Georgia Today: Giuliani's bankruptcy; jobless rate steady; Minor League Baseball in Columbus — maybe

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Thursday, December 21st. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, days after a judge ordered him to pay millions to Georgia election workers, Rudy Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy. New data shows that more people are moving to the state, and minor league baseball is one step closer to returning to Columbus. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Caption

Rudy Giuliani speaks during a Dec. 10, 2020, video conference call with the Georgia House about alleged voter fraud in Georgia's 2020 presidential contest.

Credit: Zoom screenshot

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Former Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy. The filing comes days after a federal judge ordered Giuliani to pay $148 million in a defamation lawsuit brought by two former election workers from Georgia. This is by far his largest debt. The former New York City mayor listed nearly $153 million in existing or potential debts. Bankruptcy law does not allow for the dissolution of debts that come from a willful and malicious injury. But a Giuliani spokesperson says no person could have reasonably believed that Mayor Giuliani would be able to pay such a high punitive amount. Giuliani plans to appeal.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Georgia’s population continues to grow, with the latest census estimates showing more people moving into the state than out of it. GPB’s Stephen Fowler reports.

Stephen Fowler: If you’ve noticed more neighbors in Georgia lately, you’re not alone. Estimates from the U-S Census Bureau show more than 327-thousand people that didn’t live in Georgia in 2021 moved here in 2022. Georgia’s fast growing population is driven by migration from places you’d expect: big states like California, New York and Texas, plus close neighbors like Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and the Carolinas. But migration works both ways, and more than a quarter million Georgians moved away in 2022, the most updated year they have data. The most common states people decamped to? Florida, Alabama, North Carolina and Texas. The Census estimates nearly 10.8 million people currently call Georgia home. For GPB news, I'm Stephen Fowler. 

Story 3:

Peter Biello: A group of Democrats is offering a new analysis of the most recent campaigns in Georgia and Michigan, and their report indicates that a dip in Black voter turnout, along with other challenges, could doom President Joe Biden and his party in 2024. The analysis was presented privately to Democratic power players, shared with the Associated Press and was authored in part by veterans of Democratic campaigns in Georgia, including advisers to two-time gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. The report encourages Democrats to think and spend money in new ways. Biden's campaign says it is already developing an outreach program that reflects the priorities called for in the analysis.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: A more powerful nasal spray to reverse opioid overdoses is now available. But harm reduction advocates in Georgia say it's too strong. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more.

Ellen Eldridge: Nasal nalmefene was developed in response to the worsening opioid epidemic due to the increase of fentanyl in street drugs. This synthetic opioid is 50 times stronger than heroin, and nalmefene will stay in the body longer. That's the problem, says Laurie Fugitt. She's the co-founder of Georgia Overdose Prevention.

Laurie Fugitt: The hesitancy of the harm reduction community to endorse nalmefene also extends to those high-dose naloxone products. Because, you know, first you really have to do no harm.

Ellen Eldridge: She say advocates for the low-dose Narcan formula that is currently available over the counter also advise using test strips for fentanyl. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Georgia's unemployment rate held steady at 3.4% in November for the third month in a row. The state Department of Labor reported the latest jobs numbers today. Georgia's labor force rose by more than 11,000 to another all-time high of more than 5.3 million. Over the past year, jobs gained the most in health care and social assistance and fell the most in transportation and warehousing, and administrative and support services.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: State highway officials have announced lane closure suspensions for the Christmas and New Year holiday travel periods. The Georgia Department of Transportation said yesterday construction-related lane closures will be paused Friday through Tuesday, this upcoming and the following weekends. The agency says certain long-term lane closures will continue for safety reasons. The busiest travel days are expected to be on the Wednesdays, Thursdays and Tuesdays around the two weekends.

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Prison

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Violent deaths in Georgia prisons hit a record high this year. As GPB's Grant Blankenship explains, that comes on the heels of a still-plummeting number of prison guards in the state.

Grant Blankenship: According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, 54 people died by either homicide or suicide in the state's prisons through the end of November. That's more than at any other point in the two-year-old federal Department of Justice investigation into Georgia prisons. Meanwhile, data kept by the state suggests GDC may only have one correctional officer for every 12 inmates. Carrie Proffitt contends the staffing gap at her son's prison played into his death.

Carrie Proffitt: He was afraid for his life. He was also under suicide watch, and they were supposed to check on him every 15 minutes.

Grant Blankenship: She doubts those checks happened.

Carrie Proffitt: And he died.

Grant Blankenship: GDC calls Profitt’s son's death a suicide. Meanwhile, the federal Department of Justice has nothing to report yet from their ongoing investigation. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: State wildlife officials are concerned about Georgia's sightings of an invasive crab native to warmer climates. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources said yesterday agency officials have received multiple sightings of the blue land crab. The crabs resemble a large fiddler crab, with one claw larger than the other, but are not blue and are native from south Florida to Brazil. Agency officials are unsure about the crab's potential risk to Georgia's coastal ecology and economy, but worry about their extensive burrowing. Anyone who sights a blue land crab is encouraged to take a photo and report it to Georgia Wildlife.com/ANS — for Aquatic Nuisance Species.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: Columbus is moving closer to bringing back minor league baseball to its historic downtown stadium. City councilors voted today to seek $50 million in bonds to upgrade Golden Park Stadium to league standards. The city is negotiating to land a team with a sports management company. Councilors still would have to approve financing, terms and a lease agreement before a team could move in. The ballpark currently hosts the Sunbelt Baseball League's Columbus Chattahoots. The city hasn't had a minor league baseball team since the Columbus Catfish left in 2008.

And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit our website, GPB.org/news. And if you haven't yet subscribed to this podcast, take a moment. Do it now. We'll be back in your podcast feed tomorrow. And if you've got feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks very much for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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