Georgia Today: GA ranked low for behavioral health care; Harris-Walz campaign ads; YSL trial resumes

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, Aug. 12. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, a new study shows Georgia has almost the worst behavioral health care in the country. The Democratic National Committee launches its first ads for the Harris presidential campaign, and the RICO trial against Young Thug and seven co-defendants, the longest in Georgia history, is set to resume today. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP

Story 1:

Peter Biello: The Democratic National Committee is launching its first paid advertising blitz for the Kamala Harris/Tim Walz campaign in seven states, including Georgia. Today's ad buys come as money pours into political battlegrounds ahead of the November election. Former Georgia U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler's organization Greater Georgia says it's launched a six-figure effort to mobilize Black, Hispanic and Asian voters for Republican candidates.

Kelly Loeffler: Examples include voter registration at supermercados. We've been doing registration efforts at gun stores, gas stations. But now, within 90 days of the election, we're going out with mail, with digital ads. We'll be at doors.

Peter Biello: Documents filed with the Georgia Campaign Finance Commission show hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent in some competitive state legislative races.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: United Way of the Coastal Empire has activated its Rapid Response Disaster Fund for Chatham, Effingham, Bryan and Liberty counties. The organization is raising money to address the immediate and long-term needs of people impacted by Tropical Storm Debby and related flooding. President and CEO Kimberly Waller says response since the fund opened late last week has been quote, "remarkable."

Kimberly Waller: We are continuing to get the word out, we are continuing to share, and as soon as people find out and they know where to donate, we've just seen an immense amount of support and I suspect we'll continue to see that support throughout the week.

Peter Biello: The fund was started last year, and its allocations will be made in partnership with local emergency management agencies. Waller says residents with immediate needs should dial 211 to reach United Way's community partners.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: A new report shows while deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide are down 6% nationwide, Georgia ranks almost dead last when it comes to access to behavioral health care. That's according to Trust for America's Health, or TFAH. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more.

Ellen Eldridge: Finding care for depression or addiction is tough in Georgia, despite the state's effort to improve access. The state has made some progress, but there's a ways to go, including fully funding the 988 Suicide Crisis Lifeline. Brandon Reavis is with TFAH. He says one possible solution is to include a fee on cellphone bills for state emergency services, like there is for 911.

Brandon Reavis: And I think that kind of sustainable funding will be critical to make sure that Georgia residents have access to crisis services — not just the lifeline itself, but in the future, hopefully mobile crisis units to meet them where they are, and crisis stabilization centers to provide a safe place to go.

Ellen Eldridge: Reavis says adverse childhood experiences like abuse and neglect are directly linked to the risk of substance use disorder later in life. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: A new elementary school in Macon aims to bridge the learning gap many dyslexic students experience in the classroom. It's the first school of its kind outside the metro Atlanta area. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more.

Sofi Gratas: Starting with just 30 students, the Roberts Academy at Mercer University hopes to more than double enrollment over the next few years. Here, all teachers are trained in a special method that breaks down reading and writing. And with smaller class sizes, students will get the attention they aren't always guaranteed at traditional schools, says fourth grade teacher Elizabeth Eidson.

Elizabeth Eidson: Dyslexia has such a negative connotation because people just don't know what it is. And so coming here, they are nervous that I'm going to be taught how to read and I don't know how to read.

Sofi Gratas: Georgia schools aren't allowed to diagnose dyslexia, but starting this school year, they can screen for it — years after Georgia lawmakers passed legislation approving the program. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas in Macon.

Caption

Young Thug

Credit: Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Story 5:

Peter Biello: The YSL Rico trial was set to resume this morning against rapper Young Thug and several co-defendants. This trial resumes after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker denied a request for a mistrial. Part of the Fulton County District Attorney's case against the rapper, whose real name is Jeffrey Williams, revolves around his lyrics. Prosecutors say he admits to crimes in his songs. A ruling from last year allowed some of Young Thug's rap lyrics to be entered as evidence. University of Georgia Associate Dean Andrea Dennis has studied legal arguments around lyrics as evidence.

Andrea Dennis: The First Amendment does protect art, but the distinction that is made — and it's, to some people, a very fine one, but for lawyers and judges, lawmakers, it has significance — is that using the artistic expression, the musical expression, as evidence does not prevent individuals from creating the art.

Peter Biello: Dennis also notes prosecutors are often more eager to target rappers than other musicians.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: The family of late R&B legend Isaac Hayes, says they are suing presidential candidate Donald Trump for unauthorized use of his song "Hold On, I'm Coming" at campaign events. In documents posted to Hayes' social media accounts, the family demanded that Trump cease playing the song and pay $3 million for its unauthorized use from 2022 to this year. The letter outlines more than 130 times Trump and Republicans played the 1966 classic that was recorded famously by Sam and Dave, but written by Hayes and David Porter. His son Isaac Hayes III who runs Atlanta-based social media platform fanbase, says the family also plans to file a federal lawsuit.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Georgia's corn harvest this year is expected to drop by a third compared to last year, while cotton production will be unchanged, peanuts will be up slightly and peaches will rebound exponentially. That's according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's latest crop forecast, released today. The agency's report shows how an abnormally dry May in June affected corn crops, but it doesn't reflect possible damage to crops caused by Tropical Storm Debby.

Caption

Chuck Schumer

Story 8:

Peter Biello: The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate says he'll work to block a plan that would significantly cut the proposed budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Atlanta-based agency would see a reduction of $1.8 billion, or 22% of its budget, under a proposal advanced last month by a committee in the Republican-led U.S. House. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York told The Associated Press yesterday that he'd block legislation in the Senate if it included the proposed cut.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: It's not just people who needed rescuing from flooding on the Ogeechee River following Tropical Storm Debby. Video posted on social media shows an elaborate horse rescue as swelling floodwaters left them without pasture on Friday. The video shows two horses being led to safety by a man on a jet ski. The horses were safely brought out of the water and are now happily grazing at a farm in Newington. A third horse, a mare named Cinnamon, was also rescued from standing water on Saturday.

Story 10:

Peter Biello: Today is the first day for students attending classes in Kennesaw State's new master's degree program in artificial intelligence. The second program of its kind in the state, it aims to prepare the 58 students now enrolled for work refining and improving AI programs like Open AI and ChatGPT. Mahmut Karakaya is an assistant professor in the department of Computer Science at Kennesaw State. He says students will also take a course in AI ethics.

Mahmut Karakaya: Thinking about like the bias or the fairness of the system. How can we explain the decision coming from the machine learning models?

Peter Biello: The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment of computer and information research scientists, including AI professionals, will grow more than 20% in the decade preceding 2031, which is four times the rate of the average for all occupations.

Story 11:

Peter Biello: The 2024 Paris Olympics wrapped up yesterday, and at least 21 athletes with Georgia connections are coming home with medals. That's according to our reporting in partnership with Rough Draft Atlanta. Among gold medalists, swimmer Nick Fink, a University of Georgia and Georgia Tech alum, helped set a new world record in the 4 x 100 mixed relay, and shooter Vincent Hancock of Eatonton in Middle Georgia won gold in men's skeet shooting, becoming only the sixth man to win four gold medals in the same event. You can find a complete list of Georgia medalists at GPB.org/news.

Story 12:

Peter Biello: In other Georgia sports, the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds will play at the Bristol Motor Speedway, the Tennessee track known as Thunder Valley in next year's Speedway Classic. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred made the announcement Friday in Bristol. The game will be the first National League or American League regular season game ever played in the Volunteer State, as the MLB continues to expand where it plays. The league played at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., earlier this year. The Speedway Classic will take place on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025.

Peter Biello: And that is it for this edition of Georgia Today. Want to learn more about any of these stories? Visit GPB.org/news. And remember to subscribe to this podcast. It's a great way to stay on top of the news. We'll pop up automatically in your podcast feed tomorrow if you do. And we do love hearing from you. We want to know what you think about this podcast, how we can improve it. Maybe you have an idea about a story we should cover. Send us an email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thank you again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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