Georgia Today: Prosecuting attorneys oversight commission; Redistricting fallout; Peloton instructor

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Tuesday, Jan. 2. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, state Republicans attempt to revive a prosecuting attorneys oversight commission. More fallout for Democrats over the new House district maps. And to help with your New Year's fitness resolutions, we talk with one of Peloton's most popular instructors. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

 

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Republican leaders in the state Senate are looking to get around a ruling by the state Supreme Court that blocked implementation of an oversight board for local prosecuting attorneys. The bill unveiled today would allow the Prosecuting Attorney's Qualifications Commission to set its own rules and regulations. Late last year, the state's highest court declined to set up the board's rules, saying it lacked the authority to do so. That effectively stopped the commission. Republicans created the commission last year as a way to sanction prosecutors in cities led by Democrats who they said were reluctant to prosecute certain crimes.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Lawmakers are expected to tackle a ton of things as the General Assembly gets underway next week. Among them, crime and education. And as Sarah Kallis reports, one bill addresses those two things at the same time.

Sarah Kallis: House Bill 853, sponsored by Rep. Eric Bell, would allow students with only nonviolent drug offense convictions to be eligible for the HOPE Scholarship. Current law prohibits students with any criminal convictions from accessing the scholarship. Bell said that the bill was inspired by people he knew who were not able to access the scholarship.

Eric Bell: I just think we can be more compassionate, especially when we understand that drug addiction is not a criminal act. It's a — it's a health care issue.

Sarah Kallis: House Bill 853 will be up for debate during the legislative session, which begins on Jan. 8. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.

 

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Several new laws took effect in Georgia yesterday, and one of them will impact your paycheck. A billion-dollar election year tax cut became state law with the new year. For now, the phased-in tax cut sets the state income tax rate for 2024 at a flat 5.49%, down from the current 5.75%. The rate will continue to drop annually, arriving at 4.99% in 2029. Governor Brian Kemp announced last month that he plans to ask state lawmakers to speed up those reductions by one year. If lawmakers agree, the tax rate for this year will be 5.39%.

 

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Two Democratic members of the Georgia House have decided not to run for reelection. This after a federal judge last week upheld the new district maps passed by the Republicans in a special session last month. GOP leaders drew state Reps. Greg Kennard of Lawrenceville and Doug Stoner of Smyrna into districts with other Democrats. Both said today they won't run against those Democrats. Kennard says he, quote, "didn't have the heart" to challenge Lawrenceville state Rep. Sam Park, whom he called a mentor at the state capitol.

Greg Kennard: They could have moved one precinct and salvage both of us. So I went to the speaker and to the chairman of reapportionment, and said, "Hey, you said this wasn't personal; here's an easy fix" that, you know, they wouldn't hear of it. So it was intentional and it was calculated. They were trying to pick me off.

Peter Biello: Kennard and Stoner are the first lawmakers to announce they won't be seeking reelection after the maps were upheld. The new district lines added court-ordered majority Black districts and keep the Republican advantage in the state House and Senate in Georgia's U.S. House delegation.

Caption

An electric truck built by electric vehicle maker Rivian is shown. The California-based company announced it's building a $5 billion plant in East Georgia.

Credit: Stephen Fowler / GPB News

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Rivian Automotive announced today that it exceeded its own vehicle production expectations for 2023. The electric vehicle manufacturer said it produced more than 57,000 units last year, passing its goal by more than 3,000. However, Rivian shares took a tumble on Wall Street earlier today after the company reported fewer deliveries than the previous period. The company is building a manufacturing plant in Morgan and Walton counties, about 45 minutes east of Atlanta. Rivian says it plans to release fourth-quarter earnings next month.

 

Story 6:

Peter Biello: The city of Valdosta is now accepting applications for its next round of community development block grants. The grants are meant to improve housing, public facilities and infrastructure within the city. Qualified residents can apply until April 30 and the application is available at ValdostaCity.com.

 

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Atlanta-based convenience store and gas station chain Racetrac has completed its acquisition of Gulf Oil. The company announced the completion last month after first announcing it in July. The deal includes approximately 1,100 branded locations. Racetrac is the 22nd-largest privately held company in the United States, with nearly 800 retail locations and more than 10,000 employees.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: It's the new year and with that comes new fitness resolutions for many. Users of Peloton, the exercise machine/social media company can choose between what seems like an endless selection of workouts guided by friendly, funny and fit instructors. One of the company's most popular instructors, with more than 287,000 Instagram followers, has roots right here in Georgia. Matt Wilpers is a Georgia State University grad who grew up in Marietta. I spoke with him back in August during the Peloton on Tour stop in Alpharetta.

Peter Biello: So how does it feel being back here in Atlanta?

Matt Wilpers: It feels so great to be back. The first thing I did this morning was go run in Piedmont Park. And of course, I ran into my colleague Jon Hosking, and we ended up doing a workout together around the Oval. And it just — it's so awesome to go through Atlanta and see how how much Atlanta's progressed. And it's ,it's just always progressing and it's really beautiful. I love it.

Peter Biello: Are there favorite spots you have to work out? You mentioned Piedmont Park. Is there a trail that you like to run or bike or somewhere else that — that you return to time and again?

Matt Wilpers: Oh, my goodness. Oh, downtown Atlanta, obviously, Piedmont Park's amazing and running through Atlanta. We used to do a lot of workouts down here, but then I also trained a lot at the Chattahoochee River. And there's — there's a couple different entrances, including Sope Creek and also Collins Drive. But that was really what set the foundation for me in my running career. And my mom actually got me on the bike there as well, in Sope Creek, and that's how I got into cycling. And so she took us mountain biking on a, on a on those trails to get us ready to go skiing with her because we — she told us we couldn't go skiing if we were unfit. And so she got us on the bike and and put us through the paces.

Peter Biello: When you were growing up here, did you ever have the sense that you'd make fitness your profession?

Matt Wilpers: You know, I didn't see it coming at all, to be honest. I just love doing it. And I — but I quickly realized, you know, during high school and then college, that fitness was how I could really get through life, handle stresses, but also study. And it just became aware of just being able to control, you know, help manage my mindset, but also manage my body. And I never thought I'd see it becoming a profession. I thought I was going to become — when I went to college, I was — I was talking about this earlier: it was computer science, or it was going to med school or it was becoming, you know, someone going into the business world. And after taking physics and a computer science class, I quickly realized that those were knocked out for — So I focused on on business.

Peter Biello: Right. You were a CPA for a while.

Matt Wilpers: Yeah. Georgia State, got my degree in accounting and finance, and I was pretty convinced I was going eventually go into, to finance.

Peter Biello: And how was it making the leap from from being an accountant to being an instructor?

Matt Wilpers: Oh, man. Well, it wasn't a straight line. It — when, you know, I was working on a bunch of startups on the side, fitness startups. And I just, you know, I just knew that accounting wasn't going to be the end all, be all for me. And I had kind of dabbled in going back to school to get my GMATs and go to — get heavier to finance. And I just realized I wanted to spend some time sort of exploring and finding my true passion. And when I was coaching and working with people, that's when I  really, really, really discovered my true passion. That was all on the side, happening was I was an accountant. And so I made the transition and worked on those startups in the fitness space. Decided, you know, maybe it wasn't all it cracked up to be and then I decided I was gonna go to med school and, of course, while I was doing all the classes to go to med school, the — all the opportunities in the fitness space started really happening. And eventually they became too good to, uh, to want to go any further with med school. So I made the jump. But it was tough because, you know, fitness, you know, is not necessarily like that traditional career path that most people take. And I always thought I was going to be the traditional career path kind of guy, and that's just not how the cards fell for me. So here I am.

Peter Biello: And you know, a Peloton class for you as the instructor is part workout, part performance. You're going to have — you're having to keep users engaged for — you know, you do those power-zone endurance rides, those 90-minute classes.

Matt Wilpers: Yeah.

Peter Biello: And sometimes — and sometimes there's nobody in the studio with you. It's just you and a camera and producer. So how do you find that part of the job? Not just that the doing something physical, but also like entertaining people through a camera?

Matt Wilpers: Well, you know, that's a great question because at the end of the day, like, my goal is to get people to do what they need to be doing but make it more fun and accessible. And I've spent a lot of time training as an athlete, but I've also spent a lot of time coaching. So I know both sides and I know — and I know that it's like if you get the person invested in what they're doing, you remind them what they're doing and then you structure their time appropriately. You can really make time fly by. And that's kind of my goal is, is to make quality training more accessible and more fun and engaging so that more people want to do it, because I think everyone wants to get results. So let's make that fun and engaging and informative because I know. I used to teach in Central Park at like 5:30 in the morning, and the only way I could get people to show up is if I put together a great workout that helped move the needle towards their goals. But I would try to teach them something every time and make it fun and engaging. And I found that was really the recipe to get people to show up again and again and again at 5:30 in the morning.

Peter Biello: During your workouts, you often refer to food as fuel in your workouts.

Matt Wilpers: That's correct.

Peter Biello: So, so for people trying to get in better shape, I mean, how much of the effort is going on in the kitchen and how much of it is going on in places like the gym?

Matt Wilpers: Oh, man. There's a saying "you can't outrun the fork." Which is so true. If nutrition's not dialed in, the rest of it's really going to be hard to make progress with. And I made this connection in my freshman year of college. I used to — You know, you get to college, you have — your parents been cooking for you your whole life, and then all of a sudden you gotta to cook for yourself. And in Georgia State, they didn't really have a meal plan. So I was stuck having to cook for myself. So I was eating frozen pizzas and all kinds of junk. And eventually the seniors took me out to the farmer's market and got me cooking and and eating better nutrition and my performance gains and how I slept, everything improved. And so that's where I really made that connection. And so it's like when I think about that's when that transition really happened. You've got to realize you gotta make that connection between what you're putting in your body and what you expect to get out. And if what you're putting in is not what you want to get out or jiving with what you want to get out. I mean, you got to fix that mismatch and get — and get realistic with your diet. Because food is fuel.

Peter Biello: And is food always just fuel for you or is it — or sometimes is it still purely pleasurable for you?

Matt Wilpers: Oh, it's definitely [pleasure]. I mean, you can find — that's the thing is, like, we can find pleasure in, in food, like I love having chocolate here and there, but you gotta watch — you have to watch volume and you have to disconnect. You kind of have to disconnect food from emotion a little bit, too, because a lot of times we think we deserve to have — to have the world, you know, from a food standpoint. But if we reward ourselves in other ways, I think that's, that's a healthier relationship with food.

Peter Biello: So is that the way you disconnect it? You find your reward in a different way?

Matt Wilpers: Yeah, I try to find my reward in different ways, for sure. And like, whether it's an experience or spending time with people or, you know, it's it's not necessarily just food. And a quick way to sabotage your training session is just go stuff yourself — stuff your mouth a junk after after a training session. You know, that's not going to help you. It's going to put you back. And you just spent an entire training session trying to make gains. So you got to. I mean, it's fundamental.

Peter Biello: So I asked the Atlanta Peloton Facebook group what they might have wanted to hear from you.

Matt Wilpers: I heard about this through the grapevine.

Peter Biello: Oh, you heard about this. Okay, great. Well, lots of good questions there. You may have seen a preview, but I'm going to read this one exactly as Rosa wrote it. And the question is, "what are your current go-to snacky snacks?"

Matt Wilpers: Oh, my goodness.

Peter Biello: Besides bananas? She's using your words there.

Matt Wilpers: Oh, my favorite go to snack snacks. That's hilarious. Well, when we think about that. Banana and almonds, like when I'm studying, those are like, clutch. I love it. And then: let's see here. Snacks. My wife — my wife's a big chip person, so she's always got chips around. And so every once in a while I sneak a chip in.

Peter Biello: Just one?

Matt Wilpers: No, just a few, just a few. I'm trying to think of other snacks. Really, just fruits. And one of my favorite snacks, honestly, is getting fresh vegetables with hummus. That is like the best snack ever. Do that and some fruit. Like we love having like different types of fruit around. Like, for example, I just, you know, we bought a bunch of mangosteens as well as lychee. I love those fruits and it's just a — it's a fantastic snack. But the other thing, too, is if you have a training session, you can't have like something that's going to sit in your gut and make you feel terrible. Fresh fruits, fruits and vegetables are really the way to go.

Peter Biello: We get this question from Kate, which I'll paraphrase. How do you motivate yourself to run on days when you don't want to?

Matt Wilpers: Well, I think it's important to listen to your body and understand, you know, when you when you don't want to, why is it? Why is it that you don't want to? Is it because you had a bad sleep? Is it because your nutrition is not dialed in? Or is it because maybe you're overtraining? And I think you have to really ask your question: the question or "why do I not feel like this right now?" And sometimes, sometimes the answer is, don't do it. Sometimes the answer is don't run. But oftentimes, you know, there's something else in our lives that we need to fix. And you have to decide, well, okay, well, "if this isn't what I want to do, but I need to do it," then you can you can realize that the need is there to do it. And one thing, you know, you learn in athletics is if you want to achieve something, you have to do it. And a lot of athletes are really good at saying, "well, this has to get done if I want this to happen." So you just need to do it, get tough, have discipline. But also if you find yourself not wanting to do things, you need to you need to look into that. You need to dive in and why. Otherwise it's like, what do you want your goal that bad? Is it that important? Or do we need to have another self-talk?

Peter Biello: Several people wanted to know are there Atlanta food spots that you just have to hit while you're here?

Matt Wilpers: Oh, that's a great question. Oh, my gosh. Absolutely. I hope to, I hope to hit them that, you know, I I'm traveling with the family right here. So we'll see. I'll name some names. You know, I was just with the — at the headquarters here in Atlanta with Peloton. Me and some of our engineers, like, go, you know, "where's everyone going for barbecue right now?" And, you know, in my head it was Fat Matt's when I was — when I was here in Atlanta. And so everyone's like "still Fat Matt's." So I'm like, "all right, I got to go." And the: You know the cheesecake at Cafe Intermezzo.

Peter Biello: I have not had that.

Matt Wilpers: Oh that was so good. I love sweets, so maybe I'll sneak in one of those. I don't know. And then what else is there? Is—? Oh, Flying Biscuit, of course, is good. And then my favorite, my team's favorite breakfast spot was the Highland Bakery with their sweet potato pancakes. I love — I love those. Oh, my goodness. So that place is blown up since I was here.

Peter Biello: Hey, did I see you get a chance to meet Spencer Strider?

Matt Wilpers: I did. And that was so much — I could talk to him for ages.

Peter Biello: Talk about people who are dialed in to their workout. I mean, he's notoriously great at sticking to it. Even in the off season.

Matt Wilpers: I talked to a lot. I actually talked a lot about his, talked with him a lot about his training. I felt like I was interviewing him.

Peter Biello: What did you learn from him or what did he learn from you?

Matt Wilpers: Oh my gosh, we had such a great time. He gave me a lot of tips on like throwing baseballs, obviously. I want to talk to him about the different grips. I grew up playing baseball before I ever gotten to, you know, running and everything else. And, you know, I told him, you know, I asked him about his training strategy. Well, No. 1, like how he got started. What did he — when did he realized baseball was really what he was going to go for. Which was fascinating. He told me he was 3 years old and he was like, "I knew baseball was going to be it for me." And I go, "What did you start first working with a coach?" And he was "Not until high school," which means he was self-taught through all that time and then through high school he got — he was lucky enough to work with one of top high school coaches in the country. He made a big difference with him. And then, you know, we start talking about his training regiment now. And just similar to what we talk about for endurance athletes in the off season is going beyond heavy, heavy weights. Also working on endurance. But in the — in the on season, he's got to taper that off a little bit and focus on more just muscle activation, taking care of what he's built in the off season. A lot of times, you know, pitching in, going to games is helping him with his — with his cardio. But he is — that man is training constantly.

Peter Biello: That shows. it shows.

Matt Wilpers: He's an athlete through and through. And I really appreciated — had a wonderful conversation. He's really dialed in with the "why" behind what he does and he's — his attention to detail. He's, he's going to have a long, wonderful career.

Peter Biello: Matt Wilpers, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me.

Matt Wilpers: Thanks so much for having me. This is an honor and a pleasure. I much appreciate it.

 

Peter Biello: And that is it for this edition of Georgia Today. Thank you so much for joining us. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit our website, GPB.org/news, and make subscribing to Georgia Today one of your New Year's resolutions. It's easy to do. Helps you stay on top of the news. We will be back in your podcast feed tomorrow if you do. And if you've got feedback or a story idea, let us hear it. The best way to contact us is by email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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