With pulp and paper mills going out of business in large numbers due to intense foreign competition, demand for timber is on the decline — prices for wood are down to levels not seen since the 1970s.

The COVID-19 pandemic is sparking an unprecedented boom in housing sales and remodeling across the country as many Americans seek more space in which to live, work and learn at home. The historic levels of consumer demand over the last year has pushed finished lumber prices to all-time highs and Georgia’s massive timber industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people is struggling to adjust. The latest Georgia Today podcast with guest Ryan Dezember, a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, explores the lumber boom's impact on the state’s critical timber industry and its growers, and what all this could mean for home prices. 

Georgia Power is on track to close its coal ash ponds by sometime next year, and who regulates that process could change soon. The federal EPA wants to...