On Second Thought For Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Some people read the local paper for news and sports. Others head straight to the columns. That's where you'll find Dick Yarbrough, who has never run short of opinions. The iconic opinion-wielder enters about 600,000 homes across Georgia and addresses more than one million readers each week.

The Georgia Press Association named Yarbrough's column "most humorous" several times — although some politicians don't appreciate his sense of humor at all. Yarbrough spoke with On Second Thought host Virginia Prescott about his career writing columns for more than 20 years.

 On Second Thought for Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Augusta’s economy is booming bigtime.  The metro area’s GDP has increased more than $1.5 billion since 2015.  It’s outpacing national growth and on track to eclipse the statewide rate.

That good news follows decades of struggle. Sea Stachura has been reporting on the turnaround for GPB.  She told On Second Thought the growth is tied to the city’s emerging cyber security field.  

Earlier in June the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that 17,000 poor, elderly or disabled Georgians had lost their Medicaid benefits. The Georgia Department of Community Health said their accounts were terminated for not responding to renewal notices. Now, the AJC reports state officials have revealed the full number of people slated to lose Medicaid is closer to 30,000.

Approximately 2 million Georgians receive Medicaid benefits. Many of the 17,000 already dropped – and their lawyers – say they never received those notices. Now they're fighting to get their benefits back. We spoke with reporter Ariel Hart, who broke the story for the AJC. Alisa Haber, a staff attorney at the Georgia Senior Legal Hotline, also joined the conversation. She assists seniors all over the state in applying for and renewing their Medicaid benefits.

"Corridos" are a traditional form of storytelling through song, which became widely popular during the Mexican Revolution. They often tell stories of history, oppression, the common human experience and cultural heroes. These songs chronicle life (and sometimes death) in an easily shared and consumed format.

A new album by Athens-based musician and activist Beto Cacao carries on the tradition of this musical form. It's called Undocorridos: Songs of the Stories and Struggles of the Undocumented in the USA. Cacao spoke to On Second Thought from WUGA in Athens to explain more.

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