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Georgia military families, federal employees look for support while government shutdown stalls paychecks

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Georgia military families, federal employees look for support while government shutdown stalls paychecks


Senate Democrats rejected a Republican stopgap spending bill that would reopen the government as the shutdown continued into its 16th day.

With little progress in Washington, anxiety is building for thousands of federal civilian employees and military families across Georgia. 

Earlier this week, President Trump directed the Pentagon to use “all available funds” to ensure that U.S. troops were paid; however, that would be a short-term fix. It’s also unclear if the president’s directive applied to the U.S. Coast Guard, which the Department of Homeland Security oversees.

Military families tighten budgets while waiting out shutdown

In their 14 years of marriage as a Coast Guard couple, Ellie and Reese Walker have weathered many storms. 

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“Every two to four years, depending on what your job is, you’re going to be going somewhere,” Ellie Walker said.

Their family of five is looking at their tight budget as Reese Walker recruits Coast Guard members throughout metro Atlanta.

“We had already started consolidating for a little while now,” Ellie Walker said. “We’ve gone down to one car. You know, we’ve cut where we can.”

Ellie and Reese Walker say they’ve had to cut down while they wait for paychecks to start arriving again.

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CBS News Atlanta


With no paychecks coming in because of the government shutdown, the Walkers are cutting down even more. They’ve been through shutdowns before, when they lived in Jacksonville, Florida, before their youngest was born, but the family says this situation feels different.

“We’re in a place that’s not around a lot of military. Will our creditors even understand what’s happening, like calling the mortgage company, calling the utilities? You know, ‘So what? You’re military. I’m sorry this is happening, but you need to pay up,’” she said.

The family is relying on groups like the Military Advisory Network to save where they can on necessities.

“We’re very open with our kids about what’s happening right now, about, ‘We can’t sign up for this thing at school. It’s gonna cost money. We can’t do this other thing.’ You know, $20 here, $20 there, those things, we can’t do it. We have to cut everywhere we can,” Ellie Walker said.

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The cuts add to anxiety as they wait for some sign that the shutdown will end.

Help for Georgia military families and federal employees

Data from the Department of Defense shows that there are 65,259 active-duty military personnel in Georgia, the sixth most in the country. Many military families are worried about the impact of missed paychecks.

There are more than 81,000 federal civilian employees in Georgia, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Several companies and nonprofit organizations are offering resources to help them.

Military

    • The Military Family Advisory Network launched an emergency grocery support program to help active-duty, National Guard, and military reserve families put food on the table. Eligible households can apply here to receive a box of shelf-stable groceries shipped directly to their door, along with a commissary gift card. Most boxes arrive within just a few days, offering fast peace of mind in a time of ongoing uncertainty.

Federal employees

  • Georgia Power and The Salvation Army work together on Project SHARE. Qualified households can receive direct assistance to help prevent utility disconnection and evictions.
  • Verizon announced this week that it was offering flexible payment arrangements for federal workers who’ve been furloughed or laid off. The company has also offered help to first responders and members of the military.

State of Georgia resources

  • The Department of Labor says furloughed workers may be eligible to apply for unemployment insurance benefits.
  • However, if they receive back pay, the department says they’ll have to repay unemployment benefits paid during the shutdown.



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Man accused in fatal Georgia shooting spree dies in jail, officials say

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Man accused in fatal Georgia shooting spree dies in jail, officials say


(WSAV) — The man accused of shooting and killing three people in Dekalb County April 13 was found dead in his jail cell, officials confirmed Monday night.

Olaolukitan Adon-Abel was found unresponsive in his jail cell at 6:48 p.m., a Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said. Life-saving measures were performed, according to officials.

He was pronounced dead at 7:17 p.m.

Adon-Abel was charged with malice murder, aggravated assault and firearms counts in connection to the shooting deaths of Prianna Weathers, Tony Mathews and Lauren Bullis.

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In 2025, Adon-Abel plead guilty in Chatham County Recorder’s Court to multiple misdemeanor counts of sexual battery for groping women in Chatham County under the name Adon Olaolukitan.

According to court documents, he was banned from Savannah for four years and ordered to undergo a psychosexual evaluation.

The official cause will be determined by the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office, and a standard internal review has been launched, according to officials.

At this time, the sheriff’s office said there are no indications of foul play. No additional details were released.

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2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report — Christen Miller, DT, Georgia

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2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report — Christen Miller, DT, Georgia


If you want proof that context matters in NFL Draft evaluation, look no further than Christen Miller’s career arc at Georgia. He arrived in Athens as a four-star recruit and spent his first two years buried behind first-round picks Jordan Davis, Devonte Wyatt, and Jalen Carter — three players who all heard their names called on Day 1.

The defensive tackle assembly line at Georgia is nothing short of extraordinary, and Miller patiently waited his turn. By 2024, his turn had arrived, and what NFL scouts saw was a prototypically built interior defender who carries his 321-pound frame with impressive athleticism and natural leverage.

Miller’s greatest asset is his run defense. He is a solid anchor — quick to press his hands into blockers, disciplined about maintaining gap integrity, and stout enough to hold the point of attack against double teams that would cave lesser prospects — but he’s not dominant.

His lateral mobility is a genuine differentiator for a man his size; he can scrape down the line to close on outside runs or loop inside on stunts without losing his footing or pad level.

That combination of power and movement is why Georgia trusted him on the field for passing downs, and it’s why scouts project him as an immediate contributor against the run at the NFL level.

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The legitimate questions surrounding Miller center on his pass-rush production and his still-developing anticipation skills. Over his entire collegiate career, he accumulated only four sacks — never cracking two in a single season.

Still, Miller’s athleticism stands out immediately — he carries his size well and shows the lateral quickness you don’t always find at his frame. His hands have some pop, and he’s flashed the ability to jolt interior linemen off their spot. But he’s a prospect defined more by his floor than his ceiling.

Source: Mockdraftable

No single trait rises above average, which means his pass-rush production will hinge on technique and motor rather than any physical advantage. He also needs to improve as a finisher — getting close isn’t enough at the next level.

The traits for pass-rush development are present: he has good first-step quickness, flashes as a one-gap penetrator, and showed enough in stunt packages to keep offensive linemen honest. But he has yet to build a consistent, go-to counter move when his initial rush is neutralized. Against better competition, his reaction time to the snap can be late, and he can drift out of his gap assignment when he tries to freelance for a big play.

What Miller offers any franchise is a high floor with a realistic upside trajectory. He comes from one of college football’s most technically demanding defensive line programs, coached by coaches who regularly develop NFL talent.

He plays with a motor that never stops. He competed in SEC trenches for two-plus seasons and was named to the All-SEC First Team as a senior. The experience and winning culture he brings — two state championships in high school, a national championship at Georgia — will matter to coaches who value locker-room character.

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The ceiling here isn’t flashy, but it’s tangible: a reliable, two-down starting defensive tackle who keeps blocks clean and lets linebackers run free. In a league that increasingly prizes versatile, multi-technique interior linemen, Miller’s ability to play the nose or the B-gap makes him a schematic asset for even-front and two-gap systems. Don’t sleep on him because his sack totals are modest — evaluating him solely by that metric would miss the forest for the trees.

Miller’s fit in Green Bay is an interesting one. The Packers are switching to a 3-4 base defense under new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, and they lack a proven run-stuffing nose tackle while being long overdue for a meaningful investment on the defensive interior — which is exactly the profile Miller fits.

The team brought him in for a pre-draft visit, signaling genuine interest, and his skill set maps cleanly onto what Green Bay needs. His calling card — an elite run defense grade that ranked second among all FBS defensive tackles — translates directly to what Gannon will ask of his interior linemen, and his versatility to play nose in an odd front or kick out to three-technique in sub packages only adds to the appeal.



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Democrats Are Ready to Reclaim Georgia. Is a Former Republican the Man for the Job?

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Democrats Are Ready to Reclaim Georgia. Is a Former Republican the Man for the Job?


NORCROSS, GEORGIA — Geoff Duncan, former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia, won’t stop apologizing.

He’s sorry for supporting the state’s 2019 “heartbeat bill,” which bans abortion at around six weeks, after a fetal heartbeat is detected. He’s sorry for facilitating the passage of a “constitutional carry” bill in 2022, which allows most people to carry a concealed handgun with no license or background check. He’s also sorry for opposing Medicaid expansion, arguing at the time that it was not fiscally responsible.

“I’m sorry for those positions and any harm that they may have done,” Duncan told me.

Duncan first rose to prominence as one of the Republicans who resisted President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s narrow 2020 win in Georgia. Duncan has been speaking out against what he calls Trump’s “toxic” and “dangerous” Republican Party since leaving office in 2023, and even endorsed Kamala Harris and spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2024. After being excommunicated from the Georgia Republican Party in January 2025, Duncan switched parties in August. He is now running for governor as a Democrat in what will be one of the most closely watched races in the midterms.

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