CCG intends to issue $50 million of taxpayer-backed bonds to renovate Golden Park for MiLB Minor League Baseball without any referendum. To top that off, the project’s laughable details have been kept hidden from the public in private meetings — so we’re leaking them for you. Explore the full story to see CCG’s term sheet for using $50 million of your dollars to subsidize Minor League Baseball without bothering to ask you first.

The city council meeting held on Feb. 28 was filled with divisive falsehoods blaming ‘racism’ for police chief Freddie Blackmon’s leadership failures — though one man’s integrity and courage allowed him to speak up and tell the truth. Explore the full story to see how Mr. Byron Hickey’s 30 years of police experience just showed our city what real leadership looks like.

Given the extreme fallout that has occurred in recent months, the initial appointment of police chief Freddie Blackmon was rather obviously quite flawed. When examined, a long pattern of behavior from our city’s elected officials reveals how that came to be. Explore the full story to see how the Columbus City Council can avoid a repeat ‘Blackmon Scenario.’

The Columbus Police Department has seen a monumental improvement under the brief yet highly-effective leadership of Interim Chief Stoney Mathis. Now, after months of consideration by an independent board, Mayor Henderson has nominated Mathis to fill the role permanently as CPD’s next Chief of Police, pending a vote by city council on October 10. Explore the full story for the details on what Henderson had to say about the procedure.

It has now been over a week since a massive explosion blew a fireball thousands of feet into the night sky above the Radius Recycling Plant in downtown Columbus, Georgia. However, there have still been a grand total of zero investigative reports into the origin of the blast from media outlets, zero follow-ups on the event whatsoever, and zero statements from local government. Explore the full story to see how loud that silence actually is.

After City Manager Isaiah Hugley’s questionable actions regarding the city’s former police chief in April, a local news reporter did their job and contacted his office looking for answers. However, in response to that reporter asking questions and looking in places Hugley didn’t like, a leaked email shows Hugley contacted that reporter’s employer in an effort to silence the press. Explore the full story to see Hugley’s email in which he bad-mouthed a reporter and weaponized their employment in hopes of shutting them up.

From an explosion at a downtown recycling center shooting a fireball thousands of feet into the air as it shook houses throughout the city, to media outlets providing zero follow-up on the blast, to another fire at a separate waste management plant revealing a much larger chain of suspicious and timely events, here’s all the muck that’s fit to print from the Columbus, Georgia area, along with a look at what to expect in the week ahead.

On September 17, after a month of debate by officials over the city’s waste management programs, a massive explosion at the Radius Recycling Plant in Columbus, Georgia shot a fireball and mushroom cloud thousands of feet into the air. However, closer inspection reveals that a separate fire also happened at the Waste Management building on Veterans Pkwy just days prior on September 7. Explore the full story to see the questionable details as local media outlets and city officials continue to remain silent on the suspicious issue.

As our city remains at a critical political juncture that may well determine the future direction of Columbus, residents can sometimes forget how important it is to voice their concerns to their elected officials. However, the absence of your voice is often more detrimental than anything else. Explore the full story to see how easy it really is to voice your concerns during the public agenda of a city council meeting.

CCG intends to issue $50 million of taxpayer-backed bonds to renovate Golden Park for MiLB Minor League Baseball without any referendum. To top that off, the project’s laughable details have been kept hidden from the public in private meetings — so we’re leaking them for you. Explore the full story to see CCG’s term sheet for using $50 million of your dollars to subsidize Minor League Baseball without bothering to ask you first.

After City Manager Isaiah Hugley’s questionable actions regarding the city’s former police chief in April, a local news reporter did their job and contacted his office looking for answers. However, in response to that reporter asking questions and looking in places Hugley didn’t like, a leaked email shows Hugley contacted that reporter’s employer in an effort to silence the press. Explore the full story to see Hugley’s email in which he bad-mouthed a reporter and weaponized their employment in hopes of shutting them up.

On September 17, after a month of debate by officials over the city’s waste management programs, a massive explosion at the Radius Recycling Plant in Columbus, Georgia shot a fireball and mushroom cloud thousands of feet into the air. However, closer inspection reveals that a separate fire also happened at the Waste Management building on Veterans Pkwy just days prior on September 7. Explore the full story to see the questionable details as local media outlets and city officials continue to remain silent on the suspicious issue.

Colin Scroggins of CNAW News 2 has been dubbed by many as ‘Columbus, Georgia’s Favorite Nephew’ for his work as the region’s youngest and arguably most successful crime reporter. However, the acclaimed CNAW Facebook page suffered serious technical issues on September 15. Explore the full story for the details on what was allegedly preventing you from finding his content on Facebook.

A few weeks ago, we revealed that the local United Way is forcing Columbus nonprofits to ask local kids about their sexuality or lose their funding. Now, leaked documents including funding contracts obtained by the Muckraker undeniably prove it. Explore the full story to see the documents for yourself, along with how the United Way knowingly lied to City Councilors’ faces in an effort to cover it up.

The percentage of Columbusites who are gainfully employed has consistently fallen for the past 23 years to a rate far below the rest of the nation. Now, data shows fewer Columbusites are willing to go to work as the city faces serious staffing challenges. Explore the full story to see the data yourself.

Each year, the city manager’s office is responsible for issuing business licenses and collecting occupational tax. However, despite it now being the ninth month of the year, Isaiah Hugley still has not delivered this year’s licenses to local businesses. Explore the full story to see how staggeringly low the city’s occupational tax has fallen on Hugley’s watch, along with how officials called him out.

There isn’t a headline we would be more pleased to write than this. After only a few months of effective leadership, the Columbus Police Department saw an uptick in recruitment that exceeded goals for the current academy class. Now, CPD is seeking motivated candidates for the next class. Explore the full story for the details on how your skills and dedication are in high demand to protect our community.

Things are bad, but not *that* bad. In a wildly-misleading article, news outlet WTVM published that ‘40% of all deaths’ in Georgia are homicides. However, homicides accounted for a mere 1% of all deaths in Georgia last year, despite WTVM claiming it was 40x worse. Explore the full story to see the data yourself, along with how your local ‘news leader’ didn’t correct the claim after we exposed it.

CCG intends to issue $50 million of taxpayer-backed bonds to renovate Golden Park for MiLB Minor League Baseball without any referendum. To top that off, the project’s laughable details have been kept hidden from the public in private meetings — so we’re leaking them for you. Explore the full story to see CCG’s term sheet for using $50 million of your dollars to subsidize Minor League Baseball without bothering to ask you first.

The city council meeting held on Feb. 28 was filled with divisive falsehoods blaming ‘racism’ for police chief Freddie Blackmon’s leadership failures — though one man’s integrity and courage allowed him to speak up and tell the truth. Explore the full story to see how Mr. Byron Hickey’s 30 years of police experience just showed our city what real leadership looks like.

Given the extreme fallout that has occurred in recent months, the initial appointment of police chief Freddie Blackmon was rather obviously quite flawed. When examined, a long pattern of behavior from our city’s elected officials reveals how that came to be. Explore the full story to see how the Columbus City Council can avoid a repeat ‘Blackmon Scenario.’

It has now been over a week since a massive explosion blew a fireball thousands of feet into the night sky above the Radius Recycling Plant in downtown Columbus, Georgia. However, there have still been a grand total of zero investigative reports into the origin of the blast from media outlets, zero follow-ups on the event whatsoever, and zero statements from local government. Explore the full story to see how loud that silence actually is.

After City Manager Isaiah Hugley’s questionable actions regarding the city’s former police chief in April, a local news reporter did their job and contacted his office looking for answers. However, in response to that reporter asking questions and looking in places Hugley didn’t like, a leaked email shows Hugley contacted that reporter’s employer in an effort to silence the press. Explore the full story to see Hugley’s email in which he bad-mouthed a reporter and weaponized their employment in hopes of shutting them up.

On September 17, after a month of debate by officials over the city’s waste management programs, a massive explosion at the Radius Recycling Plant in Columbus, Georgia shot a fireball and mushroom cloud thousands of feet into the air. However, closer inspection reveals that a separate fire also happened at the Waste Management building on Veterans Pkwy just days prior on September 7. Explore the full story to see the questionable details as local media outlets and city officials continue to remain silent on the suspicious issue.

As our city remains at a critical political juncture that may well determine the future direction of Columbus, residents can sometimes forget how important it is to voice their concerns to their elected officials. However, the absence of your voice is often more detrimental than anything else. Explore the full story to see how easy it really is to voice your concerns during the public agenda of a city council meeting.

This story from December 2022 is about to become very relevant again, as CCG clearly has not learned how to behave. Despite federal law prohibiting governments from curating speech online, the Columbus Government deleted our comments that challenged their narrative and then banned us from commenting in the future. Explore the full story to see how CCG already has a demonstrated track record of illegally censoring speech in violation of federal law, along with the photographic evidence they can’t avoid.

It has now been several days since a massive explosion blew a fireball thousands of feet into the night sky above the Radius Recycling Plant in downtown Columbus, Georgia. However, there have been a grand total of zero investigative reports into the origin of the blast from local media outlets, zero follow-ups on the event whatsoever, and zero statements from local government. Explore the full story to see how loud that silence actually is.

Colin Scroggins of CNAW News 2 has been dubbed by many as ‘Columbus, Georgia’s Favorite Nephew’ for his work as the region’s youngest and arguably most successful crime reporter. However, the acclaimed CNAW Facebook page suffered serious technical issues on September 15. Explore the full story for the details on what was allegedly preventing you from finding his content on Facebook.

Have you ever wondered why Columbus, Georgia’s logo and branding are so amazingly pathetic? There’s a story to it, and boy does it not disappoint. Explore the full story for the details of what actually happened, as alleged by those who were there and tried frivolously to stop the inevitable aMaZiNgNeSs from ironically depicting the true brand of the city.

Fulton County’s indictment of former President Donald J. Trump includes 30 unindicted co-conspirators who allegedly helped ‘subvert’ the 2020 election results. One of those alleged accomplices is the new treasurer of the Youth Orchestra of Greater Columbus. Explore the full story to see how Columbus local Joseph Brannan is ‘Individual 9’ in one of the nation’s most controversial conspiracies.

On August 5 in front of Frank’s Alley, local volunteers of Paws Humane will be holding a fundraiser, bake sale, and donation event to help provide desperately-needed supplies for our city’s needy animals. Donations of pet food and supplies will also be accepted, with a list of recommended items in the article. All proceeds from the event will go directly to Paws. Explore the full story for the details!

During the city council meeting held on July 11, officials mandated that the new Liberty Theatre & Cultural Arts Center Advisory Board must have a certified CPA as one of its members. However, while other boards may have accountants as members, the mandate appears to only apply to the Liberty Theatre board. Explore the full story for the details and see what city councilors had to say.

E. Coli contamination remains dangerously unsafe at the confluence of Mill Creek into the Chattahoochee River with levels 4.3x the EPA’s limit, according to recent data published by the Chattahoochee River Conservancy on July 14. However, the data is only published to local social media pages and remains absent from the entire searchable internet. Explore the full story to see the data visualized, along with a look at what the good people at the CRC had to say.

Yesterday morning’s data from the Chattahoochee River Conservancy shows dangerously high levels of E. Coli flowing into the river from Mill Creek. The issue has been ongoing for months, though Phenix City hasn’t fixed the problem. All the while, CRC has worked their tails off to collect the data and bring it to light. Explore the full story to see how you can help CRC keep our river clean.

A few weeks ago, we revealed that the local United Way is forcing Columbus nonprofits to ask local kids about their sexuality or lose their funding. Now, leaked documents including funding contracts obtained by the Muckraker undeniably prove it. Explore the full story to see the documents for yourself, along with how the United Way knowingly lied to City Councilors’ faces in an effort to cover it up.

In May of last year, local educator Vanessa Ellis was recognized for her exceptional teaching abilities as the Muscogee County Teacher of the Year. Now, as her dedication to students continues to exceed the standard, Ellis has been named as the Runner Up for the 2024 Georgia Teacher of the Year. Explore the full story to see how you can help support outstanding teachers like Vanessa Ellis as they continue to develop the bright future of our city.

Columbus families wait weeks to lay loved ones to rest, as a smaller pool of medical examiners struggle to keep up with the rise in violent crime deaths and drug overdoses.

The reduction in service comes after the city raised monthly trash collection fees in March, forcing residents to pay more for less service from the city. Phenix City also recently increased residents’ water usage rates and also has one of the highest sales tax rates in the nation.

The City Council voted 3 to 2 in favor of the increase, making the city one of the highest sales tax jurisdictions in the nation. The Council debated heavily on topics concerning short-term budgetary goals while failing to consider long-term implications supported by data.