Georgia Today: Premature births in Georgia; Holiday travel rush continues; Columbus Christmas lights

Orlando Montoya: Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Friday, November 24th. I'm Orlando Montoya. On today's episode, Georgia gets an F on the latest report on premature births. The Thanksgiving travel rush is not over yet, and a 26 year Christmas tradition in Columbus is coming to an end. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Orlando Montoya: An annual report from the March of Dimes on child and maternal health puts Georgia among states with the highest rate of babies born to early. And those premature babies face higher risks of death and disabilities. GPB's Sofi Gratis has more on efforts to improve those outcomes.

Sofi Gratis: 12% of babies born in Georgia in 2022 were pre-term. Giving Georgia an F grade on the preterm birth report. Babies can be born prematurely because their mothers experience chronic diseases. Stress or infection rates are much higher among black women as our rates of infant and maternal mortality. Precious Andrews is with healthy mothers, healthy babies of Georgia, which pairs black mothers with birth support.

Precious Andrews: Being able to make sure that the moms have the support of a dollar because we've seen that the data that that is provided positive outcomes, but then also making sure that the dollars are connected to resources to be able to provide to the mothers as well.

Sofi Gratis: Resources like nutritious food and mental health support to keep moms healthy. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratis.

Story 2:

Orlando Montoya: Great Point Studios in Douglas County, west of Atlanta, is preparing for two productions to begin in the middle of December. Lionsgate Studios is the primary tenant in the new studio. Robert Halmi, founder and CEO of Grade Point Studios, says he can't say which shows will be filming there next month. But he says the facility is designed for televised scripted drama.

Robert Halmi: What kind of shows you see on Amazon and Netflix and Disney Plus and all the streamers? There's still a shortage of purpose built large facilities for those kind of shows. Our entire facility is designed around the home.

Orlando Montoya: He says Great Point Studios itself is about two thirds built, with the remaining third expected to be completed by March.

Story 3:

Orlando Montoya: Two of the three busiest travel days during this Thanksgiving holiday. Are now behind us. They were this past Tuesday and Wednesday that the TSA says this coming Sunday, November 26th. An estimated 2.9 million passengers will travel, making it the busiest travel day of the Thanksgiving season.

Caption

Jerry Ludy owns and operates LudyChristmas.com, an annual holiday light display in Columbus, Ga.

Credit: LudyChristmas.com

Story 4:

Orlando Montoya: You probably know a house or two in your city or town, or at least in your neighborhood, that gets all decked out for Christmas. If you're in Columbus, maybe you've been to Jerry Ludy's house. The Columbus Ledger Enquirer describes his Christmas lights display as the city's largest and most popular with the half million computer controlled lights all synchronized Christmas music. It takes the better part of three months to setup and increases his electric bill by a couple of hundred dollars per month. And now, Ludy says after 26 years, this year's display will be his last. I asked him to describe it.

Jerry Ludy: Basically, I have figurines that I've built, wireframe figurines that I've built over the years. Well, as you constructed and got a little animation going on as far as like the first animated display that I had, part of my display was a 35 foot Santa's reindeer with Santa's throwing presents over there, top of the reindeer and the landing gear to a chimney. That's one other part.

Orlando Montoya: But I'm seeing something that looks like an Eiffel Tower.

Jerry Ludy: Yes, That is one of the towers that we've got.

Orlando Montoya: Is that. Is that supposed to be a Christmas tree?

Jerry Ludy: Now they've got a Christmas tree. And then I have the elf tower. Elf tower just straight up. The Christmas tree is 30 foot pixel tree. 6000 pixels on it.

Orlando Montoya: I have to say, now that I see the picture of it, it's not as tacky looking as I thought it would be. A lot of these things are pretty a lot of these things are pretty garish, but this is kind of tasteful.

Jerry Ludy: Well, I try to keep things plain in the air. That's not always the case with some displays, but I try to do that because I do live in a neighborhood and I want to make sure that the neighbors are acceptable of what I've done. And over the years that I've been there 26 years, I've always had great response from the neighborhood.

Orlando Montoya: Does the road get congested and people get out and park and have to walk? Is it that popular?

Jerry Ludy: Yes. We've had we've had to get some local support out to help direct traffic. We've had in past years I've had the use of a neighbor's front yard across the street from me that allowed visitors to stand on their front lawn. We had it blocked off from maybe about 20ft, 30ft. So they would have to stand directly on the road. And that worked out really well for us. We had probably 4 to 500 people standing out there at one time looking at the display. And so parking become very cumbersome. They have for, you know, several blocks away to walk up to it. But one of the things I found, Orlando, is that people want to migrate toward something that's joyful and embrace happiness to them. And I think you'll go to a long length just to do that, because we live in a different world today than what we did 20 or 30 years ago, and we see that today that they will enjoy their life if they can show, you know, show up at my display and grab a few seconds or a few minutes of joy and take the world element out of their mind for a few minutes. And I think it brings families really closer together.

Orlando Montoya: Well, we have to talk about it. This is going to be the last, you say. Tell me about why you decided to to make it the last.

Jerry Ludy: Well, I said that a couple of years ago, the same thing. And then last year I turned around his head again, but I didn't do it. Extremes. I'm doing it this year. I'm not getting any younger. 69 and a very blessed to be able to have the physical ability to do this. I don't want to get to a point that I dread getting out there and working all it. I would rather stop now while I feel good about what's going on and be able to enjoy it instead of looking at it as a job.

Orlando Montoya: And if people want to see it for one last time or perhaps see it for the first time, if they're just hearing about it now, what's your address?

Jerry Ludy: 5784 Armstrong Drive. We're on the northeast side of Columbus.

Orlando Montoya: All right. Well, thank you very much.

Jerry Ludy: One of the things I always tell people, Orlando, it's not all about the lights, but it's about the memories the lights create in every child and every child like heart.

Story 5:

Orlando Montoya: That was Jerry Ludy, one of the many people across our state who bring a little holiday joy into the world by creating large and popular displays of Christmas lights. I hope you get out and enjoy some of them this holiday season and you can look at Ludy's lights by visiting our website. GPB.org/news.

Story 6:

Orlando Montoya: And as Thanksgiving wraps up, Christmas is moving in. Like I said, we have lights all around the state, people putting up light displays and some communities are holding holiday parades and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies this weekend. Loganville, Snellville and Blue Ridge will play host to lighted Christmas Parade tomorrow evening. Savannah's Boat Parade of Lights, Boat Parade of Lights. Always used to be one of my favorite Christmas traditions down in Savannah. Grab yourself a place on the river and watch the boats go by with their lights on. And this weekend marks the first weekend for Helen's 16th annual Christmas Market. So wherever you are across the state, go out and enjoy some of these holiday activities.

Story 7:

Orlando Montoya: And finally, the Atlanta Mushroom Festival, a quarterly event rooted in community education and awareness about all things fungi, returns for its final event of the year tomorrow, Saturday, November 25th. It takes place at Wild Heaven, West End in Atlanta and looks to foster a diverse and equitable community where people can discover ways to enrich their lives through the power of mushrooms. The day long event will feature engaging speakers and lots of live music from local musicians, including one of the bands from the first season of JP's Peach Jam podcast, Gringo Star. The Land Mushroom Festival is free to attend and welcomes all ages and furry friends.

And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. As always, we invite you to visit our website to find more Georgia news. It's gpb.org/news. If you have feedback for us, send that to us at Georgia today@gpb.org. And hit subscribe on this podcast so you will never miss an episode and always will stay up front and forward with you in your feed. I'm Orlando Montoya. I've been sitting in for Peter Biello as he's been doing some Thanksgiving traveling as I hope you also have enjoyed this holiday together with your family. Peter will be back on Monday. I hope you have a great weekend.

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