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Georgia Today: 'Cop City' public comments; Fulton County DA pushes back; Georgia on 'American Idol'
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On the Tuesday May 16 edition of Georgia Today: Hundreds of residents showed up to an Atlanta City Council meeting to oppose a proposed police training facility; The Fulton County DA pushes back against Donald Trump; And a Georgia native earns a top spot on "American Idol."
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Tuesday, May 16. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, hundreds of residents showed up to an Atlanta City Council meeting to oppose a proposed police training facility. The Fulton County prosecutor investigating Donald Trump pushes back after the former president tries to remove her from the case. And a Georgia native earns a top spot on American Idol. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.
Story 1:
Peter Biello: Hundreds of residents showed up at an Atlanta City Council meeting yesterday to voice their opposition to a plan to allocate more than $30 million to build a police training center. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports.
Amanda Andrews: Nearly 300 people signed up to speak against the project, with public comment stretching over 7 hours. Opposition to the facility has been growing since the shooting death of environmental activist Manuel Paez Teran during a raid by police as they attempted to clear the training center's construction site. Police say Teran fired first. Social justice organizer Toni Michelle Williams attended the meeting and says she wants to see people rethink what public safety means in Atlanta.
Toni Michelle Williams: I will come to this city and envision a place where I would be able to be my free self, my most authentic self, my most visible self. And I can't do that with more police around.
Amanda Andrews: The City Council could vote on funding by June 5. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.
Peter Biello: Fani Willis is fighting back. The Fulton County prosecutor is investigating the actions of former President Donald Trump and his allies after the 2020 election, and she's resisting the former president's attempt to remove her from the case. The former president is also trying to exclude certain evidence. Willis argued in a motion yesterday that Trump's efforts on both counts are without merit and should be denied or dismissed. Trump's Georgia legal team in March asked the court to toss out the special grand jury report on the case and prevent prosecutors from using any evidence or testimony it contained.
Story 3:
Peter Biello: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is hoping to improve the way some people get professional licenses in Georgia, and he's forming a commission to do that. The Georgia Works Licensing Commission held its first meeting yesterday. Tasks on the commission's to do list include helping paroled incarcerated people get licensed and helping military spouses transferred to Georgia from out of state get licenses to pursue professions such as nursing.
Story 4:
Peter Biello: Home Depot is projecting its first annual revenue decline in more than a decade. The Atlanta-based retail giant today said that its first quarter earnings fell short of expectations. The company is projecting a decline as the economy slows and costs rise following explosive growth during the pandemic. The last time Home Depot's annual revenues fell was in 2009, after the housing bubble collapsed.
Story 5:
Peter Biello: Despite a $66 million cut to the university system of Georgia's budget by state lawmakers, tuition will remain mostly unchanged next year at the state's colleges and universities, GPB's Donna Lowry reports.
Donna Lowry: The Georgia Board of Regents voted unanimously to keep tuition unchanged in 2024. Regents Chief Fiscal Officer Tracy Cook:
Tracy Cook: This would be the sixth time in eight years that tuition has remained flat for our students in the university system.
Donna Lowry: Middle Georgia State University in Macon is the only exception. Its tuition will increase slightly to better align the school with similar institutions. USG Chancellor Sonny Perdue floated the possibility of a systemwide increase shortly after the General Assembly slashed the system's funding in March, despite a budget surplus. At Tuesday's meeting, one Regents member mentioned the possibility those funds might be restored. That could happen in the amended budget when the General Assembly meets in January. For GPB News, I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta.
Peter Biello: The Department of Justice has reached a civil rights settlement with the sheriff's office in Southeast Georgia's Liberty County. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.
Benjamin Payne: The settlement resolves a racial discrimination complaint filed against the sheriff's office by Delaware State University, a historically Black institution. Last year, a charter bus carrying the school's women's lacrosse team was pulled over in Liberty County and searched for drugs. None were found. Delaware State argued that the search was racially motivated and infringed on student's federal rights under the Civil Rights Act. The sheriff argued that the traffic stop was made because the bus was illegally driving in the left lane. Under the terms of the DOJ settlement, the Liberty County Sheriff's Office will review its own police procedures and updated its traffic enforcement policies, among other measures. The agreement also calls for the sheriff's office to meet with the Department of Justice on a quarterly basis to track their progress. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne.
Story 7:
Peter Biello: A supplier of graphite plans to build a factory in southwest Georgia and hire 400 workers. GPB's Devon Zwald has more.
Devon Zwald: Chicago-based Innovation Technologies will invest $800 million to construct the plant in Bainbridge. Production of synthetic graphite for use in batteries that power electric vehicles and other products is expected to begin in late 2025. It will build on Georgia's push to recruit makers of electric vehicles and their suppliers. The announcement marks the second big industrial manufacturer to locate in Bainbridge in two years. Danimer Scientific, a maker of biodegradable plastic, announced in 2021 they would build a $700 million factory there. For GPB News, I'm Devon Zwald.
Story 8:
Peter Biello: On any given shift, police officers can experience trauma. Untreated, that trauma can influence how they police their communities. To help officers recover. One metro Atlanta Police Department has opened a wellness room where officers can recover. Clinicians praise the concept, but as Katja Ridderbusch reports, it's not a natural sell to cops.
Katja Ridderbusch: Sgt. Ray Figueroa shuts the door, dims the light and sinks into a black massage chair. He's had a particularly stressful day. Soothing mountain river tunes pour over the loudspeakers into this small room at the Marietta Police Department.
Ray Figueroa: I had to come in here for about 15 minutes because I needed some quiet.
Katja Ridderbusch: Figueroa has been with the Marietta Police for 22 years. He used to work on the SWAT team and is now assigned to the training unit. Initially, he was skeptical about the new wellness room that some officers call "Zen den."
Ray Figueroa: Being that this is a type of employment with alpha males and alpha females trying to get them to come into a room, turn off the light, listen to some music and relax? I just didn't think it would work.
Katja Ridderbusch: Until he tried it out himself.
Ray Figueroa: And I said "Well, this is actually pretty nice."
Katja Ridderbusch: The metro Atlanta department with 140 officers is the first in Georgia with a wellness room. Here, cops can decompress during or after a shift that can turn from uneventful into violent within split seconds. Chief Marty Farrell has made mental health one of his priorities.
Marty Farrell: I expect these young men and women to go out and handle very dynamic and complex accident scenes, homicide scenes, and I've got to give them something to help them cope with the things that they see on a daily basis.
Katja Ridderbusch: But it's not just about the officers. The community benefits as well, says Farrell, especially in a time when cases of police misconduct and violence make frequent headlines.
Marty Farrell: I want that to be for the men and women inside this building that they know that we are looking out for their best interests. So they are the very best they can be when they come to your house when you're in distress.
Katja Ridderbusch: According to recent studies, rates of burnout, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse and suicides are significantly higher among police officers than civilians. In Marietta, two officers died by suicide in the last few years. Dr. Jody Hughes is chief medical officer at WellStar Cobb Hospital and a critical care physician. He says police officers experience frequent adrenaline spikes.
Jody Hughes: And with time, with repetitive episodes of this, then it can lead to having chronic high blood pressure, chronically elevated heart rates, which can lead to other things like heart disease. Then also just the stresses of these environments, too, can put people at risk for depression, anxiety and problems with sleep. So it can really even have a snowball effect.
Katja Ridderbusch: Like fueling aggressive behavior. Hughes says relaxation tools, such as low frequency beats, soft lights and aromatherapy could help officers lower their stress levels.
Jody Hughes: They're not on edge as much. It can just really promote a more, more physiologic calming state for their bodies.
Katja Ridderbusch: In Marietta, officer Jonnie Moeller-Reed is all in.
Jonnie Moeller-Reed: Once I heard that that was a go. I was thrilled.
Katja Ridderbusch: . But not everyone in the department is convinced, says Moeller-Reed. To some of the hardened veteran cops, the wellness room is a tough sell.
Jonnie Moeller-Reed: I think the wrong expectation is that officers think this is a place for me to go and basically curl up in the fetal position and wave my surrender flag and say I can't take it anymore.
Katja Ridderbusch: Chief Marty Farrell says the wellness room is not a cure-all, but it's an important tool for physical and mental health. Because, he asks, how can his officers take care of citizens if they can take care of themselves? For GPB News, I'm Katja Ridderbusch in Atlanta.
Story 9:
Peter Biello: Music Midtown is returning to Atlanta's Piedmont Park in September. Festival organizer Live Nation canceled last year's event without explanation, although city officials blamed the new Georgia law allowing guns in public places like the park. Two weeks ago, the Shaky Knees music festival banned guns from another city-owned park without a legal challenge. Music Midtown's website says weapons are prohibited. The website also touts more than 40 acts, including Pink, Billie Eilish, Guns N Roses and Lil Baby, among others.
Story 10:
Peter Biello: Georgia native Megan Danielle earned a spot on American Idol's top three on Sunday night with her rendition of "You Can't Stop the Girl" from the Disney film Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. Danielle's hometown of Douglasville had planned a hometown hero celebration for today. And this evening, Danielle will headline a concert at Douglas County High School. The American Idol season finale is this Sunday.
Story 11:
Peter Biello: In sports, in baseball, Kevin Pillar and Ronald Acuna Jr each hit a two-run homer in the second inning as the atlanta Braves routed the Texas Rangers 12 to nothing last night. Orlando Arcia, Austin Riley and Marcell Ozuna also socked two-run shots for the Braves. Charlie Morton struck out a season-high 10 and limited the Rangers to seven singles and one walk in 6 and 2/3 innings to win consecutive starts for the first time this season. The two teams face off again tonight in Texas. And former Atlanta Falcons Matt Ryan has joined CBS as an analyst. Though he's not giving up on landing with another team as a quarterback, CBS announced yesterday that the four-time Pro Bowler will serve as a studio and game analyst across multiple platforms for the upcoming season. Ryan is one of the most prolific quarterbacks in NFL history, spending nearly all of his 15-year career with the Falcons. Ryan guided Atlanta to six playoff appearances, three division titles, and won the MVP award in 2016 as the Falcons reached the Super Bowl for only the second time in franchise history. The 37-year-old Ryan is coming off a disappointing season with the Indianapolis Colts, who acquired him in a trade last year.
Peter Biello: And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you want to learn more about any of these stories or find the latest, visit GPB.org/news. The best way to stay on top of the news through Georgia Today is to subscribe to this podcast. Take a moment. Subscribe now and we will be there for you in your podcast feed tomorrow afternoon. If you have feedback or a story idea, we would love to hear from you. 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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