Joe Kovac Jr.

Mystery at Murder Creek: The vanishings no one noticed Mysterious,unsolved disappearances of the non-human kind along Murder Creek in Putnam and Jasper counties have for years left state and local officials scratching their heads.

My latest for the @ajc.com …

“Mystery at Murder Creek: The vanishings no one noticed.”

Link: www.ajc.com/news/2026/03...

Black, white and read all over:

Federal judge chides Georgia prison boss and GDC for acting ‘above the law’ A federal judge scolded the Georgia Department of Corrections’ persistent failure to comply with court orders and questioned whether the GDC deems itself "above the law."

An AJC exclusive from Middle Georgia today: Federal judge chides Ga. prison boss and GDC for acting ‘above the law’
www.ajc.com/news/2026/02...

Federal judge chides Georgia prison boss and GDC for acting ‘above the law’ A federal judge scolded the Georgia Department of Corrections’ persistent failure to comply with court orders and questioned whether the GDC deems itself "above the law."

An AJC exclusive from Middle Georgia today: Federal judge chides Ga. prison boss and GDC for acting ‘above the law’
www.ajc.com/news/2026/02...

Georgia donkey goes from ‘walking skeleton’ to Guinness record holder It's official: A donkey in Georgia by way of Arkansas has the world's longest ears, nosing out a Brit, according to Guinness World Records.

BRAAAY-KING: Georgia Donkey Has Longest Ears in World: www.ajc.com/news/2026/01...

Another Buc-ee’s breaks ground in Georgia. Are you on the beaver bandwagon? Buc-ee's is planting its flag in the heart of Georgia. Soon enough, two of the Texas-based chain's convenience superstores here will be just 28 miles apart.

I visited my hometown to write about Buc-ee’s and how their convenience superstores are “the guilty pleasure that might spring forth if Stuckey’s and Walmart and QuikTrip and Golden Corral and Six Flags and South of the Border and,” well, read on: www.ajc.com/news/2025/09...

Another Buc-ee’s breaks ground in Georgia. Are you on the beaver bandwagon? Buc-ee's is planting its flag in the heart of Georgia. Soon enough, two of the Texas-based chain's convenience superstores here will be just 28 miles apart.

I visited my hometown to write about Buc-ee’s and how their convenience superstores are “the guilty pleasure that might spring forth if Stuckey’s and Walmart and QuikTrip and Golden Corral and Six Flags and South of the Border and,” well, read on: www.ajc.com/news/2025/09...

Construction on ‘dicey’ Georgia interstate interchange won’t end soon The construction-gnarled nexus of two interstates linking Atlanta and Savannah in Middle Georgia are a jumble of snaking lane shifts and a source of headaches - or worse.

The $500 million project remaking the junction at I-75 and I-16 in Macon began in 2017 and but isn't going to wrap up any time soon, @joekovacjr.bsky.social reports. An update on the construction: www.ajc.com/news/2025/09...

Overhead-bin Jenga (advanced, two-player version):

Fifty-one years ago today: “Midnight at the … ol’ Omni”

Is this Georgia’s most blue-collar diner? Meet Macon's Cox Cafe. This out-of-the-way restaurant in Middle Georgia caters to work crews but serves up staples of Southern breakfast and lunch fare to all comers in Macon's industrial district.

This may be Georgia’s most blue-collar diner:
“The concrete-block edifice has walls painted white as hungry teeth. The facade screams, “Work boots required.” The thick metal door, red as a kidney bean, looks like it just might open to the sound of a secret knock.”
www.ajc.com/news/2025/06...

Is this Georgia’s most blue-collar diner? Meet Macon's Cox Cafe. This out-of-the-way restaurant in Middle Georgia caters to work crews but serves up staples of Southern breakfast and lunch fare to all comers in Macon's industrial district.

This may be Georgia’s most blue-collar diner:
“The concrete-block edifice has walls painted white as hungry teeth. The facade screams, “Work boots required.” The thick metal door, red as a kidney bean, looks like it just might open to the sound of a secret knock.”
www.ajc.com/news/2025/06...

An unclaimed iPhone with a cartoony, angel-winged teddy bear on its case kept catching the eye of Army Staff Sgt. Zach Winthers. …

Long-lost iPhone connects grieving family to their daughter, a fallen soldier A soldier's quest to find the owner of lost-and-found iPhone in Jordan led him to dial "Mama Bear," a call that allowed the Sanders family to "see" their late daughter again

The phone had gone unclaimed for more than a year. Winthers got permission to take it back to the states — to try and turn it on and find its owner.

Here’s what happened when he did:
www.ajc.com/news/2025/05...

The phone was stashed in the closet of a back room in what amounted to a lost-and-found locker at a remote U.S. military outpost in the Jordanian desert. …

An unclaimed iPhone with a cartoony, angel-winged teddy bear on its case kept catching the eye of Army Staff Sgt. Zach Winthers. …

Long-lost iPhone connects grieving family to their daughter, a fallen soldier A soldier's quest to find the owner of lost-and-found iPhone in Jordan led him to dial "Mama Bear," a call that allowed the Sanders family to "see" their late daughter again

More than a year after a drone strike killed three American service members, a U.S. soldier’s quest to return an unclaimed iPhone found at their remote military outpost along the Iraqi and Syrian borders led to a grieving family in Georgia: www.ajc.com/news/2025/05...

Long-lost iPhone connects grieving family to their daughter, a fallen soldier A soldier's quest to find the owner of lost-and-found iPhone in Jordan led him to dial "Mama Bear," a call that allowed the Sanders family to "see" their late daughter again

More than a year after a drone strike killed three American service members, a U.S. soldier’s quest to return an unclaimed iPhone found at their remote military outpost along the Iraqi and Syrian borders led to a grieving family in Georgia: www.ajc.com/news/2025/05...

Not your usual Masters: Augusta golfer teed off Helene tree stump The image is eye-catching: A young Augustan stands atop a felled tree and hits a golf ball not far from the Masters' manicured greens. Here's the story behind the photo.

The image is eye-catching: A young Augustan stands atop a Helene-felled tree and hits a golf ball not far from the Masters' manicured greens.
Here's the story behind the photograph:
www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

‘You are a star in this place.’ Otis Redding center spotlights arts, Macon The Otis Redding Center for the Arts, a 15,000-square-foot space in the heart of downtown Macon, opens to the public this month.

Downtown Macon’s newest neighbor, the Otis Redding Center for the Arts: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Forty-eight years ago tonight in Macon:

‘Methodical’ weekend search for missing Lake Oconee boater yields few clues Underwater search expert from Wisconsin helps scour Lake Oconee for missing Georgia boater Gary Jones, a Westminster Schools teacher and coach, who vanished Feb. 8.

‘Methodical’ weekend search for missing Lake Oconee boater yields few clues:
www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

UPDATE: Georgia peanut butter maker says USAID restores supply contracts Mana, which produces peanut-butter based food pouches in Georgia, said USAID restored $12 million of its contracts to feed malnourished children in Africa.

UPDATE: Georgia peanut butter maker says USAID has restored its supply contracts
www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

UPDATE: Georgia peanut butter maker says USAID restores supply contracts Mana, which produces peanut-butter based food pouches in Georgia, said USAID restored $12 million of its contracts to feed malnourished children in Africa.

UPDATE: Georgia peanut butter maker says USAID has restored its supply contracts
www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Macon spawned Little Richard, Otis Redding — and the kazoo? The kazoo, according to lore, was invented by a former slave and a German clockmaker in Macon, Georgia. Here's the story behind the story.

Middle Georgia’s largest city boasts a verifiably rich musical history, but claims that Macon birthed the kazoo are more complicated. It wasn’t until 1977, more than a century after the buzzing gizmo’s supposed invention here, that locals even, um, caught wind of it:
www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Macon spawned Little Richard, Otis Redding — and the kazoo? The kazoo, according to lore, was invented by a former slave and a German clockmaker in Macon, Georgia. Here's the story behind the story.

Middle Georgia’s largest city boasts a verifiably rich musical history, but claims that Macon birthed the kazoo are more complicated. It wasn’t until 1977, more than a century after the buzzing gizmo’s supposed invention here, that locals even, um, caught wind of it:
www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

USAID cancels large contracts of Georgia peanut butter supplier Mana, which produces peanut-butter based food pouches in Georgia, said USAID had terminated $12 million of its contracts to feed malnourished children in Africa.

The Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is being felt in Georgia peanut country.
ajc.com/news/georgia...

Lost on Oconee: A boat empty, a woman dead, a man missing, few answers On Georgia's Lake Oconee, the mystery builds after woman found floating, dead, and her fiance can't be found after boat trip.

Lost on Oconee: A boat empty, a woman dead, a man missing, few answers …

A mystery surrounding the death of an Atlanta woman and the disappearance of her fiancé at Lake Oconee has baffled the authorities …

www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Lost on Oconee: A boat empty, a woman dead, a man missing, few answers On Georgia's Lake Oconee, the mystery builds after woman found floating, dead, and her fiance can't be found after boat trip.

Lost on Oconee: A boat empty, a woman dead, a man missing, few answers …

A mystery surrounding the death of an Atlanta woman and the disappearance of her fiancé at Lake Oconee has baffled the authorities …

www.ajc.com/news/georgia...

Volunteers searching for missing Lake Oconee boater want ‘to do something good’ LAKE OCONEE — David Wallace throttled up the 115-horsepower Mercury engine on his 21-foot fishing skiff and motored around a bend near Riley Shoals.

“I don’t know the guy, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help.” Volunteers searching Lake Oconee for missing boater Gary Jones felt compelled to lend a hand: www.ajc.com/news/georgia...