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Georgia Today: Active shooter drills; Atlanta's efficient water use; solar panel regulations
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LISTEN: On the Tuesday Feb. 28 edition of Georgia Today: Lawmakers pass legislation requiring active shooter drills in schools; Atlanta's noted for efficient water use; and solar panel regulations could be on the way.
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Tuesday, Feb. 28. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, after contentious debate, lawmakers pass legislation requiring active shooter drills in schools. Atlanta gets high marks for its indoor water use. Efficiency and putting solar panels on your home has been mostly unregulated, but changes may be on the way. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.
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Peter Biello: A state Senate committee advanced two bills yesterday that could allow Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood to split from the rest of the city. Now, the full Senate will consider the bills, which proponents say are needed to address concerns over crime and taxes. Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Patricia Murphy told GPB's Political Rewind. Atlanta business leaders strongly oppose the measure.
Patricia Murphy: And it creates this unbelievable precedent of any lawmaker anywhere in the state getting a phone call from somebody in Savannah or Athens or Macon to say, you know, I really do not like the other half of our city. We don't like what's happening and we want to vote to break away. We want our own city.
Peter Biello: The bill would allow the new city to buy Atlanta-owned infrastructure at a discount and give the new city 20% of Atlanta's cash reserves. A similar effort failed last year.
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Peter Biello: The Georgia House has passed legislation that would require annual intruder alert drills in public schools. GPB's Devon Zwald has more.
Devon Zwald: HB 147 sparked debate before passing 148 to 20 yesterday. It is backed by Gov. Brian Kemp, and supporters say it will improve school safety. Democratic opponents say the bill doesn't go far enough to protect children. Atlanta Democrat Stacey Evans, who supports the bill, says lawmakers should also consider passing gun control measures.
I think most schools are doing some form of these intruder drills. But again, I'm voting for this bill because I want to make sure they all do, because I want our babies and teachers to be as safe as they can.
Opponents of the bill say it puts the burden of protecting schools on teachers and they raise concerns about the impact of these drills on student mental health. The bill now moves to the Georgia Senate. For GPB News, I'm Devon Zwald.
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Peter Biello: Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is leaving her position as director of the White House Office of Engagement. Bottoms assumed the role last summer after deciding not to seek reelection as Atlanta mayor. She told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it was time to get back home, get back to her family, and focus on the future. President Biden announced yesterday that he has appointed former Columbia South Carolina Mayor Steve Benjamin to take over the position.
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Peter Biello: Atlanta leads the nation's 15 largest metro areas in the efficient indoor use of water. GPB's Orlando Montoya reports on where the data comes from.
Orlando Montoya: California-based Flume Data labs monitors water use with tens of thousands of sensors that households voluntarily install. The company says they have 500 sensors in the metro Atlanta area, where residents use an average of 36 gallons of indoor water per day, the lowest amount among metro areas monitored. Chris Manganiello of the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper says the numbers are good but come from years of political struggle, especially a landmark state law.
Chris Manganiello: The Water Stewardship Act in 2010 was a big deal. I mean, it improved plumbing code, clarified how we respond to drought.
Orlando Montoya: He says the 2000 date drought and tri state legal dispute over control of several rivers forced the region to become more efficient. For GPB News, I'm Orlando Montoya.
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Peter Biello: The Georgia House could cast a vote this week on a bill that would give the Public Service Commission the power to regulate those who install solar panels. A House committee unanimously approved a bill last week granting such power. It also gives those regulators the ability to find companies who run afoul of the rules. Proponents say the goal is to weed out companies that make false claims about how much the solar panels will reduce their energy bills. Some critics of the bill, including clean energy groups, have criticized handing over regulation to the PSC, which they say has not been supportive enough of solar energy development.
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Peter Biello: A Georgia Senate committee voted to move forward yesterday with legislation that prevents counties from seeking outside funding to help with elections. GPB's Stephen Fowler reports.
Stephen Fowler: In 2021's massive voting law, local elections boards were banned from seeking third-party grants because some Republicans argued it wasn't fair because not every county got money. During the pandemic, counties of all sizes and political backgrounds received millions from a nonprofit founded by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. Now, after DeKalb County requested a grant and appropriated to its elections, GOP lawmakers are looking to end outside money completely. Local elections officials testified the bill was unnecessary and could make it harder to serve voters in larger counties. It's one of several voting measures the Legislature is debating before Crossover Day next Monday — typically the final day a bill must pass out of one chamber to be considered the rest of session. For GPB News, I'm Stephen Fowler.
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Peter Biello: A group of investors led in part by Atlanta's Dr. Bernice King, plans to acquire a Utah-based bank in what's being called the first commercial bank acquisition of a non-minority owned bank by Black investors. Redemption Holding Company has agreed to buy Holiday Bank and Trust. King, the daughter of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., says the acquisition makes good on her father's call to create financial opportunities for communities of color. It's expected to become the nation's 17th Black-owned bank. There were 50 black owned banks in 1976.
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Peter Biello: In 1943, Frank Murphy of the 100th Bomb Group was flying through hostile skies above Germany when he was shot down. He survived and was taken as a prisoner of war. His tale of survival as a POW for 18 months became the basis of his memoir, Luck of the Draw, which he wrote years later while he was living and working in Atlanta. He died in 2007 at the age of 85. His book is being republished now, in part because of the renewed interest in the 100th Bomb Group, thanks to a new Apple TV Plus television series in which Murphy's character appears. His granddaughter and CNN correspondent Chloe Melas is, along with her mother, spearheading the effort to share her grandfather's story.
Chloe Melas: I am thrilled to be here.
Peter Biello: So when did you first learn about your grandfather's experience during the war?
Chloe Melas: I mean, I grew up knowing these stories about my grandfather flying high in the sky above Nazi-occupied Europe, and I knew that he was in World War II. I didn't fully understand what he went through and what that meant until I was probably a senior in high school. And then when I was in college and I studied abroad in England, I was in London. I took a train out to the Air Force base that he flew out of in the countryside called Thorpe Abbotts, and I called him while I was there. It was a year before he died. And so that was an incredible experience. But I really got to understand, and that's when my interest really piqued. And I would say, like that was the beginning of this journey that I'm still on.
Peter Biello: Well, when you first read this book, what surprised you about your grandfather's experience?
Chloe Melas: I had no idea what it meant to be a prisoner of war. I didn't realize that he lost so much weight and covered in lice. And at the end of the war, he had pneumonia. And I had no idea that he was thrown into boxcars. When you think boxcars, I usually think Holocaust, right? And I didn't realize he had been thrown in a boxcar for three days and nights with no food, you know, little water. I glorified it all. I'm thinking of, you know, Steve McQueen and The Great Escape. And I'm thinking of the Memphis Belle when I when I was a little girl thinking of World War II or even in my teens, I wasn't thinking that my grandfather nearly died. It really hit me as a mom when I went and I read the book again and I realized that two members of his crew died the day that the plane was shot down. And it really comes back to the title of the book, Luck of the Draw, you know, just by luck. My grandfather survived, and I'm here on this earth.
Peter Biello: I imagine you as a mother reading this, would read the letters that his mother sent to him after she's heard word that there were planes that went down and that he's not responding. And what's happening and where is he? That's a stressful moment for the family.
Chloe Melas: His parents didn't know if he was alive and his father was calling the White House every single day, saying, "I want to know where is my son? Where is my son?" And then they finally found out months later through a Western Union telegram that Grandpa — or their son Frank — was alive and well, but a prisoner of war. That's when the correspondence started happening. I have a lot of those telegrams, the original telegrams. I have them. And Grandpa's asking for chocolate. My grandfather's like "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Can you send me some chocolate?"
Peter Biello: Send the important things. Send chocolate.
Chloe Melas: And socks.
Peter Biello: And socks. Yes. So now it's going to be on television. And your grandfather is a character in this new Apple TV Plus series. What can you tell us about the character and how he's portrayed?
Chloe Melas: Oh, it's so cool. Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks doing Masters of the Air. And it's going to come out this year starring Austin Butler, very expensive television show. I went to the set. It was remarkable. In the countryside of England, these sets are unbelievable. The attention to detail, they they recreated these towns that had been bombed and we're walking through them. And the sets are so big, they're like an hour apart from each other. And it's just so neat. So Jonas Moore is playing my grandfather. He's a relatively unknown actor, but very talented.
Peter Biello: It's. How close is the resemblance?
Chloe Melas: Pretty good. Yeah. He looks like a young Frank. Great.
Peter Biello: Oh, that's great.
Chloe Melas: I'm thrilled.
Peter Biello: So you have an appearance along with your mother at the story in the square in McDonough on March 3 and at the Atlanta History Center on March 6. What can those who attend expect?
Chloe Melas: A lot of heart and learn more about Frank and his experiences and this journey to publishing the book and what that was like and why it's so important to remember what your ancestors did before you. I'll just mention you like what Tom Hanks said. He says "No words matter more than 'I was there.'" And then he ends it with, "How did those boys do such things?" And it's, you know, I wasn't there, but my grandfather told me about it. And we have this book that can really take you there and that I think is so special.
Peter Biello: Well, Chloe Melas, thank you so much for coming in and speaking about your grandfather's book. Really appreciate it.
Chloe Melas: Thank you.
Peter Biello: That's Chloe Melas. She, along with her mother, is promoting her grandfather's book, Luck of the Draw. His account of being held as prisoner of war in Germany during World War II. His story and stories of other Americans held captive are the subject of a forthcoming Apple Plus TV series.
Peter Biello: And thank you so much for spending part of this unseasonably warm day with Georgia Today. That's a wrap. But we will be back in your podcast feed tomorrow with the latest from GPB's newsroom. Remember to subscribe to this podcast so we're there with you every weekday afternoon. And if you've got feedback, we'd love to hear it. Send us an email. The address is GeorgiaToday@gpb.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
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