Last week, a federal judge temporarily halted the Trump administration's plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. It’s unclear if legislative efforts to extend the program will be successful. 

Under DACA, some 800,000 young immigrants, often referred to as "Dreamers," can legally live and work in the U.S. One of those Dreamers is Valentina Emilia Garcia Gonzalez, who moved from Uruguay to Gwinnett County, Georgia. She told us how the DACA program has helped her. Then, we talked to Wesley Tharpe of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute about the economic impact removing DACA would have on Georgia.

 

For a while, Purple Ribbon Sugarcane thrived on Sapelo Island, off the Georgia coast. Then, disease nearly wiped it out altogether in North America, but it’s been brought back, thanks to a team of farmers, geneticists, and historians. We revisited a conversation with three of the people who have worked on this project: Georgia Coastal Gourmet Farms owner Jerome Dixon, David Shields of the University of South Carolina, and the late Cornelia Bailey of the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society.

This month, the restaurant Husk Savannah opened its doors. On the menu, you can order dishes prepared with the Purple Ribbon Sugarcane. We talked with chef Tyler Williams about how he’s using the sugarcane to keep Gullah history and culture alive.

 

Last September, Georgia Tech student Scout Schultz was shot to death by a campus police officer. According to investigators, Schultz called 911 to report an armed suspicious person on campus. When police arrived, they found Schultz holding a blade. After repeated commands to drop it, an officer opened fire. Schultz, who was suicidal, was one of 30 Georgians shot and killed by police last year. According to data compiled by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a quarter of these shootings involved mental illness. We checked in with AJC reporter Brad Schrade, who has been tracking these cases.

 

As metro Atlanta grows, the population of rural Georgia shrinks. Photographer Brian Brown is documenting the architecture of the country before it disappears. He started where he grew up, and created the website “Vanishing South Georgia.” Now he has sites devoted to North and Coastal Georgia, too. We talked with Brown about what there is to learn from decaying houses and shuttered storefronts.

Tags: OST Full Show  Athens  Atlanta  Macon  Savannah