Dangerous storms across Georgia; Protests against proposed VA cuts; Peach Pass scam

Summary

Georgia Today Podcast Summary Episode: Dangerous storms across Georgia; Protests against proposed VA cuts; Peach Pass scam
Release Date: March 17, 2025
Host: Orlando Montoya

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1. Dangerous Storms Sweep Through Georgia

Overview:
Over the past weekend, Georgia faced severe weather as dangerous storms, including tornadoes, caused significant damage across the state. The most impacted area was Paulding County in west Georgia, where a tornado classified as EF1 touched down with winds of 105-110 mph. Additionally, a tornado destroyed a community center in Mitchell County, southwest Georgia.

Key Details:

• Paulding County Damage:
  Paulding County Sheriff Ashley Henson reported that 14 homes sustained damage due to fallen trees. Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported. Cleanup efforts are ongoing, and Sheriff Henson cautioned residents about potential scams exploiting the aftermath of the storm.

  Sheriff Ashley Henson [01:55]: "We're seeing a lot of roofers, a lot of tree work folks, and they're coming in handing out cards in the neighborhoods. They actually came to my house. We got a lot of damage at my house. So don't get scammed. Do not give anybody any money before they do any work."

• National Weather Service Confirmation:
  The National Weather Service confirmed the EF1 tornado in Paulding County and acknowledged the destruction in Mitchell County's community center.

Safety Advisory:
Residents are urged to remain vigilant for scam artists posing as contractors offering cleanup services. Authorities advise against paying for services before the work is completed to prevent fraud.

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2. Protests Against Proposed VA Cuts

Overview:
Dozens of veterans and their advocates gathered outside the Cobb County Veterans Affairs (VA) Clinic to protest proposed cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The proposed reduction includes laying off 15% of VA staff, sparking fears among veterans about the potential impact on their healthcare and benefits.

Key Details:

• Concerns Over Job Cuts:
  Air Force veteran Vidya Barne expressed worries that the 80,000 proposed job cuts would degrade the quality of care veterans receive.

  Vidya Barne [04:10]: "We support our veterans."

  Veteran Advocate [04:27]: "I'm a veteran with PTSD and other health issues. I get my mental health, my therapy from the VA. So just the thought of losing that and I serve my country is scary."

• VA Secretary's Statement:
  Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins addressed the concerns, confirming the intent to lay off 15% of staff but assuring that there would be no cuts to healthcare or benefits for veterans.

  Sarah Kallas [04:38]: "Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins confirmed in a social media video that the department is planning to lay off 15% of their staff but will not make cuts to health care or benefits for veterans."

• Representative Austin Scott's Office Response:
  In related developments, nearly 200 individuals voiced their opposition to President Trump's policies at the office of Republican House Member Austin Scott in Warner Robbins. Although Congressman Scott was unavailable during the protest, constituents like Maggie Boxy, a disabled veteran, demanded clarity on proposed tax cuts and their benefits for veterans.

  Maggie Boxy [05:15]: "I would ask the congressman to explain to us in simple language why billionaires need a $4.5 trillion tax cut and how will that benefit my husband and I, who have 34 years of military service between us?"

  Congressman Scott responded via email, expressing support for federal agencies working with the Department of Government Efficiency and a willingness to meet with constituents, though specific meeting details were not provided.

  Grant Blankenship [05:35]: "In an email to GPB, Scott said he wishes federal agencies had been consulted before cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency, but that he supports agencies now working with Doug. The email also said Scott will meet with constituents, but not when or where."

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3. Increase in Peach Pass Scam Complaints

Overview:
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported a surge in complaints related to the Peach Pass scam during the first two weeks of March. Over 1,500 complaints were filed, a significant increase compared to the previous 14 months. The scam involves deceptive text messages claiming recipients owe outstanding highway toll balances.

Key Details:

• Nature of the Scam:
  Scammers send text messages alerting individuals of unpaid tolls, often targeting those who do not possess a Peach Pass or reside outside Georgia. Victims have reported losses exceeding $3,000, though the actual figure is likely higher.

• Expert Insights:
  Cybersecurity expert John Powell from Moore Colson highlighted the deceptive tactics used in these scams, such as fearmongering and creating a sense of urgency.

  John Powell [07:01]: "When I think about these tech scams, it's just a new variation on an old technique. The same goal is to get you to click something a lot of times, fear mongering or to be alerted that, oh, I'm going to be in trouble if I don't do this."

  John Powell [07:39]: "It's volume. What we see with a lot of these is it's volume. And you know, if you get it a couple days, you've got five days to pay. Right. Then you've got two days to pay. And I think that increasingly become a little more threatening... to try to play on your fear."

• Preventive Measures:
  The State Road and Tollway Authority has reiterated that it will never send text messages about toll violations. Victims are advised not to click on any links in suspicious messages and to report such scams to the FBI's IC3.

  John Powell [08:14]: "Assume it's not real and call me. Just assume somebody's out that that's not a real thing and let's talk about it before you click on anything."

Reporting the Scam:
Individuals who receive these fraudulent messages should report them to [e-mail], including the originating phone number and any listed websites.

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4. Passing of Lisa Young Alston

Overview:
Lisa Young Alston, daughter of renowned civil rights leader and former U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young, passed away on Friday at the age of 67. She was a Howard University graduate and actively involved with InspiredU Atlanta, a nonprofit dedicated to digital literacy.

Tributes and Legacy:

• Family and Community Response:
  The Young Alston family expressed gratitude for the support received while requesting privacy during this difficult time.

• Andrew Young's Reflection:
  At First Congregational Church of Atlanta, Andrew Young shared heartfelt memories of his daughter, highlighting her compassionate nature and the vital role she played in his life.

  Andrew Young [10:03]: "He'd come by the house almost every Sunday after church and sit there and counsel me, and she was worried about me getting old and how I was going to deal with the problems of old age. And it was a blessed time, but it won't stop now."

• Honors and Memorials:
  Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and Morehouse School of Medicine President Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice were among those who honored Lisa Young Alston's legacy, celebrating her contributions to the community and her dedication to empowering others through digital education.

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5. St. Patrick's Day Celebrations in Savannah

Overview:
Savannah celebrated St. Patrick's Day with one of the oldest and largest Irish festivities in the United States. The 201st St. Patrick's Day parade encompassed traditional events and drew large crowds to the historic city.

Key Highlights:

• Parade Traditions:
  The day's celebrations commenced early at 6 AM with a land rush, allowing eager paradegoers to secure prime viewing spots along the parade route. The festivities included a Mass at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist and gatherings of friends and family.

• Cultural Significance:
  Savannah's strong Irish heritage stems from its history as a major seaport welcoming immigrants from the Emerald Isle during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, similar to other cities like New York and Boston.

  Orlando Montoya [10:36]: "Like New York, Boston and other cities with a large Irish cultural heritage, Savannah owes its link to the Emerald Isle to being a major seaport welcoming many immigrant communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries."

Community Impact:
The holiday is widely observed in Savannah, with public schools closing and numerous offices shutting down to accommodate the massive turnout for the parade and related events.

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Additional Highlights

• Naloxone Awareness:
  John Powell from DBHDD emphasized the importance of having naloxone in first aid kits, noting that no prescription is needed and it can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose.

  John Powell [00:00]: "DBHDD is urging people to ask a pharmacist about getting naloxone for their first aid kits at home or work. No prescription is needed. Naloxone can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose and restore breathing. opioidresponse.info."

• Community Engagement:
  Host Orlando Montoya encouraged listeners to engage with the podcast by subscribing and providing feedback or story ideas through the website.

  Orlando Montoya [12:32]: "We have many of the stories that you hear on this podcast available at our website, gpb.org/news. We'd like you to hit subscribe on this podcast so you can stay current with us in your feed. Send us feedback. We love the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between. Email georgiatodaypb.org."

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Conclusion:
This episode of Georgia Today delivered comprehensive coverage of significant events impacting Georgia residents, from natural disasters and cybersecurity threats to vital community protests and heartfelt tributes. Through engaging reporting and expert insights, the podcast provided listeners with essential information and a deeper understanding of the issues at hand.

For more detailed stories, visit gpb.org/news.

Transcript

[John Powell]

DBHDD is urging people to ask a pharmacist about getting naloxone for their first aid kits at home or work. No prescription is needed. Naloxone can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose and restore breathing opioidresponse.info.

[Orlando Montoya]

Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today Podcast from GPB News. This podcast has the latest reports from the GPB News team. You can send us feedback or your story ideas to georgiatodaypb.org Today is Monday, March 17th. I'm Orlando Montoya. On today's episode, dangerous storms sweep through Georgia over the weekend. Georgians show up to protest proposed cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs. And if you get a text message about an outstanding highway toll balance, be wary so you don't become the latest victim of a growing scam.

[Cybersecurity Expert]

They increasingly become a little more threatening. You've got one more day. If you don't do this, the police will show up that increasing consequence to kind of try to play on your fear.

[Orlando Montoya]

These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia today. Dangerous storms swept through Georgia over the weekend. West Georgia's Paulding county significant damage. Paulden County Sheriff Ashley Henson says 14 homes were damaged by trees. No one was seriously hurt, though. As cleanup continues, Sheriff Henson says to watch out for scams.

[Sheriff Ashley Henson]

We're seeing a lot of roofers, a lot of tree work folks, and they're coming in handing out cards in the neighborhoods. They actually came to my house. We got a lot of damage at my house. So don't get scammed. Do not give anybody any money before they do any work.

[Orlando Montoya]

The National Weather Service has confirmed that it was an EF1 tornado with winds of 105-110 mph that touched down in Paulding county late on Saturday. We are also aware of a tornado that destroyed a community center in southwest Georgia's Mitchell County. This legislative session, most Georgia lawmakers hardly have approached the topic of abortion head on, and that's a departure from just a year ago. At the same time this year, bills introduced in both chambers to protect abortion rights have stalled. As GPB's Sophie Gradis reports, that hasn't stopped rallies from constituents on both sides of the issue.

[Sophie Gradas]

The rallies took place a week apart at Liberty Plaza near the state Capitol. First was the March for Life. Governor Brian Kemp said he supports life at all stages, but made no promises of tightening Georgia's ban on abortion. Past of pregnancy. Meanwhile, Kelly Brooks from Tallapoosa says she wants more support for expectant mothers. Brooks, like many who oppose abortion, nearly had one. She supports the over a million in taxpayer dollars sent to non medical pregnancy resource centers every year.

[Lisa Young Alston]

If I had have had that at that time, it would have made all the difference in the world. I probably would have never made it to the clinic.

[Sophie Gradas]

A week later, a much smaller group form Reproductive justice opposed those, quote, fake clinics and Georgia's abortion law, which activists and some medical providers say isn't clear and leads to risk. Amber Thurman died from a mismanaged abortion in a hospital. Her mom, Shanette Williams, says she's lost all trust in her elected officials.

[Veteran Advocate]

The only thing they can do at this point, change those laws and help other women.

[Sophie Gradas]

She'll keep advocating to protect women in cases like Amber's until that happens. For GPB news, I'm Sophie Gradas. At the state Capitol.

[Orlando Montoya]

Dozens of veterans and their advocates protested proposed cuts to the Department of Veterans affairs outside The Cobb County VA on Friday. GPB's Sarah Kellis has that story. Hey, hey, USA.

[Cybersecurity Expert]

We support our veterans.

[Sarah Kallas]

Demonstrators outside of the Veterans Affairs Clinic in Cobb county say they are concerned about the direction the country is headed in. Vidya Barne, an Air Force veteran, says that she is worried that the 80,000 proposed job cuts in the VA will impact her care.

[Veteran Advocate]

I'm a veteran with PTSD and other health issues. I get my mental health, my therapy from the va. So just the thought of losing that and I serve my country is scary.

[Sarah Kallas]

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins confirmed in a social media video that the department is planning to lay off 15% of their staff but will not make cuts to health care or benefits for veterans. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallas and.

[Orlando Montoya]

Marietta close to 200 people brought their concerns about President Trump's policies to the Warner Robbins office of Republican House member Austin Scott today. GPB's Grant Blankenship reports Congress is in.

[Grant Blankenship]

Recess, but Scott was not in the office. So people like Maggie Boxy, a disabled veteran from the South Georgia town of Fitzgerald, put their questions to an empty chair draped with a blue blazer.

[Veteran Advocate]

I would ask the congressman to explain to us in simple language why billionaires need a $4.5 trillion tax cut and how will that benefit my husband and I, who have 34 years of military service between us?

[Grant Blankenship]

In an email to gpb, Scott said he wishes federal agencies had been consulted before cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency, but but that he supports agencies now working with doge. The email also said Scott will meet with constituents, but not when or where for GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship and Warner Robbins.

[Orlando Montoya]

The FBI says during the first two weeks of March, its Internet Crime Complaint center received more than 1500 complaints about the Peach Pass scam. That was more complaints about the annoying text messages telling people that they owe a highway toll balance when they don't than the agency received in the previous 14 months. And it's more than just annoying. The FBI says people have reported losses totaling more than $3,000, although the actual number is believed to be much higher. Many people getting these messages don't have Peach Pass or even live in Georgia. Needless to say, PEACH Pass, the electronic toll system managed by the State Road and Tollway Authority, has issued many statements telling people that they will never send text messages about toll violations and urging people not to click on any links in such messages. That advice also comes from cybersecurity expert John Powell at the Atlanta accounting and advisory firm Moore Colson. He spoke with GPB's Chase McGee.

[John Powell]

John, can you tell us a little bit more about what this scam is?

[Cybersecurity Expert]

You know, when I think about these tech scams, it's just a new variation on an old tonk. The same goal is to get you to click something a lot of times, fear mongering or to be alerted that, oh, I'm going to be in trouble if I don't do this. So playing on your fears and then the repetitiveness of it and even they're getting more authentic. Right. But you can still kind of tell that that is clearly not from someone that is with the state of Georgia.

[John Powell]

And these scams, they seem to create trends where they stick around. They might come from a different state or you might get the same text a couple of different times. Why is that?

[Cybersecurity Expert]

I think it's volume. What we see with a lot of these is it's volume. And you know, if you get it a couple days, you got five days to pay. Right. Then you kind of get down, oh, two days to pay. And I think that increasingly become a little more threatening, if you will, of the consequences. Oh, you've got one more day. If you don't do this, the police will show up or some, or you'll be charged, you know, thousands of dollars, that type thing. So that, that increasing risk, that increasing consequence to kind of try to play on your. Your fear.

[John Powell]

Yeah. And so what should people do when they get a scam message like this? Is there any way to report it?

[Cybersecurity Expert]

There are a couple ways to report it, and I can't, you know, I can't speak to how effective that is. You know, I know on at least the iPhone you can, you know, swipe it and report as junk. I hope that does something. There's some consumer protection agencies that you can report numbers to, but I just, I don't know the that it must be doing something because somehow the FBI got alerted, right, that this was happening. So somehow they got alerted and were able to push out a notification from them. And I tell my sweet mother, I say, just assume it's not real and call me. Just assume somebody's out that that's not a real thing and let's talk about it before you click on anything. And I tell her the same thing I'm telling you guys, don't click on it. Just open the app up or go to the website. Just think we're fighting an uphill battle and just assume it's not real and then go through the normal channels that you might use.

[Orlando Montoya]

That was cybersecurity expert John Powell at the Atlanta accounting and advisory firm Moore Colson. If you choose to file a complaint with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint center, or IC3, that'[e-mail] be sure to include the phone number that originated the text message and the website listed within it. Lisa Young Alston, daughter of civil rights leader and former U.S. ambassador Andrew Young, died on Friday at age 67. The cause of her death has not been announced. In a statement, her family expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support while also asking for privacy. Andrew Young spoke about his daughter at a sermon at First Congregational Church of Atlanta, United Church of Christ yesterday.

[Andrew Young]

He'd come by the house almost every Sunday after church and sit there and counsel me, and she was worried about me getting old and how I was going to deal with the problems of old age. And it was a blessed time, but it won't stop now.

[Orlando Montoya]

A Howard University graduate, Young Alston worked with InspiredU Atlanta, a nonprofit focused on digital literacy. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and Morehouse School of Medicine President Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice were among those honoring her legacy. Happy St Patrick's Day to everyone, especially in Savannah, where one of the oldest and largest Irish celebrations in the US Takes place each year. The day is a holiday for many people in the city public schools, and many offices are closed as people trek downtown for the St. Patrick's Day parade. This is sound from that parade this morning. Morning the day, as always, included many traditions, starting at 6am with a land rush for paradegoers to get the best spots along the parade route. A Mass at the cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist and many happy gatherings of friends and family. This was the 201st St. Patrick's Day parade in Savannah. Like New York, Boston and other cities with a large Irish cultural heritage, Savannah owes its link to the Emerald Isle to being a major seaport welcoming many immigrant communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And that'll do it for this edition of Georgia Today. We have many of the stories that you hear on this podcast available at our website, gpb.org news we'd like you to hit subscribe on this podcast so you can stay current with us in your feed. Send us feedback. We love the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between. Email georgia todaypb.org I'm Orlando Montoya. We'll talk to you again tomorrow.

[Lisa Young Alston]

Each morning it's a new opportunity, a chance to start fresh. Up first from NPR makes each morning an opportunity to learn and to understand. Choose to join the world every morning with Up First, a podcast that hands you everything going on across the globe and down the street, all in 15 minutes or less. Start your day informed and anew with up first by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts.