Minimize Flock camera misuse; Medical cannabis on rise; Atlanta heat plan

Summary

Georgia Today – August 5, 2026

Host: Peter Biello, Georgia Public Broadcasting
Episode Overview:
This episode of Georgia Today focuses on recent developments in surveillance technology and its implication for privacy, the latest stances from Georgia’s major gubernatorial candidates on healthcare and Medicaid expansion, the city of Atlanta’s push for a comprehensive heat response plan, a remarkable surge in medical cannabis patient registrations, and additional headlines reflecting Georgia’s innovation and public health landscape.

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Surveillance & Privacy: The Role and Regulation of Flock Cameras

Guest: Dr. Rajiv Garg, Associate Professor, Goizueta Business School, Emory University
[00:36–06:08]

Key Discussion Points:

• Pervasiveness of Flock Cameras:

  • These surveillance devices—comprising license plate readers, drones, and audio detectors—are widespread, found at intersections, highways, and across cities and rural areas.
    • “These cameras could be everywhere...just cameras attached to get a fingerprint on your car.” — Dr. Garg [01:35]

• No Facial Recognition:

  • Flock cameras focus solely on vehicles (make, model, color, license plate); they do not do facial recognition.
    • “They’re not necessarily doing facial recognition?”
      “That is correct.” — Dr. Garg [01:55]

• Data Retention Policies:

  • Data from these cameras is stored by Flock on their servers for 2–3 years; real-time tracking access is usually allowed for 30 days.
    • “Most of the data is kept by Flock on their servers for about two to three years. And the service...where you can actually track a car goes up to 30 days.” — Dr. Garg [02:02]

• Risks of Misuse & Need for Guardrails:

  • The system allows broad access for officers, but lacks auditing and justification requirements, leading to potential abuse (e.g., tracking friends without cause).
    • “Because you have the technology, because you know a license plate, you can easily figure out who’s going where. And this makes it a problem because there's no audit or guardrails built in...” — Dr. Garg [02:26]
  • Advocates for built-in auditing and technology requiring case IDs or reasons for queries to enhance accountability.

• Constitutional Concerns:

  • Surveillance legality hinges on purpose and depth; tracking cars doesn’t cross the same lines as facial recognition, but requires clear limitations.
    • “If you were to do facial recognition...then yes, then it could become unconstitutional because we are invading privacy. In this case, we are tracking automotive...the screening needs to understand...what is the purpose?” — Dr. Garg [04:01]

• Overall Evaluation:

  • Dr. Garg sees Flock cameras as broadly beneficial, but with important caveats—context matters, and stricter guardrails are needed.
    • “I do also want...the company to put in more guardrails...to help better responsible use of the technology itself.” — Dr. Garg [05:14]

Memorable Quote:

• "We do need some guardrails in place on when you use your system, what is the reason for the use of the system?" — Dr. Garg [02:26]

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Georgia’s Gubernatorial Candidates Address the Business Community

Reported by: Sarah Kalis
[06:16–07:52]

Democratic Nominee: Keisha Lance Bottoms

• Stance: Expanding Medicaid is central to her approach for greater affordability, tying health system strength to economic vitality throughout Georgia.
  • “It weakens our entire health care system when we don’t expand Medicaid.” — Keisha Lance Bottoms [06:40]

Republican Nominee: Rick Jackson

• Stance: Favors “intelligent Medicaid expansion” while intending to reduce commercial insurance costs and incentivize upward mobility by training Medicaid recipients for jobs.

  • “I’m not going to measure our state by how many people are on Medicaid. I’m going to measure how many people are on commercial insurance...” — Rick Jackson [07:21]

• Context: Georgia is one of ten states not to have fully expanded Medicaid to date.

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Atlanta’s Response to Extreme Heat: Call for a Comprehensive Plan

City Council Action
[08:34–09:30]

• The Atlanta City Council approved a resolution urging the mayor’s office to formalize a heat safety response plan—including expanding cooling center hours, targeted outreach to vulnerable groups, and clearer triggers for emergency heat operations.
  • “I think there's a big gap between our ability as a city to really notify people about extreme weather conditions and about the resources that do exist.” — Councilmember Kelsey Bond [00:24, 09:18]

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Surge in Medical Cannabis Participation

[10:45–11:24]

• Program Growth:
  • Georgia’s medical cannabis registry increased by over 22% in one month, from 36,000 to nearly 45,000 patients, following a major legislative change.
• Legal Changes:
  • New law eased branding requirements, altered potency standards, and expanded qualifying conditions—measures backed by physicians and advocates.
• Significance:
  • Represents a sharp reversal for a decade-old, previously stagnant program.

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Additional Noteworthy Headlines

Emergency Food Aid Production

[09:30–10:45]

• Mana Nutrition in Fitzgerald, GA to benefit from $100 million federal investment for “Ready to Use Therapeutic Food,” despite this being less than previous years’ allocations.
  • “...it gives us a couple years of certainty, which is way more, way more than we had.” — Mark Moore, CEO Mana Nutrition [10:35]

Notable Georgia Innovations

[12:20–13:35]

• Electric School Bus made by Bluebird in Fort Valley named “Coolest Thing Made in Georgia” for 2026.
  • “It’s kind of reward to them [employees] at the hard work they put in...We carry the most precious cargo there is. We carry children every day.” — Tim Gordon, Bluebird [13:28]
• Bobby Jones Links (golf management firm) acquired by Troon, world’s largest golf hospitality company.

Healthcare Rankings

[11:24–11:55]

• Emory University Hospital ranked Georgia’s top hospital for 15th consecutive year; Piedmont Atlanta and other Emory-affiliated hospitals follow.

Food Innovation Prize

[12:00–12:20]

• Georgia Peanut Commission announces $10,000 innovation award for new peanut-based food products.

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Memorable Quotes & Segments

• On Surveillance and Privacy:

  • “These cameras could be everywhere...essentially just cameras attached to get a fingerprint on your car...” — Dr. Rajiv Garg [01:35]
  • “Because you have the technology, because you know a license plate, you can easily figure out who's going where. And this makes it a problem because there's no audit or no guardrails built in...” — Dr. Rajiv Garg [02:26]
  • “The answer is always, it depends.” — Dr. Rajiv Garg [05:14]

• On Healthcare Policy:

  • “It weakens our entire health care system when we don’t expand Medicaid.” — Keisha Lance Bottoms [06:40]
  • “I’m going to measure how many people are on commercial insurance. And the way to do that is reduce the cost of commercial insurance.” — Rick Jackson [07:21]

• On Atlanta’s Heat Response:

  • “I think there's a big gap between our ability as a city to really notify people about extreme weather conditions and about the resources that do exist.” — Kelsey Bond [09:18]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Flock Camera Discussion: 00:36–06:08
• Governor Candidates’ Healthcare Debate: 06:16–07:52
• Atlanta City Council's Heat Plan: 08:34–09:30
• Medical Cannabis Program Growth: 10:45–11:24
• Innovation, Healthcare, Food: 09:30–13:35

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Summary prepared for listeners seeking a comprehensive overview of current trends and debates shaping Georgia’s public safety, health, and innovation sectors as highlighted in key news stories and interviews.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, a look at how better guardrails could ensure police use Flock cameras responsibly. Georgia's major party gubernatorial candidates make their pitch to the business community, and the Atlanta City Council wants the mayor's office to sign off on a citywide heat plan.

[B]

I think there's a big gap between our ability as a city to really notify people about extreme weather conditions and about the resources that do exist.

[A]

Today is Wednesday, August 5th. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today. Flock cameras have been instrumental in helping law enforcement officials locate some suspects, but they're also raising questions about constitutional protections, privacy, and how much surveillance is too much. The company was founded nine years ago by an Atlanta man who felt crime in his neighborhood was too easy to get away with. And it's now a network that includes license plate readers, drones, and audio detection devices. What are these devices capturing, and what does it mean for our privacy? With me now to discuss this is Dr. Rajiv Garg. He's an associate professor of information systems and operations management at Goizueta Business School at Emory University. Welcome to the program.

[C]

Thank you, Peter.

[A]

Where can people expect to be surveilled by Flock cameras? Is this primarily something cities do or do small towns and rural areas use them as well?

[C]

These cameras could be everywhere. These could be at the intersection, any highway. And these are essentially just cameras attached to get a fingerprint on your car, like what car you're driving, the make, model, color, and the license plate on the car.

[A]

I see. So they're not necessarily doing facial recognition?

[C]

That is correct.

[A]

How long do the places that capture this information store it?

[C]

To my knowledge, most of the data is kept by Flock on their servers for about two to three years. And the service they provide where you can actually track a car goes up to 30 days.

[A]

We've heard stories of law enforcement officials getting caught accessing things like license plate readers inappropriately. How can we be certain that those with access to this data are using it appropriately?

[C]

So this is where we need more technology to audit and screen the use of these technologies. So what happens is when, if you have the account, like, I mean, you are a contracted police officer, you're a full time police officer, any of those are temporary. You get the access to the system where you can track any license plate. Now, a person might. A lot of times, they will essentially just go in and say, I want to know what's happening with this car, I want to know, my friend is going here, I want to figure out where they're going, et cetera. Because you have the technology, because you know a license plate, you can easily figure out who's going where. And this makes it a problem because there's no audit or no guardrails built in to understand why a police officer is doing the tracking that they're doing at that moment. So we do need some guardrails in place on when you use your system, what is the reason for the use of the system? But if you're looking for a missing car, if you're looking for a theft, and you know what car was in that neighborhood or that intersection, why do we need to have the data for the last 30 days? Why do we need the data to be stored for two years? Yes. If this is something missing now, maybe we need the data for the last few hours where the car has been or the last day. Right. So to figure those things out, is

[A]

it constitutional to deploy this kind of surveillance, even if we are actually using the surveillance to catch people who may have committed crimes?

[C]

So if you were to do facial recognition, like, I mean, that happens in some of the other countries, then yes, then it could become unconstitutional because we are invading privacy. We are constantly tracking specific individual. In this case, we are tracking automotive. This is where I think the audit side, the guardrail side, the screening needs to understand, like when an officer starts using the system, what is the purpose? And when it actually becomes that purpose is unconstitutional versus when it's constitutional. Right. So that is something that the technology could use in helping the screens ahead of time to ensure we are doing or using it correctly. In today's world, it will be much, much easier to essentially have a cop provide a reason, maybe a case ID that's already in there, and then understanding the reasons whether the system should be used or not used, and if it is used, how many days, how many hours of data should be displayed before the system essentially says, I'm going to give you 30 days of data, irrespective of what the case number is overall,

[A]

then do you see the existence and deployment of these flat cameras as a net positive?

[C]

Yes, personally. So, again, without the causal evidence, but even without that, I think this is a good thing. Now, my worry is, I mean, the answer is always, it depends, right? For example, like in the case of, say, ice, if you want to find a specific person who visited some place, could you track a person who ICE is interested in? Is that, again, a good thing or a bad thing? Right. So this is where I struggle with the answer. But I do also want the company to such a pepper the company to put in more guardrails, put in more technology in there to help better responsible use of the technology itself.

[A]

Dr. Rajiv Garg is an associate professor of information systems and operations management at Goizueta Business School at Emory University. The thank you so much for speaking with me.

[C]

Thank you, Peter.

[A]

Both candidates for governor made their pitch to Georgia's business community at the annual Georgia Chamber of Commerce Congressional Luncheon in Athens today. GPB Sarah Kalis reports.

[B]

Affordability, particularly healthcare affordability, was at the top of candidates minds at the Athens event. Democratic nominee and former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says expanding Medicaid is a cornerstone of her affordability agenda.

[A]

Now we say it's one of the top issues because our strength and our weaknesses within our health care system impact everything. There's not a single community that you go into in this state that hadn't been touched by our refusal not to expand Medicaid from from hospitals in the metro area to hospitals in our rural communities. And it weakens our entire health care system when we don't expand Medicaid.

[B]

Republican nominee and health care executive Rick Jackson says he believes in a, quote, intelligent Medicaid expansion and bringing down the cost of commercial insurance.

[D]

As an example, I was talking to construction association the other day and they said that they can train somebody from scratch with no experience for six, seven weeks, cost about six, $7,000 and make $25 an hour and have medical benefits. I want to be able to give an opportunity to every Medicaid recipient to be able to be trained and get a job and get off of Medicaid. I'm not going to measure our state by how many people are on Medicaid. I'm going to measure how many people are on commercial insurance. And the way to do that is reduce the cost of commercial insurance. And that's what I'm going to do.

[B]

Georgia is one of 10 states that has not fully expanded Medicaid. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallas in Athens. The fatal shooting of a teenager at a protest in Seattle has gone unsolved for six years.

[C]

This is open in your face.

[D]

How are there no answers?

[B]

Our investigation has uncovered new evidence and witnesses who say they've never talked to police.

[C]

Did police ever call you?

[D]

Not once.

[B]

Listen to We Keep Us Safe, a new True crime series on the Embedded podcast from npr.

[A]

35 Georgia firefighters are working on blazes in the West. The Georgia Forestry commission said yesterday the vast majority of them were in Washington and Oregon. The National Interagency Fire center today said there were 49 uncontained large wildfires burning across those two states. The commission posted on social media photos taken by Georgia firefighters, including photos of burning homes, a burned out truck and smoke filled skies. The Atlanta City Council passed a resolution this week directing the mayor's office to establish a formal heat safety response plan. Council member Kelsey Bond introduced the resolution this summer after the city experienced several days of extreme heat. She spoke last month at a committee meeting about needing a more reliable response to heat.

[B]

I think there's a big gap between our ability as a city to really notify people about extreme weather conditions and about the resources that do exist.

[A]

The resolution calls for expanding hours and locations of cooling centers, providing outreach to vulnerable populations during extreme heat events and establishing clear guidelines for when to deploy heat operations. The Georgia manufacturer of an emergency food meant to help severely malnourished kids might soon see an infusion of new orders under new spending by the U.S. state Department. GPB's Grant Blankenship reports $100 million will

[E]

be spent over two years for Ready to Use Therapeutic Food, or RUTF, a peanut based product made at Mana Nutrition in Fitzgerald and at a factory in Rhode Island. That's less than a third of what the Trump administration spent last year, but the dollars are expected to stretch through a new public private partnership with a nonprofit called Operation Instarvation, led by former Republican legislators and veterans of the food aid space. Manna Nutrition CEO Mark Moore says the news comes while he is still managing problems caused by the end of usaid.

[C]

Hey, it doesn't solve them, but it's

[A]

very good news in that it gives

[C]

us a couple years of certainty, which is way more, way more than we had.

[E]

Operation End Starvation plans its first orders for October. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship.

[A]

The world's largest golf hospitality management company has acquired a Georgia firm with a legendary name in golf. Arizona based Troon said Monday that it has acquired Bobby Jones Links. The Georgia company operates Bobby Jones Golf Course in Atlanta and the Patch Golf Course in Augusta, among 35 facilities in a dozen states. Bobby Jones Lynx was founded more than 25 years ago. It's named after the golfing icon who died in 1971. The company says it will maintain an administrative hub in Alpharetta, north of Atlanta. Georgia's medical cannabis program experienced an unprecedented surge of new registered patients over the past month after a significant legal change aimed at easing access the patient registry grew from about 36,000 patients in late June to nearly 45,000 patients on Monday, an increase of more than 22% in just over a month. It's a huge spike for a decade old program that grew sluggishly under the previous law. A law that took effect in July eliminated some branding requirements, changed potency standards and added new qualifying conditions, among other changes pushed by advocates and physicians. Emory University Hospital is once again ranked the top hospital in Georgia. U.S. news World Report has named Emory the state's best hospital for the 15th consecutive year. Piedmont Atlanta moved up to the no. 2 spot, followed by Emory St. Joseph Hospital, Emory University Hospital Midtown and Northside Hospital Cherokee tied for fourth. The rankings are based on measures including patient outcomes, complications and patient experience. Drawing on data from nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide, the Georgia Peanut Commission is looking for the state's next big food innovation. The commission has launched its first Georgia Peanut Innovation Award winning, offering a $10,000 prize for a new product made with Georgia grown peanuts. The contest is open to entrepreneurs developing products for people or pets, including ideas still in the prototype stage. Entries are due August 20th and the winner will be announced at the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie this October. Georgia produces more than half of the nation's peanuts. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce says the coolest thing made in Georgia is an electric school bus the chamber unveiled the winner of its second annual Coolest Thing Made in Georgia contest today in Athens. The contest used nominations, public voting and social media to determine Georgia's coolest thing. Last year it was military aircraft made by Lockheed Martin. This year, the chamber says the Bluebird Vision electric school bus made in Fort Valley represents the state's leadership in innovation and manufacturing. Bluebird sales and marketing chief Tim Gordon calls it a big recognition for the company's 1600 employees.

[D]

It's kind of reward to them at the hard work they put in and what they put out for us. We carry the most precious cargo there is. We carry children every day.

[A]

The bus first debuted in 1996 and was reintroduced to the market in 2018. Today, more than 4,000 are operating across the U.S. including about 100 in Georgia. And that's a wrap on this edition of Georgia Today. Thank you so much for tuning in. We've got more [e-mail] and remember to tune in tomorrow. Subscribe to this podcast and we will be there in your podcast feed automatically tomorrow afternoon and your feedback of course is welcome. We like your story ideas too, if you have any. Tell us what's going on in your community. Our email address is Georgia todaypb.org I'm Peter Biello. Thank you again for listening. We will see you tomorrow.