Georgia Today: Billions lost in clean energy jobs; SNAP theft; Columbus fires city manager

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here, we feature the latest reports from the GPB News team. On today's episode, Georgia loses billions of dollars in clean energy investments. SNAP recipients say they've lost $23 million to theft, and the Columbus City Council this week fired its long-serving city manager, Isaiah Hugley. His lawyer is arguing —

Chuck Williams: The council went through this termination and the statements are trying to discredit Mr. Hugley in advance of a political campaign.

Peter Biello: Today is Thursday, May 29. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Metro Atlanta congressman Hank Johnson heard from frustrated constituents at a packed town hall meeting last night. The Democrat is one of the few federal lawmakers in Georgia holding in-person public meetings as they've grown more contentious. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: Constituents at the town hall pressed Johnson on why Democrats in Congress are not doing more to block Trump's agenda. He says he understands the frustration, but it is up to the people now to vote Democrats back into the majority.

Hank Johnson: No point in blaming Democrats for us being in this situation where our democracy is threatened, our economy is threatened, our public health, our national security being threatened. There's no point in pointing fingers at each other about that. We must confront the threat to our existence that is posed by Donald Trump.

Sarah Kallis: Republicans outnumbered Democrats in both the U.S. House and Senate. The next time that could change could be the 2026 midterm elections. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Gwinnett County.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: The legacy of the late congressman John Lewis will be celebrated in Atlanta tonight. The John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation is hosting its annual Good Trouble Gala for the first time in the city the couple called home. Dietra Austin Everson is the Foundation's president and CEO.

Dietra Austin Everson: Most people may not know that Congressman Lewis established the foundation here in Atlanta, Ga. And so this is home for Congressman Lewis's life and legacy. And it is home for the John and Lillian Miles Lewis foundation.

Peter Biello: This year's honorees include Smithsonian secretary Lonnie Bunch and Atlanta Trailblazer Billie Suber Aaron, widow of baseball great Hank Aaron.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Wildlife conservationists with the Jekyll Island Authority have launched two online maps designed to share real-time turtle data with the public. GPB's Benjamin Payne has more.

Benjamin Payne: One of the trackers shows loggerhead sea turtle nesting hotspots along the beaches of Jekyll Island. The other map focuses on a different species of turtle, the diamondback terrapin, pinpointing individual turtle sightings along the Jekyll Island causeway, where they often get hit by cars. Joseph Colbert is a biologist with the Jekyll Island Authority.

Joseph Colbert: Every time something is collected out in the field, it automatically updates on that dashboard. So it's really cool technology and data.

Benjamin Payne: More than 250 diamondback terrapins have been found so far this year along the Jekyll Island Causeway with about two-thirds of them saved, and the island has recorded about 40 sea turtle nests. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: More than $3 billion in clean energy investments in Georgia have been canceled or delayed this year. That's according to an analysis released today by the national nonpartisan business group E2. The Georgia number represents about 1,300 jobs lost in about a quarter of all the clean energy investments canceled this year across the country. They include four Georgia projects in Bullock, Coweta, Stevens, and Richmond counties. Cancellations have come as President Donald Trump's pending tax and spending bill raises fears over the future of American battery, electric vehicle, and solar and wind energy development.

​​​​​​​Story 5:

Peter Biello: Georgians receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits have reported more than $23 million in stolen benefits so far this year. Numbers from the Georgia Department of Human Services show the size of a security problem hitting food aid recipients through their EBT cards. Many of the victims say they get little to no help trying to get the money back. DHS says it investigates every report and is working with law enforcement.

​​​​​​​Story 6:

Peter Biello: State regulators have approved the proposed merger between Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare and Warner Robbins-based Houston Health Care. The two systems said yesterday the OK from the Georgia Attorney General's office means the merger is set to become official on June 1.

​​​​​​​Story 7:

Peter Biello: The University of West Georgia is getting a new president. The Board of Regents yesterday named Mike Johnson the sole finalist to lead the school based in Carrollton. Johnson currently serves as chief of staff at the University of Houston.

​​​​​​​Story 8:

Peter Biello: The Columbus City Council voted this week to fire City Manager Isaiah Hugley, just seven months from his retirement. This comes after Hugley threatened legal action against several members of the council. Chuck Williams, a reporter for WRBL News 3 in Columbus, has been following this story and joins me from his newsroom. Welcome to the program.

Chuck Williams: Good to be with you, Peter; I hope things are going well up your way.

Peter Biello: Thank you very much. They are. Appreciate that. So first of all tell us about this firing; did the city council members who voted for determination elaborate on the reason why?

Chuck Williams: Uh, they did. They presented Mr. Hugley, who has been the city manager in Columbus, Ga., for 20 years — two decades — the reason they gave in a notice of termination. And I'll just read it. It makes more sense to do it that way. "Pursuant to your employment agreement, this letter serves as formal written notice of the grounds of your termination. Over the past several months, departments under your direct supervision, including animal control and finance, have experienced ongoing operational failures and lapses in oversight, some of which have resulted in law enforcement scrutiny, in certain instances, criminal investigation. These investigations have resulted in great expense to the city and its taxpayers." So that's why they say he was terminated.

Peter Biello: So a few things having to do with actual problems. But can you tell us a little bit about one of those problems they mentioned and — and explain why that might really warrant a firing.

Chuck Williams: We had some issues within animal control last year. Several people who worked there were investigated by Columbus Police and were arrested and charged with a variety of charges. It had to do with treatment of some of the animals in the facility. And then our finance department has been under scrutiny for almost two years now. A audit came back with a lot of issues and potential missing money. Troutman Pepper, out of Atlanta, was hired. A guy named Charles Peeler — Charlie Peeler was a former U.S. Attorney — he came in here, did an extensive investigation, was hired by city council to look at it. He found issues, he found some mismanagement, but he found nothing that rose to the level of criminal charges.

Peter Biello: In the context, as I mentioned, was Hugley's threats to sue council members for comments that they made. What did they say that upset Hugley?

Chuck Williams: They involved a 2022 federal grant that was part of the American Recovery Act that was given to Carolyn Hugley, a state farm agent who was the wife of Isaiah Hugley. Carolyn Hugly is a name that may be familiar to some people. She is a state representative from Columbus. She is also the minority leader in the Georgia House and was recently elected that post last year. The grant was administered through the city and the facts that have come out are when that grant crossed the city manager's desk he immediately sought advice from the city attorney informed the mayor and then the deputy city attorney handled that and he removed himself from the process. And as he did that, some counselors have questioned that he should have told counsel, according to our charter, and he did not. And it became a fight.

Peter Biello: I see. And the city council did not cite that as the reason for his termination, but that fight is a known part of the story here.

Chuck Williams: Interestingly, it is not in the termination letter. And it's termination in name only, quite frankly, because he had announced he would retire at the end of the year. As part of this termination notice, the last paragraph: "council will continue to pay your regular salary along with existing benefits, including health insurance, life insurance, and pension accrual through the announced retirement date of December 31, 2025."

Peter Biello: What's next for Isaiah Hugley? Is there any sense of what's in the future for him?

Chuck Williams: This is a fluid situation. And one of the things that is happening out of this is there is speculation that Mr. Hugley will run for mayor in the 2026 election. And his attorney claims that there's a fear of him running for the mayor's office and they are trying — the council, with — through this termination and the statements are trying to discredit Mr. Hughley in advance of a political campaign. The counselors, the seven counselors that voted to terminate him — and it was a 7-3 vote — have only legal advice or not talking about what they did. They're letting the termination notice stand for itself.

Peter Biello: Chuck Williams, a reporter for WRBL News 3 in Columbus, thank you so much for speaking with me about this.

Chuck Williams: Thank you very much, Peter, for having me. I hope you have a great weekend or week or whatever we're looking at right now.

Peter Biello: Thanks, you too. Appreciate it.

​​​​​​​Story 9:

Peter Biello: A metro Atlanta student is among nine competitors to make it to the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. 11-year-old fifth-grader Sarv Dharavan will compete tonight to become the nation's top speller. Good luck, Sarv.

Peter Biello: All right, that's it for Georgia Today. Thanks so much for listening. Hope you'll come back tomorrow as well. Best way to do that of course is to subscribe to this podcast and check out gpb.org/ news for the latest updates on the stories that you heard in the podcast today. We're always posting new stories there as well. If you've got an idea about a story we should be covering or have got feedback for this podcast or a previous episode, just let us know by email. Your email will go to the entire team. So send it to GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello, thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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