Georgia Today: Fulton County Jail investigated; Voter eligiblity challenges; Lawsuit against UGA

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Thursday, July 13th. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, the Department of Justice opens an investigation into conditions at the Fulton County Jail. A report finds about 100,000 Georgia voters have had their eligibility challenged. And the survivor of a crash that killed a UGA football player in January is suing the university. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: The U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into conditions in Atlanta's Fulton County Jail. Announcing the probe today, agency officials cited violence, filthy conditions and excessive force by jail officers. The investigation also will look at whether Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff's Office discriminate against people with psychiatric disabilities inside the jail. The investigation comes two years after the DOJ launched a separate ongoing probe into Georgia's state prisons. Fulton County says it will fully cooperate with the investigation.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have voted to strike following a midnight deadline. GPB Amanda Andrews reports that will have significant impact here in Georgia.

Amanda Andrews: The local SAG-AFTRA chapter serves 3,000 members across Georgia and South Carolina. A strike will have an immediate impact on Georgia's growing TV and film production industry. But that's not the only issue. Local productions of shows like Stranger Things are already delayed due to an ongoing writer's strike. Patrick Buntichai is a production coordinator. He says strikes like these hurt production employees like him because they earn less.

Patrick Buntichai: We are the ones that are — if we lose a week of work, we lose two weeks or a month of work, we've got to find other jobs. We've got to find, you know, a way to survive.

Amanda Andrews: The union is asking for several things, including residuals from streaming, higher minimum pay and regulations of the use of artificial intelligence. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: About 100,000 Georgia voters have had their voting eligibility challenged since state lawmakers passed an overhaul of state election laws two years ago. A ProPublica report published today says the vast majority of those challenges were made by just six conservative activists. The challenges resulted in about 2,000 voters being removed from the rolls and about 9,000 voters being placed in a challenged status which could force them to vote with a provisional ballot to be adjudicated later. The report found inconsistent handling of voter challenges in the 30 counties where ProPublica obtained data.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: A new report from Georgia Public Health Agencies finds the state is failing to reach several people going through Medicaid redeterminations, where every adult and child with current coverage under the plan is having their eligibility checked. GPB's Sofi Gratas has details.

Sofi Gratas: In June, about 216,000 people in Georgia had their Medicaid eligibility reviewed. That's out of the expected 2.7 million that will go through the process over the next year. And though it's not unusual for people to no longer need or qualify for Medicaid during redeterminations, the latest data from the Georgia Department of Community Health shows 93% of those who lost Medicaid coverage in June did so because they failed to turn in missing information. Health care experts have warned that these so-called procedural denials may result in many people no longer having access to affordable care, even if they're still eligible for it. Meanwhile, over 60,000 people have pending cases and are waiting on the state to decide whether or not they'll keep their Medicaid coverage. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Delta Air Lines is reporting unprecedented quarterly profit and revenue. The Atlanta based airline today raised its expectations for a year after travelers took to the skies in huge numbers. The results defied some forecasts of a pullback in spending. Delta revenue soared almost 13% to $15 billion, a surprising jump even for the consistently outperforming carrier.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: The survivor of a crash that killed a University of Georgia football player and recruiting staff member in January, is suing the school and others for damages. Former UGA recruiting analyst Victoria Bowles was a passenger in the back seat of a rental car driven by staffer Chandler Lacroix when it went off the road and crashed just outside of Athens. Lacroix and player Devin Willock were killed. The lawsuit says the University of Georgia Athletic Association, which authorized Lacroix to drive the rental car, should have known about her driving record, which contained several speeding violations. The lawsuit also names as defendants Jaylen Carter, who had been racing Lacroix in another SUV, and the administrator of Lacroix's estate. Carter was given 12 months' probation and a $1,000 fine in March after pleading no contest to charges of reckless driving and racing related to the crash. Carter was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in April. Bowles is seeking compensation for her medical bills, as well as unspecified damages. UGA disputes the lawsuits claims, saying, quote, "Under no circumstances were recruiting staff authorized to use rental cars to drive in excess of speeds while intoxicated."

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Atlanta Public Schools will partner with the Lion Electric Company to transition its bus fleet from diesel to Electric. APS has issued a purchase order for 25 Lion C busses with nearly $10 million in funding they were awarded from the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus program.

That's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. Thank you so much for listening. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit our web site, GPB.org/news. And don't forget to subscribe to this podcast. We will be back with 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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For more on these stories and more go to GPB.org/news