ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers on Friday approved tax breaks for farmers and timber owners harmed by Hurricane Helene that could be worth nearly $300 million.
House members voted unanimously to send the bill to Gov. Brian Kemp for his approval.
“This is a part of the Hurricane Helene recovery package that specifically addresses issues for farmers and foresters,” said House Majority Whip James Burchett, a Republican from Waycross.
The tax breaks come on top of $862 million in spending that Georgia lawmakers earlier allotted for Hurricane Helene relief after the storm caused billions of dollars in damage when it cut across the eastern half of the state in September.
The bill would exempt federal crop insurance and disaster payments to farmers because of Helene damage from Georgia state income taxes. That could be worth $140 million.
Farmers in Georgia are already collecting hundreds of millions in crop insurance payments. Georgia officials estimate the state's farmers are also likely to collect $2.4 billion in federal disaster relief payments from the $30.8 billion allocated to cover disaster losses in a December law passed by Congress.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week began accepting applications for $10 billion in aid to farmers nationwide due to losses suffered because of rising fertilizer prices and lower prices for crops, meeting a deadline imposed by Congress and cited last week in Atlanta by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. But the department has not yet disbursed any of the other aid despite rising frustration among farmers.
Georgia's bill would also let private timberland owners claim a credit on their state income taxes for damaged timber if they replant trees. The credit, available in 66 disaster-area counties, would be good for up to $550 per acre. The timberland tax break could be worth $83 million to $104 million through 2030, estimates show.
Another tax break would waive state and local sales taxes on building materials needed to rebuild chicken houses, barns, fences and other structures.
A fourth program would let counties waive the taxes they collect when timberland owners cut down trees for the last three months of 2024 and all of 2025. Any county that chooses to waive taxes would refund any taxes collected since Oct. 1. The state would spend an estimated $17.4 million to replace counties' lost tax money.
“When you go from Valdosta to Augusta, it’s pretty devastating,” said Sen. Russ Goodman, a Republican from Cogdell. "You've got not only these folks who have lost their inheritance, or their children’s inheritance, or their retirement and everything else. But you've got to look at what it means to the local community as far as losing all the revenue because the timber crop was destroyed."
Georgia lawmakers earlier this month approved $285 million for low-interest loans to farmers and to remove downed trees from private lands so they don’t become a fire hazard. There’s also $25 million in grants to nonprofits that are supposed to go to help individuals.
FILE - Vehicles move slowly around trees that have fallen after Hurricane Helene moved through the area, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Valdosta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
