By Jill Nolin | Editor
Happy Saturday, everyone. Here’s a quick look back at the week.
What’s next for Georgia Pathways? The state’s current waiver that allowed Georgia to slightly expand Medicaid is expiring and new federal Medicaid rules are taking effect next year. This week, we learned the Kemp administration is arguing that those new federal rules are threatening the sustainability of Georgia’s program, and the state is pushing the Trump administration for more federal funding, even though a similar request was shot down by Trump 1.0. Here’s our story about all that.
Campaign fundraising status check: With the November election less than three months away, we got a look this week at how fundraising is going for the statewide candidates in a year where several seats are open. At this point, Republicans are outraising Democrats in most — but not all — races.
Not-so hidden agenda: A pardoned Jan. 6 defendant created a buzz this week when he asked Congressman Mike Collins at an event whether he would support a political weaponization fund like the Trump-backed version that was recently sidelined. The man said in an interview that he’s a Collins supporter but that helping Collins’ U.S. Senate bid was not his goal.
Mark your calendar: The Atlanta Press Club announced its general election debate schedule, with the show set to start Oct. 12. The series will feature top-of-the-ticket matchups like Georgia’s U.S. Senate race and the battle to succeed term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp. But candidates competing in down-ballot races like the two Public Service Commission contests on the ballot this year will get their moment in the spotlight too. Of course, it remains to be seen who all will show up and answer questions posed by journalists.
A tree-damaged house near Evans, Georgia as seen shortly after Hurricane Helene damaged the area in 2024. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
AGRICULTURE
By Ross Williams
Nearly two years after Hurricane Helene unleashed flooding and fierce winds across the South, some Georgia farmers say they still haven’t received compensation for damages, despite efforts from both sides of the political aisle.
Newman Pryor remembers the night the storm hit. He runs Pryor farms, growing pecans and row crops across four east Georgia counties: Screven, Effingham, Bulloch and Jenkins.
“It was much scarier than we anticipated it to be because they predicted it to go more to the west,” he said. “They were saying it was going to go to Atlanta, which would be well to the west of us, and it wasn’t going to be all that bad. I knew we were going to get some wind from it, but I didn’t think it was going to be nearly what we ended up with.”
State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Marietta Republican, is co-leading a legislative effort to investigate what is driving up the cost of child welfare services in Georgia. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
FOSTER CARE
By Ross Williams
Taking care of vulnerable children in Georgia has gotten a lot more expensive, and lawmakers are hoping to figure out why.
“We’re trying to figure out what happened,” said state Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Marietta Republican. “And unfortunately, nobody had a whole lot of notice that we were in a deficit situation with that particular population.”
In late 2025, the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, which oversees the state’s foster system, cut services for families and terminated contracts for nonprofits as they faced a projected budget deficit of about $85 million.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff at a rally for him and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is running for governor, in Atlanta on May 31, 2026. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
COMMENTARY
By Jay Bookman
“We the people of the United States of America ….”
That phrase from the preamble to the Constitution seems a quaint, almost archaic notion in these divisive times, times in which we’ve lost faith in ourselves and in each other.
We the people, acting together, toward a shared purpose, a more perfect union? Do we still share enough common ground to make that possible, despite our differences?
One place to start in revitalizing that shared purpose would be at the most basic level of public service.
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ICYMI FROM THE RECORDER
OTHER GEORGIA NEWS
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