← Georgia Today
Georgia Today
ICE eyeing Georgia warehouse; Blood supply shortage; Antiques Roadshow in Savannah
00:16:52
Loading summary
Transcript61 lines
- [00:02]
A
Welcome to the Georgia Today Podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, Senator Jon Ossoff is seeking answers about a rumored ICE facility in an Atlanta suburb. The Red Cross warns of a serious blood supply shortage and the beloved PBS series Antiques Roadshow made a stop in Savannah.
- [00:22]
B
Mine was around $1,000 because I have different pieces from different eras. Hers was 1500.
- [00:29]
A
1500 because it's a complete today is Monday, January 26th. I'm Peter Biello and this is Georgia Today. Georgia US Senator Jon Ossoff is asking Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for details about a rumored ICE facility planned for a warehouse in a tiny Atlanta suburb. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more leaders in the city of Social circle, population about 5,000, have been unable to learn anything new about the idea. First reported in the Washington Post that ICE is eyeing a million square foot warehouse in the city. Now. Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff has written a letter to DHS head Kristi Noem about rumored plans for holding up to 10,000 people slated for deportation there. Eric Taylor is the Social Circle city manager. He says about three quarters of residents here voted for President Trump and the opposition is not political.
- [01:18]
C
The frustration here is that they're looking at a building that was not built for human habitation. This is not something hands down that the city can support.
- [01:29]
A
Representatives from the company which owns the Social Circle warehouse told GPB they're under a non disclosure agreement around ongoing negotiations. For GPB News, I'm Grant blankenship. More than 200 people joined an online vigil last night hosted by the Georgia chapters of the groups indivisible in 50:51. They gathered to mourn Alex Priddy, the man shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis during an immigration crackdown. Noel Heatherland paid tribute to Priddy.
- [01:56]
B
Bravery sometimes is shaking in your boots and doing something anyway. And that seems to be the type of person that Alex was.
- [02:06]
A
Indivisible and 5051 call themselves grassroots organizers who speak out against the Trump administration to, quote, stop the rise of authoritarianism in the U.S. the groups are planning in person events later this week. Thousands in northeast Georgia remain without power and below freezing temperatures as a result of a major winter storm this weekend. Gpb, Sophie Gradus, Georgia Power and the Habersham Electric Membership Corporation are reporting over 20,000 customers are without power from Gainesville up to Clayton as of Monday afternoon. That includes about 60% of White county, says Bryce Barrett with the local emergency management Agency it's been said that this.
- [02:44]
B
Is like a category two hurricanes come through our county.
- [02:47]
A
Even those that had generators and prepared, they're running out of fuel and food.
- [02:52]
C
And they're saying, hey, will y' all shelter take me.
- [02:55]
A
Two white county shelters do have room, but they're advising people to stay off the still icy roads as utility companies, assisted by the National Guard, remove downed trees and repair power lines. For GPB News, I'm Sophie Gradis. The recent winter storm has led the American Red Cross to cancel hundreds of blood drives in several states, including Georgia. And the Red Cross says that's led to a serious blood supply shortage. GPB's Ellen Eldredge reports. Now that the storm is over, they're asking people to help.
- [03:23]
B
The Red Cross is trying to replenish its storage supply of blood, platelets and plasma after losing more than 7,000 units of blood to canceled blood drives across the country. Garrett Reed is with the American Red Cross in Georgia. He says people with type O blood, also referred to as universal donors, are particularly in demand.
- [03:44]
A
These are typically the donors that are being reached for those units for when we have trauma or we have a special need for a special patient and then also our black donors for sickle cell. Atlanta is the number one user of sickle cell products of in the country, he says.
- [04:00]
B
Nationwide, the blood supply has dropped 35% in the last month. For GPB News, I'm Ellen eldridge.
- [04:09]
A
More than 200 flights were canceled at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport today in the wake of the storm. Numbers from the flight tracking website FlightAware also showed 23 cancellations at Savannah Hilton Head International Airport. We have a guide for your rights as a passenger in the case of a storm related flight disruption. At gpb.org news a federal judge in Macon has thrown out a Trump administration lawsuit that seeks sensitive information on Georgia voters. The U.S. justice Department last month sued Georgia, two other states and the District of Columbia for not turning over the data in an effort the administration says is to ensure election integrity. Senior Judge Ashley Royal of the US District Court for the Middle District of Georgia on Friday ordered the lawsuit dismissed. He wrote that the case was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. Since the state's election administration takes place in Atlanta, the DOJ could refile that case in the Northern District of Georgia. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has pushed back against the agency's request for voter data, including birth dates, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. Raffensperger says the state already has turned over voting data quote in accordance with state law that protects voters privacy. A leader of one of humanity's greatest public health victories, the global eradication of Smallpox has died. Dr. William Foege died Saturday in Atlanta, according to the Task Force for Global Health, which he co founded. Foege was director of the Atlanta based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and he later held other key leadership roles. But his greatest achievement came before all that with his work on smallpox. While he was a medical missionary in Nigeria, he and his colleagues developed a ring containment strategy for the disease. A smallpox outbreak was contained by identifying each case and vaccinating everyone who they might come into contact with. Dr. William Foege was 89 years old. The University of Georgia is remembering one of its former presidents as a transformative leader who led UGA to national prominence. The university says Michael Adams, its president from 1997 to 2013, died yesterday. He's credited with reshaping the campus and spending more than a billion dollars on construction and renovation. UGA says during his tenure, the university also grew its enrollment, expanded its faculty and increased its fundraising, all while improving academic quality across the board. At the conclusion of his presidency, Adams signature appeared on about 110,000 degrees earned by almost half of UGA's living alumni. Michael Adams was 77 years old. Construction on the Georgia Ports Authority's latest addition to its inland rail Network is now 95% complete. The agency said last week that its Blue Ridge Connector, linking Northeast Georgia's hall county with the Port of Savannah, will open for operation later this year. The $135 million project is aimed at reducing highway congestion, emissions and shipping costs.
- [07:14]
B
How does AI even work? Where does creativity come from? What's the secret to living longer? TED Radio Hour explores the biggest questions with some of the world's greatest thinkers. They will surprise, challenge and even change. You listen to NPR's Ted Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts.
- [07:36]
A
Tonight on GPB Television, the beloved PBS series Antiques Roadshow will premiere the first of three episodes recorded last week last year at the Georgia State Railroad Museum in Savannah. And the GPB team was there a year ago getting a behind the scenes look at how the show is made. GPB's Benjamin Payne had the story recorded last year.
- [07:53]
D
If you've ever watched an episode of Antiques Roadshow, you recognize this sound. It plays after the big reveal of a hefty appraisal when an expert on, say, creepy old dolls tells guests that theirs is worth way more than the few bucks they got. It for at a garage sale. But behind the scenes, there's a lot leading up to that moment.
- [08:12]
B
I'm Stephanie. I just need to see your things so I can make sure you get to the right expert.
- [08:17]
D
It starts at a tent labeled Triage, where volunteers sort each and every item into one of more than 20 categories.
- [08:23]
B
Okay, so you have collectibles. Your binoculars will go to collectibles. This will go to glass, and then there's a little mat here to store you.
- [08:35]
D
The map comes in handy here at the Georgia State Railroad Museum, a sprawling outdoor venue in downtown Savannah that houses an antebellum train repair shop. Next to the shop's old 12 story smokestack is tent B where Amanda Everard appraises glass. She runs an auction house in Savannah and has been working with Antiques roadshow for over 10 years.
- [08:53]
B
Can you tell me about your piece?
- [08:54]
A
Where did you get it?
- [08:55]
B
I don't know a lot about it. It was my aunt always sat on my grandmother's coffee table. I had it appraised about 30 years ago at a local event, and they told me at the time it was between 2,500 and $3,000.
- [09:11]
D
Everard pulls out her magnifying glass, giving the vase her expert eye.
- [09:16]
B
All right, so this is probably French, and it's lovely green glass, and it's got sterling overlay on it in this wonderful art nouveau patterning to it with the flowers and all the schoolwork. I think in today's market, it's probably not quite as expensive. Today you're probably looking around 400 to $600?
- [09:40]
A
Really?
- [09:40]
B
That much difference? Wow. Well, that's disappointing. That's okay.
- [09:45]
D
Not great news. But over at the textile tent, it's a different story.
- [09:49]
B
My name is June. I live in Roswell, Georgia. My name is Becky and I'm in Albany, Georgia.
- [09:55]
D
Most guests carry their items, but these twin sisters decided to wear theirs.
- [10:00]
B
This is my first Delta flight attendant uniform from 1973. And hers. Mine is from 1975 with Eastern Airlines, but the hat and the jacket are 1991.
- [10:15]
D
June and Becky have been retired for years now, but they've kept their outfits in pristine condition.
- [10:20]
B
Mine was around $1,000 because I have different pieces from different eras. Hers was 1500. 1500 because it's a complete set.
- [10:30]
D
Yes, more than they were expecting. But even so, the sisters say their uniforms are going back into the closet.
- [10:36]
B
We'll hold on to them. We'll hold on to them because so many things, they're valued at whatever, but they mean more to you than what the money is so, you know, sentimental and I don't know if our kids could fit in it anyway.
- [10:51]
D
Only about 100 of the more than 2,000 people who showed up to this taping made it on camera. Like June and Becky, Marcia Bemko is executive producer of Antiques Roadshow. She says that's pretty typical and speaks to what's at the heart of the show for guests.
- [11:04]
B
They'll have chatted with people in line, inevitably. And having that shared experience, our shared humanity is really special and should be treasured forever and ever.
- [11:18]
D
For GPP News, I'm Benjamin Payne at the Antiques Roadshow set in Savannah.
- [11:22]
A
GPB's Benjamin Payne from May of last year. The first Savannah episode of Antiques Roadshow followed by a GPB produced behind the scenes documentary, airs Tonight starting at 8 on GPB TV. Chuck Lavelle is one of Georgia's most beloved musicians, best known for his time in the Allman Brothers Band. He's also played with his own band, sea level with Dr. John, and he currently tours with the Rolling Stones. Chuck Leavelle is the subject of the next episode of Georgia Legends on GPB, which airs tonight at 9. It's hosted by Jeff Hollinger, who's with me now. Hey, Jeff.
- [12:01]
B
Hey.
- [12:01]
C
How are you? Good to be with you again.
- [12:03]
A
Well, thanks. So, yeah. Before Chuck Leavelle became a famous musician, he grew up in Alabama. Did he know as a child that, you know, his interest in music was going to mean a lifelong career?
- [12:12]
D
Career.
- [12:12]
C
It's an amazing life that he has led, beginning with instructions from his mother. He has never had any kind of lessons outside of his mother's living room. And he told his mother one time when she was putting together dinner in the kitchen that he wanted to be a professional musician. And he was a very young child, probably in the first grade. So it was as though the stars had aligned for him. This is the kind of talent that you see at Juilliard or any of those places that seemingly were blessed by God.
- [12:48]
A
Well, he is responsible for this classic Jessica, which I'm sure our listeners will recognize.
- [13:02]
C
If you don't recognize Jezebel Jessica, you should turn in your Southern card. And you probably are much younger than any of us that are listening right now.
- [13:12]
A
Could be. Could be. So you asked him how he came up with this and he played the piano for you, which I imagine was an incredible honor. Let's hear a bit of his performance for you.
- [13:22]
C
And so I sat here while people were not around and worked on that and came up with the entrance in just that and then. And then the, You know, just kind of a hello there and then just took it from there. Improvised.
- [13:56]
A
What a wonderful experience to be there for a performance like that, Jeff.
- [14:00]
C
It was amazing to be inside of Capricorn Studios, which has been in Macon, in Macon, which has been sort of refurbished, and it is owned and operated for the most part by Mercer University. And they have just done a marvelous job with it. If you get the opportunity to go to Macon, make sure you stop by Capricorn Records. If you love music, if you love the south, if you love the culture of what the south represents, the Allman Brothers, obviously, and all of these great acts that have come through these doors to play these incredible tunes that are a soundtrack of our lives.
- [14:36]
A
So he's been playing with the Rolling Stones for four decades now. What was his reputation at the time the Stones picked him up?
- [14:42]
C
He first met them around 1982. And, you know, he has become the musical director of the Rolling Stones. And. And he described that as sort of keeping everybody in line. You know, he has this huge catalog, obviously, of. Of what they have been playing since the early 1960s. And. And he's sort of like a shepherd dog with the flock. He sort of keeps them from going outside of the pasture.
- [15:07]
A
Well, because his personality type is that such that he kept notes on the songs and. And is in a state of. Seems like constant improvement.
- [15:13]
C
Look, he's in an occupation where people are creative and mostly chaotic, destroyed by their own personalities, their own devices. Lovell is. He's a unicorn. I mean, it's hard to imagine this sort of sane human being who might have been an accountant, might have been an attorney, who also happens to be one of the most creative forces of the last 40 or 50 years in music.
- [15:38]
A
And also, I did not know this, he's a tree farmer.
- [15:41]
C
He is. He has a property, his wife, that was their family plantation, their family parcel of land. And as the decades have progressed, he has learned more about trees, about the ecosystems, about how fragile all of these things are and how they are interconnected to our lives, much as music is. And he has won so many awards. You know, Governor Perdue also put him on a land conservation group here in the state of Georgia. He is not someone who is merely making the public acclamation that he is interested in the ecology of the land, but he is actively involved in it every day of his life.
- [16:27]
A
GPB's Jeff Hollinger is the host of Georgia Legends on GPBTV. An episode featuring the life of musician Chuck Leavelle runs tonight at 9:30. Jeff, thank you so much for speaking with me about this.
- [16:37]
C
Thank you, Peter.
- [16:42]
A
And that's it for today's edition of GEORGIA Today. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you want to learn more about these stories, check out gpb.org news and remember to subscribe to this podcast because we're coming back at you tomorrow afternoon. Send your feedback to us by email. It's the best way to reach the whole team. The address is Georgia todaypb.org I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We will see you tomorrow.