Georgia Today: Georgia prepares for Hurricane Helene; Suit challenges voter registration law; SAT scores

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Wednesday, Sept. 25. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, the Red Cross is urging people to prepare to lose power as Hurricane Helene makes landfall. A new lawsuit seeks to overturn provisions of a voter registration law. And the SAT scores of Georgia students continue to beat the national average. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Helene has strengthened into a hurricane as forecasters warn of multiple dangers from an intensifying storm that will impact the entire state. The National Hurricane Center's Jamie Rhome gave the agency's latest update as Helene moves toward the Florida Panhandle.

Jamie Rhome: And what's most important here and should jump off the map is just how far inland over southern Georgia those hurricane warnings extend. So we're talking about areas like Valdosta, Albany, Ga. You need to be prepared.

Peter Biello: Hurricane-force winds are now possible as far north as Macon. The National Hurricane Center's latest update has the entire state under hurricane or tropical storm warnings or a tropical storm watch. The heaviest winds are expected Thursday night into Friday morning. That will come after a front drops heavy rain today, making the ground wet and setting the stage for widespread power outages when the winds arrive. John Kraft is the media spokesman for Georgia Power.

John Kraft: It's appropriate to call 911 if you see a downed power line. We also caution residents who want to get out and start cleaning up storm debris to watch for downed wires that could be tangled in trees, fallen trees, lines that could be hidden in submerged water that could still be energized.

Peter Biello: The Red Cross is urging residents to prepare for three days without power. Suzanne Lawlor is the organization's spokesperson in Georgia.

Suzanne Lawlor: Charging cellphones may become harder if you lose power. So all of those phone numbers that we have in our phone and we just push a button and they come and they just dial somebody. That may not happen in a storm. So you want to write down people's phone numbers. Any important phone numbers that you have in your phone? Write them down right now and have that with your important documents.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: In the north Georgia mountains, officials are preparing for potentially catastrophic flooding. And in South Georgia, farmers are working quickly to protect valuable cotton and peanut crops. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more.

Sofi Gratas: By late Tuesday afternoon, Jeremy Kichler with the University of Georgia Extension Office in Southwest Georgia's Colquitt County, said he had farmers coming to him with peanut crop samples.

Jeremy Kichler: They have the maturity checked on them.

Sofi Gratas: If they're mature. Kichler says farmers will likely harvest crops up until the storm hits to stem potential losses. Georgia Peanuts are a multimillion-dollar crop for the state. Cotton, a billion-dollar crop, is also at risk with the storm, though mostly if the white fluffy bolls are already exposed. Kichler says lower yields for both crops were already expected this year, in part because of a longer wet planting season.

Jeremy Kichler: So it was a weather-related issue. It's going to be a challenge this year to get the peanut crop out, you know, and now we have this.

Sofi Gratas: For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

Peter Biello: Helene is approaching the state barely a year after Southeast Georgia took a beating from Hurricane Idalia and less than two months after Tropical Storm Debby dropped torrential rains in the region. GPB has you covered with storm resources to help you prepare and the latest Georgia news on Helene. Find out always updating coverage at GPB.org/storms.

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Election

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes announced new legal action she's taking against three Trump-backed members of the State Election Board. She previously filed an ethics complaint against members Janelle King, Rick Jeffares and Janice Johnston. Attorney General Chris Carr said that Gov. Brian Kemp is not legally required to investigate them. Islam Parkes is now asking the courts to step in.

Nabliah Islam Parkes: We are filing a petition with the courts to force the governor to do his job and investigate the illegal actions by these three rogue State Election Board members.

Peter Biello: A spokesperson for Gov. Kemp said that the office does not comment on pending or active litigation, but there have been no formal charges against State Election Board members that would require him to investigate them.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: A new lawsuit seeks to overturn two provisions of a Georgia election law related to voter challenges. The Georgia State Conference of the NAACP and the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda filed suit yesterday. They say a new law unfairly discriminates against homeless people and voters registered at nonresidential addresses. Supporters of the law argue many people are incorrectly registered at business addresses or even in empty lots instead of where they live. That means someone may be voting in the wrong precinct and the wrong local government and state legislative elections. Those opposing the law argue there's no basis in state or federal law for challenging a voter solely because they provided a nonresidential address. The plaintiffs also seek to overturn a separate section of the new law that takes effect Jan. 1 that mandates that homeless people use their county's election office to receive election-related mail. State Senate Ethics Committee member Max Burns, a Republican from Sylvania, says he's confident the law will hold up in court.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Southwest Airlines plans to cut about one-third of its flights at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport next year to save money. Employees affected by the change are furious. The company's retreat from ATL will eliminate more than 300 jobs for pilots and flight attendants, although the company says they'll have a chance to relocate. The cutback comes as Southwest management is under pressure to increase profits and boost the airline's stock price. The company's pilots' association says the cuts are happening because Southwest management has failed to evolve and innovate. The union that represents the company's flight attendants says the airline assured them that the Atlanta base would grow. A Southwest spokesperson says the Atlanta decision targets an underperforming market while the airline plans to increase service in Nashville.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: The AJC reports former reality television star Julie Chrissley was resentenced in Atlanta's federal trial court today to seven years in prison on bank fraud and tax evasion charges. Julie Chrissley was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2022 after being found guilty at trial of bank fraud, wire fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and obstruction of justice. Her husband, Todd Chrissley, was also found guilty of all the charges he faced and sentenced to a dozen years in prison. Her daughter, Savannah Chrissley, said the new sentence is an injustice and will be appealed.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: For the seventh year in a row, Georgia public school students performed better than average on the SAT. Georgia public school students recorded a mean score of 1030, which is 35 points higher than the national average. But that's still a 15 point drop from last year. The national average also decreased. Participation in the SAT in Georgia increased, which sometimes leads to moderate drops in performance.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: In sports, the Braves beat the Mets last night 5 to 1 in a pivotal matchup that helped the Braves climb closer to a wildcard spot. Last night, Braves center fielder Michael Harris II, made an incredible diving catch in center and had a great night at the plate with a home run and an RBI double.

Michael Harris II: Normally, I haven't missed swinging at the first pitch, but when I seen Arcia on second, I knew I had to get something to the right side of the field and he gave me a pitching side to do it. So I kind of took it and I got a double out of it. So it's just this little things and just knowing the situation and how to do it.

Peter Biello: Spencer Shwellenbach got the win for Atlanta. Atlanta is now a half game out of the third wild card slot in the National League. The Braves are scheduled to play the Mets tonight, though the weather may cause a delay.

Peter Biello: And that's a wrap on this edition of Georgia Today. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you want to learn more about these stories, visit GPB.org/news. And again, if you want updates about the storm, it's GPB.org/storms. If you haven't subscribed to this podcast yet, take a moment and do it now. It'll keep us current in your podcast feed and your feedback is welcome as always. Send it to us by 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