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Primary Content

Benjamin Payne

Benjamin Payne
Savannah Reporter
News Reporter

Benjamin is the Savannah-based reporter for GPB, where he covers Coastal Georgia.

Prior to coming to Savannah, he freelanced in Bellingham, Washington, for public media outlets including NPR, Marketplace, and PRX. Previously, Benjamin hosted Morning Edition for WVIK, his hometown NPR member station in Rock Island, Ill. Before that, he served a news internship with NPR member station WBEZ in Chicago.

Benjamin is a graduate of the University of Nevada-Reno's journalism master's program, and earned his undergraduate degree in journalism from Augustana College in Rock Island.

Bottom Content

News Stories by Benjamin Payne

An unveiling ceremony for a new historical marker commemorating civil rights activist Mamie George Williams was held at Dixon Park in Savannah on May 25. Pictured from left to right: historian and author Velma Maia Thomas Fann, Georgia Historical Society marker program coordinator Breana James and League of Women Voters of Coastal Georgia president Chassidy Malloy.

Tagged as: 

  • History

New historical marker in Savannah honors first Black woman to serve on Republican National Committee

In the early 1920s, Mamie George Williams helped register 40,000 Black women in Georgia to vote, overcoming Jim Crow laws that sought to deny them the franchise.

June 19, 2023
|
By:
  • Benjamin Payne
The park formerly named Calhoun Square, located at Abercorn and East Wayne Streets in downtown Savannah, as seen Sunday after councilmembers voted to remove Calhoun's name from it.

Tagged as: 

  • History

15 options are set for the renaming of a historic Savannah town square. Here's the list

Councilmembers will vote later this year on a new name for the former Calhoun Square.

June 14, 2023
|
By:
  • Benjamin Payne
The Tybee Island City Council, as seen during its meeting on June 8, 2023.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

‘Power grab’ or ‘public safety’: Tybee Island resolution calls for crackdown on unpermitted events

The measure seeks stiffer penalties for violations of existing ordinances, similar to a Florida law already on the books.

June 12, 2023
|
By:
  • Benjamin Payne
The seal of Georgia Gannett NewsGuild, which has an illustrated peach at the center

Tagged as: 

  • Business

Reporters at two Georgia newspapers intend to unionize, calling out Gannett for ‘gutting’ newsrooms

Savannah Morning News and Athens Banner-Herald staff say they have the numbers to formalize a union.

June 06, 2023
|
By:
  • Benjamin Payne
An oyster is held open, resting on two outstretched hands.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Georgia's oyster season comes to a close, as risk of foodborne illness rises over the summer

The routine closure comes as oysters enter their spawning season.

June 05, 2023
|
By:
  • Benjamin Payne
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