Mark Gertjegerdes is a co-owner and the editor of The Columbus Times and its Director of Digital & Advertising. He was born and raised in Columbus, Ga., and now lives in Florida. He writes our original reporting, bylined "Mark G," built on public records and official data: local government, elections, schools, jobs, housing and food safety, including the restaurant inspection lookup he built for the site. Reach him at [email protected] or (706) 575-0452.
COLUMBUS, Ga. - Muscogee County School District Superintendent Dr. David F. Lewis is one of four finalists for the 2027...
Oct. 24, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Carson McCullers was just 23 when her first novel, "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," was published in 1940...
Oct. 24, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Callaway Gardens in nearby Harris County covers 2,500 acres, houses about 1,000 butterflies and offers a...
Oct. 24, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Ma Rainey, the legendary singer known as the "Mother of the Blues," began performing as a young girl in...
Oct. 24, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Harvest Coffee Company leads a ranking of 18 Columbus coffee shops with 4.8 Google stars, followed by Mi...
Oct. 24, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Rosehill Seafood tops a ranking of 12 Columbus seafood and fish restaurants with 4.4 Google stars, 2,033...
Oct. 24, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Columbus food spots earned 19 perfect health inspection scores out of 36 inspections this week, and the...
Oct. 24, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Columbus is taking public comments on two federally funded projects: a 198-apartment senior housing buil...
Oct. 24, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Columbus will hold a ribbon-cutting for the John D. Allen Judicial Center at 100 10th Street on Friday,...
Oct. 24, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Thai Orchid leads a ranking of 18 Columbus Asian restaurants with a 4.8-star Google rating from 694 revi...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Harris County has the highest median household income among Columbus and its four neighboring counties,...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - For 91 years, Columbus had a small neighboring city built around a textile mill. Bibb City was incorpora...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Fort Benning has carried three official names since its establishment in 1918: Camp Benning, Fort Bennin...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Angry Wings & Things leads a ranking of 18 Columbus wing spots with a 4.9-star Google rating from 204 re...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - An unexpected call offering a brace or a free genetic test deserves a closer look, especially if the cal...
Oct. 23, 2026
The National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center in Columbus has welcomed more than 3.8 million visitors since it opened...
Oct. 23, 2026
The Georgia Department of Transportation wants to rebuild the Manchester Expressway interchange at County Line Road in n...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus-area hikers have six marked day-hike loops to choose from at F.D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, rangin...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus residents can buy an annual Georgia fishing license or basic hunting license for $15, a hunting-and-fishing com...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus residents can get rid of old paint, household chemicals, car batteries and outdated computers for free on Satur...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Columbus households earn more than those in Montgomery and Birmingham, homes cost far less than in Hunts...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Three of America's best-known soft drinks trace back to Columbus. John Stith Pemberton, the man who inve...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - The Emeralds Touch BBQ ranks No. 1 among 12 Columbus barbecue restaurants, with a perfect 5.0-star Googl...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Eleven Columbus restaurants scored a perfect 100 on their latest health inspection and also hold a Googl...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus, Ga. - Chick-fil-A ranks No. 1 among 27 fast-food and casual dining chains in Columbus for health inspection sc...
Oct. 23, 2026
Columbus, Georgia, has a nine-acre historic garden designed in the 1920s by the Olmsted Brothers, the landscape architec...
Oct. 22, 2026
Starting a business in Columbus, Georgia, requires more than paying the city's $75 business license administrative fee....
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus, Georgia, students who live in Muscogee County can attend Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Phenix City...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus Airport has evolved from an early airmail facility serving the Chattahoochee Valley into a 680-acre regional ai...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus residents are paying about $7 to $9 more per month for water and sewer service in 2026 after Columbus Water Wor...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus, Georgia, opened the first mile of its Chattahoochee RiverWalk on Oct. 12, 1992, beginning a transformation tha...
Oct. 22, 2026
Moving to Columbus, Georgia, means more than getting a new address: New residents generally have 30 days to obtain a Geo...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus residents can swim indoors year-round at the Columbus Aquatics Center, where admission starts at $2 for childre...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus, Georgia, has the longest-operating public library in the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries system, with its main...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus residents can ride a regular METRA bus for $1.30 one way, or purchase a 31-day unlimited-ride pass for $53, acc...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus, Georgia, property owners face a Dec. 1 deadline for the remaining 60% of their 2026 property tax bills after t...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus, Georgia, residents can recycle paper, flattened cardboard, metal cans and accepted plastic containers through...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus, Georgia, has three historic places that tell very different stories about the city's development: the Springer...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus, Georgia, has 11 facilities listed in its Parks and Recreation Department's recreation center directory, includ...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus, Georgia, residents can have fallen leaves, grass clippings, pine needles and other approved yard debris collec...
Oct. 22, 2026
Columbus, Ga., recorded its first nights in the 40s this fall, including a low of 43 degrees Tuesday, Oct. 20, after an...
Oct. 21, 2026
Columbus, Ga., will see sunset move from 6:50 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, to 5:49 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, when daylight saving...
Oct. 21, 2026
Columbus, Ga., has voted Democratic for president in nine consecutive elections since 1992, after voting Republican as r...
Oct. 21, 2026
Columbus, Ga., is Georgia's second-largest city by population, has the highest median household income among Columbus, A...
Oct. 21, 2026
Columbus, Ga., experienced its largest recorded Chattahoochee River flood on March 15, 1929, when the river carried an e...
Oct. 21, 2026
The best-rated Mexican restaurant in Columbus, Ga., isn't a big sit-down cantina with a margarita menu. It's Taco's N Th...
Oct. 21, 2026
The typical Columbus household earns $58,073 a year, about $19,300 less than the typical Georgia household and $22,700 l...
Oct. 21, 2026
Eight Columbus-area restaurants have scored a C on a Georgia health inspection so far in 2026, twice as many as in all o...
Oct. 21, 2026
Living across the river in Phenix City, Ala., is cheaper than living in Columbus, Ga., on most measures: the typical hom...
Oct. 21, 2026
A week after Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, the Civil War came to Columbus, Ga. On Easter Sunday, April 16, 18...
Oct. 21, 2026
Columbus, Ga., is still Georgia's second-largest city, but only by 172 people. The U.S. Census Bureau's newest estimate...
Oct. 20, 2026
The Columbus Museum is giving Chattahoochee Valley residents two reasons to visit before October ends, with a free famil...
Oct. 20, 2026
The average Columbus worker spends 20.9 minutes getting to work, about 7 minutes less than the typical Georgian and 5½ m...
Oct. 20, 2026
Scoring a 100 on one health inspection is good. Scoring 100 on every inspection for nearly five years is rare. Columbus...
Oct. 20, 2026
Georgia anglers will have five specially managed trout streams to fish beginning November 1, when the state's delayed ha...
Oct. 20, 2026
America's housing market is showing new signs of weakness as mortgage rates climb and homebuilders struggle to attract b...
Oct. 19, 2026
First-time homebuyers in Columbus, Ga., can get up to $49,999 toward a down payment through the city's Sweet Home Columb...
Oct. 19, 2026
Earning $100,000 a year used to represent a major financial milestone for American workers. It suggested a comfortable h...
Oct. 19, 2026
Columbus has something many Georgia cities would love to have: a major riverfront, relatively affordable housing, establ...
Oct. 19, 2026
By age 40, some people discover something surprising about their social lives: They have plenty of acquaintances, cowork...
Oct. 19, 2026