Georgia Today: Democratic lawmaker switches parties; Macon summer meals program; Facebook lawsuit

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today's Tuesday, July 11. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, a Democratic state lawmaker switches political parties. We'll hear how a summer meals program in Macon is helping kids missing out on school meals. And an attorney from Columbus sued Facebook and won. We'll talk to him about it. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: A new grand jury sworn in today in Atlanta likely will consider whether criminal charges are appropriate for former President Donald Trump or his allies for their efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been investigating Republican fake electors, phone calls to Georgia officials and unfounded allegations of widespread election fraud. Willis is expected to present her case before one of two grand juries that were seated today.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: A Democratic state lawmaker criticized by fellow Democrats for voting with Republicans during this year's General Assembly has switched parties. Atlanta state Rep. Mesha Mainor said today that she's joining the GOP, adding to the Republican majority in the state House. Mainor supported the GOP on several key bills this year, including a failed effort to create a school voucher program. Her announcement likely signals her last term serving her district since her Atlanta area district votes overwhelmingly Democratic.

Caption

Voting machines

Credit: AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File

Story 3:

Peter Biello: More than a dozen Chatham County voters yesterday urged the county's Board of Elections to scrap its voting machines and replace them with paper ballots. In a possible sign of things to come as Georgia and the nation prepares for next year's elections, the activists spoke to the board for 3 minutes each about a topic the board has no control over. The board chairman explained that only the state legislature can change the voting system. Unpersuaded, the voters called the voting system insecure and demanded change. Two officers had to carry out one activist, Beth Majeroni, by her hands and feet after she refused the board chairman's demand to stop discussing grand jury matters related to her pursuit of precinct voting records from last year's elections. Majeroni later said she had not violated rules governing the secrecy of grand jury deliberations.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: For some children, the end of the school year also means losing access to daily meals. So federally funded summer meal programs step in to fill the gap, feeding thousands of kids a day during some of the hardest months for many families. That takes a lot of people doing a lot of work. GPB's Sofi Gratas has this audio postcard from one summer meal program run by the Bibb County School District in Macon.

Sofi Gratas: It’s lunch time for the kids at Macon’s Martin Luther King Elementary School. 

AMBIENT SOUND: Children

LaTanya Wooten My name is Latanya Wooten. And I am the nutrition manager here at the Martin Luther King Elementary School

Sofi Gratas: This summer, Wooten's been feeding kids enrolled in the school district’s summer camp and kids from the neighborhood, who are hungry. 

LaTanya Wooten:  it's a program that's much needed. It's much needed, you know. A lot of parents work like in the morning time and in the afternoon. So by us feeding the kids, they don't have to worry about whether or not their child is eating, especially if they don't have, like, older siblings or something like that. 

AMBIENT SOUND: Children gathering and talking.

LaTanya Wooten:  With us, we know that they will get either a lunch and/or a breakfast.

Sofi Gratas: Conduce Schumann is the executive director of School Nutrition for the district. 

Conduce Shuman:  It doesn't matter whether or not you're a Bibb County student. So if you're visiting Grandma and Grandpa for the summertime and they live in Bibb, if you have access to these meals every day. And even if they're not in school, that's the whole purpose of the mobile site so that we'll bring the food to you. 

AMBIENT SOUND: Parking lot

Sofi Gratas: Which takes us to a parking lot in North Macon. Site coordinator Keiza Hunt gets ready to send off school buses filled with lunch bags for kids. 

AMBIENT SOUND: School buses

Kieza Hunt:  Load them up in these bags and we call these — they're like cooler bags. So it keeps hot food hot and cold food cold.  I know here at the Central Kitchen each day we've been packing anywhere from 1,800 to 2,300 meals.

Sofi Gratas: Meals on this bus are going to four neighborhoods in town, where Sheena Hartry hands them out. 

AMBIENT SOUND: School buses

Sofi Gratas: Harty hustles kids in and out of the bus. Some are so young they need help walking. When the bus stops at a neighborhood in East Macon, Michelle Harris walks up with her five grandkids.

Michelle Harris: I come every day. They love it. They get a juice and maybe, um, applesauce and stuff like that. Yeah. Milk and milk.

Sofi Gratas: This is the last week for the program. So what will Michelle and her grandkids do next? 

Michelle Harris: Pray. (Laughs) We're gonna feed them, I mean, but it's hard.

Child: It stops on Friday.

Michelle Harris: With food being so high and they're home all day long.

Sofi Gratas: At the last bus stop, some kids take their lunch inside the Anthony Homes Community Center. Shavez Adams looks after them.  

Shavez Adams: Each day they come in, I make sure they have games as well as some kind of activity, even if it is math, learning, reading, something like that in that nature to try to get them stimulated and not only just have them come down and just eat lunch. Who wants to do that?  

Sofi Gratas: Shavez says some kids stay here through the evening. He’s worried what an end to the summer meal program will mean for them. 

Shavez Adams: They could have extended it. They should extend it to at least towards the end of the summer compared to just one month. Then, because some kids do depend on it. And I don't want to just go into detail on that, but I know kids do depend on it sometimes. So that would be my only gripe about the situation. But for the most part, like I said, I'll be trying to actually show the kids that they can come in and have fun and learn and eat and be in an environment where they are not stagnated.

Sofi Gratas: By now, the school district’s summer meal program is mostly over. It’s around the same time that local nonprofits step up to help feed hungry kids while families wait another month for school and school meals to start again. For GPB News, I’m Sofi Gratas in Macon.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: The Federal Aviation Administration plans to replace aging air traffic control towers in Athens and Macon. The agency announced to public comment period this month on the planned improvements stemming from the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: The restaurant-reviewing Michelin guide is coming to Atlanta. Michelin media said today that it will release its first ever selections for the city in the fall. That means some of Atlanta's top restaurants will be getting Michelin's coveted one-, two- or three-star designations. A statement from the company says that its reviewers are already in the field, which they describe as, quote, "brimming with innovation and talent." Michelin reviewers are famously anonymous and pay for their own meals.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: A Columbus attorney, has created a social media buzz by suing Facebook and winning. Jason Crawford won a $50,000 judgment against the social media giant after his account was wrongfully deleted. Now he's collecting stories in the hope that he can help others in similar circumstances. Jason Crawford talked about his lawsuit with GPB's Orlando Montoya.

Orlando Montoya: Let's start with how you used Facebook. Was it like many people, family photos, vacations and politics?

Jason Crawford: That's exactly it. Photos, videos of, you know, family member, myself, get togethers, that kind of thing.

Orlando Montoya: So you occasionally end up in Facebook jail?

Jason Crawford: I did. Yes. Guilty.

Orlando Montoya: But one day you woke up and Facebook told you that your account had been deleted. What did you think happened?

Caption

Columbus attorney Jason Crawford created a social media buzz by suing Facebook over his deleted account and winning.

Credit: Jason Crawford

Jason Crawford: Well, my first instinct was to look in the mirror. I thought, "well, what did I say yesterday that the algorithms might have picked up on and not approved of?" And I wracked my brain and I couldn’t think of a thing. So then I started investigating a little bit more heavily. And I noticed when I would try to log on, I would get like a message that would last no more than a second, that said something about my being deleted for having violated community standards on child sexual exploitation. And then it went away. And when I saw that, I was outraged because I knew that couldn’t be true. So I started trying to investigate further and realized that there is literally no way to get a human being at Facebook.

Orlando Montoya: You found out later that your account had been hacked, but you didn't know that at the time. So why did you decide to file a lawsuit?

Jason Crawford: The biggest thing is I wanted to get my pictures and my videos back. The one thing I think is ridiculous is that with Facebook — it’s really like a Catch-22 — in order to file your appeal, you have to have an account. So if they delete your account, you have no way to file the appeal that their terms of use say that you can file.

Orlando Montoya: I understand that Facebook never responded to your lawsuit in court and that you won by default a judgment that the company hasn't even paid. So what does that tell you about how Facebook sees you and the court?

Jason Crawford: Well, I think they view themselves as higher than the law. You know, I can't understand why they would take this approach.

Orlando Montoya: This is one of the biggest companies in the world. Did it ever occur to you that this might not work or it would just be, oh, you know, spitting in the wind?

Jason Crawford: Right. Well, you’ve got to keep in mind, my goal wasn’t to win a lawsuit and collect a bunch of money from Facebook. My goal was to get a human being to talk to me about what happened and I accomplished that goal. As soon as I got my judgment, within a few days, a lawyer for Facebook reached out to me. That’s how I learned that my account had been hacked. And that’s how I got my account restored to me. So, I have my photos and videos back.

Orlando Montoya: What have other Facebook users been telling you about their issues?

Jason Crawford: Everybody that I’ve encountered — and it’s literally been hundreds of people that have reached out to me since since the story hit — they’ve told similar stories, and lots of times, they’ve been two [types of] stories: One is, people who are distraught because they’ve lost all their photos, videos. And two, people who have their Facebook connected to a business account and then Facebook randomly and arbitrarily shuts them down and all of a sudden their business takes a hit.

Orlando Montoya: Do I hear class action?

Jason Crawford: Well, maybe. I'm not sure if that's a path for success. And again, remember, my initial goal was just to get a human being. So you don't you don't bring a class action just to get an audience with someone at Facebook. You bring class action because you're you're trying to vindicate all the legal rights of all the class members. And so I just have to make sure that a path going forward, I'm not sure that's the case. I'm still looking.

Peter Biello: That was Columbus attorney, Jason Crawford, speaking with GPB's Orlando Montoya. We did reach out to Facebook for comment, but so far we have not heard back.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: Georgia Tech is planning a free watch party for former player Christopher Eubanks' quarterfinal Wimbledon match tomorrow morning. The 27 year old Atlantan takes on the world's No. 3-ranked tennis player, Daniil Medvedev.

In other sports news, the Major League All-Star Game is today in Seattle. The Braves sent eight players to the game and three will start: Orlando Arcia, Sean Murphy and Ronald Acuna Jr. In the MLB draft yesterday. The Braves picked another eight players, including Isaiah Drake. Drake attended North Atlanta High School, just two miles from Truist Park. Drake batted .358 with 17 extra base hits and 17 stolen bases for the Warriors this season. He turns 18 on Saturday. Ronit Shaw is the Braves assistant director of Amateur Scouting.

Ronit Shaw: Drake has, I'd say, showing us more power than we've seen in the past. Went to the combine, went to the draft league, clearly loves to play; he's everywhere. He can fly, also. So we're really excited about the power/speed combination he has from the — from the left side.

Peter Biello: Drake is an outfielder, whereas most of the draftees in the first two days have been pitchers. Nine of Atlanta's first 11 picks have come from the collegiate ranks, with a pair of prep players selected back to back in the fourth and fifth rounds. The 2023 First-Year Player draft concludes today.

And that is 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, visit our website, GPB.org/news. And if you haven't subscribed to this podcast yet, I highly recommend it. Do it now and we will be back in your podcast feed tomorrow afternoon. If you've got feedback or a story idea, we would love to hear from you. Email us. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news.