Ian Tocher

Ian Tocher/Staff

Tocher: The news that really matters

Ian Tocher

Thursday, August 13, 2026

You are holding in your hands right now a very important, consequential, personal and public documentation of the world you live in.For years, we have been told print is dying. The future, we have been assured, is digital, where news can move faster, reach farther and cost less.

Ian Tocher/Staff

Tocher: Data center debate could reach Putnam

Ian Tocher

Thursday, July 30, 2026

A new Politico poll suggests Americans are becoming increasingly skeptical of large-scale data centers, a shift that could have significant implications for largely rural communities like here in Putnam County.According to the Politico poll, opposition to data centers has risen sharply over the...

Ian Tocher/Staff

Tocher: Voting integrity matters beyond elections

Ian Tocher

Thursday, May 21, 2026

With primary election results arriving this week — unfortunately, after press time for The Eatonton Messenger — voters in Putnam County and across Georgia will once more be relying on the integrity and accuracy of the election process.Most of that trust is naturally tied to politics.

Members of Georgia Humanities posed with panelists Cathy Cox, Gov. Nathan Deal, and Legislator Calvin Smyre shortly before their discussion on democracy and the current condition of state and federal politics took place. IAN TOCHER/Staff

Deal and Smyre discuss democracy for Voices and Votes

Ian Tocher

Thursday, April 30, 2026

The month-long Smithsonian exhibit on American democracy, “Voices and Votes,” that opened Saturday morning at the Putnam County Annex building, served as the backdrop that evening for a wide-ranging and candid discussion on the state of the nation’s political system.Hosted locally in conjunction...

IAN TOCHER/Staff

Tocher: The contrasts are unavoidable

Ian Tocher

Thursday, April 9, 2026

I keep thinking about how far away they are.Literally as I write this, four astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission will travel farther from Earth than any human beings have ever been before, peaking at 252,756 miles away as the crow flies.

Ian Tocher/Staff

Tocher: Sled hockey gold resonates beyond rink

Ian Tocher

Thursday, March 19, 2026

When the United States and Canada met for the Paralympic sled hockey gold medal game this past Sunday in Italy, the moment was already historic.For the first time in the same Olympics, all three international hockey championships — the Olympic Paralympic tournament, the Olympic women’s tournament,...

Ian Tocher/Staff

Tocher: Feds take over D.C. golf courses

Ian Tocher

Thursday, February 12, 2026

The Trump administration’s effort to remake Washington, D.C. in the president’s aesthetic has now extended to the city’s public golf courses.The issue came to a head late last year when the Department of the Interior abruptly terminated its long-term lease agreement with the nonprofit National...

Ian Tocher/Staff

Tocher: A Canadian’s concern over U.S. expansionism

Ian Tocher

Thursday, January 16, 2025

When I was two years old, my parents brought me and my six-month-old sister from Scotland to Canada. Late in 1997, I moved to Atlanta with my then-new, U.S.-born wife, and 20 years later, I finally officially became a U.S. citizen.

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