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Peter Biello
Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, the army sergeant accused of a mass shooting at Fort Stewart is found guilty on all counts. Middle Georgia researchers study how a good night's sleep helps kids, and lawmakers consider pushing back the deadline to revamp the way the state counts votes.
Bob Sherrier
The current system will need to be replaced.
Grant Blankenship
It is at the end of its
Bob Sherrier
useful life in Georgia.
Peter Biello
Today is Thursday, June 18th. I'm Peter Biello and this is Georgia Today. Get ready for heavy rain as the remnants of a tropical storm are expected to bring multiple rounds of downpours and a flooding risk to much of the state today and tomorrow. The forecast prompted officials to close a FIFA World cup fan festival in downtown Atlanta early and postpone an Atlanta Braves game. In metro Atlanta's Cherokee county, emergency managers say their outdoor siren system isn't working. They're reminding residents to have multiple ways of getting severe weather alerts. An army sergeant accused in a mass shooting at southeast Georgia's Fort Stewart last year has been found guilty on all counts. GPB's Ellen Eldredge has more.
Sarah Kallas
The military trial of Cornelius Radford began earlier this week at a courtroom on the post about 40 miles west of Savannah. He told a military judge that he used a personal handgun to shoot and injure four fellow soldiers in August after an argument with his romantic partner, a civilian who was also among the victims. Other soldiers were credited with saving lives by immediately rendering first aid and restraining Radford before police arrived in April. He pleaded guilty to some charges, including aggravated assault and domestic violence, but a court martial was scheduled to resolve the merits of other charges. He's now been found guilty of attempted premeditated murder and attempted unpremeditated murder. Sentencing is scheduled for next week. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldredge.
Peter Biello
A bill to address an upcoming July 1st deadline to stop using QR codes to tabulate voters ballots passed a senate committee today. GPB's Sarah Kallas reports lawmakers are considering
Sarah Kallas
legislation moving the deadline to tabulate votes without the qr code to 2028. Senate Bill 3ex, sponsored by Senator Max Burns, would also appoint a committee to consider new voting equipment altogether.
Bob Sherrier
The current system will need to be replaced.
Grant Blankenship
It is at the end of its
Bob Sherrier
useful life in Georgia.
Sarah Kallas
Democrats like Senator Kim Jackson raised concerns about the political makeup of the committee, which isn't required to include Democrats in the vague definition of experts the committee can consult.
Bob Sherrier
So therefore we need to make sure we have Democratic representation on the committee that's doing the initial deep dive approach.
Sarah Kallas
Despite those concerns, the bill will be voted on by the Senate on Saturday. For GPV News, I'm Sarah Kalis at the State Capitol.
Peter Biello
Researchers in Middle Georgia are teaming up with a charity providing beds to children to measure the difference a good night's sleep can make for a young person. GPB's Grant Blankenship reports.
Grant Blankenship
Volunteers from the Macon chapter of the nonprofit Sleep in Heavenly Peace have built hundreds of beds in the last year for local children without them. Now, they hope to learn more about how good sleep helps kids with the help of the center for Middle Georgia Studies at Macon's Middle Georgia State University. Christy Roberts Lewis leads the center. She says the year long study will start with a baseline survey of emotional health, followed by additional surveys throughout the study period.
Peter Biello
What we hope that we can track is that there is some improvement in their academic performance, in their social development, in their behavior.
Grant Blankenship
The study will be led by professors from Middle Georgia State's Departments of Sociology and Psychology. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship In Macon,
Peter Biello
a four gallon ceramic jar made by a celebrated, highly collected and enslaved artist was returned to the artist's descendants in a ceremony this week in Athens. Wuga's Emma Auer has more.
Emma Auer
David Drake was born into slavery in South Carolina in 1800. Experts think he produced around 170 ceramic jars over his life. His descendants never profited from the market for his pots. George Fothery is a lawyer who facilitated Monday's transfer from a private collector from Athens.
Bob Sherrier
The artist never had the right to
Chase McGee
exercise his own voluntary agency in terms
Bob Sherrier
of determining what would happen with that piece.
Emma Auer
Drake inscribed many of his jars with poetry. Though it was illegal for enslaved people to read or write, Drake's fourth great grandson, Yabba Baker, says he wants people to see the bravery in that.
Bob Sherrier
For him to sign his name and write poems on a pot was literally putting his life at risk. If he could stand up and sign his name and make his voice heard, anybody can. And I want people to come here and be inspired by that.
Emma Auer
The piece transferred to Drake's descendants in Athens will remain in the Georgia Museum of Art for about a year. For GPB News, I'm Emma Auer.
Peter Biello
Last year, state regulators gave Georgia Power permission to radically expand its capacity to make electricity. For that to work, it just doesn't mean new power plants. It also means new power lines to get the electricity where it's supposed to go. Now, residents in suburbs south and west of Atlanta are losing their Homes to make way for those lines. And they're asking why GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.
Grant Blankenship
If there's one thing kids love in the summer, watch.
Sarah Kallas
They do. I'm watching. It's swimming and I can do this also.
Grant Blankenship
Good job to try to find Claudia Moore with her two kids out behind her home in a suburban neighborhood in Coweta County.
Sarah Kallas
My husband's a country boy, so he wanted the woods for our kids to go play.
Grant Blankenship
But now their neighbors are moving.
Sarah Kallas
Two houses in our neighborhood are gonna be demolished and yeah, they're bought out.
Grant Blankenship
They sold their houses to Georgia Power.
Sarah Kallas
We thought we were going to be on the chopping block. We luckily are not getting demolished. They're just going to claim eminent domain on some of our land.
Grant Blankenship
The woods the Moore's meant for their children to run wild in have to go. The trees are in the way of Georgia Power's over 30 mile long transmission line expansion running from their plant Wansley. To double the capacity of existing lines, the utility needs a wider easement land. And if there are houses on it, those too. And so, like a lot of people in this area, the Moores are asking, who is this even for?
Sarah Kallas
We think it's for the betterment of the data center that they're trying to put up everywhere. But the utility company says it's not for the data center.
Grant Blankenship
Southern Environmental Law center attorney Bob Sherrier says that's not true.
Bob Sherrier
Before the data center boom happened, the transmission plan at that time said we're going to build 50 miles of new right of way high voltage transmission across the entire state in the next 10 years.
Grant Blankenship
That was as recently as 2022. But just last year, Georgia Power went back to the Public Service Commission and said data center growth meant they needed an unprecedented amount of more electricity to sell and more lines to move it. Bob Sherrier says the plan now is
Bob Sherrier
1,000 miles of new transmission lines in the next 10 years.
Grant Blankenship
You can find the plan on the Georgia Power website.
Bob Sherrier
And the only thing that's really changed in that time is this data center interest in the state.
Grant Blankenship
In one sense, Georgia Power does not dispute this.
Sarah Kallas
80% of the growth that we are seeing in the state of Georgia is data centers. They're here, they're coming. There's no way around that.
Grant Blankenship
That's Georgia Power spokesperson Meredith Stone.
Sarah Kallas
But she counters Georgia is also the fourth largest growing state, meaning people are moving to Georgia because there's opportunity here.
Grant Blankenship
The state population was already growing at that clip under the old, much smaller plan for grid expansion. Still Stone says.
Sarah Kallas
We have a duty to reliably serve our customers, whether they're large load customers like data centers, or they're small businesses or residential customers, which in this case
Grant Blankenship
requires taking some or all of about 300 properties along this easement. Stone says Georgia Power prefers to buy Their first offer will be 125% the fair market value of a home. Cynthia Van Epp says at her age,
Bob Sherrier
she isn't interested, so I'm going to be 58 here shortly.
Sarah Kallas
This house wasn't for sale.
Grant Blankenship
Like Claudia Moore, she stands to lose
Sarah Kallas
land, and that isn't something that a
Bob Sherrier
population, publicly held company should be able
Sarah Kallas
to do to individual homeowners.
Grant Blankenship
But attorney Bob Sherrier says under state law for electrical utilities, it's legal.
Bob Sherrier
These rules haven't been updated in a long time, and things have changed.
Grant Blankenship
He says. Changing the rules would be the job
Peter Biello
of the Georgia Legislature.
Grant Blankenship
For GPP News, I'm Grant Blankenship. In Coweta County,
Peter Biello
Lockheed Martin is marking 75 years in Marietta, north of Atlanta. Lockheed took over what was then called the Bell Bomber plant just after World War II. The aviation giant today celebrated the site's impact on America's military and Georgia's economy. The plant currently employs more than 5,000 people. The number of jobs in Georgia has set a record high at just over 5 million. Georgia labor Commissioner Barbara Rivera Holmes touted may unemployment figures today, calling them the results of a modern, adaptable economy. Jobs were up most in healthcare and social assistance, while they declined the most in federal government. Atlanta hosted its second World cup game this afternoon, just before heavy downpours moved in. GPB's Chase McGee was there.
Chase McGee
South Africa and Czechia faced off at noon in Atlanta Stadium in the host city's second match. The teams tied one to one as the game came to a close. Rain from Tropical Storm Arthur moved into the area. FIFA warned the outdoor fan festival would end early at 3pm Antonio Lopez is in the US on business, but he made time to meet with his friends and watch his national team in Atlanta.
Bob Sherrier
And to be here with all our fellow supporters and South Africans just coming together in sport is just amazing, and
Peter Biello
we just love it.
Chase McGee
Atlanta hosts its third game Sunday, when Spain takes on Saudi Arabia. For GPB news, I'm Chase McGee in Atlanta.
Sarah Kallas
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 and start seeing how the economy really works.
Peter Biello
The U.S. men's National Team will compete tomorrow against Australia in a much anticipated World cup match in Seattle. With both the United States and Australia coming off opening match victories. The winner of this game will command Group D. With me for a preview is John Nelson of GPB Sports. Welcome, John.
John Nelson
Always good to see you, my friend and good to catch up about the beautiful game.
Peter Biello
It's going to be exciting. So what strengths does the US bring to this match?
John Nelson
Well, first off, it's aura. I mean when you get the result that you you did in Los Angeles match day one in the group sense, it was about as perfect a performance as you could get in an opener in a cup tournament in your country. And I am intrigued how the counter pressure that we saw with the United States and that the constant pressure defensively that created opportunities offensively kept Paraguay on their heels. Obviously, Australia is a bit of a different beast, but I want to see how round two is and what they've learned about themselves coming out of match day one.
Peter Biello
So what players are the ones to watch?
John Nelson
Oh, your entire starting 11, Peter, you got to keep an eye on, you know, obviously first and foremost you have to keep an eye on Christian Pulisic because he got a kick to the calf in match day one. So he was only available for 45 minutes and he's been kept out as a, as a precaution, he's been training off to the side. You don't know if there's any kind of subterfuge that's attached to it. You know, in cup competitions, you know, worldwide competitions, coaches having subterfuge, not giving the opponent anything to worry about. But obviously with someone who is as much of a catalyst as Christian Pulisic is, how is that calf, how is it going to go? And then obviously you look between the sticks and look at keeper and the decision there. Do you stick with Matt Freeze? Do you go with Matt Turner? Matt Freese gave you what you saw in match day one. The backline with your 38 year old captain with the support that he gets around. There are a lot of different questions, but obviously the main concern is Christian Pulisic and how he is and how many minutes he can give you.
Peter Biello
All right, a lot of what we've been talking about World cup wise on GPB has been about Atlanta. This one is in Seattle, the one we've been talking about. What can you tell us about the venue in Seattle and the conditions the US Team is going to be playing
John Nelson
in it's obviously going to be the converted grass surface. And it is it is an outdoor facility. So as we have to refer to them by their FIFA names, it's Seattle Stadium. But those of us who either watch Major League Soccer know the Seattle Sounders and where they play, or the Seattle Seahawks in National Football League activity. So it's that venue, just grass instead. So it's going to be a very loud venue. It traditionally is very, very loud. You would anticipate that with the home crowd being what it's going to be. It will match that and what we've known from either soccer or football, both F O T and F U T B O L versions of it. So it's going to be a loud building and obviously there's a lot of momentum carried from Match Day one. I know folks coming from our footprint that are going all the way out to Seattle for this match. So that's what it means to the United States for Match Day two.
Peter Biello
Let's talk a little bit about how it's been in Atlanta. What's your World cup experience been so far?
John Nelson
John it has been, let's see, how many hours are there in a day?
Peter Biello
Peter not enough.
John Nelson
No, not this time, anyway. It has been 30 hours a day, eight days a week, and it has been just flying around and trying to catch a comet by the tail. It's been great to see all the different cultures here. When you had Cabo Verde in Spain earlier this week to see the Cabo Verde contingent come down from Massachusetts, they have a lot of Cabo Verdians in the Boston area flew down. You had some actually fly over from the African continent to watch this to have a building that had just about 69,000 folks. And it was loud because you had a lot of folks that were fans of Spain and you had the Cabo Verdians that were just as loud. It was a great venue to see one of the larger upsets or upsetting results that we've seen really in recent history in the World Cup. But just how the city has embraced everyone who wants to come and watch soccer and how those fans have come and they've understood what Atlanta has been all about. It's been a great education, I think, for both sides and I'm looking forward to continuing for the other seven matches that we're going to have here in the Atlanta area.
Peter Biello
And lastly, John, I got to ask, what's your favorite part of Fan Fest? Have you taken a look around there?
John Nelson
I haven't had time to fan. My Fan fest has been getting off of the MARTA train and they have been running fantastic every five minutes like clockwork. It hasn't been a crowded experience at all. Coming up the escalator, seeing the plaza there outside of Atlanta Stadium and the Georgia World Congress center, where it's turned into its own kind of de facto party. The Fan Fest is on the other side of the building for me, of the the State Farm Arena. And so I've been going, I've been going to. What direction is that?
Sarah Kallas
West.
John Nelson
I've been going west. Fan Fest is east. I've been spending my time in the Western Frontier looking at matches. It's been a fun part for my version of Fan Fest with all the fans. Fan Fest I've seen has been absolutely crowded and just crazy. Once again, you can't speak enough about how Atlanta has prepared for this moment, and they're showing it on the world stage.
Peter Biello
Well, John, it's good to see that you're having fun even as you're working really hard. GPB Sports John Nelson, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.
John Nelson
Anytime, my friend.
Peter Biello
Georgia's historic run in the College World Series is over. Bulldogs baseball fell to Oklahoma 114 last night to end their most winning season ever and their first shot at the national championship in 18 years. Georgia placed third in the series. North Carolina and Oklahoma now will face off in a best of three final matchup set to begin on Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska. Speaking after the disappointing loss, UGA's coach Wes Johnson said he was proud of his players and a season record that will speak for itself for a long time. And that is it on this edition of Georgia Today. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you want to learn more about these stories, visit gpb.org news and remember to subscribe to this podcast. It'll keep us current in your podcast feed. Your feedback is welcome. Of course, we'd love to hear from you. You send an email to Georgia today@GPB.org I'm Peter Biello. In celebration of Juneteenth. The podcast is taking tomorrow off, so we will see you on Monday.
Host: Peter Biello (Georgia Public Broadcasting)
Theme: Legal, social, and political developments in Georgia; public interest stories and World Cup excitement
This episode covers a breadth of pressing Georgia news:
| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------| | Weather briefing & Fort Stewart shooting verdict | 00:30-02:03 | | Voting machines legislation updates & committee concerns | 02:03-02:50 | | Middle Georgia sleep study for kids | 03:00-03:58 | | Return of David Drake’s ceramic jar to descendants | 03:58-05:10 | | Georgia Power grid expansion and local uproar | 05:10-09:08 | | Lockheed Martin milestone, jobs snapshot, World Cup match update | 09:08-10:39 | | U.S. vs Australia World Cup match preview, Atlanta fan experience | 11:04-16:13 | | UGA’s College World Series wrap | 16:24 |
This episode presents a compelling cross-section of Georgia’s current affairs, blending urgent news (criminal justice, policy debate, utility expansion, cultural restitution) with stories reflecting the state’s growth, resilience, and diversity. Standout moments include heartfelt homeowner perspectives on eminent domain, pride in homegrown artistry and sports, and the global lens of the World Cup energizing Atlanta. Throughout, hosts and reporters maintain an informative yet relatable tone, keeping the news accessible and relevant to listeners.