Orlando Montoya (0:00)

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 information@opioidresponse.info hello and welcome to the Georgia Today Podcast from GPB News. On this podcast, we feature the latest stories from the GPB newsroom. You can send us feedback or story tips to Georgia today@gpb.org Today is Thursday, February 12th. I'm Orlando Montoya. Coming up on this episode, the Georgia Senate passes a mid year budget which prioritizes Hurricane Helene relief. A bill clears the Senate which prohibits Georgia Power from passing the cost of data centers on to customers and an Atlanta school helps preserve culture by teaching the art of capoeira. It isn't just learning the history and the culture in a cognitive way of like, hey, let me teach you something about the stories. There's an embodiment to living out some of those cultural principles in the group itself. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia today. The Georgia Senate passed a mid year budget yesterday that prioritizes Hurricane Helene relief. Funds were shifted from a variety of programs to help pay for the $750 million needed for storm cleanup. Fidelia State Senator Republican Blake tillery led its 511 passage. So the Senate's budget takes $10 million that was added by the House, adds 15 million to it in the Department of Community affairs for individuals victims of the storm who, through no fault of their own, nonetheless are still awaiting claims to be adjudicated or claims that were denied. Other budget line items include education, public libraries and infrastructure. The mid year budget covers state spending through June 30. It now goes back to the House. The Georgia House passed legislation today aiming to protect access to Sumford fertility treatments. GPB Sarah Kalis reports. Applause erupted in the House chamber as a bill codifying access to in vitro fertilization treatment received unanimous passage from both Republicans and Democrats. Representative Lehman Franklin is the sponsor of HB426. He and his wife are expecting a baby girl later this year, conceived through IVF after years of infertility challenge. Anybody in this room that no one here in this room has not been either directly influenced or affected by IVF or or indirectly affected by ivf. Everyone that I've come in contact with has had their own personal experience. Several other representatives rose to share their own personal stories with ivf. The bill now moves to the Senate for GPB News. I'm Sarah Kallis at the State Capitol. The Georgia State Election Board yesterday voted to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to enforce a subpoena against a conservative group that was unable to produce evidence to support its claim of ballot stuffing in the state. Texas based True the vote in 2021, filed complaints alleging ballot stuffing in 2020 and 2021. After the group refused to provide information about its sources, a judge ordered it to comply with the state Election Board subpoena. The group then said it had no information to provide, noting that that means the investigation would likely be unsuccessful. The election board voted Wednesday to dismiss the matter. Capoeira is an Afro Brazilian martial art originally created by enslaved Africans as a method of self defense disguised as a dance. It's a combination of kicks, dodges, music and acrobatics. In Atlanta, Felus Chibimba is one of a few schools teaching the martial art and sharing the culture it comes from. GPiBI's Amanda Andrews spoke to students about what it means to be part of the Capoeira community and connecting to its history. For someone who is looking and seeing a capoeira hoda, or people playing capoeira, you'll see a circle. You'll see people clapping and singing, playing instruments, and two people in the middle of that circle are attacking and defending playfully because it's not sparring. My name is Ricky Lawson, and in the capoeira world I'm known as Officer Malandru. Malandru means street smart. Everyone eventually, over time, will receive a nickname that expresses the way they move, what they like to do, something that they'll be proud of. My name is Nicole Cooper, but in the capoeira community I am known as Alta, which means tall. Most likely gonna have to work a little bit harder than someone who's smaller than you, because I'm almost six feet tall, but actually because I'm also very flexible and then training with people that are a lot shorter than me, they seem to not be able to fully stretch me. So that's how I got the name Alta. I think what I really like about training with Milandro and Felios Jibimba as a whole is that he's very passionate about the art. He's very knowledgeable. He's pretty much like a Capoeira encyclopedia. Our capoeirae to school comes from a very specific language, which is the lineage of Mastery Bimba. Mastery Bimba, who is black, who is poor, who is illiterate, was able to take this form of expression, this art form that was being persecuted by law, and now it's a part of Brazil's nationality. Yeah. Nice job. Capoeira is for everyone because it's so multifaceted. There's the musical components, the movement components, the historical components. There's something that everyone can be nourished by and everyone can contribute their own strengths to. My name is Megan Kazanski. My capoeira apelido is soneca. It means nap. I've been a part of a few different capoeira groups in my 10 years. Since I started this group, Yulishi Bimba, I feel really aligned with their principles and methodologies. And so I'm excited to really be a part of a community where we're celebrating each other and growing together. Stop there. I'm doing things that and, like, getting strong in ways that I just would not have thought of. Like, oh, yeah, 46. I'm going to be doing cartwheels all over the floor or handstands. I'm going to do the kick, and then you're going to do the kick, and then you do the Negro cheetah. I'm Ruth Evans, and I have been training with capoeira for three months. It isn't just learning the history and the culture in a cognitive way of, like, hey, let me teach you something about the stories. There's an embodiment to living out some of those cultural principles in the group itself. Go out, Wait, protect your face. And with Black History Month, Capoeira represents that regardless if the entire country that you are in, you know, has it in for you, doesn't see you as a human being, you are still going to fight. You're not gonna hang your head low. You're going to sing, you're gonna dance, you're gonna resist. I'm already ready to start over again. You just heard from students at Felush Jibimba, a school of capoeira in Atlanta. This piece was produced by GPB's Amanda Andrews. A bill prohibiting Georgia Power from passing on the costs of providing electricity to data centers to residential and small business customers has cleared a state Senate committee. Senate Bill 34 comes in the wake of six rate increases in less than two years that have driven up what homeowners and small businesses pay by 37%. The legislation now goes to the Senate Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote. Unionized dock workers at the Port of Savannah agreed this week to a new contract through 2030. As GP's Benjamin Payne reports, it puts an end to uncertainty over a potential strike. Rank and file members of the International Longshoremen's association overwhelmingly approved the contract, which includes a 60% pay raise over five years throughout major ports along the east coast and Gulf of Mexico. Speaking at a conference in Savannah this week, Georgia Ports Authority CEO Griff lynch said the months long negotiations came with their costs, as many customers diverted cargo last year to the west coast that included Savannah's rival Port of Long Beach. They grew by almost 20%. The major East coast and Gulf ports grew by 9.3 most years. That's pretty good, but La Long beach doubled us. I hope they enjoyed it because it's all going to come back to us. In a statement, the head of the ILA called the new contract the gold standard for dockworker unions globally. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah. The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation Today listed 10 historic properties threatened by demolition, neglect, development or public policy. The nonprofit's annual places in peril this year include a circa 1900 peach packing barn in Middle George's Peach County, a historic black church in Savannah and the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, northeast of Atlanta. Trust President and CEO Wright Mitchell says the museum is significant not for its building but for its historic train cars. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Marco Polo sleeper train is there that he would take down to Warm Springs, and in fact, there are 90 pieces of rolling stock there at the museum. The small museum is struggling to care for the collection. Many of the trust's annual selections go on to be restored, while others languish and a few are demolished and lost forever. The new location for Mercer University's medical school in Macon has been finalized after a deal between the school and Macon's Urban Development Authority. Mercer will buy a strip of vacant, formerly industrial land in downtown Macon near the Okmulgee river, which until recently was dominated by homeless encampments, and near where the city demolished an abandoned hotel on New Year's Day. The new medical school will be three miles away from Mercer's main campus and, according to the school, will be large enough to accommodate growing enrollment, which has more than doubled since the medical school opened 40 years ago. Macon city leaders are counting on the new medical school to help further expand the footprint of Macon's recent downtown economic resurgence. 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 upfirst, 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. Frontier Airlines is expanding its presence at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The low cost carrier today announced a 40% increase in departures from ATL, including nine new routes. And for those of you thinking to escape what we still have left of winter, I'll just mention two new routes, Aruba and Palm Beach. Doulas can offer vital and sometimes life saving support before, during and after a baby's birth. The nonprofit Atlanta Doula Collective was created to give Black families support, and it has to hundreds of them. As GPB's Sophie Gradas reports, the group recently screened a documentary that aims to share their doulas stories. The film, cradled in Reclaiming the Legacy of Black Doula Care, explores the many roles of doulas as companions, educators and allies. It also explores joy that producer and the collective's founder, Sakisa Berry, says can be overshadowed by statistics of maternal mortality. That was an intentional goal and we wanted people to feel empowered, uplifted. But the film is not without tension. Doulas are not licensed practitioners, but are there when moms give birth in hospitals. Many providers don't even understand what doulas are and what they which is a part of the prompt for this documentary. I was like they need to hear it from doulas themselves. Barry hopes the film can be a teaching tool for providers and aspiring doulas as the collective plans to expand. For GPB News, I'm Sophie Graudis. And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you'd like to learn more about these stories, visit gpb.org news please hit subscribe on this podcast that'll make sure that you always stay current with us in your feed. If you have feedback, send that to us@georgia todayppb.org I'm Orlando Montoya. I'll talk to you again tomorrow.