🌱 Affordable Housing At Drayton & 34th + New Education Bills Signed

Hello again, everybody! I'm back with your fresh edition of the Savannah Patch newsletter. Come along for the most important things happening around town.

But first, today's weather:

An afternoon thunderstorm. High: 81 Low: 60.

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Here are the top three stories in Savannah today:

1. Savannah City has taken a step towards creating affordable living spaces for low-income families and senior citizens. The city council has approved a loan of nearly 3.2 million dollars to developers for the construction of over 100 affordable apartments in two vacant lots in the city. The council's goal is to construct 200 affordable housing units, and with this loan, they hope to take care of half that goal, addressing the need for affordable housing in the Hostess City. (WJCL News Savannah)
2. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed five education bills into law on Thursday during the Georgia School Superintendents Association Spring Bootstraps Conference in Savannah. The Safe Schools Act, also known as HB 147, requires all public schools to conduct "intruder alert drills" and provide voluntary gang prevention training to teachers to identify and prevent gang activity in classrooms. Two other bills aimed at improving literacy, SB 211 and HB 538, establish the Georgia Council on Literacy and require local school systems to implement five-year literacy plans and evidence-based literacy instruction to meet student needs. The signing ceremony took place at the Marriott Savannah Riverfront. (WSAV-TV)
3. A major spill of an estimated 86,640 gallons occurred at 109 Nettles Industrial Boulevard on Wednesday due to a break on Wilshire Water Reclamation Plant and Hunter Army Air Field's shared post-treatment discharge force main. The spill was responded to by the City of Savannah's sewer conveyance staff, who repaired the break. This spill incident is considered major under State Environmental Protection Division guidelines, which define a major spill as a spill over 10,000 gallons, and it happened upstream from its permitted discharge location on Springfield Canal. (WJCL News Savannah)

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Today in Savannah:

• Live Music From Equinox Entertainment’s Jimmy Maddox At Westin Savannah Harbor (3:00 PM)
• Diva Royale Drag Queen Show At Elan Savannah (7:00 PM)
• Empty, Meadows, The Undertaking!, And Weather-Eye At The Sentient Bean (7:30 PM)

From my notebook:

• Savannah is set to hold the Great Savannah Community Cleanup event on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The citywide cleanup aims to promote community engagement and cleanliness, and for further information, interested participants can contact Carliss Bates at 912-651-6703 or cbates@savannahga.gov. Register at this link. (WTOC)
• Theresa Caputo, famously known as the Long Island Medium from her show on TLC, is bringing her "Theresa Caputo Live! The Experience" event to Savannah on Apr. 23 at the Johnny Mercer Theatre at 3:00 p.m. The event promises to provide an interactive, enlightening, and entertaining experience. (WSAV-TV)
• Plant Riverside District Savannah is set to host a special Mother's Day Champagne Brunch at the Salzburg Ballroom on Sunday, May 14. The event will feature a lavish buffet with Michelin Star chef-prepared delicacies, live music by Stringfyre, and a complimentary glass of Villa Sandi Prosecco or Prosecco Rosé. The brunch is priced at $89 for adults and $35 for children aged 5 to 12. (WJCL News Savannah)

That's it for today! See you all tomorrow morning for another update.

— Danielle Fallon-O'Leary

About me: Danielle Fallon-O’Leary is a content manager with content creation agency Lightning Media Partners and assists Patch.com with community newsletter curation. Danielle also holds a Master’s Degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders and works part-time as a pediatric speech therapist.