Record blue-collar job losses; Social Circle pushes back against deportation center

Summary

Georgia Today – January 2, 2026

Episode Theme:
This episode of Georgia Today, hosted by Peter Biello, delivers a multifaceted look at news from around the state, focusing on record blue-collar job losses in Georgia, local resistance to a proposed federal immigration detention center in Social Circle, and a roundup of major legislative and community developments as the new year begins.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Georgia’s Legislative Landscape for 2026

• Returning and New Bills
  (00:53)
  • Possible revisits: School zone traffic camera restrictions/ban, diversity program bans at universities, limits on transgender medical care, and limits on using song lyrics in court cases.
  • Quote: “Lawmakers could also go back to a bill that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public universities.” – Sarah Kallis [00:59]
• New Enacted Laws
  (01:35)
  • State income tax reduction to 5.09%, with continued yearly reductions.
  • Catastrophe savings accounts now tax-deductible.
  • Digital court hearings enabled.
  • Updates to vehicle registration, including e-issued temporary tags.
  • New "America First" license plate option.

2. Record Blue-Collar Job Losses

• Extent and Sectors Affected
  (02:20)
  • Over 15,400 WARN-notified blue-collar jobs lost in 2025—the most since COVID cutbacks in 2020.
  • Major losses: 4,000+ from US Cellular, significant layoffs in logistics, timber, manufacturing.
  • Final warning of 2025: 75 layoffs at Coca Cola Atlanta HQ (marketing department).
  • Insight: “The leftover layoffs alone still exceed any other year since the pandemic.” – Grant Blankenship [02:40]

3. Resistance to Proposed Federal Immigration Center in Social Circle

• Community and Official Response
  (03:09)
  • The Trump administration is planning new immigration detention centers, with a Social Circle warehouse among possible sites.
  • Mayor David Keener voices deep concern:
    • Quote: “Detention like that would triple the size of our population. We're sitting right at 5,000 people now.” – David Keener [03:33]
    • Insufficient housing, lack of police/infrastructure.
    • Quote: “We don't have the police force to support this.” – David Keener [03:37]
  • City officials, including City Manager Eric Taylor, were blindsided; now seeking answers from state and federal contacts (White House, DHS, Gov. Kemp, Sen. Ossoff).
    • Quote: “He had calls into the White House, but he had not heard back from them yet.” – David Keener [04:13]
  • Water/sewer systems deemed inadequate for a large detention facility.
  • Nearby Jefferson also considered for a smaller processing site.

4. Business and Community Updates

• Major Bank Merger Completed
  (04:57)

  • Pinnacle (Nashville) and Synovus (Columbus) merge into Georgia’s largest bank holding company.
  • Consolidation signals expanding commitment to community and employees.

• Delta Air Lines: Top On-Time Performer
  (05:24)

  • Delta recognized as North America’s most on-time airline for the 5th year running – 81% punctuality in 2025.
  • Ranked 10th globally; Aeromexico ranked first.
  • Insight: Partnership with Delta challenged by Trump administration over antitrust.

• New Bus Service Between Albany and Atlanta
  (06:16)

  • Marcia Meadows launches “VIP Express,” offering a weekday shuttle for those priced out of flights.
  • Anticipated service via refurbished church bus, coordinated with Albany downtown bus station.
  • Quote: “We leave about 7, we'll get to Atlanta about 10, and … get back around 8 or 9 o'clock.” – Marcia Meadows [06:38]

5. Arts and Culture

• Public Art for Grief in Atlanta
  (07:10)
  • “Atlanta Wind Phone” installed in Oakland Cemetery, allowing visitors to ‘speak’ to lost loved ones.
  • Sasha Demirjian, Grief House co-founder:
    • Quote: “It's not just I can do it, but it's invited, it's welcomed, it's wanted, which so many people don't feel like. That's the case for the hard stuff.” – Devin Zwald quoting Demirjian [07:41]

6. Science & Education Innovation

• Kennesaw State VR Project in Science Education
  (08:05)
  • Professors developing VR learning for DNA repair – students ‘become’ proteins, interact with AI.
  • Quote: “It's kind of like a passive learning. Normally, active learning will be more engaging.” – Prof. Lei Zhang [08:28]
  • Quote: “We create a story and user will take different roles of the proteins in the story so they will collaborate and to complete some tests.” – Prof. Lei Zhang [08:47]

7. Arts Going into Public Domain

• Hoagy Carmichael’s "Georgia on My Mind"
  (09:07)
  • Now in public domain—open for use/adaptation.
  • Quote: “It has a Southern tradition of a melody. You would think that Ogie Carmichael was a Southerner.” – Teddy Adams [10:10]
  • Notable additions: original Betty Boop, first Nancy Drew books.

8. Sports Update

• Georgia Bulldogs Exit Playoffs
  (11:01)
  • Georgia loses College Football Playoff quarterfinal to Ole Miss, 39-34, ending season.
  • Second consecutive year ending at the Sugar Bowl.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Detention Center Impact:
  “Detention like that would triple the size of our population. We're sitting right at 5,000 people now.”
  — Mayor David Keener [03:33]

• On Active Learning in VR:
  “Normally active learning will be more engaging. People can learn more by doing something, right? Yeah. So that's what comes to the VR learning.”
  — Prof. Lei Zhang [08:28]

• On Remembering Through Art:
  “It's not just I can do it, but it's invited, it's welcomed, it's wanted, which so many people don't feel like. That's the case for the hard stuff.”
  — Sasha Demirjian (quoted by Devin Zwald) [07:41]

• On the Enduring Power of ‘Georgia on My Mind’:
  “It has a Southern tradition of a melody. You would think that Ogie Carmichael was a Southerner.”
  — Teddy Adams [10:10]

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Key Timestamps

• 00:53 — Sarah Kallis on bills returning to the legislature
• 02:20 — Grant Blankenship on blue-collar job losses
• 03:33 — Mayor Keener on Social Circle’s resistance to detention center
• 04:13 — City strategy: contacting officials for answers
• 05:24 — Delta Air Lines on-time performance
• 06:16 — Orlando Montoya on new Albany-Atlanta bus service
• 07:10 — Amanda Andrews on the Atlanta Wind Phone
• 08:05 — Devin Zwald on Kennesaw State VR project
• 09:07 — Marching Cats perform in London; ‘Georgia on My Mind’ enters public domain
• 11:01 — Georgia football season concludes with playoff loss

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Overall Tone

The episode presents a newsy, measured tone, balancing fact-driven reporting with human perspectives from local leaders, community members, and educators. There are moments of concern (job losses, local governments overwhelmed by federal actions), hope (public art, new tech in education), and resilience (creative responses to transit needs, celebrations of culture and sports).

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This summary captures the full range of topics, offering context and highlights for listeners interested in Georgia’s current events at the start of 2026.

Transcript

[Peter Biello]

Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, the state sets a record for blue collar job losses. Delta Air Lines is once again North America's most on time airline. And officials in social circles say their city can't handle the Trump administration's planned federal immigration center.

[David Keener]

You got to provide housing. You got to provide, you know, have homes for people that are going to be doing this. We don't have the police force to support this.

[Peter Biello]

Today is Friday, January 2nd. I'm Peter Biello and this is Georgia Today. Georgia's legislative session begins January 12th. Lawmakers will introduce new bills and will have the opportunity to go back to others that didn't receive final passage during the last legislative session. Here's GPB's Sarah Kallis with a look at a few bills that could return.

[Sarah Kallis]

Bills that could be reexamined include placing more restrictions on when traffic cameras in school zones can issue tickets or an outright ban on the devices. Lawmakers could also go back to a bill that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public universities. Legislation that would limit doctors abilities to prescribe puberty blockers to transgender minors could come back up, along with a proposal to ban the state health care plan from paying for gender affirming care for state employees. A controversial bill that would bar prosecutors from using song lyrics as evidence in criminal cases could also be reconsidered. For GPB news, I'm Sarah Kallis.

[Peter Biello]

With the new year comes new laws in Georgia. State income tax will reduce to 5.09% and continue to go down by a tenth of a percent each year. And speaking of tax news, Georgians can now create tax deductible catastrophe savings accounts to prepare for disasters. Courts will now be able to digitally record hearings. And we're seeing several changes to vehicle registration laws this year. For example, vendors can issue temporary license plates electronically. There's also new requirements for booting a car. And Georgians also will have the option to select a new license plate featuring the phrase America First. Georgia had a record year for blue collar job losses in 2025. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.

[Grant Blankenship]

The federal WARN act says some layoffs require employers to give workers at least 60 days public notice for a head start training for a new job in Georgia in 2025. These WARN notices tallied over 15,400 lost jobs over the last decade. Only Covid driven cuts in 2020 were deeper. Over 4,000 jobs shed by telecommunications company US Cellular made the biggest dent. But the leftover layoffs alone still exceed any other year since the pandemic. They were in sectors which are usually Georgia's stre logistics, think trucking and warehousing, followed by losses in the timber industry and manufacturing. The last warrant filing of the year was for 75 layoffs by Coca Cola and the marketing department at their Atlanta headquarters. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship.

[Peter Biello]

Officials in social circles say their small town east of Atlanta can't handle and does not want a federal immigration detention center. The Washington Post last week reported that the Trump administration is planning to renovate industrial warehouses across the country to hold tens of thousands of immigrants ahead of deportation. According to the Post, one of the warehouse locations being considered is in Social Circle, where David Keener is the mayor.

[David Keener]

You know, detention like that would triple the size of our population. We're sitting right at 5,000 people now. So you know you're going to have to, as a result of that, you got to provide housing. You got to provide, you know, have homes for people that are going to be doing this. We don't have the police force to support this.

[Peter Biello]

Keener says he and the rest of the City Council adamantly oppose the idea. City Manager Eric Taylor says local officials were caught off guard by the news and didn't know anything about it beforehand. Now he says he and Keener are reaching out to federal and state officials and, quote, everyone who will take our phone calls.

[David Keener]

He had calls into the White House, but he had not heard back from them yet. And we spoke with Lt. Governor Wednesday and he had calls into very high level representatives of the Department of Homeland Security.

[Peter Biello]

They've also contacted the offices of Governor Brian Kemp and US Senator Jon Ossoff. Taylor says he doesn't know exactly which warehouse is being considered, but that in any case, Social Circle's water and sewer infrastructure would not be able to handle it being converted into a detention center housing potentially thousands of people. The Post also reported that the northeast Georgia town of Jefferson was being considered for a smaller processing site that would house potentially hundreds of people. The Post cited internal documents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement in its reporting. A merger of two banks and the creation of Georgia's largest bank holding company is now complete. Nashville based Pinnacle said today that it and Columbus based Synovus were now operating as one bank holding company. The firms announced their merger in June. The combined company will operate under the Pinnacle name with its holding company in Atlanta, its headquarters in Nashville, and, quote, a sustained commitment to employees and community. In Columbus, Delta Air Lines is North America's most on time airline for the fifth consecutive year. That's according to a report published today by global aviation analytics firm Cirium. Cirium says it tracked 1.8 million flights by Atlanta based Delta in 2025, and of those, it says about 81 of them arrived on time. That is slightly lower from 83% in 2024. Delta ranked 10th in on time performance globally, Cirium says the world's most on time airline is Aeromexico, a company whose partnership with Delta the Trump administration is challenging in court over antitrust concerns. People traveling between Albany and Atlanta soon could have another option. GPB's Orlando Montoya reports on a planned weekday shuttle.

[Orlando Montoya]

You might have seen Groom Transportation shuttles taking people between Hartsfield, Jackson, Atlanta International Airport and eight Georgia cities, but not Albany. Delta offers three flights daily between the cities, but they can be expensive for some people. Greyhound goes to Atlanta but arrives downtown and late. Enter Marcia Meadows and her refurbished church bus branded VIP Express.

[Peter Biello]

We leave about 7, we'll get to Atlanta about 10, and then we'll wait around and people can load up at 5 o' clock and then get back around 8 or 9 o'. Clock.

[Orlando Montoya]

She plans to drive around Columbus to avoid unpredictable traffic on Interstate 75 before stopping at Hartsfield. Jackson Meadows and the city of Albany expect to work out a deal on using the city's downtown bus station in January, with service starting soon after. For GPB News, I'm Orlando Montoya.

[Peter Biello]

A public art installation headed for Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery is aimed at helping people grieve lost loved ones, GPB's Amanda Andrews explains.

[Amanda Andrews]

The Atlanta Wind Phone was originally installed in Woodruff park in October. The art installation, which is free and open for anyone to use, is managed by the nonprofit the Grief House. A plaque near the phone encourages people to share messages and goodbyes for their lost loved ones. The messages aren't recorded. Griefhouse co founder Sasha Demirjian says one goal of the project is to bring people grieving out of isolation.

[Devin Zwald]

I feel like it's a good entry for like, getting used to being like, I can do this out in the world. And it's not just I can do it, but it's invited, it's welcomed, it's wanted, which so many people don't feel like. That's the case for the hard stuff.

[Amanda Andrews]

The Wind Phone will be refurbished and reinstalled in Oakland Cemetery in the coming weeks. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.

[Peter Biello]

Researchers at Kennesaw State University are developing a virtual reality system to help students learn science, GPB's Devin Zwall takes us into the virtual world of DNA repair.

[Devin Zwald]

DNA repair is how cells in our bodies fix injuries to their genes to stop things like cancer. For students, science like this can be a tough concept to learn from a textbook, says KSU professor Lei Zhang.

[Lei Zhang]

It's kind of like a passive learning. Normally active learning will be more engaging. People can learn more by doing something right? Yeah. So that's what comes to the VR learning through the VR experience.

[Devin Zwald]

The experience will take students virtually inside a human cell to help them understand DNA repair.

[Lei Zhang]

We create a story and user will take different roles of the proteins in the story so they will collaborate and to complete some tests.

[Devin Zwald]

The model includes artificial intelligence so that students can ask questions while in the virtual cell. For GPB News, I'm Devin Zwald.

[Peter Biello]

Members of the Apalachee High School band, the Marching Cats, kicked off the New Year in London. They were the first marching band out of the gate in this year's London New Year's Day parade. They were invited to perform at the parade in March 2020, four months before the September shooting at the Georgia high school that killed two students and two teachers. The new year means thousands of artistic creations nearly a century old are going into the public domain. And one of them is the state song of Georgia, Georgia, Georgia. Hoagie Carmichael's 1930 composition Georgia, also known as Georgia on My Mind, joins a long list of films, books and other songs that are now free to use, share or adapt under US Copyright law. Savannah jazz icon trombonist Teddy Adams says the old sweet song is always a crowd pleaser.

[David Keener]

It has a Southern tradition of a melody. You would think that Ogie Carmichael was a Southerner.

[Peter Biello]

Carmichael was from Indiana. Adams recorded the song twice, including this version with singer Gina Renee. Other artistic works entering the public domain today include the original Betty Boop and the first four Nancy Drew books.

[Devin Zwald]

How does AI even work? Where does creativity come from? What's the secret to living longer? TED Radio Hour explores the biggest questions with some of the world's greatest thinkers. They will surprise, challenge and even change. Listen to NPR's TED Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts.

[Peter Biello]

And in sports, Georgia's season is over. After a heartbreaking loss in New Orleans, the third seeded Bulldogs fell to sixth seed Ole Miss 3934 in the college Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Sugar Bowl. Georgia led at halftime, but Ole Miss kicked a field goal with six seconds left to seal the win. It is the second straight year Georgia season has ended at the Sugar Bowl. And so ends the first episode of Georgia today of 2026. It's going to be a busy year of news. To stay on top of it, make sure you subscribe to this podcast and check gpb.org news for the latest headlines or for updates to the stories you heard on the podcast today. Now, if there's a story that's happening in your neck of the woods that we do not know about, let us know by email. Perhaps there's a law in the next legislative session that you will be tracking closely. Let us know about that, too. We want to know what concerns you in 2,026. The email address is Georgia Today, pb.org I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening and Happy New Year.