benjaminpayne.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

As a journalist, I of course enjoy reporting deep-dive feature stories — but I also enjoy producing radio promos for said stories. Best part about that? Mixing in a music bed of my choice. For my next one, I went with…the song that spawned this truly iconic music video from 1999:

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Spring is nigh: Chatham County mosquito control helicopter doing the rounds (literally) tonight in Savannah

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Also: peering outside the windows to the Savannah Convention Center's rooftop, you could see some of the port's massive ship-to-shore cranes standing behind the Talmadge Bridge.

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The head of the Georgia Ports Authority made zero mention of tariffs during his 45-minute "State of the Port" address in Savannah. But he told reporters afterward that many port customers are "source-shifting" to other markets, such as Southeast Asia, in order to "manage through" the tariffs. More:

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Pretty slick 3D animation at today's State of the Port event in Savannah. The Forsyth Park fountain was a nice touch. However, I feel compelled to point out that, in reality, it is a mile south of the river and not, as the animation suggests, smooshed between the Talmadge Bridge and City Hall.

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Seeing City Hall's gold leaf dome lit up at night makes me think of Savannah as "the shining city on a hill." Problem is…Savannah has no hills.

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Wasn't expecting rooftop seating at the restaurant my wife and I went to last night for Valentine's Day, but it was a pleasant surprise. The patio heaters helped keep us toasty, and Savannah City Hall made a charming cameo appearance.

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Georgia's Port of Brunswick is now the nation's busiest for automobile cargo, according to the state's top port official. Last year I reported for Marketplace (@marketplace.org) and GPB on how this small-town terminal was making a play to overtake Baltimore for that #1 spot:

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So yeah…my high school's team name was, is, and forevermore shall be the Rocks. And while the basketball arena is officially just called the Rock Island Fieldhouse, its nickname is nothing short of genius:

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On vacation visiting my hometown of Rock Island, Illinois. Went to a basketball game at my alma mater of Rock Island High School. You'll never guess what our team name is.

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My wife looked up "figurine" in her photos app and got this:

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The Swedish bell tower at Augustana College, my alma mater in my hometown of Rock Island, Illinois. One of the two architects who designed it was my great-grandather, a Swedish immigrant.

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Six days later, Savannah's snow is all but gone, save for a few patches hiding from the sun. Before and after the melt, from the same spot at the same park in my neighborhood:

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When a press release hits my personal email:

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Awesome! 🎾 Madison Keys is from my small hometown of Rock Island, Illinois, and makes us proud. Several years ago, the public tennis courts where I played as a kid were dedicated in Keys' honor. Now with a Grand Slam under her belt, I hope she gets the keys to the city. (No pun intended, I swear.)

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Most people say the sun ruins snowmen. I say it just molds them into abstract art.

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The snow in Savannah is finally melting, but not fast enough for everyone: as one longtime resident wryly put it the morning after snowfall, "It'll be great for one day, and then it can go away." My dispatch for GPB's live storm blog earlier this week:

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Savannah has transformed into a tropical winter wonderland! Snow fell last night for the first time in seven years. Some scenes from my walk around the neighborhood:

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Ichiro got 99.7% of the Hall of Fame ballot. To whoever voted against him:

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Tonight Savannah is likely to get its first snowfall in seven years. Mayor Van Johnson at a Monday press conference: "Let's be very, very clear: there are a lot of things that Savannah does well. We do storms well. We do hurricanes and tropical storms. We don't do ice well. We don't do snow well."

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"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection." - Thomas Paine

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I'll believe it when I see it, but…snow "likely" in Savannah on Tuesday, per the National Weather Service 👀 (the city's last snowfall was seven years ago!)

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Savannah to Chicago via Southwest. I was on this same flight last summer for work. Fortunately then the pilot was (I hope?) not intoxicated.

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"It just really feels like we're getting to a point where the supply chain and the logistics of it all are not as malleable as they once were," a logistics manager in Savannah told me, referring to tariffs under the next administration. Story:

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My production assistant

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Super interesting (at least to me!) thing I heard at a biz conference this week — from Georgia Southern economist Michael Toma, on Savannah: "I don't think you could name another metro area [with such] significant proportional growth to their manufacturing base than any other MSA in this country."

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Recently rewatched "The Last Dance," probably the best documentary series I've ever seen. Also: Tina fits right in with the '98 Bulls.

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Savannah College of Art and Design's president was among 20 Americans honored by Biden at the White House with the Presidential Citizens Medal. It's the second-highest honor a civilian can earn, behind only the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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Not at all difficult getting nat sound for this one:

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Patrons raise a glass to Jimmy Carter at Pinkie Masters in downtown Savannah. It was here in 1978 that the then-president hopped atop the bar to eulogize original owner Luis Christopher Masterpolis, a political power broker in Georgia whose early support helped Carter win the White House.

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Former President Jimmy Carter has died at age 100. Carter served as the 39th president of the United States and 76th governor of Georgia and won a Nobel Prize for his work as a global humanitarian dedicated to waging peace and fighting disease. www.gpb.org/news/2024/12...

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As a diehard fan of Pop-Tarts with a shallow understanding of college football, I'm of the half-baked opinion that the Pop-Tarts Bowl trophy is the sport's ultimate prize.

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Happy Hanukkah from Savannah, Georgia — home to the third-oldest Jewish congregation in the United States! It is Congregation Mickve Israel, founded in 1733 — the same year as Savannah's founding. Here is the congregation's current synagogue, built in 1878 in beautiful neo-Gothic style.

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Fun fact: Savannah's last white Christmas was in 1989. Extra-fun fact: it stands as the city's only white Christmas, at least since such record-keeping began here in the 1800s.

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Merry Christmas from Savannah, Georgia!

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Not all gifts fit beneath a Christmas tree: generations ago, Georgia's oldest city was given as a symbolic present for a famous U.S. president. Unwrap that story and more, in this blast from Savannah Christmas past! ⛄🌴

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Artificial intelligence has its limits: according to Google Maps' AI-powered overview, there are three (3) resident cats at my favorite indie bookstore. Fact check: there are four (4).

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One of my favorite things about grad school was serving as a TA, helping instruct journalism undergrads. Grateful to have done that before the arrival of ChatGPT. Not that I'm a Luddite, but generative AI — or rather higher ed's handling of it — is eroding trust between instructors and students.

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Finally: a football statistic I actually find interesting

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Trust me: as a Savannahian, we would hate being called Charleston Jr. 😂 There's an odd Southern estrangement between the two towns — alluded to by John Berendt in his wonderful book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil":

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Season's greetings from the Santa turtles in downtown Savannah!

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The sidewalk knows who's boss

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My calendar says December, but this tree on my block says October

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But don't lose the forest for the trees: Tiedeman Park is doing just fine, with a dash of holiday cheer

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As a college freshman, my international relations professor asked her class if we thought Assad would survive the weekend. That was 12 years ago.

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