By Jill Nolin | Editor
“We’ve still got work to do. We’ve still got puppy mills all over the place, and those create a huge burden on the rescue organizations and the counties who have to clean up the mess.” - state Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Marietta Republican who has sponsored animal welfare bills.
State Rep. Sharon Cooper models a shirt featuring her corgi, Maggie, named for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Cooper has sponsored pet-related legislation including a bill to protect pets in family violence proceedings. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
2026 ELECTION
By Ross Williams
The dogs and cats in your life don’t get a vote on Nov. 3, so they’re counting on you to get it right.
That’s the message from the Georgia Pet Coalition, a nonpartisan group of Georgia humans who advocate state and local governments on behalf of the state’s companion animals.
“We do not endorse candidates, and we remain nonpartisan,” said Peggy McCarthey of the coalition’s board of directors. “But we do want to educate our voters about what the pertinent issues are.”
Portions of Tybee Island's beach and dunes are badly eroded from the tide and storms. A renourishment project this winter will replenish the sand. (Emily Jones/WABE)
ENVIRONMENT
By Emily Jones, WABE News/Grist
Tybee Island has secured federal funding to replenish its beaches with sand after being denied the money earlier this year. Local officials say the beach renourishment project is critical for a rapidly-eroding beach.
Barrier islands like Tybee should naturally accumulate sand from islands farther north; it’s called the sand-sharing system. But human activity — development on the island, building sea walls and jetties, creating shipping channels — has disrupted that process. As a result, Georgia’s barrier islands are constantly losing sand, and the beaches are constantly being washed away by the relentless tide.
Security stands outside ICE headquarters during a Congressional Hispanic Caucus rally on Feb. 3, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
VOTING
By Jonathan Shorman
The Department of Homeland Security obtained tens of millions of unspecified records as part of a sweeping nationwide effort to find voter fraud, according to internal DHS reports, and weighed using undercover agents to investigate voter registration efforts by nonprofit groups.
The reports from May and June by Homeland Security Investigations, a sub-agency of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, provide updates on its “election integrity” investigations. They are included in a trove of documents obtained by the pro-democracy group Democracy Forward through a records request and released Wednesday.
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