Georgia Today: Hurricane Milton heads for land; Abortion ban reinstated; Hemp industry regulations

Orlando Montoya: Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, Oct. 7. I'm Orlando Montoya. On today's episode, as Georgia residents pick up the pieces from Hurricane Helene, another major storm is making its way toward land. The state Supreme Court reinstates Georgia's controversial abortion ban. And the Georgia hemp industry deals with new regulations. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Orlando Montoya: As Hurricane Milton approaches Florida's west coast for an expected landfall on Wednesday night, Southeast Georgia residents are preparing for possible tropical storm conditions. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.

Benjamin Payne: The National Hurricane Center forecast cone projects the center Milton could reach as far north as Jacksonville, Fla. Severe weather extends well beyond the center of hurricane. Tropical storm conditions are possible on Wednesday for much of southeast Georgia, including Brunswick's Glynn County. Andy Leanza directs the county's emergency management agency and says the damage from Hurricane Helene will likely make the area more vulnerable to Milton than would otherwise be.

Andy Leanza: Our concern is that we have heavily saturated ground from the systems that have passed, plus the damages to the infrastructure from the last storm that could compound the effects of the current storm. So we anticipate it being worse than typical.

Benjamin Payne: Glynn County and some other parts of Southeast Georgia are currently under flood watches because of Helene. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne.

Story 2:

Orlando Montoya: Georgia's top elections official doesn't expect damage from Hurricane Helene to cause major disruptions for next month's general election in the state. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said today that early in-person voting is set to get underway next week as planned. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: The secretary of state's office says most polling places have not been affected by Hurricane Helene. Counties that have, including Lowndes and Richmond, will be updated online. Gabriel Sterling is the chief operating officer of the Georgia secretary of state's office.

Gabriel Sterling: We're only aware of three out of 2,400 actual Election Day locations that have been affected. So that's a good, great thing to me as the vast majority of voters can avoid those kind of issues.

Sarah Kallis: Sterling says absentee ballots will still be sent on time and that their office will consider alternative ways for voters in storm-impacted areas to receive their ballots, including sending them through UPS or allowing voters to pick them up at a neighboring post office. He encourages Georgians to make a voting plan and consider early voting when it begins Oct. 15. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.

Story 3:

Orlando Montoya: And today is the last day that Georgians can register to vote in the November election. You can check your registration status at the secretary of State's My Voter page at MVP.SOS.GA.gov. Meanwhile, the State Election Board is scheduled to meet one more time ahead of the election tomorrow. The board's executive director is set to present the findings of an investigation into charges that eight election boards in counties led by Democrats are improperly dismissing complaints about the eligibility of tens of thousands of voters. A three-member board majority aligned with former President Donald Trump approved the investigation last month.

Story 4:

Orlando Montoya: The Georgia Supreme Court has halted a lower court ruling that struck down the state's near-total ban on abortions. The high court's order today puts back into effect a 2019 state law that prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, often before women realize they're pregnant. The ban was lifted for a week when a Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled on Sept. 30 that privacy rights under Georgia's constitution include a woman's right to make her own health care decisions. The Georgia Supreme Court has overruled the same judge on abortion cases before and is blocking his ruling while the state appeals it.

Story 5:

Orlando Montoya: Georgia's production of fruits and vegetables could expand as a result of changing weather patterns. That's the takeaway from a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia's College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. GPB's Chase McGee explains.

Chase McGee: Climate change could make water in the West even more scarce and push some crop production towards Georgia, where water is more plentiful. Dr. Jeff Mullen says South Georgia's sandy blend of soil also puts farmers at an advantage.

Dr. Jeff Mullen: So when we do get a lot of water and rain we end up with a situation where a lot of that water percolates down into the aquifers, which is basically a natural storage system for us.

Chase McGee: While Georgia still won't be immune from drought, Dr. Mullen says that farmers will be able to better handle water stress than in the western United States. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee.

Story 6:

Orlando Montoya: Jewish groups across the state plan to mark the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel with community gatherings tonight. The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta is hosting an event in Sandy Springs to remember the lives of the 1,200 victims and 100 hostages. Speaking at that event will be someone whose father was killed in the attack and other community members affected. The Savannah Jewish Federation has invited an Israeli academic and diplomat to speak and the Savannah Philharmonic to perform at an event in Savannah.

Story 7:

Orlando Montoya: Students in Rockdale County Public Schools attended classes remotely today because of the continuing impacts of the cleanup at the BioLab plant which caught on fire over a week ago. Remote learning will continue through Wednesday. The district was on a pre-scheduled break last week. Officials said they decided to go back to class remotely out of caution. They hope to return to normal operations later this week.

Story 8:

Orlando Montoya: A Georgia hemp industry that had been manufacturing and selling hemp products virtually unfettered since Congress legalized it six years ago now has some significant regulation. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports on how business owners and consumers are adjusting to a new state law that went into effect on Oct. 1.

Amanda Andrews: Senate Bill 494 requires businesses to get a license to sell hemp products, restricts sales only to people over 21, and creates new standards for product testing. The law also banned the sale of food products infused with hemp and the smokable THC-A flower. Georgia Hemp Company co-founder Joe Salome says he's prepared to pivot.

Joe Salome: We're also going to beverages kind of move to the forefront. They're going to see beverages move to the forefront as well. You're really going to see that product and category infiltrate the general market even more.

Amanda Andrews: Consumable hemp products in the form of drinks, gummies and vapes are still legal. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.

Story 9:

Orlando Montoya: Hyundai has started production at its electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Southeast Georgia's Bryan County. The company celebrated the first car produced at the plant, one of its top-selling Ioniq-Fives, in an event at the facility on Thursday that was not open to the media. The production milestone means Hyundai and its customers will be eligible for some of the lucrative tax breaks that the Biden administration proposed and Congress passed in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Story 10:

Orlando Montoya: Delta Air Lines says customers next summer will see its largest ever schedule from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The Atlanta-based airline said on Friday that by next summer, it'll have 75 more daily departures out of ATL. The expanded flights will include 20% more seats to Savannah, Augusta, Albany, Brunswick, Columbus and Valdosta.

Story 11:

Orlando Montoya: And in Georgia sports, Atlanta United kept its playoff hopes alive with a 2 to 1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday. Alexei Miranchuk scored on a penalty kick in the 75th minute, and he added an assist on Tyler Wolf's stoppage time goal. The Five Stripes finish their regular season against Orlando City SC on Oct. 19. And Georgia remains at No. 5 in the Associated Press college football poll taken yesterday after the Bulldogs bounced back from their first regular season loss in almost four years with a 31 to 13 victory over Auburn.

Orlando Montoya: And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. As always, if you'd like the latest Georgia news, visit GPB.org/news, where our reporters are constantly updating stories that are being talked about all over Georgia. If you haven't yet hit subscribe to this podcast, take a second. Do that now. It helps you to keep us current in your feed. And if you have feedback, send that to us at GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. We're ready to hear it. I'm Orlando Montoya. I'll talk to you again tomorrow.

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