Candidates debate cost of electricity; Atlanta Hawks exec sentenced; MODA free tours

Summary

Georgia Today Podcast – April 30, 2026
Candidates debate cost of electricity; Atlanta Hawks exec sentenced; MODA free tours

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Peter Biello delivers key stories shaping Georgia, including:

• The contentious Public Service Commission (PSC) debates about rising electricity costs and Georgia Power’s expansion
• Sentencing of an Atlanta Hawks executive for embezzlement
• Fulton County Jail under fire for alleged severe neglect
• The future of rail in Georgia with a major merger application
• MODA’s free Jane’s Walk city tours highlighting Atlanta’s architectural and social fabric
• A Braves rookie pitcher’s dramatic debut

Maintaining the show’s informative style, the reporting blends policy debate, investigative journalism, and compelling local profiles.

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Key Segments and Discussion Points

1. Fulton County Jail Neglect Allegations

[00:40 – 01:26]

• Story: Rashad Muhammad accuses Fulton County Jail staff of severe medical neglect, resulting in traumatic amputations after antibiotics were allegedly withheld.
• Civil Rights Angle: Lawyer Ben Crump frames it as “deliberate indifference.”
• Background: The jail is already being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for historic failures.

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2. Union Pacific’s Bid for Norfolk Southern

[01:26 – 02:21] | Reporter: Chase McGee

• Event: Union Pacific submits a new application to acquire Norfolk Southern for $85 billion.
• Regulatory Focus: U.S. Surface Transportation Board previously demanded more details about competition and consumer impact.
• Stakeholder Perspectives:
  • Union Pacific: Claims “faster deliveries, less trucking, and customer savings.”
  • Opponents: Trade groups and unions argue it will “increase prices” due to diminished competition.

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3. Public Service Commission (PSC) Debate: Electricity Rates

[02:21 – 03:14] | Reporter: Grant Blankenship

• Setting: PSC District 5 candidate forum, facing pressure over energy costs.
• Candidates’ Stances:
  • Republican J.R. Richie:

    “I will not vote personally for a rate change.” [02:40]

  • Republican Carolyn Roddy: Emphasizes affordability but more nuanced.
  • Democrats Amanda Andrews (reporting) & Angela Pressley:
    • Criticize $16 billion Georgia Power data center expansion:

    “Clawing back that $16 billion.” – Amanda Andrews [02:54]
    “If that $16 billion is pushed through, we will be cooked.” – Amanda Andrews quoting Angela Pressley [02:59]

  • Context: The PSC’s decisions have major impacts on affordability for Georgia households.
• Related News:
  • Georgia Power’s parent, Southern Company, announces $1.4 billion in quarterly profits, mostly from a 42% rise in electricity sales to data centers [03:14]

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4. Atlanta Hawks Executive Sentenced for Embezzlement

[03:39 – 04:03]

• Who: Lester T. Jones Jr., former Hawks finance executive
• What: Sentenced to 3 years and 5 months for stealing $3.5 million via credit card misuse and fraudulent reimbursements.
• Purpose: Luxury travel, jewelry, car expenses, and event tickets
• Background: Guilty plea to wire fraud; served in the Hawks’ accounting department for nearly a decade.

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5. Film & TV Industry Slowdown Hits Atlanta

[04:03 – 04:36]

• Event: Studio equipment rental company Quixote exits Atlanta amid a national production downturn.
• Impact: Loss of 70 jobs; Atlanta’s film/TV employment is down 30% since 2022.
• Reason: Nationwide contraction in production demand.

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6. MODA’s Jane’s Walks: Atlanta Through Design

[05:32 – 08:55] | Reporter: Amanda Andrews

• Jane’s Walk Introduction: Free city tours honoring urbanist Jane Jacobs, encouraging public exploration and conversation about city design.
• Featured Guide:
  • Sue Youngblood, graphic designer and typewalk leader:

    “I had gone on a type walk here in Atlanta that a guy from New York gave, and I thought, why is a New Yorker doing the type walk about my town now?” [05:48]

    • Her tours illuminate historic signage, typography, and spaces in downtown and Sweet Auburn.

    “He’s inviting you to choose nonviolence…but also, if you look at [Dr. King’s] lecture notes…they’re in a cursive. So it’s sort of like his handwriting there.” [06:16] “Pay attention, and it sort of opens their eyes...I try to open eyes.” [06:37]

• MODA Executive Director Laura Flusche:
  > “We put out a call for tour leaders, and people step forward and say, I want to tell people about the bees in south Atlanta or…how poetry intersects with the belt line…So it’s people who have passion for our city and want to share it with others.” [07:03]
• Unique Approaches: Guides from diverse backgrounds – engineering, literature, graphic design – ensure each walk is one-of-a-kind.
• Robert Barsky, Vanderbilt Professor & Poet:
  > “The Beltline brings you into the neighborhoods in the way that a hiking path brings you into the mountains…you get to see a city.” [07:49]
  > “Very little in the way of rules on the Beltline…You enter into a space of creativity. It reminds me a little bit of the medieval public square.” [08:17]
  > “In a way, that’s a beautiful way to live your life…where you take the walk that you do with your dog in the morning and you turn it into a quest.” [08:42]
• Event Details: MODA offers 16 free guided walks Friday-Sunday; every tour reframes the city through fresh eyes.

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7. Braves Rookie J.R. Richie’s Eventful Night

[09:28 – 10:21]

• Game Recap: Ritchie struggled with walks and pitch count but saw a dramatic comeback from the locker room.
• Memorable Quote:

  “There was a good three minutes where, you know, the team’s celebrating outside and I was running around high fiving everybody. My hand hurt. Yeah, you know, that was great. I owe Matt dinner after that one.” – J.R. Richie [09:59]

• Looking Ahead:
  • Expected to pitch next in Seattle, his hometown.

  “Seattle has a very special place in my heart. It always will, just being from there. So really looking forward to it.” [10:21]

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps & Attribution)

• “I will not vote personally for a rate change.”
  – J.R. Richie (PSC candidate), [02:40]
• “Clawing back that $16 billion.”
  – Amanda Andrews (quoting PSC candidate), [02:54]
• “If that $16 billion is pushed through, we will be cooked.”
  – Amanda Andrews (quoting Angela Pressley), [02:59]
• “I try to open eyes.”
  – Sue Youngblood, MODA tour guide, [06:37]
• “You enter into a space of creativity. It reminds me a little bit of the medieval public square.”
  – Robert Barsky, Beltline poet, [08:17]
• “I owe Matt dinner after that one.”
  – J.R. Richie, Braves pitcher, [09:59]

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Episode Highlights

• The PSC race reveals deep concern about surging electricity prices, exacerbated by data center power demands and billion-dollar expansions.
• Atlanta’s creative city engagement shines through MODA’s Jane’s Walk tours, which encourage everyone to see the city’s design and meaning differently.
• Local stories—like the Braves’ new pitcher and a high-profile embezzlement case—round out a day of news for Georgia listeners.

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For more debates, events, and updates, visit gpb.org/news.

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Prepared for listeners who want to stay informed without missing the nuance of Georgia’s most important local stories.

Transcript

[GPB Announcer]

GPB belongs to Georgia and you are the center of everything we do. Become a GPB sustainer today or increase your monthly gift to fortify our work enriching Georgians of all ages. Visit gpb.org to donate today and thanks.

[Peter Biello]

Welcome to the Georgia Today Podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, An Atlanta Hawks executive is sentenced for embezzlement. A man accuses the Fulton County Jail of severe neglect and the rising cost of power takes central stage at the Public Service Commission debate I will not

[GPB Announcer]

vote personally for a rate change.

[Peter Biello]

Today is Thursday, April 30th. I'm Peter Biello and this is Georgia Today. A man says he was traumatized by severe medical neglect at a problem plagued jail in Atlanta. The attorneys for Rashad Muhammad say he was arrested in August and taken to the Fulton County Jail where medical staff failed to provide antibiotics he needed. Less than two weeks later, his condition deteriorated, leading to the amputations of his fingers and lower legs. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Muhammad, says the treatment was deliberate indifference. A Fulton county spokesperson declined to comment. The Fulton county jail has a history of issues prompting a U.S. department of justice investigation. Nebraska based Union Pacific submitted a new application today detailing its plan to buy Atlanta based Norfolk Southern. The U.S. surface Transportation Board would have to approve the $85 billion merger of two railroad giants. GPB's Chase McGee has more on the deal's potential impact.

[Chase McGee]

The board rejected Union Pacific's first application because regulators wanted more details about how the merger would affect competition and customers customers. Company officials say their new application makes an even stronger case for the benefits of the merger. They say it will result in faster delivery times and less need for trucking, resulting in customer savings. But a coalition of trade groups, competitors, unions and others say the merger will only increase prices because they would have fewer choices among a handful of major railroads in the U.S. for GPB News, I'm Chase McGee.

[Peter Biello]

Candidates vying for a seat on the five member elected panel that controls how much Georgia residents pay for electricity. All are promising to address the rising cost of power. GPB's Grant Blankenship reports on the debate this week among Republican and Democratic candidates for the Georgia Public Service Commission.

[Grant Blankenship]

Republican Bobby Meehan was the most explicit

[J.R. Richie]

I will not vote personally for a rate change.

[Grant Blankenship]

But in separate partisan debates, almost all candidates for the Public Service Commission District 5 seat at least mentioned affordability as their goal. Republican Carolyn Roddy they need to consider

[Amanda Andrews]

clawing back that $16 billion.

[Grant Blankenship]

And Democrat Angela Pressley and if that

[Amanda Andrews]

16 billion is pushed through, we will be cooked.

[Grant Blankenship]

Criticized the PSC decision to allow Georgia powers $16 billion expansion meant to power data centers, saying it endangers finances for everyday people. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship.

[Peter Biello]

To watch any of the 18 primary election debates presented by the Atlanta Press Club and GPB this week, go to gpb.org debates in news related to the PSC, Georgia Power's parent company is reporting a rise in profits. Southern company Today released its first quarter profits, saying its sales growth was led by electricity sales, including a 42% rise in sales to data centers. Its quarterly earnings, including from utilities in other states, were $1.4 billion, up from $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2025. Former Atlanta Hawks finance executive lester T. Jones Jr. Has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison for embezzling more than $3.5 million from the team. Federal prosecutors say Jones misused corporate credit cards and put in fraudulent expense reimbursement requests to pay for travel, luxury app, jewelry, car expenses and tickets to events. Jones pleaded guilty to wire fraud in December. He worked in the Hawks accounting and finance department for nearly a decade. A studio equipment rental company is closing its Atlanta operations amid a nationwide slowdown in demand for film and TV productions. Hudson Pacific Properties says its subsidiary rental company Quixote would move its assets to hubs in New York and Los Angeles to save the company at least $21 million a year. It eliminated about 70 jobs between Atlanta and Los Angeles. The Wall street journal cites US Labor Department figures showing 30% drop in film and TV related employment since 2022. The Museum of Design Atlanta is inviting the public to take a fresh look at the city through a series of guided tours. The free tours are part of Jane's Walk, an international event honoring urbanist writer Jane Jacobs. By exploring the places we live, work and gather, GPB's Amanda Andrews visited the museum and spoke to the local guides about their unique perspective on the city.

[Amanda Andrews]

Downtown Atlanta is one of the oldest parts of the city. It's filled with lots of historic parks, architecture and signage. There's even tours focused on those signs and letter forms called typewalks. It's how graphic designer Sue Youngblood first got the idea she could host a tour.

[Sue Youngblood]

I had gone on a type walk here in Atlanta that a guy from New York gave, and I thought, why is a New Yorker doing the type walk about my town now?

[Amanda Andrews]

Youngblood has been hosting her own type walks for 12 years in downtown Atlanta and historic Sweet Auburn. Her walks include a stop at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic park to look at the quotes carved into the ground. Youngblood says the flowing script mimics a wedding invitation on purpose.

[Sue Youngblood]

He's inviting you to choose nonviolence, but also, if you look at his lecture notes and when he was writing his speeches, they're in a cursive. So it's sort of like his handwriting there.

[Amanda Andrews]

Atlanta has hundreds of plaques, historic buildings and ongoing preservation projects. People pass every day. Youngblood says walking tours encourage people to

[Sue Youngblood]

pay attention, and it sort of opens their eyes. Like, wow, I can't believe I've walked by that 50 times and never seen it. So I try to open eyes.

[Amanda Andrews]

That's why Youngblood volunteered to be a local guide for Jane's Walk. Just like Jane Jacobs, who the walks are named after, Youngblood has never been formally trained in city planning. Most of the tour guides aren't MODA executive director Laura Flusche says. Instead, the museum wanted tour guides with deep connections to the city.

[Laura Flusche]

We put out a call for tour leaders, and people step forward and say, I. I want to tell people about the bees in south Atlanta or south downtown, or I want to explore how poetry intersects with the belt line. So it's people who have passion for our city and want to share it with others.

[Amanda Andrews]

Tour leaders come from a variety of backgrounds, from engineering to literature to graphic design. Each walk will look at how Atlanta is built and the ways people interact with those designs. And every building, every sidewalk and every mural is a design choice. Now, some people aren't inspired by architecture the way others are inspired by nature. But Vanderbilt University professor Robert Barsky will lead his Janes walk group to the Beltline to change that.

[Robert Barsky]

The Beltline brings you into the neighborhoods in the way that a hiking path brings you into the mountains. And from there you truly see. Especially because it's 22 miles long, you get to see a city.

[Amanda Andrews]

Barski sees the Beltline through the eyes of a poet. He wrote a 68 page epic poem called the Beltline Chronicles. It follows a man on a quest around the entire 22 mile trail where some people see a sidewalk. Barski sees the Beltline as a call to adventure.

[Robert Barsky]

There is very little in the way of rules on the Beltline. You're just meandering. Maybe you're sitting, maybe you're doing yoga, maybe you're bicycling, maybe you're selling cats. You enter into a space of creativity. It reminds me a little bit of the medieval public square.

[Amanda Andrews]

Jane's walk encourages people to think about the meaning behind public spaces, Barski says, without wonder and community. Even the Champs Elysees in Paris is just another avenue.

[Robert Barsky]

In a way, that's a beautiful way to live your life, where you take the walk that you do with your dog in the morning and you turn it into a quest because for your dog, I think it's a quest. Actually, it's a different way of living.

[Amanda Andrews]

The Museum of Design Atlanta will offer 16 free guided tours Friday through Sunday. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.

[NPR Up First Host]

You know Every day on Up First, NPR's Golden Globe nominated morning news podcast. We bring you three essential stories. the heart of each story are questions what really happened? What really mattered? What happens next? At npr, we stand for your right to be curious and to follow the facts. Follow up first wherever you get your podcasts and start your day knowing what matters and why.

[Peter Biello]

By his own admission, Braves rookie pitcher J.R. richie says he didn't have the best command during last night's game against the Detroit Tigers. He issued walks, several batters ran up his pitch count, and the one unearned run the Tigers scored came when Richie threw a wild pickoff throw to first base. After he was pulled from the game after five and a third innings with his team behind three to two and himself in line to take the loss, he watched the game from the training room, and that's where he saw teammate Matt Olson in the bottom of the ninth launch a two run homer to walk off the Tigers.

[J.R. Richie]

I didn't really know what to do with myself because there was a good three minutes where, you know, the team's celebrating outside and I was running around high fiving everybody. My hand hurt. Yeah, you know, that was great. I owe Matt dinner after that one.

[Peter Biello]

Braves manager Walt Weiss says the plan for now is to keep Richie in the rotation, which means he may start next week against the Mariners in Seattle, his hometown.

[J.R. Richie]

Seattle has a very special place in my heart. It always will, just being from there. So really looking forward to it.

[Peter Biello]

The Braves lost to the Tigers this afternoon. 52 the Braves now hit the road for games against Colorado, Seattle and Los Angeles before returning home to face the Chicago Cubs on May 12th. And that's all we've got for Georgia today. Thanks very much for tuning in. Hope you'll come back tomorrow. Make sure you subscribe to this podcast and check gpb.org news for updates as well as details on all those debates we've been telling you about. If you've got feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Whether you've got a story, idea or suggestion on how to make this podcast better, send your note to us by email. The address is Georgia todaypb.org Peter Biello thank you again for listening. We will see you tomorrow.