Georgia

She was paid to move to a new state. One year later, she’s thriving in Georgia.

Published

6 months ago

October 26, 2025

She was paid to move to a new state. One year later, she’s thriving in Georgia.

Althea McBride’s Georgia home is an “Afro boho” oasis.

Her living room and hallway walls are painted black, acting as a dramatic background to her many African sculptures and art. The dining room’s burnt orange walls are decorated with vinyl records like Aretha Franklin’s “Knew You Were Waiting: The Best Of Aretha Franklin 1980-1998” to Kendrick Lamar’s “GNX.”

It’s been a year since McBride bought her home, and outside a few hiccups, like a wasp infestation and disputes over property lines, everything is looking exactly how she envisioned it — literally.

“I used Canva to help design some of it before I even moved into the house, just by looking online at the pictures that they had on Zillow,” McBride told Business Insider. “I was able to download those and remodel it how I wanted. So my living room is exactly how I pictured it.”

What she couldn’t picture years ago was being a homeowner. Growing up in Los Angeles, homeownership was not something that she thought would be possible at 34 years old — and if she stayed in Los Angeles, it still might not be.

McBride received $5,000 to relocate to Columbus, Georgia, as part of a remote worker incentive program.

Kendrick Brinson for BI

A financial incentive to move from California to Georgia helped McBride, now 35, decide to leave Los Angeles — although it didn’t take that much convincing. She was tired of the big city’s fast-paced lifestyle and slow-moving traffic and was looking for an out.

McBride applied to a remote-worker incentive program offered by Columbus, Georgia, a city in the western part of the state that borders Alabama. She received $5,000 in cash, as well as a range of other perks like a one-year membership to the Columbus Aquatics Center and a coffee date with the mayor.

Getting a little extra cash to move to a smaller city with a lower cost of living enabled McBride to become a homeowner for the first time. She’s enjoying decorating and living in her own house, and has grown accustomed to Southern culture and the area’s slower pace of living.

After following the ups and downs of McBride’s move in a series of interviews over the course of her first year in Columbus, she told me that overall, she’s pleased with her decision.

“I don’t really miss California — not yet,” she said.

Finally a homeowner

McBride didn’t expect to become a homeowner in her 30s. “I had the typical millennial experience: Went to college, had high student loan debt, and then I went through back-to-back layoffs. I was like, ‘What am I going to do?’”

At the time, she was working as a senior paid search manager for a marketing agency and living in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles — a neighborhood one exit shy of where the Kardashians live — and paying $3,400 a month for a two-bedroom apartment.

McBride said that being able to afford a home in Los Angeles would have been financially out of reach for her in her 30s.

Kendrick Brinson for BI

McBride didn’t need to know all the intricacies of buying a house to quickly realize that it would have been hard to make it work in Woodland Hills, where the median sale price was about $1.2 million in August 2024. Still, she tried saving money for a down payment to buy in California, but it wasn’t enough — and she didn’t qualify for much assistance because her salary was too high. So she started looking for places to live outside California, such as upstate New York and Virginia.

Though McBride graduated from Spelman College in nearby Atlanta and has family in Columbus, Georgia, the small city with a population of about 207,000, was never on her radar as a place to live.

“I was talking to my baby cousin, DJ, and he kept saying, ‘You should come to Columbus, cousin,’” McBride said. “I’m like, ‘What am I going to do in Columbus?’”

It wasn’t until she saw the incentive program go viral on social media that she considered it.

“I looked at it and I was like, ‘Well, this is perfect,’” McBride said. “If it’s meant to be, I’ll apply and hear back from them — and that’s exactly what I did.”

That was March 2024. That May, she learned she’d been accepted to the program. In August 2024, she closed on a three-bedroom home for $175,000. Now, McBride’s mortgage costs her about $1,500 a month — less than half of her rent in LA.

The benefits of living in Columbus aren’t just financial. Her home has more space for her to enjoy her hobbies, one of which is growing her own food. In California, McBride made it work by growing produce on her patio using storage bins with holes cut in the bottom for drainage. However, if she ever wanted to expand that operation, she would need more room — and a bigger budget.

McBride is an avid gardener who plans to build a greenhouse.

Kendrick Brinson for BI

“In California, you’ve got to have the money. The homes are $500,000-plus, but you don’t get the yardage. You don’t get the land like that. So it makes it kind of hard.”

McBride never dreamed of having a greenhouse, let alone a place to put it. But in Georgia, she has plans to build one on her property. She’s already growing lettuce, blueberries, bananas, red and white onions, peppers, and eggplants, and hopes to plant even more.

If she has to put in a little elbow grease to make the home and the yard her own, so be it.

“I went in with the intention that I might have to put work into a home,” McBride said. “I may have to get in there with a hammer. I may have to get in there with some paint and fix it up the way that I want to, but at least I have that.”

Settling in to small-city life

For the first few months after moving, McBride frequently traveled to Atlanta — a nearly two-hour drive from Columbus — and used it as a crutch for social activities and shopping. (Her nearest Trader Joe’s, she noted, is in Atlanta). Although she still travels to Atlanta occasionally, now that she’s established her community in Columbus, she’s found more to do closer to home. She joined the Urban League of the River Valley as well as the Columbus chapter of the National Council of Negro Women.

“I’ve been doing all the community service events. We’ve been going to different galas. We’ve been going to all types of stuff out here in Columbus,” she said. “Every time I meet somebody random, they either know my family, they either all go to the same churches, or they grew up with each other. Everyone knows each other or knows of somebody, which is very helpful when trying to get to know people out here.”

Small-city life was an adjustment for McBride, but she’s gradually built her own community.

Kendrick Brinson for BI

The way McBride sees it, that $5,000 cash incentive wasn’t what convinced her to move 2,000 miles across the country, though it was a nice sweetener that helped cover her closing costs and moving expenses. It was more so the program’s promise of activities and community-building opportunities that helped lighten the social burden of moving to a new city.

“For me, the cash incentive is reimbursement — that’s like icing on the cake,” McBride said. “With this, you’re not just moving. Now it’s like there are some activities I can look forward to, there are things where I’ll be able to go out there and just meet completely different people with different backgrounds and really get a head start on my personal Columbus community.”

She’s attended program-sponsored events such as dinners with other program members and coffee with the mayor, B.H. “Skip” Henderson III, who mapped out a vision for what Columbus could look like in the future.

Now, McBride said she sees herself in that vision.

“I’m happy with my decision,” she said. “My goal is to stay here for a couple of years at least.”

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Georgia

Iowa women’s basketball lands Georgia transfer Dani Carnegie

Published

12 hours ago

April 12, 2026

Press Room

Iowa women’s basketball lands Georgia transfer Dani Carnegie

IOWA CITY — A transfer-portal pull from down south has the Iowa women’s basketball roster reconstruction off and running.

The Hawkeyes have landed Georgia transfer Dani Carnegie, she announced April 11 on social media. The first-team all-SEC combo guard visited Iowa City the weekend of April 10 and will have two years of eligibility left with the Hawkeyes.

A strong sophomore season spent grinding away in the SEC, Carnegie averaged 17.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game in her lone season with the Bulldogs. The 5-foot-9 guard delivered 13 20-point outings and three double-doubles on a Georgia team that won 22 games and earned a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Carnegie entered the transfer portal once Georgia parted ways with former head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson.

Coincidentally enough, Carnegie’s Iowa career will start in the same place her Georgia career ended. Her final game with the Bulldogs came in an overtime loss to No. 10 seed Virginia in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Additional familiarity aids this Iowa pivot. Carnegie, who originally hails from Mount Vernon, New York, spent her freshman season at Georgia Tech, where she was teammates with Iowa point guard Chit-Chat Wright and played under Hawkeyes assistant LaSondra Barrett. The Barrett hire last offseason helped Jan Jensen land Wright and undoubtedly played a huge role here as well.

With Iowa losing Addie Deal, Emely Rodriguez, Teagan Mallegni, Callie Levin and Kennise Johnson to the transfer portal — along with departing seniors Hannah Stuelke, Kylie Feuerbach, Jada Gyamfi and McCabe — the Hawkeyes are going to need a handful of acquisitions that range from depth pieces to key contributors.

Carnegie heads to Iowa City as a premier portal addition and legit scoring threat. That’s exactly what Iowa needs after last season’s productive run that, at times, lacked offensive consistency.

Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.

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Georgia

Former Georgia F Jake Wilkins makes transfer portal decision

Published

24 hours ago

April 11, 2026

Press Room

Former Georgia F Jake Wilkins makes transfer portal decision

Georgia transfer Jake Wilkins has committed to Cal out of the NCAA transfer portal, his agent, CSE Talent’s Darrell Comer, told DraftExpress’ Jonathan Givony. Wilkins will have three years of eligibility remaining.

Wilkins averaged 4.9 points per game for the Bulldogs this past season over 10.2 minutes per game. He appeared in 32 games, but logged zero starts.

Before arriving in college, Wilkins was a four-star recruit in the 2025 class, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings, which is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. Wilkins was the No. 45 overall recruit and No. 11 small forward in the cycle.

Notably, he’s the son of Dominique Wilkins, a Hall of Fame member and two-time NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion. His also attended Georgia to play his college basketball. Now, his son is off the the west coast to continue his hoops journey.

Wilkins plan to enter the portal was reported on the day before it opened. Once April 7 rolled around, Wilkins, along with thousands of other college basketball players hit the open market. The NCAA transfer portal closes on April 22, 15 days after it opened.

He’ll join a Golden Bears squad coming off their best season in a decade. They finished 22-12 but failed to reach the NCAA Tournament. The last time Cal went dancing was in 2016 when they earned a No. 4-seed under former head coach Cuonzo Martin. Entering year four of the Mark Madsen era, they’ll look to turn that around during the 2026-27 season.

For his former team, Georgia, the Bulldogs would finish the season with a 22-11 record, including a 10-8 mark against the SEC. In turn, the Bulldogs received a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Eventually, they fell to No. 9 seed Saint Louis in the first round.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

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Georgia

Jackets Continue Setting ACC Standards at Lee and Athens

Published

2 days ago

April 11, 2026

Press Room

Jackets Continue Setting ACC Standards at Lee and Athens

CLEVELAND, Tenn. / ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams opened the weekend with quality performances at the Lee Fast Break Athletics Invitational and Spec Towns Invitational on Friday evening.

Aaron Jones and Sarah Noel showcased their talents in Athens at the 400m hurdles with top ACC times. A. Jones came across the line at 52.00 in the race to set his fourth consecutive ACC standard time in the event. He beat out his personal best set last week by 0.07 seconds and strengthened his hold on the sixth fastest conference time set this season.

Noel nearly replicated her first sub-minute time in the 400m hurdles, finishing at 1:00.35 to record her second straight ACC standard mark.

Back at Lee, Taylor Wade and Alexander Arrambide required a photo finish in the 1500m to separate the two Jackets in the 1-2 finish. Wade’s leg extended just past Arrambide’s to secure the race victory and set the Lee facility record at 3:44.03.

In the women’s 1500m, Hannah Schemmel eclipsed her previous best at 4:30.63 to place second overall. Macy Felton and Sophie D’Elena finished 19th and 20th at 4:43.48 and 4:44.41 with Ellie Moritz clocking in at 4:52.68. Ella Grace Malcom set her personal best in the 800m at the Spec Towns Invitational to finish third overall at 2:17.10 with McKenzie Blackledge right behind at 2:18.11.

In the long distance races, freshman Sadie Honig ran 17:01.86 with Katie Hamfeldt pacing at 17:09.74 in the women’s 5000m. Fellow freshman Wyatt Windham led the squad at 14:26.45 for the men. Ava Coffey finished at 36:31.33 in the first heat of the 10,000m with the second heat beginning tomorrow. Caden Terrell set his season best at 21.72 in the 200m.

Georgia Tech will finish out the Spec Towns Invitational with field and running events throughout the afternoon on Saturday.

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

For the latest information on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, follow us on Twitter (@GT_tracknfield), Instagram (GT_tracknfield), Facebook (Georgia Tech Track and Field) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.

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