Georgia Today: Cobb new voting challenge rule; CSU faces wrongful death suit; Thomson mayor arrested

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Thursday, Aug. 15. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, one of Georgia's largest counties will start charging people who challenge the eligibility of voters. The mother of a murder victim plans to file a wrongful death suit against Columbia State University, and a man from East Georgia is arrested by the GBI for giving alcohol to an inmate work crew. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

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Voting

Credit: GPB / File

Story 1:

Peter Biello: An election board in one of Georgia's largest counties has voted to start charging people who challenge the eligibility of voters. The Cobb County Board of Elections and Registrations voted 4 to 1 Tuesday to adopt the rule. Daniel White is the attorney for the Cobb Board of Elections. He says notifying people whose registration is a part of a mass voter challenge is not budgeted for.

Daniel White: It's a new thing that we've seen really in the last five years where you're getting these challenges with thousands of voters in one submission, and that's just a cost that you can't necessarily anticipate.

Peter Biello: Cobb County Republican Sally Grubbs testified against the rule, saying it will deter people from questioning eligibility.

Sally Grubbs: The inflation that's out of control and now being charged for this is just one more thing that we're being hit for — for in Cobb County and it's just wrong.

Peter Biello: The vote comes as a new Georgia law, that took effect July 1, makes it easier for challengers to meet the legal burden to remove someone from voter rolls.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Cardiac-related complications in pregnant and postpartum moms is the top driver of maternal mortality in Georgia. That's according to the state's latest public health report. Two years after it began, the program out of Southeast Georgia that relies on remote monitoring of patients is hopeful for a solution. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more.

Sofi Gratas: Using Bluetooth blood pressure monitors and text reminders, Moms Heart Matters has over 150 patients enrolled at Liberty Regional Medical Center in Hinesville. Patients participate up to a year after delivery. Nurse Heather Daniels says they can intervene before postpartum complications become life-threatening. And while digital tools can't solve Georgia's maternal health crisis, Daniels says they're working toward expanding, with state support.

Heather Daniels: More years we get under our belt, the more data we have, the more we can show how massive an impact our program has on the community and that they need to invest to help others in Georgia.

Sofi Gratas: Emory University is the latest to offer the program. Elsewhere, at-home blood pressure cuffs for new moms are covered under Medicaid as of last year. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: The University System of Georgia's economic impact for last fiscal year includes more than 163,000 full- and part-time jobs. In a report detailing the economic benefits of USG institutions, USG found those jobs account for more than 3% of all non-farm jobs in the state and provide the same impact as the combined number of jobs at Georgia's top five employers: Fort Moore, Delta Air Lines, Emory University and Health care, U.S. Army Signal Center in Fort Eisenhower, and Robins Air Force Base. The report also identified nearly $22 billion in sales, more than $15 billion in gross regional product and more than $10 billion in income. That includes spending by students, the university institutions themselves on salaries and operating expenses, and the costs of capital projects.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: The Environmental Protection Agency has reached a halfway point in removing toxic soil from a Superfund site in Atlanta's Westside neighborhoods. Amanda Andrews explains they're crediting community engagement for their progress.

Amanda Andrews: The EPA presented Atlanta resident Rosario Dawson with a National Notable Achievement Award for her work in building trust and sharing the agency's message with her neighbors. Heavy metals have been removed from half of the 600 properties in the Westside Superfund site. Remedial Project manager Alayna Famble Martin says initially people were hesitant to trust a government agency.

Alayna Famble Martin: We couldn't have gotten this far with our remediation and our progress without her and other community advocates saying, "Hey, EPA came in, they did what they told us they would do and we're better for it. I don't have to worry about lead in my property anymore."

Amanda Andrews: The soil cleanup of the former industrial site is expected to be complete by 2028. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: The mother of a Columbus State University student killed in a murder-suicide last year, is planning to sue the school. Giselle Lara was murdered almost a year ago on the CSU campus. Her mother, Rebecca Lara, plans to file a $25 million wrongful death suit. Her attorneys say Giselle had been the victim of sexual assault, harassment and stalking on campus, adding that CSU had chronic problems with responding to and protecting victims of sexual harassment and threats of violence on campus. In a statement, CSU says that, quote, "while the university does not comment on pending litigation, we continue to mourn the loss of Giselle Lara and respect the grief of Giselle's family."

Story 6:

Peter Biello: The mayor of the city of Thomson, west of Augusta, has been arrested for giving alcohol to an inmate work crew back in June. Benjamin Cranford was arrested by the GBI and charged with furnishing prohibited items to inmates and criminal attempt to commit a felony. The case was presented yesterday to a McDuffie County grand jury and a grand jury arrest warrant was issued. Cranford has not responded to a request for comment. Georgia law holds that anyone convicted of giving intoxicating liquors to incarcerated people would be sentenced to a minimum of two years in jail.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Accountability courts are an alternative to prison time for people with nonviolent offenses. Georgia has these programs all over the state, overseen by local judges, law enforcement, public defenders and case managers. In Georgia, those that make it through accountability courts — over 1,000 every year — are far less likely to reenter incarceration and addiction. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more from some of those graduates in Middle Georgia.

Brenda Trammell: How are you? Thank you. How are you?

Sofi Gratas: It's graduation day in the small town of Eatonton, Ga.

Brenda Trammell: Enjoy graduation.

Sofi Gratas: But not the type of graduation that might immediately come to mind.

Brenda Trammell: He was so worried about that GED and now he's gonna continue to go to school. So weren't the bad guy after all.

Travis Adams: Thank you. She — she believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.

Sofi Gratas: That's one of today's graduates, Travis Adams.

Brenda Trammell: We just love it.

Sofi Gratas: Travis is graduating from drug court. He huddles in a storage closet with nine other graduates. And with the same judges who've been assigned to their cases since Day 1.

Brenda Trammell: Are y'all ready? Game face on, people. Is it time? All right. I am Brenda Trammell. I'm the chief judge of the Ocmulgee circuit. We're supposedly the size of Delaware, maybe? The ones that come in are ordinarily — I mean, we have some that come in, you know, from the street that are on probation. Ordinarily, these people are in jail, so it's voluntary. They have to talk to their lawyers about whether or not they want to be in this program. And then we begin a journey that ends up hopefully like this.

Robin Collins: So when I started this program 34 months ago, I wasn't the same person that stands here now. I was strung out and hopeless with one goal: to get high. ... I actually got a lot of different last names. But drug court recognizes me as Robin Collins. Really, it was a get out of jail free card. I had failed a drug test for probation, and they sent me to jail. Everyone in jail told me how stupid I was, that "this is not a good decision for you. You're not going to make it. It's really hard." It was really, really hard. All the classes, the getting up at 7:00 in the morning, the drug testing twice a week — like, a lot of people didn't make it.

Rebecca Almand: Well, it's a — it's a minimum of 18 months and it's supposed to be 24 months at the maximum. But as you heard today, there's some people that have been here close to four years. So it's just different. It's different for everybody. I am Rebecca Almand, and I'm the program coordinator for the Ocmulgee County Adult Treatment Court Collaborative. And the program just teaches you how to live a sober life in the same place that you are getting high in. It doesn't pull you out and lock you away in an inpatient treatment. It teaches you how to — to stay clean. And see, I graduated from this program too in 2017, so I know exactly from lived experience what they are dealing with. Can't figure out how to keep appointments, how to show up on time. When that guy on the left first came in the program, he was a hot mess.

Student: Com ingwhere I come from, there only light at the end of the tunnel is — is you're either dead or you're in jail.

Brenda Trammell: If you see them come in completely broken with — you know, almost hopeless. And then this light comes on and they start, you know, changing and being responsible and and being accountable and telling the truth and admitting when they're wrong. I mean, it's it's just an incredible change from beginning to end.

Robin Collins: Okay, guys, I'm really hot. I want to come out this gown. I'm fixing to buy a house; to be able to have my own home and my children and their forever home. It's something that I've worked really hard towards. And these are, these are — these are the little ones. Are y'all ready to go home?

Kids: Yes. Of course we are. We ain't got to wake up at 6 o'clock in the morning no more.

Brenda Trammell: You know, addicts are a tricky bunch, but they're very, very bright. And so they're — some of them are trying their best just to figure out what's the best thing for me not to be incarcerated. Others come in and you've heard some of those testimonies today. They truly have a desire to get well.

Peter Biello: You heard the voices of staff and graduates from the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Adult Treatment Court Collaborative's second graduation this year. This piece was produced by GPB's Sofi Gratas.

Caption

Usher

Credit: Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Story 8:

Peter Biello: Usher postponed the first of three Atlanta concerts last night. The singer was set to kick off his North American "Past, Present and Future" tour at State Farm Arena last night. But just before doors were set to open, Usher posted on social media that the show was postponed, saying, quote, "to give my body a second to rest and heal." State Farm Arena says it would email ticketholders directly with updates about the rescheduled concert. The second of the three concerts is scheduled for tomorrow night.

Story 9: 

Peter Biello: In sports: Last night, Michael Harris hit a grand slam in his first at bat after missing nearly two months because of a hamstring injury — helping lead the Braves to victory over the Giants 13 to 2.

Sports announcer: This ball is hit deep to right. Are you kidding me? Welcome back, Michael Harris! A grand slam into McCovey Cove!

Peter Biello: That audio comes courtesy of Bally Sports. Grant Holmes had six strikeouts in seven innings in his first career victory. Matt Olson, Austin Riley and Shawn Murphy also homered for Atlanta.

Peter Biello: Thank you, as always, for listening to Georgia Today. That's all we've got. But there will be more news tomorrow. There's actually news every minute, it seems, and we're posting it live at GPB.org/news. But this summary comes but once a day. If you subscribe to Georgia Today, we will pop up in your podcast feed automatically tomorrow afternoon. And if you've got feedback for us or a story we should know about — or a recipe; who knows, we might be in the cooking mood this weekend. Send it to us at GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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