Section Branding
Header Content
Georgia Today: State river public access; Georgia named top business state; Giant pandas
Primary Content
LISTEN: On the Wednesday, Oct. 4 edition of Georgia Today: A Georgia legislative committee takes up the issue of public access to state rivers; Gov. Kemp celebrates Georgia's ranking as the top state to do business; and Zoo Atlanta may soon have the only giant pandas in America.
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Wednesday, Oct. 4. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, a Georgia legislative committee takes up the issue of public access to state rivers. Gov. Kemp celebrates Georgia's ranking as the top state to do business. And Zoo Atlanta may soon have the only giant pandas in America. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.
Story 1:
Peter Biello: A Georgia House Study Committee held its first hearing today about public access to the state's rivers. GPB's Grant Blankenship reports state lawmakers left the issue unresolved in their last legislative session.
Grant Blankenship: Senate Bill 115 passed after a landowner said they owned a piece of the Flint River, popular with shoal bass fly fishers. The law reiterated the right of public fishing by declaring streambeds public property when they lie under navigable waters. But the law did not define "navigable." That's the work the House Study Committee on Fishing Access to Fresh Water Resources took up in their first meeting in Meriwether County. Pike County Manager Brendan Rodgers told legislators private property owners in his community have legitimate issues to consider.
Brendan Rogers: I'd say a vast majority of the county does not want to give up their fishing rights on the river. These have been traditions.
Grant Blankenship: The study committee meets next on Oct. 12 in Clarksville. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Meriwether County.
Story 2:
Peter Biello: The state election Board has rejected a proposal to let Georgians vote with hand-marked paper ballots when touchscreen voting machines can't guarantee privacy. At their meeting yesterday, board members agreed with concerns raised by ballot secrecy advocates and others that the touch screens are so large that voters can see how others in their precinct are voting. But board member Janice Johnston said the concern could be addressed by machine positioning or larger dividers.
Janice Johnston: I have reservations about having two voting methods being performed constantly throughout an election and it has the potential to create more problems than it might solve.
Peter Biello: Board members said the secretary of state's office will address ballot secrecy at hearings planned in the state Senate.
Story 3:
Peter Biello: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has added Berrien and Brooks counties, both near Valdosta, to those where homeowners and renters can seek assistance for damages caused by Hurricane Idalia. Cook, Glynn and Lowndes County already were on the list. The agency also said yesterday that their Glynn County Disaster Recovery Center would close on Friday and others would have reduced hours. It's been more than a month now since the storm barreled through South Georgia, causing widespread damage.
Story 4:
Peter Biello: A bill the General Assembly passed three years ago to bring more scrutiny to Georgia's film tax credit is reducing the program's impact on state tax revenues. That's according to witnesses who testified at a legislative committee hearing today. House Bill 1037 requires all film productions in Georgia to undergo mandatory audits by the State Department of Revenue or third-party auditors selected by the agency. Georgia's deputy revenue commissioner told members of a joint House-Senate panel that the audits have allowed the department to do a better job determining which film expenditures qualify for the credit and which don't. The film tax credit is by far the state's most expensive and contributes to Georgia's $4 billion film industry. The panel is holding a series of hearings this fall ahead of the General Assembly that begins in January, when state lawmakers could consider changes to the popular tax credit program.
Story 5:
Peter Biello: The trade publication Area Development has named Georgia the No. 1 state to do business for the 10th consecutive year. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.
Sarah Kallis: Gov. Brian Kemp says the ranking was made possible by the work of people like former Gov. Nathan Deal, who stood with Kemp during the announcement, along with state officials. The governor says Georgia has added over 300,000 new jobs in the last decade.
Nathan Deal: We're proud to have the best team in the world right here in the Peach State that includes people actually in the community working hard to bring opportunity to their area. A full decade of No. 1 status is the direct result of this teamwork. And it's also responsible for record-breaking jobs and investment that we've seen come to Georgia.
Sarah Kallis: Most of Georgia's new jobs are in rural areas, Kemp says. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis.
Story 6:
Peter Biello: A truck that ruined a bridge over an interstate highway north of Atlanta last week was carrying a load that was 40,000 pounds and four feet above legal weight and height limits. That's according to an inspection by the Georgia Department of Public Safety. A truck carrying an excavator struck the Mt. Vernon Highway Bridge in Sandy Springs, closing it until a new one can be completed next year.
Story 7:
Peter Biello: In parts of South and Middle Georgia, residents woke up this morning to hazy skies, a result of a renewed blanketing of the Southeast by Canadian wildfire smoke. Air quality monitors near Macon in Albany registered pollution levels the EPA categorizes as unhealthy for sensitive groups, like those who suffer from asthma or other lung diseases. The smoke could remain trapped over Georgia for the next few days by a pressure system of dry, stable air. But the smoke will likely move elsewhere or dissipate by this weekend. Climatologists' best guess is that the smoke affecting Georgia from Columbus to Macon was caused by a combination of Canadian wildfires and local prescribed burning.
Story 8:
Peter Biello: Three giant pandas at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., are set to return to China in December. And there is no public signs that a 50-year-old exchange agreement struck by President Richard Nixon will continue. That would mean the only giant pandas left in America would be at Zoo Atlanta — and that agreement is set to expire next year. International affairs experts say tensions between China and a number of Western governments have led Beijing to pull back its pandas. People who love pandas say they're making plans to visit Washington and Atlanta before the distinctive black-and-white mammals have to leave.
Story 9:
Peter Biello: In sports, Ronald Acuña Jr. has been selected as Major League Player of the Year by Baseball Digest and eBay after hitting 41 home runs and stealing 73 bases for the Atlanta Braves. He beat out the Angels' Shohei Ohtani, whose season ended early due to injuries. Acuña received 13 first-place votes in balloting by a 23-member panel of baseball writers and broadcasters that included several former players, managers and executives. The Phillies beat the Marlins last night 4 to 1, and the two teams meet again tonight in the second game of the best-of-three wild card series. A Phillies win would send them to the division series against the Braves this weekend. Game 1 is Saturday. Braves fans might be eager for a Braves-Phillies rematch since the Phillies knocked the Braves out of the playoffs last year. The Phillies went on to lose to the Astros in the World Series.
Peter Biello: And that's a wrap on this edition of Georgia Today. Thank you so much for tuning in. We do appreciate you being there. We hope you'll come back tomorrow. The best way to do that, of course, is to subscribe to this podcast, and we'll pop up automatically in your podcast feed tomorrow afternoon. If you want to learn more about any of the stories you heard on the podcast today, check out our website, GPB.org. Also want to let you know about something going on next week: We're going to do a live radio broadcast of All Things Considered in Atlanta. We're going to be at Eventide Brewing in Atlanta, which is just south of Grant Park, Thursday, Oct. 12, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., and we'll be speaking with a number of different guests about a variety of topics. And we hope you'll be there. We're also going to do some GPB/NPR trivia and we're going to have some giveaways as well. We hope you'll be there. Again, that's a live broadcast of All Things Considered Thursday, Oct. 12, 4 to 6:30 at Eventide Brewing. Go to GPB.org/community for more information. Thanks again for listening to Georgia Today. I'm Peter Biello. I'll see you tomorrow.
---
For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news.
Read the latest updates on the Georgia indictments here.
Secondary Content
Author
