news media. He derided the “failing” New York Times and reiterated his complaint that CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins...
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‘ISOLATED’
Severe storms, heat waves and wildfires can shut down the social life of a community, flooding out festivals, canceling community events and keeping people indoors. They’re also evidence of how climate change isn’t just changing the environments we...
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‘This is built up energy’
The Effingham County Board of Commissioners chambers were at overflow level Saturday morning. More than 100 residents flocked to the county administrative offices to air grievances, ask questions and hear a comprehensive presentation on the recently...
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U.S. immigrant visa appointments paused
Immigrant visa applicants around the world are being notified by email that long-awaited appointments at U.S. embassies and consulates will be postponed. The State Department said it is temporarily pausing appointments for visa services so consular...
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AVIATION DREAMS
Savannah Technical College and Ogeechee Technical College have a message: aspiring pilots wanted. h The two regional technical schools are launching a second cohort for Private Pilot Ground School, according to a Savannah Tech press release. The...
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Program links housing with homelessness, health
When individuals have stable housing, a variety of health outcomes improve, says Georgia Department of Public Health’s Coastal Health District Director Bonzo Reddick. Emergency room visits decline. Substance abuse goes down. Mortality and morbidity...
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Colleges confront decline in reading
Anyone who has spent time on a college campus lately has probably heard laments from faculty about their students’ reading habits, or rather nonreading habits. Such complaints are more than an unfounded nostalgia for a bygone age. Reading – not just...
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LOVE, ALWAYS
Dolly Parton, the “Queen of Country” singing and songwriting icon with a personality as bold as her signature blond coif and rhinestone-encrusted outfits, has died. She was 80. Parton’s death was announced by her family on her social media pages and...
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Iran vows to resist new U.S. sanctions
WASHINGTON – Iran pledged to fight back against expanded U.S. sanctions aimed at isolating its economy, expressing confidence that major trading partners would resist the pressure campaign and saying that Washington was keen to revive talks. Almost...
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Embryo personhood debate gains notice
About 100,000 babies were born through in vitro fertilization in 2024, according to the most recent U.S. data. But IVF commonly involves trying to create multiple embryos, because success is never guaranteed. If unused, those embryos can be frozen,...
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‘HISTORIC DOES NOT MEAN DEAD’
Just outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Arena’s Mason Room Thursday morning were two pallets of Savannah Grey brick. To the left were black-andwhite photographs of King and the civic center, including one of workers installing the sign on the original...
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Touch tanks to shark feedings
“Steve, Steve, don’t put it back!” Cried out Bethany Brodbeck, assistant aquarium curator. She dashed across the corridor to the rogue sea trout wriggling on the feeding room floor. Brodbeck then swiftly scooped it up and delivered the fish into a tank...
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Iran vows ‘devastating’ response to threat
DUBAI – Iran said on Aug. 21 that its response to any new U.S. threats would be “devastating” after Washington pledged to impose the toughest financial penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership. Washington prepared for...
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Trump plan could hit science funding
Most Americans don’t read the rules that govern the federal grants funding science. Those rules, called the Uniform Guidance, shape how cancer research is funded, graduate students are trained, clinical trials are sustained, universities stock their...
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FL upset highlights primary elections
Democrats continued to trade blows in their factional war on Aug. 18 with a progressive firebrand prevailing in the U.S. Senate primary in Florida, while two centrist House incumbents fended off more left-leaning challengers. While primaries unfolded...
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DOJ pressed, dropped officer assault cases
Christian Garcia admits that he threw a water bottle toward officers guarding a federal building near Los Angeles during an immigration protest last summer. h The plastic bottle was empty, he said, and hit no one but Garcia himself – the wind blew it...
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Effingham residents push for answers on data center
Brian Mallory purchased his property on the outskirts of Rincon nearly three decades ago. The peace he says he enjoyed on his 3-acre parcel is what has kept him there. Now, though, the increase in traffic from the Project Camellia data center could...
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‘It’s going to be a legacy’
The vision for a landmark “skyline building” on Savannah’s Johnson Square cleared a first hurdle Wednesday, paving the way for what has been promised as a long process to enhance a prominent parcel in Savannah’s downtown. The Savannah Historic...
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LIBERTY REVIVED
Archibald Bulloch was not standing on the sidelines of history in the summer of 1776. He was out making it, as Coastal Heritage Society CEO Nora Lee tells it. A specific example of his making history was on Aug. 10 that year when he read the...
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Iran, U.S. both claim to control Strait of Hormuz
DUBAI – The Strait of Hormuz is “under Iran’s control and management,” the recently appointed head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary unit said on Aug. 13, a day after President Donald Trump said the United States had “total control” of the strategic...
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Al-Qaida, Islamic State group adopting AI
Artificial intelligence may not create a new kind of terrorism, but it makes existing tactics cheaper, faster and easier. That is the central argument of a July report from the U.S.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. h It...
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Military bases delay toxic PFAS cleanup
It’s been almost five years since Brandi and Brad Hyatt found out the well at their home next to an Army base in Washington is contaminated with “forever chemicals.” h They started using bottled water for everything from making coffee to rinsing off...
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Officials seek to stop mail-in ballot rules
Less than 90 days out from the midterms, election officials are pleading with the Supreme Court to block the Trump administration from making changes that would allow the U.S. Postal Service to decide who gets mail-in ballots. And after the Postal...
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Reflecting Pool case latest DOJ misfire
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department’s collapsed felony criminal indictment charging a former Olympic canoe racer with damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is just the latest in a string of legal misfires by the DOJ in politically charged...
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Reports: U.S. missile supply badly depleted
The war on Iran has severely depleted key U.S. missile stockpiles and left the nation and its allies in a vulnerable position for potentially years to come, several experts and reports say. U.S. missile stockpiles were low before President Donald...
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Gunshot detection tech ignites controversy
When gunshots ring out on America’s streets, bystanders face an instant, high-stakes dilemma. h Do I call the cops? Were those even gunshots? Maybe it was just fireworks. h Every moment of hesitation risks a delay in medical treatment or gives a...
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USA TODAY CROSSWORD
EDITED Amie Walker BY Mike Graczyk 63 64 65 DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 15 One of six in Australia Itty-bitty Fender ding Losing streak, in baseball ___ de gallo “I like that suggestion more!” Where kitties can climb “The way I see it,”...
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Savannah alcohol overlay ban faces new scrutiny
Community leaders in West Savannah banded together in 2018 to create a restriction on new alcohol licenses within an area of the neighborhood. Leaders active at the time say there was a prevalence of package stores that contributed to loitering, public...
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Keisha Lance Bottoms rallies GA Dems in Savannah
Standing before a large crowd inside the Savannah Convention Center, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms reminded Georgians how long it’s been since a Democrat held the Governor’s seat. The last was Roy Barnes, who won the...
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School AI program paused after backlash
A union representing New York educators is calling for statewide safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence in schools after a district announced their involvement in a pilot program that includes a humanoid robot’s presence in a...
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SPOTS WAITING TO BE DISCOVERED
My friends all know me as the beer girl. I am inclined to indulge in a weekend mid-day cerveza next to the pool or during a good meal with friends while traveling. Savannah’s rooftop bars are known for craft cocktails, sweeping river views and...
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Attack sparks fears wars could merge
WASHINGTON – Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States insisted that leaders in Kyiv are not playing “a game of chess” with their recent drone strike on an Iranian ship and have no interest in leveraging their conflict with Russia into a wider, global...
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Different kinds of justice
WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett likes to note that the black robes she and her colleagues wear show that the nine justices are “united symbolically.” h Despite different personalities, legal philosophies and backgrounds, the robes...
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