Georgia Today: Gender affirming care ban; blind employee fired, company sued; Jan. 6 attorney jailed

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Tuesday, March 21. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode: The ban on gender affirming care for minors heads to the governor's desk; an Atlanta-based company is sued for firing a blind employee; and an attorney from South Georgia has been convicted for his role in the January 6th attack. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1

Peter Biello: The state Senate has given final passage to a bill that would ban most gender-affirming care for Georgians under the age of 18. The 31 to 21 vote came after an hour of emotional debate. The bill's Republican supporters said it would protect children from making irreversible decisions. Atlanta state senator [and] Democrat Nan Orrock said the stakes with the vote were high.

Nan Orrock: You're damaging real children. Damaging real families. Insulting the medical community, in my opinion. You're paving — you're paving the way for incidents of suicide among our youth.

Peter Biello: The bill would ban surgeries and hormone replacement therapies but allow puberty blockers. It now goes to Governor Brian Kemp for his signature.

Credit: Capitol Beat

Story 2

Peter Biello: A federal agency has sued Atlanta-based pizza giant Papa John's for allegedly firing a blind employee at a store in Athens because of his disability. The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission says the company denied the employee's request to keep a service dog on site and away from both customers and food prep areas. In a statement, the company doesn't address the Athens complaint, but says Papa John's makes reasonable accommodations for disabled workers.

Story 3

Peter Biello: Two organizations are working together to address food insecurity in the Atlanta metro area. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports from the ribbon cutting.

Amanda Andrews: The Everyone Eats Foundation was founded in 2017 to feed low-income communities in Atlanta. Now they'll expand using  a $150,000 grant from the anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to open a new building, housing a community garden, food bank, soup, kitchen and restaurant. Atlanta-born Summer Jo says she founded this nonprofit for personal reasons.

Summer Jo: This building is here for people like me, for the village that raised me, for the people who live in food deserts out of their cars or in lower-income neighborhoods. For people who want to be healthy but were taught that they couldn't afford to eat better.

Amanda Andrews: The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Mayor Andre Dickens and representatives from [Amerigroup] Georgia, who donated another $50,000 to support the project. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.

Caption

Erin Fletcher with the Wounded Warrior Project says a partnership with the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program helped them quickly pivot to telehealth services during the pandemic, reducing isolation among veterans.

Credit: Pexels

Story 4

Peter Biello: A bill to boost funding for veterans' mental health services is about to become law. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more.

Ellen Eldridge: House Bill 414 sets up a grant program within the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to provide behavioral health services to military service members, veterans and their families. Funding would come from the Federal Department of Veterans Services and prioritize programs within 50 miles of a military base. Sen. Mike Dugan says access to mental health programs is critical.

Mike Dugan: From January through February of this year, we've had three National Guardsmen kill themselves, commit suicides because of mental health issues, because of multiple deployments.

Ellen Eldridge: Georgia has 13 active military bases, with more than 88,000 active duty and reserve military personnel. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 5

Peter Biello: A federal judge convicted an attorney in South Georgia's Sumter County yesterday on five charges related to his role in the January 6th attack. William Calhoun Jr. Was among the first rioters to enter the U.S. Capitol and bragged about the event as a, quote, "hand-to-hand hostile takeover" on social media. Testifying in his own defense, he told a Washington, D.C. judge that he was merely following the crowd and exaggerated his role online. Sentencing was scheduled for July.

Story 6

Peter Biello: The Georgia House approved a bill yesterday that cracks down on gang recruitment. Senate Bill 44 would impose prison sentences of at least five years on those convicted of recruiting gang members — 10 years for recruiting someone under the age of 17 into a gang. Supporters say Georgia has to act to reduce gang crime. Opponents say Georgia's laws already carry harsh penalties, and there's no proof criminals will be deterred. Because the House amended Senate Bill 44. It heads back to the Senate.

Story 7

Peter Biello: The state Senate has given final passage to a bill to create a state commission for Georgia's fast-growing citrus industry. The bill's sponsor says there were about 4,500 citrus trees in Georgia a decade ago. Today, that number is up to half a million. Grower Lindy Savelle in South Georgia's Thomas County says at first there was a lot of skepticism about the industry here, especially considering winter temperatures. But she says the recent Christmas freeze demonstrated its strength.

Lindy Savelle: Georgia has wonderful soil, wonderful climate, and the trees have an opportunity to go dormant before it just sinks down to that freezing temperature.

Peter Biello: The commission would work like 13 other agricultural commodity commissions in Georgia, collecting assessments from growers for research and promotion. After passing in the House, the bill now goes to Governor Brian Kemp for his signature.

Story 8

Peter Biello: And finally in sports, the Atlanta Braves have announced the broadcast team for this year. Brandon Gaudin will lead the team with play-by-play duties. You might not recognize his name, but you may recognize his voice as he is the voice you hear on the Madden NFL series of video games since 2017. Joining Gaudin in the booth will be fan favorite Jeff Francoeur and Hall of Famer Tom Glavine.

Peter Biello: And that's all we've got for today's edition of Georgia Today. But we've got more news coming out of the newsroom tomorrow. We hope you'll be here for it. Subscribe to Georgia Today and we will pop up fresh in your podcast feed tomorrow afternoon. By the way, if you're looking for national headlines, you can always head over to our website, GPB.org. It's constantly being updated with a stream of news. It's almost like you'd wish it would slow down a little bit. There's so much to hold on to, but we try to make it easy for you. We hope you enjoy what we've got both on the podcast and that GPB.org. If you like what you hear, leave a review. We love to have reviews. They help people find this podcast. And if you've got some feedback, we are always open to it. Send it to us by email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org.

I'm Peter Biello. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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