My latest for the @ajc.com … “Mystery at Murder Creek: The vanishings no one noticed.” Link: www.ajc.com/news/2026/03...

Black, white and read all over:

An AJC exclusive from Middle Georgia today: Federal judge chides Ga. prison boss and GDC for acting ‘above the law’ www.ajc.com/news/2026/02...

An AJC exclusive from Middle Georgia today: Federal judge chides Ga. prison boss and GDC for acting ‘above the law’ www.ajc.com/news/2026/02...

BRAAAY-KING: Georgia Donkey Has Longest Ears in World: www.ajc.com/news/2026/01...

I visited my hometown to write about Buc-ee’s and how their convenience superstores are “the guilty pleasure that might spring forth if Stuckey’s and Walmart and QuikTrip and Golden Corral and Six Flags and South of the Border and,” well, read on: www.ajc.com/news/2025/09...

I visited my hometown to write about Buc-ee’s and how their convenience superstores are “the guilty pleasure that might spring forth if Stuckey’s and Walmart and QuikTrip and Golden Corral and Six Flags and South of the Border and,” well, read on: www.ajc.com/news/2025/09...

The $500 million project remaking the junction at I-75 and I-16 in Macon began in 2017 and but isn't going to wrap up any time soon, @joekovacjr.bsky.social reports. An update on the construction: www.ajc.com/news/2025/09...

Overhead-bin Jenga (advanced, two-player version):

Fifty-one years ago today: “Midnight at the … ol’ Omni”

This may be Georgia’s most blue-collar diner: “The concrete-block edifice has walls painted white as hungry teeth. The facade screams, “Work boots required.” The thick metal door, red as a kidney bean, looks like it just might open to the sound of a secret knock.” www.ajc.com/news/2025/06...

This may be Georgia’s most blue-collar diner: “The concrete-block edifice has walls painted white as hungry teeth. The facade screams, “Work boots required.” The thick metal door, red as a kidney bean, looks like it just might open to the sound of a secret knock.” www.ajc.com/news/2025/06...

An unclaimed iPhone with a cartoony, angel-winged teddy bear on its case kept catching the eye of Army Staff Sgt. Zach Winthers. …

An unclaimed iPhone with a cartoony, angel-winged teddy bear on its case kept catching the eye of Army Staff Sgt. Zach Winthers. …

More than a year after a drone strike killed three American service members, a U.S. soldier’s quest to return an unclaimed iPhone found at their remote military outpost along the Iraqi and Syrian borders led to a grieving family in Georgia: www.ajc.com/news/2025/05...

More than a year after a drone strike killed three American service members, a U.S. soldier’s quest to return an unclaimed iPhone found at their remote military outpost along the Iraqi and Syrian borders led to a grieving family in Georgia: www.ajc.com/news/2025/05...

The image is eye-catching: A young Augustan stands atop a Helene-felled tree and hits a golf ball not far from the Masters' manicured greens. Here's the story behind the photograph: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Downtown Macon’s newest neighbor, the Otis Redding Center for the Arts: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Forty-eight years ago tonight in Macon:

‘Methodical’ weekend search for missing Lake Oconee boater yields few clues: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

UPDATE: Georgia peanut butter maker says USAID has restored its supply contracts www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

UPDATE: Georgia peanut butter maker says USAID has restored its supply contracts www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Middle Georgia’s largest city boasts a verifiably rich musical history, but claims that Macon birthed the kazoo are more complicated. It wasn’t until 1977, more than a century after the buzzing gizmo’s supposed invention here, that locals even, um, caught wind of it: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Middle Georgia’s largest city boasts a verifiably rich musical history, but claims that Macon birthed the kazoo are more complicated. It wasn’t until 1977, more than a century after the buzzing gizmo’s supposed invention here, that locals even, um, caught wind of it: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

The Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is being felt in Georgia peanut country. ajc.com/news/georgia...

Lost on Oconee: A boat empty, a woman dead, a man missing, few answers … A mystery surrounding the death of an Atlanta woman and the disappearance of her fiancé at Lake Oconee has baffled the authorities … www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Lost on Oconee: A boat empty, a woman dead, a man missing, few answers … A mystery surrounding the death of an Atlanta woman and the disappearance of her fiancé at Lake Oconee has baffled the authorities … www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

“I don’t know the guy, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help.” Volunteers searching Lake Oconee for missing boater Gary Jones felt compelled to lend a hand: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

“I don’t know the guy, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help.” Volunteers searching Lake Oconee for missing boater Gary Jones felt compelled to lend a hand: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Hypnotic South Georgia …

When they failed to show up for jury duty, they were rounded up by sheriff’s deputies to explain why. They weren’t so much in criminal trouble. They were, in essence, grown-ups called to the principal’s office. But here, the principal was a judge, and she was not happy: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Video of Jimmy Carter funeral procession motorcade passing through Fort Valley in Middle Georgia on its way over to I-75 at Byron and then northerly toward Macon and Atlanta:

Happy new year to Middle Georgia and the places I’ve roamed, from Garden Valley (hey, “BoontLoont”) to Sand Bed (love you, Aunt Frances) to Empire (hi, Chicken Road) to Willard (hey, Howard) to Lake Joy (yo, Rothwell) to Pabst (hi, cousins) on over to Oaky Woods (cheers, Kovac Road) …

Forty-three years ago this week, a fan at a Falcons game dressed in red long johns bolted onto the field before an onside kick. He stole the ball off the tee and took off. He sprinted into the stands and vanished. I like to believe that ever since he has been running the team.

Good day from Macon, Ga., and the west bank of the Ocmulgee River:

Amid a GBI probe of decomposing bodies found at a South Georgia funeral home in October, the family of one man whose corpse was kept there five months, unbeknownst to them, on Friday bid him goodbye again in a somber, private farewell: @ajc www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Amid a GBI probe of decomposing bodies found at a South Georgia funeral home in October, the family of one man whose corpse was kept there five months, unbeknownst to them, on Friday bid him goodbye again in a somber, private farewell: @ajc www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Dept. of Buried Ledes:

Fifty-five years ago tonight, “The Round Mound of Sound” played #Macon:

BREAKING: A man sought in the May beating death of a sleeping homeless man in Macon has been charged with murder. He was arrested in Tennessee late last month in connection with a killing there: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

BREAKING: A man sought in the May beating death of a sleeping homeless man in Macon has been charged with murder. He was arrested in Tennessee late last month in connection with a killing there: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Good day from Macon, Ga., where the gutting of the old Hilton hotel has begun. The long shuttered high-rise is set for demolition New Year’s Day.

ICYMI: This stunning photograph from the AJC’s Hyosub Shin of Friday night’s postgame embrace between UGA football coach Kirby Smart and Georgia Tech’s Brent Key. Smoke, light, tears — a masterpiece.

Eight decades after its founding, and buffeted by a challenging history, the communal Koinonia Farm in Georgia still has about two dozen dedicated residents.

Tip: See Joe Kovac’s byline, read the story

His name was Cody. He was 9 months old when he died. Authorities in Georgia spent more than two years building a murder case that painted a sickening portrait of the abuse inflicted by his father. Their work would help save the lives of two other boys. www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Macon folks take their turkey seriously …

If today you’re hankering for something other than turkey, remember . . .

“Leg of Tennessee Lamb … Georgia Turkey … Bibb County Quail on Toast …” The Thanksgiving menu at Macon’s old Brown House Hotel on this day in 1902 was nothing short of exquisite:

I followed this Middle Georgia murder case since it happened in January 2015. It served as a shocking reminder of the perils of the online marketplace. It was also an eye-opener for some that rural America is often no “safer” than “the big city.” www.ajc.com/news/georgia...