Registration is underway for the Junction Jamboree’s 13th annual 5K race on Sept. 27 in Union Point. Two distances — 10K and 10 miles — have been added this year.
All proceeds from the races will support projects by the Union Point Downtown Development Authority, including the southern terminus of the Firefly Trail.
To pre-register and for more info, go to runsignup.com.
Registration starts at 7:30 a.m. and the race at 8:30. Awards will be presented to overall male and female and top three in standard 10- year age groups.
For additional information, contact Carole Black at classicriceservices@gmail.com or race director Sherley Selman at cselman@windstream.net.
Zoning board set to meet Thursday
The Oglethorpe County Zoning Board will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18 in the BOC meeting room.
The board was to review and give its recommendations on a proposed RV park in Smithonia, but the application was pulled Tuesday. The park, which would include “no more than 60 RV sites, cabins and tree houses combined,” on Crawford-Smithonia and Smithonia roads was scheduled for three items before it was pulled.
The lone remaining item is revisions and additions made to the A1 Zoning District in the Oglethorpe County Unified Development Code.
Duncan to run as Democrat for governor
ATLANTA — Geoff Duncan, Georgia’s former Republican lieutenant governor, is running for governor as a Democrat, putting financial security and political moderation at the center of his campaign.
Duncan says in a brief YouTube video that he wants “to make Georgia the front line of Democracy and a backstop against extremism.”
He puts President Donald Trump in the extremist camp.
Duncan has been jabbing at Trump for years, attracting the president’s ire by rejecting his assertions that he had won the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
In 2021, Duncan published the book, “GOP 2.0,” which urged a pivot from Trump’s brand of politics.
Since then, he has shared his anti-Trump message as a commentator on CNN and as a columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In January, after he had endorsed Kamala Harris’ failed campaign for president, the Georgia Republican Party expelled him.
Marketplace insurance costs likely will rise
ATLANTA — Health care advocates warned Thursday that Georgia residents who have to find their own insurance in the government marketplace should expect significant rate increases next year.
Insurance companies are filing rate increase requests with regulators, arguing that federal budget cuts and the end of COVID-19 tax credits are the main drivers, said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA.
“These are individual workers and working families who simply don’t get coverage on the job or through public programs like Medicaid or Medicare,” Wright said.
Wright said affected workers include retail and restaurant employees, ride-hail and food-delivery drivers, beauticians, barbers, plumbers and other self-employed workers.
Georgia’s government marketplace is called Georgia Access. The state also offers Pathways to Coverage for those nearer the poverty level.
The group KFF calculates that a half million Georgians could lose coverage. Another group, Georgians for a Healthy Future (GHF), puts that number at 340,000, estimating an average rate increase of 75%. (The smaller figure is attributed to the expiration of the tax credits alone. The larger figure includes tax credits and budget cuts).