Good morning, Columbus.

Columbus State University is seeking six speakers for TEDxColumbusStateU at the Riverside Theater on Thursday, Jan.

14, 2027, and Columbus State students, faculty, staff, alumni, local high schoolers, and regional community members may apply. Applications with a talk title, summary, and video are due by 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 6; selections will be announced mid-November and finalists will receive coaching.

SmartBank opened its first Georgia financial center in Columbus, led by market president Trevor Wiley, and will provide commercial and private banking, relationship management, and local decision-making for businesses, professionals, and families across west-central Georgia.

The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that all 12 regional commissions posted labor force and employment gains in September, and six regions — Atlanta, Central Savannah River, Coastal Georgia, Northeast, Northwest and Three Rivers — hit all-time highs in both labor force and employment.

Phenix City Schools leaders held a community meeting Tuesday to explain a tax plan that will appear on the Nov.

3 ballot: a 4-mill district tax plus a countywide 4.5-mill tax that officials say pays for vice principals, librarians, counselors, coaches, maintenance and paychecks, and they plan to put $800,000 down to buy the Troy building + finance $10 million.

Ten-year-old boxer Adriel Simmons (known as Dreco) will appear on the Jennifer Hudson Show today at 4:00 p.m. and is training six days a week while preparing for three fights next month and USA Boxing Nationals in Louisiana in December.