Georgia Today: Fire at Plant Vogtle; Debby recovery efforts continue; Rome HS Football season delayed

Peter Biello:  Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Tuesday, August 13th. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, Georgia Power issues a safety alert after a fire at Plant Vogtle in East Georgia. Parts of southeast Georgia continue to struggle after Tropical Storm Debby. And after a school bus accident, one Northwest Georgia school delays the start of its football season. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Georgia Power issued and quickly terminated an official safety alert at two units near Plant Vogtle, south of Augusta. The company says the alert was declared at noon because of a transformer fire. The alert was canceled just after 2:30 when the fire was extinguished. The company says plant conditions did not threaten public safety and trained personnel are working on recovery efforts. The incidents affected Vogtle Units 1 and 2, which went into service in the 1980s.

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Trump

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Tomorrow marks one year since a grand jury in Atlanta's Fulton County accused former President Donald Trump and others of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The case today remains largely stalled, with no chance of going to trial before the end of this year. The prosecution notched some early victories, but allegations raised by one of Trump's co-defendants this year could ultimately derail the case. The allegations came in January from a lawyer for Michael Roman, a Trump campaign staffer and former white House aide. He accused Willis of a conflict of interest in hiring lawyer Nathan Wade, with whom she'd had a romantic relationship. A judge found no conflict of interest so long as Wade left the case, which he did. Trump and other defendants have appealed McAfee's ruling. That appeal is currently pending before the Georgia Court of Appeals, which plans to hear arguments in December and then must rule by mid-March. Nothing else in the case can be done until then.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Six UGA students have been suspended for the fall semester for behavior during protests back in April. They're also banned from campus for the rest of the year. UGA's Office of Student Conduct made the determination late last month, 16 people were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing and remained on property after being told to leave during a pro-Palestinian protest in April. The students may appeal the university's decision.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Parts of Chatham and Bryan counties in Southeast Georgia are continuing to deal with flooding from Tropical Storm Debby. Days after the cyclone dumped 10 inches of rain on the area, GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.

Benjamin Payne: Some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods have been along the Ogeechee River, which crested over the weekend. Euros to ten feet on Sunday near Richmond Hill, setting a new record and prompting a partial closure of State Highway 204. Savannah Alderman Kurtis Purtee represents the city's south side.

Kurtis Purtee: I've been in Savannah for 20 years and we've seen some monstrous storms, but this has been by far the most unusual. I'll use the word "historic" because it is. The folks that live out there, this is the first time they're seeing this. So it's — it's something that is very new to us to be able to navigate through.

Benjamin Payne: Another tropical system is currently brewing in the Atlantic, but the National Hurricane Center is forecasting it will turn north and stay far away from the U.S. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: In an election where candidates' ages have been a significant issue, some Georgia voters are reaching across generational divides. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: Parker Short, the president of the Young Democrats of Georgia, spoke at a bingo-themed Harris event at a senior center in East Point. He said he looks to the older generation for wisdom and mentorship.

Parker Short: The interests of everyone are the same. We want to care about the next generation, and our grandparents want our grandkids to live with a cleaner, safer world.

Sarah Kallis: Venedra Browner is 67 years old and lives at Trinity Towers, where the event was held. She said younger generations give her hope.

Venedra Browner: But I'm the type that will learn to listen, you know, through the grandchildren. And I don't have any great-grands. But listening is is one of the positive things that we can do.

Sarah Kallis: Browner also says she hopes for more unity between generations. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: A new documentary examines peer counseling and its impact on mental health treatment. GPB's Ellen Eldridge reports on "Stigma to Strength: Georgia and the Certified Peer Specialist Movement".

Ellen Eldridge: Since the late '80s, Georgia has led the way in training professional peer counselors with substance misuse and mental health challenges. Claire Bonnell is a peer supervisor in Middle Georgia who appears in the documentary. She says the reason peer support works is twofold.

Claire Bonnell: For one: It empowers the peers that are doing the work to — to go out and build those connections. For two: It allows us to work together with each other to build one another up.

Ellen Eldridge: The film, produced by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, premiered at the Carter Center. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Home Depot's sales rose slightly as the nation's biggest home improvement retailer booked gains from a recent acquisition. But in second quarter earnings released today, the Atlanta-based company trimmed its outlook for 2024, citing a continued squeeze on consumer spending due to prolonged high interest rates.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: A plan to cede substantial control of one of Savannah's beloved landmarks to a new nonprofit group is generating some pushback from neighbors. City officials are considering turning over fundraising and some maintenance of Forsyth Park to a private conservancy. Victorian Neighborhood Association President Nancy Maia says she was blindsided and alarmed by the proposal, which she learned about when it went before city council for a vote last week.

Nancy Maia: I think everybody can get around that concept: having this entity that helps to protect the park. But any group wants that, has to have voices from the neighborhood.

Peter Biello: The vote was postponed. The new conservancy proposal comes years after the city shelved a contentious park master plan.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: Rome High School says its football team will not play in the season opener this Friday, after a bus carrying players and coaches was involved in an accident last week. The school says students and staff who were admitted to the hospital after the accident Thursday were released Friday. Coach John Reed said the game was canceled after doctors had a chance to evaluate the players. The game would have been part of the Corky Kell and Dave Hunter Classic, which kicks off the high school football season every year.

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Charlie Starr and Benji Shanks of Blackberry Smoke

Story 10:

Peter Biello: Atlanta's own Southern Rock powerhouse, Blackberry Smoke, will play a show later this month in honor of their drummer, Brit Turner, who passed away in March of this year after a battle with brain cancer. Charlie Star of Blackberry Smoke stopped by our GPB studios for a special episode of the Peach Jam podcast, and talked about moving forward after the death of a bandmate and friend.

Charlie Star: There's a great story about the Allman Brothers Band when when Duane Allman died in 1971. They played his funeral. And there're photographs of it. And I thought "how is that even possible?" But now I understand because it was something that they all shared together and it's what they did. They didn't paint cars or dig ditches or build houses. They played songs. And that's what we do. And I instantly got it. All these bands that you see that live through tragedies. Nobody more so than Lynyrd Skynyrd, you know. So many, so many tragic deaths in that band. Now I understand why they keep going. Because — it's what you do. You know, when you've put this much time and effort and love into something, you don't stop.

Peter Biello: Blackberry smoke will pay tribute to Brit Turner at Chastain Park in Atlanta on Aug. 23. Tickets are available at BlackberrySmoke.com. And you can find the whole conversation with Charlie Star and Benji Shanks of Blackberry Smoke on the Peach Jam podcast at GPB.org/podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Story 11:

Peter Biello: In baseball, Chris Sale and Blake Snell put on a pitching show in a matchup of aces before the Atlanta Braves edged the San Francisco Giants 1 to nothing on pinch hitter Travis d'Arnaud's sacrifice fly in the 10th inning. Snell carried a no-hit bid through six innings for San Francisco, just 10 days after throwing his first career no-hitter at Cincinnati. The left hander gave up Marcell Ozuna his leadoff double in the seventh on his 103rd pitch. The two-time Cy Young Award winner struck out 11 and walked three and 6 1/3 innings. Sale fanned a dozen without issuing a walk in seven innings of three-hit ball, as Atlanta won for only the second time in nine tries, and moved a game ahead of the New York Mets for the final National League wild card.

Peter Biello: And that's it. We're done with Georgia Today for today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, check out our website GPB.org/news. And if you want to stay on top of the news, the best way to do it, of course, is to tune in to this podcast every weekday. You can do that by subscribing. That way we'll pop up in your podcast feed automatically every weekday afternoon. And if you've got feedback for us, something you think we should change, something you'd like to hear on the podcast, we are all ears. Send us an email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. That's GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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