GOP Gathering in Atlanta; Georgia COVID-19 update; Judge blocks hormone therapy ban

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, Aug. 21. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode. Republican presidential candidates gather in Atlanta without the party's front runner. COVID-19 hospitalizations are up in Georgia is above the national average. And a federal judge temporarily blocked part of the Georgia law banning gender-affirming care for minors. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Six Republican presidential candidates were in Atlanta over the weekend. GPB's Stephen Fowler reports on their campaign pitches as the GOP looks ahead to its first primary debate on Wednesday.

Stephen Fowler: For 48 hours in a hotel ballroom in Buckhead, attendees at The Gathering heard about what politics would be like if Donald Trump wasn't running for president or running away with the primary. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was the only one that directly mentioned Trump's indictments as a potential problem for the party.

Chris Christie: One: They're real, and they're something politically we're going to have to deal with. And two: His conduct is reprehensible. Doesn't matter whether it's criminal or not.

Stephen Fowler: Six candidates spoke in-depth about their policies and plans if they were to win the nomination and the White House. Polling has Trump with more than a majority of both voters nationwide and in Georgia. For GPB News, I'm Stephen Fowler in Buckhead.

Peter Biello: The Gathering was hosted by radio host Erick Erickson. Erickson started the night by announcing that Donald Trump wouldn't be attending and declared that the former president's recent indictment would not be a big subject of conversation.

Erick Erickson: The former president isn't going to be here. And, you know, with all respect to him, it kind of works out because under Georgia law, if he were to come, they would like, you know, what the DA would want to do. And so it works out to his benefit. But I don't want to ask the candidates all day and tomorrow about him. And that seems to be the conversation on the media. I know exactly what they'll say about the prosecutions and about him. We've got six presidential candidates: two governors, two senators, two members of Congress. I want to ask them about policy questions.

Peter Biello: Also among the speakers was former Vice President Mike Pence, who faced the ire of Trump supporters by not refusing to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, something he did not have the power to do.

Mike Pence: You know, I always stood loyally by President Donald Trump until my oath to the Constitution required me to do otherwise. But my differences with the president go far beyond that fateful day, and I hope to have a chance to debate them with him. Sometimes people ask me, "How do you envision debating Donald Trump?" I say, "I have debated Donald Trump a thousand times, just not with the cameras on." Look, we have real differences about the future of the country as well.

Peter Biello: Also at The Gathering, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who used racially charged language to advocate for killing suspected cartel members on site at the Mexican border.

Ron DeSantis: When you have cartels operating the way they are, they're operating as akin to foreign terrorist organizations because they're killing our people. They're poisoning our people. So we are going to authorize the use of deadly force against the cartels. If you have somebody coming in with the fentanyl on there in the backpack — they even break through the border wall where there is wall. If they're doing that, that's the last thing they they're going to be able to do because we're going to leave them stone cold dead at the border. We're not putting up with that anymore.

Peter Biello: Donald Trump is still the frontrunner for 2020 for the Republican presidential nomination.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Donald Trump's bond has been set at $200,000 in the Georgia case accusing the former president of scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss. That's according to court papers filed today. The bond agreement was outlined in a court filing signed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Trump's defense attorneys. Trump was charged last week in the case alongside 18 allies. It's the fourth criminal case against the former president, who is campaigning to reclaim the White House in 2024. This is a developing story; you can find the latest at GPB.org/news.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Both sides in a lawsuit over Georgia's controversial election reform law are declaring victory after a mixed ruling from a federal judge on Friday. The judge temporarily blocked a provision that bans people from providing food and water to voters waiting in line, as long as it's more than 150 feet from the building where voting is taking place. But he also left intact the parts of the law that banned third-party ballot harvesting and limit the number of absentee ballot drop boxes. Both civil rights groups and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger applauded the ruling.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: The number of Georgians hospitalized with COVID-19 rose more than 30% between June and July. GPB's Ellen Eldridge reports that's higher than the national average.

Ellen Eldridge: COVID has not gone away and increasing gatherings, travel and the return to school are all driving up cases. But Dr. Carlos del Rio with Emory University says the recent rise in cases is not of huge concern. That's because a high percentage of Georgians have immunity following vaccines or having had the disease.

Dr. Carlos del Rio: Yeah, there's an increase in hospitalizations, but hospitals are not overwhelmed with patients with COVID. And we're seeing, you know, some mortality. But again, it's not the mortality we were seeing before.

Ellen Eldridge: He says older people should be up to date on immunizations, and they may want to wear a mask and avoid crowded places. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: A federal judge has blocked part of a new Georgia law that limits what therapies doctors can prescribe to transgender minors. In a ruling today, the judge ordered the state not to enforce a ban on hormone therapy, but left intact a ban on gender-affirming surgery for people under age 18. Atlanta-based U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Garrity found that a group of parents and their middle school-age children would suffer irreparable harm without hormone therapy. Her ruling will remain in effect until a trial settles the unresolved legal challenges to the law that took effect in July.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: Few parents are challenging school library books as inappropriate, under a new state law making it easier to do so. Georgia's Republican state lawmakers passed the measure as part of a broader backlash to what kids read and discuss in school. It took effect in January. Since then, the Associated Press has found that at least 15 large Georgia school districts report no demands to remove books. At least six challenges have been made in metro Atlanta's Forsyth County, a focus of conservative unrest. One element reducing complaints is the law's requirement that only parents of current students can challenge books.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: The sheriff in Middle Georgia's Bleckley County has pleaded guilty to groping a judge in a hotel bar. A lawyer for Sheriff Kris Coody says the sheriff submitted his resignation to Gov. Brian Kemp this morning. Coody admitted to groping television Judge Glenda Hatchett at a state sheriffs' convention at an Atlanta hotel a year and a half ago. Today, he was sentenced to a year of probation, 40 hours of community service and other penalties as part of a plea deal.

Caption

Emergency

Credit: Georgia Health News

Story 8:

Peter Biello: A Kennesaw State University research team, is developing new software to help first responders in metro Atlanta's Cobb County better manage mental health emergency calls. GPB's Ambria Burton reports.

Ambria Burton: A Kennesaw State University research team is developing new systems and software to help Clark County first responders better manage mental health emergency calls. The team is building a software that can load into a police dashboard where law enforcement can type in a word and see how many times it appears in cases involving mental health. Data information professor Dominic Thomas says the software can be a tool for first responders to use and figuring out how to staff the right personnel.

Prof. Dominic Thomas: It has implications for who do you need to hire. And then within that we can search different types of cases. So like up here, you can see the most common type and like runaway juveniles. So now we have a sense of how many mental health-related runaway juvenile cases we're having per year.

Ambria Burton: The team consists of KSU professors and graduate students from the social work, data information systems and computer science departments. For GPB News, I'm Ambria Burton.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: State transportation officials are beginning to explore the potential of a network of hydrogen fueling stations across the state. The technology promises a cleaner burning energy future, and it's already being used to power commercial vehicles. That's why the Georgia Department of Transportation this month began collecting feedback on how best to develop a fueling station network. Timothy Leuwen leads Georgia Tech's Strategic Energy Institute.

Timothy Leuwen: The lowest cost first use case for broader deployment of hydrogen is going to be heavy duty trucking. And so in my mind, this is a really strategic move to position Georgia for kind of this use case that makes the most economic sense.

Story 10:

Peter Biello: The agency's request for information is aimed at private sector stakeholders, including those using the ports of Savannah and Brunswick.

Story 11:

The last dairy farm in Macon-Bibb County is closing. Donacin Farms has been around for 50 years. The farm's owners say the business has become less profitable for a variety of reasons, including milk prices and consumers switching to nondairy alternatives. Dairy is a two and a half billion dollar industry in Georgia, according to Georgia milk producers.

Story 12:

Peter Biello: Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank is adding to his sports portfolio. Blank officially unveiled plans today for a new golf team to be part of Tiger Woods' new high tech TGL golf league launch in January. Blank says he's drawn to the league's potential to attract new fans with its interaction of technology and live action in a primetime weekly format. Although all competitions will be held in Florida, Blank says the team will be promoted strongly as Atlanta's team.

Caption

Former Atlanta Braves outfielder Rico Carty speaks at a pre-ceremony press conference at Truist Park on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023.

Credit: Peter Biello / GPB News

Story 13:

Peter Biello: The Atlanta Braves inducted two new members to the Braves Hall of Fame over the weekend. Rico Carty and Fred Tenney were honored for their exceptional contributions to the team. Tenney played 15 seasons for the Boston Braves, ending in 1907. Rico Carty played with the Braves from 1963 to 1972. Carty, who is 83, was a 1970 All-Star, hitting .366 that year, the highest season batting average in the team's Atlanta history. He says he can't find the words to thank the Braves enough for the honor.

Rico Carty: I look back to almost 50 years and the fans and, you know, they make me feel like I'm playing, I'm active. They hollered "Rico! Rico!" You know, I said "Gee — I thought they had forgot all about me."

Peter Biello: With his induction into the Braves Hall of Fame, Carty joins the elite company of Hank Aaron, Dale Murphy, Greg Maddux and dozens of other Braves greats.

Peter Biello: And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit GPB.org/news. And if you haven't subscribed to this podcast yet, now's a great time to do it. We'll be back on your podcast feed tomorrow afternoon. And if you have feedback or a story idea, a suggestion of something we should cover, please do let us know about it. The best way to do that is to send us an email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. 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.

Read the latest updates on the Georgia indictments here.