Charges dropped for arrested journalist; Cursive writing returns; Firefighter calendar

Summary

Georgia Today Podcast Summary Release Date: June 26, 2025
Host: Peter Biello, Georgia Public Broadcasting

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1. Charges Dropped for Arrested Journalist

In a significant development, metro Atlanta prosecutor has decided to drop all charges against Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran journalist previously arrested during a recent protest against ICE raids.

• Incident Details:
  Mario Guevara was detained on June 14th under allegations of unlawful assembly and obstructing law enforcement while covering a protest.

• Prosecutor’s Statement:
  DeKalb County Solicitor General explained, "The evidence, including the arrest video, shows Guevara generally complied with officers and doesn't support prosecution" (00:48).

• Current Status:
  Despite the dismissal of charges, Guevara remains in ICE custody facing potential deportation. The Department of Homeland Security maintains that Guevara entered the United States illegally in 2004.

2. Cursive Writing Returns to Georgia Public Schools

Cursive writing is making a comeback in Georgia's educational curriculum, marking a shift from the digital-first approach of recent years.

• Educational Standards Update:
  Starting this fall, new standards for English Language Arts will mandate that elementary school students learn cursive writing.

• Rationale Behind the Move:
  The Georgia Department of Education highlights several benefits of teaching cursive:

  • Motor Skills Development: Enhances fine motor skills in young learners.
  • Literacy Improvement: Aids in reading and writing proficiency.
  • Historical Connection: Connects students to historical documents in their original handwritten form.

3. Behind the Scenes: Macon Bibb County Firefighter Calendar

The much-anticipated firefighter calendar is back, showcasing the dedication and camaraderie of Macon Bibb County’s firefighters while supporting a noble cause.

• Competition and Selection:
  Out of 75 competing firefighters, 36 were selected for the calendar. Brittany Stevens noted, "Firefighters love a competition, a good competition" (00:40).

• Production Insights:
  Photographer Brittany Stevens shared her experience, saying, "We made it work. It's a lot of hype this time I feel like. So it's pretty cool" (04:54). The calendar features various staged scenes, including building collapses and parking garage accidents, all designed to reflect the challenges firefighters face.

• Purpose and Impact:
  Each calendar is sold for $20, with proceeds benefiting local children requiring medical care. Fire Chief Shane Edwards emphasized the collaborative effort needed to revive the calendar project after a seven-year hiatus.

• Fitness and Community Engagement:
  Firefighters showcased their physical fitness during the photo shoots, underscoring the importance of being in top shape for their demanding roles. Roberto Jose Jukes mentioned, "If I got to save you, I gotta be able to carry you or pull you or whatever it takes" (06:27).

• Social Media Success:
  Unlike previous years, this year's calendar has garnered significant online attention, achieving over 12,000 likes compared to the usual 50 (06:58).

4. Additional Highlights

Lightning Safety in Georgia

Summer peak for lightning strikes continues to pose risks in Georgia, highlighted by recent tragedies.

• Tragic Incident:
  In April, a father and son were killed when lightning struck a tree on a golf course, causing it to fall.

• Safety Measures:
  Meteorologist Chris Vygoski emphasized the importance of safety during thunderstorms, stating, "There is no safe place outside during a thunderstorm" (02:13). Education initiatives by the National Lightning Safety Council have successfully reduced fatalities over the past two decades.

Meteor Fireball Sightings

Residents across Georgia reported sightings of a bright meteor streaking across the sky around noon, accompanied by loud booms and window shaking in areas south of Atlanta. The National Weather Service confirmed the event was a meteor, with no reported injuries.

Enhanced Passenger Processing at Atlanta Airport

A new system, the Enhanced Passenger Processing (EPP), has been implemented at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to streamline customs procedures.

• System Overview:
  EPP utilizes facial recognition technology on tablets to match traveler photos, eliminating the need for passport retrieval.

• Benefits:
  Customs and Border Protection Port Director Clay Thomas reported a 22% reduction in wait times within six weeks of the system's launch.

• Broader Implementation:
  Atlanta’s airport is one of seven nationwide to adopt EPP, enhancing efficiency and passenger experience (03:18).

Legislative Efforts to Honor Ralph David Abernathy Sr.

U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have reintroduced a bill to designate Atlanta's West Hunter Street Baptist Church as a national historic site, honoring civil rights leader Ralph David Abernathy Sr.

• Historical Significance:
  Abernathy served as the church's pastor for nearly three decades and was a close associate of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., co-founding the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

• Legislative Status:
  The bill received bipartisan support in 2023 but did not advance to a Senate vote (07:27).

Sports Update: Ronald Acuña Jr. and the Braves

Ronald Acuña Jr., the star right fielder for the Atlanta Braves, is set to participate in this year’s Home Run Derby on July 14th at Truist Park.

• Recent Performance:
  Acuña has been in stellar form, hitting nine home runs in 30 games with a batting average of .383.

• Braves’ Current Standings:
  The Braves lead their four-game series against the New York Mets two to one and are preparing to face the Philadelphia Phillies in an upcoming three-game series.

Kinsley Stevens Shines at the Jimmy Awards

Kinsley Stevens, a recent graduate from Dalton High School, made her Broadway debut at the Jimmy Awards, which celebrate outstanding high school theater talent.

• Achievement:
  Although she did not win, Stevens advanced to the top four finalists for best actress, representing Georgia among over 2,300 schools nationwide.

• Performance Highlight:
  Kinsley delivered a compelling rendition of "I Can't Say No" from Oklahoma, impressing judges and audiences alike (09:12).

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Notable Quotes

• DeKalb County Solicitor General:
  "The evidence, including the arrest video, shows Guevara generally complied with officers and doesn't support prosecution." (00:48)

• Roberto Jose Jukes:
  "If I got to save you, I gotta be able to carry you or pull you or whatever it takes." (06:37)

• Brittany Stevens on Social Media Impact:
  "So it's a pretty significant difference." (07:24)

• Emily Hopkins on Social Media Engagement:
  "Likes on a post, and now we have 12,000." (07:24)

Conclusion

This episode of Georgia Today covered a diverse range of topics, from the pivotal dropping of charges against a journalist to the revival of cursive writing in schools and the community-driven firefighter calendar. Additionally, listeners were informed about safety measures against lightning, advancements in airport processing technology, legislative honors for civil rights leaders, sports highlights, and outstanding achievements in high school theater. For more detailed reports and updates, visit georgia [e-mail].

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For feedback or to share community stories, please contact [e-mail]. Don't forget to subscribe to the Georgia Today podcast for daily updates.

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Timestamps

• 00:00 – Opioid Lifeline Advertisement
• 00:22 – Episode Introduction
• 00:40 – Firefighter Calendar Competition
• 00:48 – Charges Dropped for Mario Guevara
• 01:48 – Lightning Safety Report by Chase McGee
• 02:13 – Roberto Jose Jukes on Thunderstorm Safety
• 03:18 – Enhanced Passenger Processing System
• 04:05 – Macon Bibb County Firefighter Calendar Production
• 06:13 – Brittany Stevens on Fitness During Photo Shoot
• 07:24 – Social Media Success for Firefighter Calendar
• 08:43 – Legislation for West Hunter Street Baptist Church
• 09:12 – Kinsley Stevens at the Jimmy Awards
• 10:45 – Closing Remarks

Transcript

[Chase McGee]

DBHDD is reminding Georgians that the 988 lifeline can help those worried about opioid and stimulant misuse. The three digit number is free and confidential. Help is available 24. 7 More [e-mail].

[Peter Biello]

Welcome to the Georgia Today Podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, charges have been dropped for the journalist arrested while covering a recent protest. Cursive writing is coming back to Georgia Public Schools and we'll take a look behind the scenes at this year's Macon Bibb county firefighter calendar.

[Brittany Stevens]

75 firefighters have competed for this calendar and only 36, of course, were selected. Firefighters love a competition, a good competition.

[Peter Biello]

Today is Thursday, June 26th. I'm Peter Biello and this is is Georgia Today. A metro Atlanta prosecutor has dropped charges against a Salvadoran journalist who was arrested while covering a protest on ICE raids earlier this month. Mario Guevara was arrested on charges of unlawful assembly and obstructing law enforcement on June 14. DeKalb County Solicitor General said yesterday that the evidence, including the arrest video, shows Guevara generally complied with officers and and doesn't support prosecution. He remains in ICE custody facing possible deportation because the Department of Homeland Security says he entered the country illegally in 2004. Lightning is one of the leading causes of weather deaths in the United States. That's according to the National Weather Service. GPB's Chase McGee reports summer is the busiest time of year for lightning in Georgia.

[Chase McGee]

Back in April, a father and son in Columbus were killed by a falling tree when lightning struck it on a golf course. Direct lightning strikes only make up about 5% of all injuries and fatalities. You're more likely to be indirectly injured. Chris Vygoski is a meteorologist and member of the National Lightning Safety Council. Each year, the council holds National Lightning Awareness Week in order to educate the public.

[Peter Biello]

The simple rule of lightning safety is.

[Roberto Jose Jukes]

There is no safe place outside during.

[Chase McGee]

A thunderstorm, he says. Education on safety has led to a decline in fatalities as part of their two decade effort. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee.

[Peter Biello]

Videos and photos of what appears to be a meteor streaking across the sky are appearing in social media feeds across Georgia this afternoon. Some local officials have confirmed the fireball sighting around noon today. A forecaster at the National Weather Service in Peachtree City says the office has received a heavy volume of calls about the possible meteor. Some of those calls also reported a loud boom or shaking of windows in areas south of Atlanta. The nearby the National Weather Service office in Charleston says a lightning detection system indicated a streak in a cloudless sky over the North Carolina Virginia border. Fireball sightings are being reported in several southeastern states, none of them with injuries. International travelers returning to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport will use a new streamlined system as they pass through customs. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

[Sarah Kalis]

The Enhanced Passenger Processing System, or EPP, captures photos of travelers going through customs on a tablet and matches them with facial recognition technology instead of requiring them to pull out their passports. Customs and Border Protection Port Director Clay Thomas says wait times are down 22% in the six weeks since the program began.

[Brittany Stevens]

With the capability of eliminating the administrative burden. It allows that officer to really engage with the passenger to determine the true intent of their arrival today and maybe where they have been through throughout their travel.

[Sarah Kalis]

Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport is one of seven airports around the country that has implemented epp. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kalis at the Atlanta airport.

[Peter Biello]

A long awaited product will once again hit the mailboxes of Macon Bibb county residents this year. A calendar featuring the county's best looking firefighters. GPB's Sophie Gradis takes us behind the scenes with this audio postcard and from a photo shoot for the calendar, which benefits the local hospital. As the Middle Georgia Fire Department prepares.

[Emily Hopkins]

For its release, off the Interstate 75 exit toward Perry through a security gate and down a long gravel road is what looks like a town ravaged by natural disasters. There, photographer Brittany Stevens is setting up at the base of a pile of concrete rubble, standing above a shirtless and sweaty fireman.

[Peter Biello]

Get that side shot.

[Emily Hopkins]

It's been seven years since she got the call for this job photographing the Middle Georgia Firefighters calendar.

[Brittany Stevens]

You know, I do family style sessions and stuff like that and then I'm, you know, doing a calendar and don't know what I'm doing. But we made it work. It's a lot of hype this time I feel like. So it's pretty cool. You good? Y' all get him.

[Emily Hopkins]

Countywide collaboration was needed to get the calendar back up and running, says Fire Chief Shane Edwards.

[Brittany Stevens]

So where we are today is we are at the Guardian center down in Perry, Georgia. We did do a calendar seven years ago that we were able to utilize Guardian center at the same time. However, this time they want to make it bigger and better. So we've got some really nice scenes that are coming in now. This could be a little bit different. So a scene can be anything From a building collapse. It may be cars, for example. Like a parking garage collapse could be cars trapped under something like that. So it's all scenes that are set up. Man made artificial for our economy.

[Emily Hopkins]

The calendars will sell for $20 apiece.

[Brittany Stevens]

The calendar is really about raising money for children in our community who are under some type of medical care, some medical needs and things like that. And the other side of it is fire service is very. It's a very tight knit brotherhood and sisterhood. And then, of course, it's water right here. But if y' all want to come in. Right. 75 firefighters have competed for this calendar, and only 36, of course, were selected firefighters. Love of competition, a good competition.

[Sarah Kalis]

What were y' all doing?

[Brittany Stevens]

Just doing a few exercises, trying to get some blood flow into the muscles and get a pump. Okay. So the push ups, curls, a little bit of shoulders. Make sure your muscles are round.

[Roberto Jose Jukes]

I'm Roberto Jose Jukes at station number six, C shift. Like I said, I've been on for 25 years. Still love it. Over the years I've been on, this is my third time.

[Emily Hopkins]

Third time?

[Roberto Jose Jukes]

Yeah, we did a couple of years ago when I first come on, I think 2005 and 2008, I said I do it for a good cause and get in shape. We have to be fit to do this job, right? So this is our time to shine. Let people know you have to be in shape to do this job. If I got to save you, I gotta be able to carry you or pull you or whatever it takes, right? And same with what I got. If we go down, they gotta be care of me.

[Emily Hopkins]

When the last firefighter calendar came out, social media was in its infancy. Now posts about the calendar have gone semi viral. Content specialist for Bibb County, Emily Hopkins keeps an eye on the comments.

[Brittany Stevens]

I will say after they get over their looks, they are proud to be supporting the cause. I don't know exactly how many comments there's been. I mean, we usually maybe get 50.

[Emily Hopkins]

Likes on a post, and now we have 12,000.

[Brittany Stevens]

So it's a pretty significant difference.

[Emily Hopkins]

Those likes have since gone up.

[Brittany Stevens]

So you want that one?

[Roberto Jose Jukes]

Oh, you want that one?

[Brittany Stevens]

Yeah.

[Roberto Jose Jukes]

Okay. Okay. I think I know what to do. Move to Georgia, light a fire. Wow.

[Brittany Stevens]

It's fun. We're having a good time. We're making the calendar and there's a lot of muscles and stuff being built up. But at the end of the day, when that bail hits, I know that my firefighters can perform on the scene of these accident scenes, these structure fire calls, and that's what truly makes a difference at the end of the day.

[Peter Biello]

You just heard from Brittany Stevens, Macon Bibb, Fire Chief Shane Edwards, Roberta Jose Jukes, Emily Hopkins and others behind the production of the Mik and Firefighter Calendar. Lenka Anuraj contributed to the story. Georgia's U.S. senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have reintroduced legislation to make Atlanta's West Hunter Street Baptist Church a national historic site. It would honor the late civil rights leader Ralph David Abernathy Sr. Who served as pastor of the church for nearly three decades. Abernathy was a close friend of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & Co founded the Atlanta based Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The bill received bipartisan backing in 2023, but it didn't reach the full Senate for a vote.

[Sarah Kalis]

Planet Money helps you understand the economy. We find the people at the center of the story.

[Brittany Stevens]

Garbage in New York that was like a controlled substance.

[Sarah Kalis]

We show you how money influences everything. Tell me what you like by telling me how you spend your money, and we dig until we get answers.

[Brittany Stevens]

I had a bad feeling you're gonna bring that up.

[Sarah Kalis]

Planet Money finds out. All you have to do is listen. The Planet Money podcast from NPR.

[Peter Biello]

Cursive writing is coming back to Georgia schools New changes to the standards for English Language arts will require students to learn cursive in elementary school starting this fall. The skill had seemingly fallen out of favor with the increased use of laptops and touchscreen devices, the Department of Education says cursive strengthens fine motor skills, improves literacy and connects students to historical documents in their original form. In Sports, Ronald Acuna Jr. Says he'll participate in this year's Home Run Derby. The Home Run Derby is scheduled for Monday, July 14th at Truist Park. Major League Baseball's All Star game is the following day. The star right fielder for the Braves has been putting up spectacular numbers since returning to the lineup after an injury kept him sidelined for nearly a year. He's hit nine home runs in 30 games this year and is batting.383. The Braves take on the New York Mets tonight to close out the four game series, which they now lead two games to one. Then the Braves return home tomorrow to start a three game series against the Phillies. This final note before we wrap up the podcast today, congrats to Kinsley Stevens, a recent Dalton High School graduate who made her Broadway debut Monday at the Jimmy Awards. The Jimmy Awards recognize outstanding high school theater talent. Stevens, along with fellow Dalton High graduate Hayden Poe, represented the Georgia High School Musical Theater awards. Kinsley Stevens did not win this year's Jimmy Awards, but she advanced to the top four finalists for best actress in a national program that included more than 2,300 schools across the country. Among the performances, she gave a rendition of I Can't say no from Oklahoma.

[Brittany Stevens]

I'll always say, Come on, let's go.

[Emily Hopkins]

Just went out of Saint No.

[Peter Biello]

Congrats to Kinsley Stevens and Dalton High School for this incredible accomplishment. And that's it for this edition of GEORGIA today. Thank you so much for tuning in. More stories are available [e-mail] news. That's where you'll also find updates to any of the stories you heard on the podcast today. If you wish you heard something on this podcast but didn't, maybe you know of something going on in your community, let us know about it. The email address is georgia todaypb.org that's also where you can send feedback. Again, georgia todaypb.org make sure you subscribe to this podcast because we will be back in your feed tomorrow afternoon. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening.

[Sarah Kalis]

Planet Money helps you understand the economy. We find the people at the center of the story.

[Brittany Stevens]

Garbage in New York that was like a controlled substance.

[Sarah Kalis]

We show you how money influences everything. Tell me what you like by telling me how you spend your money. And we dig until we get answers.

[Brittany Stevens]

I had a bad feeling you're gonna bring that up.

[Sarah Kalis]

Planet Money finds out. All you have to do is listen. The Planet Money podcast from NPR.