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Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today Podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, President Trump endorses Mike Collins in Georgia's U.S. senate race. The first FIFA match held in Atlanta kicked off today. And the month long music event happening in Centennial Olympic park connected to the World cup is highlighting well known and not as well known Georgia musicians.
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Honestly, I feel like sometimes I get imposter syndrome because I'm like I'm just a guy from Northeast Georgia.
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Today is Monday, June 15th. I'm Orlando Montoya and this is Georgia Today. President Donald Trump made an 11th hour endorsement in Georgia's Republican U.S. senate race over the weekend. On Sunday, he gave U.S. house member Mike Collins his stamp of approval, calling him a warrior and a winner. Collins opponent, former football coach Derek Dooley, endorsed by Governor Brian Kemp, reacted to the news at a campaign event this morning.
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My position has not changed since the day I got into this race and I said I'd be honored to have everybody's endorsement. But the most important endorsement I've been working toward every single day is that of the people of Georgia, because that's what matters most.
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Runoff election day is tomorrow. Candidates vying for the Republican nomination for governor made their last pitches to voters today ahead of tomorrow's primary runoff elections. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.
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Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones is hoping a last minute endorsement from Governor Brian Kemp will give him a boost.
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We think that this is exactly what's going to put us over the top.
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Kemp gave Jones his stamp of approval Sunday and campaigned with him on Monday. Meanwhile, his opponent, Rick Jackson was on the campaign trail with Senator Ted Cruz and Alpharetta, highlighting his credentials as a businessman.
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I'm an outsider. I'm going to go in and I'm
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going to make a change to this system.
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Jones won more votes than Jackson in the primary election, but the race was close. Whoever wins the runoff will face Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms in November. For GPB News, I'm Sarah.
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Thousands of soccer fans cheering on Spain and Cabo Verde marched through downtown Atlanta today on their way to the first FIFA World cup match in Atlanta. In the 2026 tournament, play kicked off at Mercedes Benz Stadium, temporarily known as Atlanta Stadium, at noon, tiny Cabo Verde pulled off a stunning result in its World cup debut, holding powerhouse Spain to a nil nil draw. The city has been preparing for the fan's arrival for four years now with security, transportation, hospitality and other logistical plans. This fan, originally from Cabo Verde, flew in from Boston with other supporters of the Portuguese speaking African island nation and spoke before the game.
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I've been really excited and so proud of it because that's the first time for a small country like us to
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be in this World Cup.
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I'm really excited.
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Spain is considered one of the top favorites to win soccer's most coveted prize. The next match in Atlanta, Czechia versus South Africa, is Thursday at noon. Atlanta will be hosting eight matches altogether. GPB Sports John Nelson spoke with Pamela Kirkland on Friday about what to expect.
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So for people who don't follow soccer closely, kind of put this into perspective. Just how big of a moment is this for Atlanta and the state of Georgia?
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I think Mayor Andre Dickens said it probably best as a baseline. Think of it like having eight Super Bowls in a six week period and you're having a lot of these teams, national teams coming from all around the planet. They're coming to Atlanta Stadium, which is what we have to call it for the next six weeks, and you get to see all these different cultures chasing after the title and being the champion of this planet and any other planet when it comes to the beautiful game. So all these different cultures get to be here and it is serious each and every time because the group stage games just as much going down the line and then you get into the knockouts where you're trying to get closer and closer to a championship and you get to pretty much see who's going to be playing in that last game. With the last match that's played at Atlanta Stadium coming up in about a
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month, this is probably an understatement here, but Atlanta didn't become a World cup city overnight. There's the addition of Atlanta United a couple years ago. The new U.S. soccer National Training center in Fayetteville. Georgia's really grown into a soccer state kind of over this last decade. How did we get here?
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Go back 50 years. My friend Jason Longshore over at soccer down here.net did a great retrospective. It goes back to the 1960s when Atlanta built Atlanta, Fulton County Stadium, and there wasn't a tenant yet. You build Atlanta, Fulton County Stadium. The Braves come from Milwaukee. Then you have the Atlanta Chiefs and the North American Soccer League. They play Manchester City, they beat Manchester City. Brazil comes to play here. So it starts back into the mid to late 1960s and it works its way through with a bunch of different iterations and such. And then, you know, the South's got something to say when it comes to bringing in Atlanta. And then you look at all of the different Pockets that have grown from that. Statesboro, Greenville, Chattanooga, the high school game that goes on, the club game that goes on here in the state of Georgia, all the high school activity that's there. But it has really hit that rocket ship and the bell curve has just gone through the roof in the last decade or so. But it actually goes back 50 plus years to Dick Cecil and Phil Wuzdem and how the Chiefs were a part of that build. So we go from Fulton County Stadium to where we are today. It's been a long road, but it picked up speed really quickly.
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One of the things that makes the World cup unique is that it's not just a sporting event. It's also this big cultural event. So you've got fans from all over the world coming here. What can people expect that atmosphere to be like? You've been out and about for some of these early matches. What have you seen so far?
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Just the idea that you get to learn a lot about everybody else. And that to me is big. You know, you go to a place like Lawrence, Kansas and you have Algerians waiting outside a hotel to see their national team arrive. And they only were using half of the hotel and the other half of the hotel was still with regular, with regular check ins and they were wondering what was going on. So it's an education for them In Chattanooga, when the Spanish national team goes and they have their big practice at the Baylor school, you have literally fences that are 8ft tall blocking off the path so the Spanish national team can come in and be a part of things in Chattanooga. Lamine Yamal, one of the great stars, one of the great young stars of this game was spotted at a Lakeview Fort Oglethorpe Battlefield Parkway Walmart. And that came out on social media. So you have all these different experiences and cultures and that's the one thing that I would ask. Just embrace it. Introduce Southern hospitality to anybody that you see that might not be from here, because you get to learn about them, they get to learn about us.
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We should talk a little soccer too. So Team USA comes to this tournament with a lot of expectations. What should fans know about their home team?
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Just that Marisha Pochettino in the match day, minus one, leading into their first match in the weekend, that was on Friday, he said everybody's healthy. And so when you have a head coach that say all 26 folks are healthy, that's always a good thing. And going in, you've got that first match done. It was obviously a challenging match. Out of the blocks, you're in one of the toughest groups that's there. But you're going to need everybody healthy. You're going to need to get through. You want to take care of business after match number two, so you're not relying on match number three against a very tough turkey side to get into the knockout. So take care of business through matches one and two. You don't have to worry about match three as much, but it's going to be a tough group and it's going to be a great tournament.
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That's GPB Sports host and correspondent John Nelson. John, thank you for joining me. Hope you have fun.
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We will Just make sure that your seat belts are fastened and that your tray tables are in your upright and locked positions. It's going to be a fun six week.
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You can find more coverage of the tournament and everything that's happening around Georgia over on our website@gpb.org each story you hear on Planet Money starts with a what happens if we refund tariffs? Why are groceries so expensive? At npr, we stand for your right to be curious because the forces shaping our world can be hard to see. Follow NPR's Planet Money wherever you get your podcasts and start seeing how the economy really works.
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As Atlanta hosts its first FIFA World cup match, the economic benefits are expected to extend well beyond the city. The Metro Atlanta Chamber estimates the tournament could generate about a half billion dollars in visitor spending. Communities across Georgia, including Decatur, Conyers, Kennesaw and Macon are hosting watch parties or serving as training sites for national teams. State tourism officials say they're hoping World cup visitors will use Atlanta as a hub to explore the rest of Georgia and learn about arts and culture in Georgia. A month long event at Centennial Olympic park is putting a spotlight on Georgia's music scene. The music lineup spotlights Georgia artists from all levels, from established names like Ludacris, killer Mike and CeeLo Green to rising performers including the Castellos, Black and Scoot Teasley. Teasley, who is from Toccoa in northeast Georgia, says being included in the lineup is an honor.
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Honestly, I feel like sometimes I get imposter syndrome because I'm like, I'm just a guy from northeast Georgia. You know, there's a lot of big names that we just mentioned on the lineup, but being up there is just. I don't even know how to explain it. I just feel very grateful, honored again, because I'm just blessed for the opportunity.
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The Fan Festival runs match days through the World cup with concerts, watch parties and community events. On average, Georgia has twice as much medical debt than the rest of the country. That's according to recent research from the Nonprofit Urban Institute. GPB's Ellen Eldredge has more on what they found.
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In 2025, nearly half of working age adults in Georgia struggled to afford health care. Uninsured adults were more likely to struggle, but even families with coverage were challenged by high costs and medical debt. Laura Colbert is with Georgians for a Healthy Future, one of a dozen advocate organizations as part of the One Nation Overcharged campaign. She says Georgia has twice as much medical debt as the rest of the
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country, so we're seeing people have to choose between having health insurance and maintaining the rest of their household budgets. So we're seeing folks, you know, make that difficult decision and have to drop coverage.
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Colbert says the campaign will bring panels and social events to Atlanta, Savannah and other parts of Georgia this summer. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldredge.
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The president of Georgia Tech is leaving the institution after leading it for nearly seven years. Georgia Tech said today that President Angel Cabrera has been appointed the next president and CEO of the nonprofit Aspen Institute. The announcement touted the school's achievements since he became president in 2019, including enrollment growth, research funding and on campus developments. The Washington, D.C. based Aspen Institute is a global forum connecting leaders to solve challenges across a range of sectors. Cabrera will remain at Georgia Tech until November as the University System of Georgia launches a search for his successor. American manufacturers of semi truck trailers, including one in Georgia, are applauding a Trump administration tariff on van type trailers from China. The U.S. department of Commerce says it will begin collecting a 130% duty on the trailers to penalize China for dumping them on the US Market at unfairly low prices. Savannah based Great Dane was part of the coalition that fought for the tariff announced last week. Some parking lanes and sidewalks in downtown Macon will be closed as the city hosts a movie shoot. Warner Bros. Subsidiary S and K Pictures is filming a sequel to James Gunn's in the through Wednesday. Macon's Mercer University hosted Universal Pictures shooting scenes for the Comeback King in May in Georgia sports not related to the World Cup. The Georgia Bulldogs got off to a great start on Saturday as they push for their first national title in the College world series since 1990. In their series opener on Saturday, they capitalized on a horrific first inning for Texas and and an impressive performance by right handed pitcher Joey Volsco to trounce the Longhorns seven to one. Tonight they face Oklahoma for control of an all SEC bracket in the series played in Omaha. Nebraska. And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. We always invite you to check out our website, gpb.org news for many of the stories that you hear here and others that you might have missed from NPR and gpb. Hit subscribe on this podcast so you never miss a story. It'll always be with you in your feed if you hit subscribe and send us your ideas and feedback to Georgia todaypb.org I'm Orlando Montoya. We'll be back again tomorrow with another wrap up of the news from the Peach State here on Georgia Today.