Benjamin Payne

March Madness is always an exercise in humility: despite my bracket being in the 99.5th percentile (at least for now) on ESPN, it's still ranked…quite low 🫠

A new pathway to Canadian citizenship recently opened for potentially hundreds of thousands. My latest from Bellingham, Washington, where for many people like Grace Letourneau, the border is a fact of life:

Only off by two points. My REM state knows ball. Go Seahawks!

For what it's worth: I had a dream this past week that the Seahawks won the Super Bowl by 18 points.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Here is Tsawwassen, British Columbia, overlooking Mount Baker in Whatcom County, Washington. The first east-facing beach I've been to since Tybee Island, Georgia.

Going to share some more photos from my time in Savannah. This is my favorite. Forsyth Park fountain, February 2023.

So long, Savannah. It was a joy to serve as GPB's Savannah-based reporter for the past three-and-a-half-plus years. I'm now returning to my wife's hometown of Bellingham, Washington, where she's begun an exciting new position. A couple parting shots of the Hostess City of the South:

As promised:

My former station, Georgia Public Broadcasting, is the statewide NPR + PBS affiliate for Georgia that punches way above its smaller size with news, education, TV and public safety . They're looking at a ~$4.2 million dollar (10%) hole in their budget. www.gpb.org/federal-fund...

I visited the iron repair shop in Alabama where Savannah's Forsyth Park fountain is getting restored. More to come!

And here's what Forsyth Park looks like without its fountain:

Some scenes from Savannah's Forsyth Park, where crews this week disassembled its iconic fountain for offsite restoration in Alabama. This is the first time in over 100 years that it's been removed from the park, and is the fountain's first major restoration since 1988.

Tina loves her outdoors time

I visited the pop-up set of PBS's "Antiques Roadshow" when the crew traveled to Savannah for a full day of filming at the Georgia State Railroad Museum — the first stop of their five-city tour this year, kicking off production of the program's 30th anniversary season. My behind-the-scenes story:

What do you call a group of Benjamins?

"A person closed to the possibility of delight finds less of it. A person open to it finds more."

Once again: my supremely talented wife, tearing it up on Tybee Island 🏝️🤘

Behind the scenes at a taping of PBS's Antiques Roadshow today at the Georgia State Railroad Museum in Savannah. More to come!

"My generation knows that none of us will be able to buy our own houses any time soon, if ever," said 24-year-old Tigerlily Harrington of Savannah. "For many of my peers, affordable rent is also out of reach, and they instead live with their parents or in uncomfortable or unsafe living conditions."

PBS's Antiques Roadshow will be kicking off filming of its 30th anniversary season in Savannah next week! I'll be there, interviewing guests and appraisers for a behind-the-scenes story. In the meantime, my preview:

Had been a while since I turned a story on the Savannah Bananas. That drought is now over:

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson: Georgia has to become "the best place in America not to get shot." He expressed relief this week after a Republican-backed bill failed in the Georgia legislature, which would have given people legal standing to sue Savannah for $25,000 over its new gun-control ordinance.

biiiiig stretch from Tina

The old fountains downtown get all the attention in Savannah, but the others deserve love too. Daffin Park:

Managed to pick all the men's Sweet 16 winners in my March Madness bracket. Naturally, I expect the Elite 8 to derail it all.

On this day 100 years ago, Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah. I went on a historical tour of the author's childhood home, where she spent her first 13 years — one-third of her short but prolific life. Tag along:

Meanwhile in neighboring Bryan County — one of Georgia's fastest-growing, and home to Hyundai's huge new electric vehicle factory — voters rejected a similar sales tax referendum for public school funding. The margin? <1% (35 votes!) of ballots cast. Preliminary election results from the county:

"With the potential collapse of the Department of Education, I think that making sure that we're paying attention to the local elections and how money is being used locally is really important," a Savannah resident told me, after she voted yes on a sales tax referendum for public school funding.

My supremely talented wife, seen here bringing down the house over the weekend on Tybee Island 🏝️🎶

Unlike last year's boisterous bicentennial, this St. Patrick's Day weekend in Savannah will not offer "speed court" for fast bond hearings. City Manager Jay Melder: "It's a pretty good incentive not to be a knucklehead over the weekend, or [else] your accommodations are going to be quite different."

Spring has sprung early in Savannah: it was plenty warm this evening to take my rickety Peugeot for a relaxing ride in short sleeves.

While reporting this story, I was reminded of a quote from John Berendt's 1994 nonfiction bestseller "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." It comes from a longtime Savannah resident, explaining the city to Berendt after he arrives from New York:

Savoring the waning hours of Eastern Standard Time before tomorrow's cruel spring forward 🫠

A tulip tree abloom at Tiedeman Park in Savannah

"It's like 'hair of the dog' — but without the hair," Nicole Price said after mixing a mocktail on a Sunday morning. I paid a visit to her Prohibition-style speakeasy in Savannah to see — and taste — how young Americans' decline in alcohol consumption is playing out on the ground in this party town.

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:

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

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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:

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:

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.

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

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.

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:

When a press release hits my personal email:

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.)