Officers of the Columbus Police Department have confidentially reached out to the Muckraker with new information that updates Jensen Hughes’ study, showing the issues have continued to devolve since the report was printed last November. Explore the full story to see how CPD’s severe leadership issues continue to destroy officers’ ability to keep our city safe.

When 70% of the entire police department said Chief Blackmon couldn’t do his job, officials dismissed their claims as “racism.” After insane rates of violent crime remained unanswered, locals funded a world-class study that now vindicates the officers’ claims. Explore the full story to decide for yourself if Chief Blackmon has broken the Columbus Police Department.

While the city hosts its new free GED and job training courses at the Phenix City-Russell County Library, we doubt anyone knows about it. Explore the full story to see the program’s absolutely atrocious marketing along with how Mayor Lowe can easily fix the issue.

We’re not sure what planet city councilwoman Toyia Tucker is living on, but Tucker claims that families making just $30k can afford $1,400 monthly rent. Even if both adults in a family of four made that, they’d still come up short. Explore the full story to see the real-world math behind how insanely out-of-touch Tucker’s privileged world view really is.

While several city officials are quick to brush aside the effects of their own overdevelopment efforts by saying “we need rent control,” the concept’s severe side effects ironically perpetuate the problem it artificially seeks to solve. Explore the full story to see the basic economic principles behind why rent control can only wreak havoc on the Fountain City.

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.

After analyzing and cross-referencing eight years of Columbus rent data, there are clear connections between skyrocketing apartment rent, evictions, and the city’s declining population. Explore the full story to see how data suggests the city’s development is outpacing itself.

Earlier this week, we talked about how last year’s rise in Columbus homelessness was expected to increase for 2023. Now, new data just released by Home For Good confirms the increase was far worse than expected. Explore the full story to see the data for yourself.

The Columbus Gov’t is offering gift cards in exchange for completed job applications, and is also requiring attendees to wear medical face masks during the event. Explore the full story for the details and see how CCG continues to embarrass itself on the world stage.

After years of steady decline, the number of Columbusites experiencing homelessness increased in 2022. Now, that number is expected to rise even more as new data is published in the coming weeks. Explore the full story to hear what experts had to say and view our interactive chart that visualizes the data.

While the rest of the nation and the state of Georgia continued to increase their prosperity last year, poverty in the city of Columbus, Georgia increased to a ghastly 22% during 2022. Explore the full story to view our interactive chart and see how wide the divide has become.

While the mayor seems to understand the severity of the city’s poverty crisis, his plan to improve it has several major pitfalls. Here’s a look at how his approach could benefit from a slight change in his causal perspective by treating the causes instead of the symptoms.

Employees of the city’s Public Safety Department will now receive incentive pay for educational degrees, though older and more experienced officers aren’t effectively offered the same opportunity. What are your thoughts? Explore the full story for the details.

A technical document shows three different mayors knew the government center building wasn’t being maintained since at least 2007, but CCG blamed the building’s ‘old age’ for 16 years instead. Taxpayers are now left with the bill to replace the building. Explore the full story to see the document yourself.

Holy Cow! When costs for the new government center’s SPLOST, additional building purchases, and new Muscogee County Jail are added up, the Columbus government is taxing its residents a whopping $743 million — or roughly $3,624 from each of the city’s roughly 205k residents. Explore the full story for the insanely expensive details.

The Mayor and City Council will discuss the city’s finances, current and future development projects, and other topics that affect residents of Phenix City. Explore the full story for the details and links to the free event.

After a shocking 22-year legal history, a consulting firm found the jail is physically and operationally dangerous once again. Deputy city manager Pam Hodge presented a plan favoring a rebuild of the entire facility at a cost of more than $250 million. Explore the details complete with photos of the jail’s current state of disrepair.

With Kadie’s $32,000 moo-ve to her new home complete, the city relinquished its ownership of her old ‘Best Buy’ home on Manchester Expressway — which may set a precedent for the city to release other property it does not have a bona fide need to retain. Explore the full story for the details.

Forensic auditor Elizabeth Barfield was recently commended for her cornerstone role in the discovery of an $8 million theft of taxpayers’ money from the Columbus government. Explore the full story to see how she worked with the FBI to bring the criminal to justice.

In hopes of increasing government transparency, Columbus officials are urging all CCG employees to use the anonymous ‘Whistleblower Hotline’ to report fraud, waste, and abuse. Explore the full story to hear what officials had to say.

The city of Columbus, Georgia suffered through no less than seven shootings this weekend, from Jan. 6-8, 2023. Read on to explore our interactive map for the details, and please stay safe out there.

Rookie city councilor Joanne Cogle was sworn-in and began her duties as District 7’s legislative representative — and she wasted no time in proving her worth. Read on to see why Cogle should be on your radar.

City council voted to delay renewing their ten-year contract with Uptown Columbus, Inc., opting to perform an audit of Uptown’s past performance first. Explore the full story to see the details and hear what officials had to say.

What do ducks have to do with Phenix City officials using a poorly-designed survey riddled with biases to guide their planning of the city’s future? Read on and find out.

City officials will be meeting with a select group of invite-only business owners to discuss their individual special interests during a planned ‘bus tour’ through Columbus, though no open-call or notice was provided to the public for non-favored businesses to apply to participate. Officials mentioned several select businesses and owners by-name when discussing the event at a recent city council meeting.

The cities of Columbus & Phenix City suffered no less than four reported shootings during the New Year’s Weekend, in addition to the Christmas Weekend shootings just one week ago. Here’s our interactive map with the details.

As violence and murder continue to rise in Columbus, the city endured no less than four known shootings throughout the holiday weekend which left at least two dead and two others wounded. Here’s our interactive map with the details.

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. Here’s how we struck back and won.

In another attempt to put alcohol on ‘Pedal Pub’ vehicles downtown, city officials tried to justify how state law allows for the consumption of alcohol in a limousine while also admitting the vehicles aren’t legally limos. Here are the details.

With another horrific double-homicide on the Phenix City RiverWalk leading to an unsolved manhunt through downtown Columbus in broad daylight, locals notice a difference between their own violent reality and the words of city officials. Here’s why.