Georgia Today: Jan. 6 defendant from Savannah found guilty; Congressman calls for closure of BioLab

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Thursday, October 17th. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, a January 6th defendant from Savannah is found guilty on six federal charges. A Georgia congressman is calling for Rockdale County's BioLab plant to close. And WellStar announces plans to redevelop the Atlanta Medical Center's former campus. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: A grand jury has indicted both a Georgia teenager and his father for charges related to the September 4th mass shooting at Appalachee High School in Winder, east of Atlanta. The Barrow County grand jury today charged 14 year old Colt Gray with a total of 55 counts, including murder, aggravated assault and cruelty to children. His father, Colin Gray, faces 29 counts, including second degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct. Both are scheduled to enter their pleas formally at an arraignment on November 21st.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: A January 6th defendant from Savannah has been found guilty on six federal charges for his involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.

Benjamin Payne: Dominic Box was among the hundreds of supporters of then-President Donald Trump who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, in an effort to block certification of Joe Biden's victory. Nearly two years after federal prosecutors first filed charges against Box, a former car salesman in Savannah, DC, federal Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, found him guilty in a ruling issued Monday. Box set opted for a bench trial rather than a trial by jury and also turned down a plea deal offered by prosecutors. His conviction includes two felony counts of civil disorder, plus four misdemeanors. Prosecutors dropped his most serious charge, obstruction of an official proceeding after the Supreme Court ruled the statute does not apply to January 6th defendants. Box could face several years in prison or be sent home for time already served in D.C. jail. Sentencing has not been scheduled. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.

Caption

Some residents east of Atlanta were evacuated and others told to shelter in place after a fire at a chemical plant Sept. 29, 2024.

Credit: Rockdale County via X

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson is calling on the BioLab plant in Rockdale County to close. Johnson, whose district includes Conyers, where the facility is located, says the plant has become a threat to public health following a fire last month that released a plume of chemicals into the air. Johnson, along with other members of the Georgia congressional delegation, are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enhance federal oversight of facilities that store hazardous chemicals. He spoke with GPB's Pamela Kirkland.

Pamela Kirkland: I want to start by asking you what kinds of concerns are you hearing from residents in your district?

Hank Johnson: Well, primarily residents are concerned about their health and they're concerned about air quality, which could be in the air as a result of the chemical reaction that occurred at the bio lab plant that produced billowing plumes of smoke for many days. And that was something that people were breathing. And they have been concerned about the impact of breathing in concentrated amounts of chlorine and other gases that were in that plume of smoke rising from the facility.

Pamela Kirkland: And as far as the fire, what we know is that water got into the facility and interacted with a chemical called trichloroethylene associate, uric acid, which is also known as Tka and is used to make pool and spa products. Your office, along with other members of the Georgia delegation, are asking the EPA to regulate chemicals like TCA, which was a major part of the fire. Why is that? What are you hoping that the EPA can do?

Hank Johnson: Well, there needs to be enhanced federal oversight of facilities that manufacture and store hazardous chemicals, especially those with reactive properties like this t. C. C a when small amounts of it come into contact with water, it produces a chemical reaction that can lead to fire and definitely leads to smoke and pollutes our air and has the potential to pollute our water quality as well. And so we're calling upon the Environmental Protection Agency to enhance its oversight of facilities that manufacture and store these chemically reactive substances, especially when those facilities are located in communities where people live.

Pamela Kirkland: And you've represented this district for some time now. Rockdale County, back when this facility broke ground in the 1970s, is much different today than it was then. What would you hope is next?

Hank Johnson: Well, I hope that the people at Biolab will decide that they will not reopen this plant. They've got a lot of money invested out there. There are jobs associated with the plant, but this economic development is not worth the risk to public safety. And at the very minimum, we should have enhanced federal oversight, federal and state oversight of what's going on inside the buildings where these kinds of hazardous substances are being stored.

Pamela Kirkland: Congressman Hank Johnson represents the fourth Congressional District in Georgia. Thank you so much for speaking with me.

Hank Johnson: Thank you.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: A woman who helped four people escape from Macon's Bibb County jail a year ago has been sentenced to two years and five months in prison. A federal judge handed down the sentence for Janecia Green yesterday. The jailbreak set the stage for a much publicized three day manhunt that ended in all four inmates being captured. Green bought a mallet and a chisel from a home improvement store and gave them to an associate of one of the inmates to be smuggled into the jail. The tools then were used to make an opening in a wall through which the incarcerated people escaped. Of the four who escaped, Chavis Stokes and Marc Anderson pleaded guilty to escape charges in state court earlier this year and were sentenced to five years in prison. Johnifer Barnwell pleaded guilty in federal court, but it's unclear when his sentencing will be. And Joey Fournier was charged in state court, but it's unclear if his case will go to trial.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: The first lady of Minnesota, Gwen Walz, visited Metro Atlanta's Cobb County yesterday to drum up enthusiasm for the campaign of her husband and vice president Kamala Harris. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: Walz made two stops in Cobb County to pitch for support for the Harris/Walz campaign. She met with Democratic canvassers in Marietta and spoke about the importance of canvasing and phone banking. She also talked about abortion and IVF access. Former President Donald Trump has said he supports states making their own restrictions regarding abortion access and not a national ban. But critics say abortion restrictions can lead to legal gray area around IVF.

Gwen Walz: And I'm going to use my teacher voice right here. So listen up. Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance. Please mind your own business.

Sarah Kallis: Walz spoke the same day that Fox News aired Trump's Georgia town Hall focused on women voters. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Marietta.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: A Georgia judge has declared that seven new election rules recently passed by the state election board are, quote, illegal, unconstitutional and void. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox issued the order yesterday. He says the rules are, quote, unsupported by Georgia's election code and that the board didn't have the authority to pass them. The rules that Cox invalidated include requiring the number of ballots be hand-counted after the close of polls, and two rules that had to do with the certification of election results. He ordered the board to immediately remove the rules and to inform all state and local election officials that the rules are void and not to be followed. The state election board is controlled by three Republicans, endorsed by former President Donald Trump. It has passed numerous rules in recent months, mostly dealing with the processes that happen after ballots are cast. Democratic Party organizations, local election officials and a group headed by a former Republican state lawmaker have filed at least a half dozen lawsuits over the rules. Democrats, voting rights groups and some legal experts have raised concerns that some rules could be used by Trump allies to delay or avoid certification or to cast doubt on results if he loses next month's presidential election to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Earlier this week, Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney ruled the certification role of local election boards is mandatory, not discretionary, and must be done by the deadline set by law. That's 5 p.m. on the Monday after the election or the Tuesday of the Monday as a holiday, as it is this year.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: WellStar Health System says it plans to redevelop its former Atlanta Medical Center campus. The company today named a development partner for the hulking vacant site where a hospital closed in late 2022. Amir Farokhi represents the area on Atlanta's city council.

Amir Farokhi: Exciting step in the right direction. Obviously, the devil's in the details and we'll see what emerges over the coming months. But this site has enormous potential for housing, retail, office.

Peter Biello: The announcement didn't include investment amounts or timelines, details a WellStar spokesperson said were, quote, premature. The company's decision to close Atlanta Medical Center shocked the region and area health care systems are still adjusting to it two years later.

Caption

Student loan debt

Story 8:

Peter Biello: The Biden administration claims credit for having fought to reduce the burden of student loans by forgiving billions of dollars worth of debt. The administration also has made changes to the Public Service Loan forgiveness program, which allows certain borrowers forgiveness on the balance of their loan, provided they meet certain conditions like working for a nonprofit or the government. Let's turn now to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who is here in Atlanta to talk about loan forgiveness, among other things. Welcome to the program, Secretary Cardona. Thank you.

Miguel Cardona: Peter. Good to be here again.

Peter Biello: So I understand you're here to announce a milestone for the public service loan program. Can you tell us about that?

Miguel Cardona: Sure. Yeah. You know, public service loan forgiveness was passed in 2007 in bipartisan fashion. So it says basically ten years. You work in public service, you pay your loans for ten years. You get loan forgiveness. The goal was to increase the number of young people going into public service because we saw there was a decline. So ten years out, you know, 2017, it was supposed to kick in. It was riddled with issues. I think there was an attempt to not have as many loans forgiven. Only 7000 people got it in four years. And we recognize when we came in, President Biden, Vice President Harris, were really serious about like, look, this was done in bipartisan fashion, good faith. We're dealing with an educator shortage. We're dealing with a nurse shortage. Fix this. So we did we looked at there were so many different little nuances that could have been corrected. They weren't a lot of things that were obstacles. So we started removing those obstacles, making it more borrower friendly, communicating better. And we're up to a million borrowers in this country in the last three and a half years that have gotten debt relief in public service, loan forgiveness, and we're proud of that. That's a major accomplishment and it's something that's going to keep going because those obstacles that were there, we removed them. So this is something that future generations could also benefit from.

Peter Biello: And in July, the Biden administration announced that it had eliminated $1.2 billion worth of debt through the Public Service loan forgiveness program. How are you measuring the impact of that?

Miguel Cardona: Well, you know, what we're doing is making sure we're communicating the message. Part of part of our strategy is really talking to mayors, talking to superintendents, talking to our leaders, governors, and saying there are people that are working in your offices right now that are eligible for debt relief that don't even know it. So we're getting out there. We're hearing stories we're able to track. Actually, we're releasing today the 50 state breakdown of how many people have gotten debt relief and what the total is. I know in Georgia there's close to $4 billion in public service loan forgiveness, 41,000 people in Georgia alone. So we know that those dollars are going back into the economy. We we assess--

Peter Biello: How do you know that? How do you know that, going back to the economy?

Miguel Cardona: Well, when we're talking to folks where they're buying homes for the first time, they're helping their children go to college, They're starting up small businesses. These dollars are going. I mean, it's, let's say five, $600 a month that these people no longer have to pay. So they're using those dollars to buy a home. There was one person that was talking about, you know, she got married 12 years ago and never went on a honeymoon. You know, these are people who are getting their lives back.

Peter Biello: You mentioned some problems with the public service loan forgiveness program. One of them was servicing. Right. The one of the servicers was having issues with sending correct bills or crediting borrowers with repayments that they made on time. The administration had made some changes with the servicing in the past few months. Can you talk a little bit about those changes and whether or not, you know, if they're working in improving the system?

Miguel Cardona: We tackled a lot of the underlying issues, the way things were being done, the way they were being processed, the way things were communicated. Issues with servicers that didn't have the right amount of accountability. We've increased that. You've seen over the last several years we find several servicers for providing poor services to borrowers who are holding them accountable. We're limiting contracting with them. If they don't do what they say they're going to do.

Peter Biello: Essentially withholding payment. If they're not doing what they're doing.

Miguel Cardona: Correct. And let me be very clear with you. This is not easy work, but it's important work to make it more user friendly. The user experience is something that has to be done well. We did similarly through the FHA. There was an overhaul in FHA because they weren't meeting our standards with Fafsa. So we made some major changes and we're seeing the fruit of that this year. We're doing the hard work that needs to get done, rolling up our sleeves, fixing systems that are broken, like the public service loan forgiveness program.

Peter Biello: You're also here in Georgia to talk about the Biden administration's efforts to invest in mental health of students and believe I have the number correct. You're investing $10 million in Gwinnett schools today and $50 million through the state of Georgia overall. Is that are those numbers we're sharing?

Miguel Cardona: Well, yeah, In Georgia, the total amount over five years is $51 million. 51 million. Yeah. And across the country for this year alone, $70 million. Look, I'm going to talk to you now as a as a parent, as a father and as a lifelong educator. I was a fourth grade teacher, school principal. We are not scratching the surface in providing the supports that our students need. If we go back to the model we had before the pandemic. Our students are in greater need when our youth mental health. Crisis. We're competing with the impacts of social media of of a lot of, you know, division in our country, let's be honest. So we need to make sure that we're providing the supports for our students so they could be academically at their best. President Biden, Vice President Harris, have committed not just in talk, but in dollars, providing more support for our students.

Peter Biello: It's difficult in normal circumstances for people outside the school system to sometimes find an appointment with a mental health care provider. So how realistic is it that you'll be able to find the people you need to actually fill the jobs you're saying you'll create?

Miguel Cardona: So what are we doing? We're investing in programs that help high school students see their future as a potential school counselor or a school social worker and go up a pathway. We're providing dollars for those pathway programs to expand.

Peter Biello: Social emotional learning is an important part of what the Biden administration and your Department of Education is is encouraging in schools. This is a polarizing issue. Some conservatives have said it's indoctrination. They say it's too far from the reading, writing, arithmetic, traditional education that schools they think should provide. Why do you think that's an important part to to include in today's schools?

Miguel Cardona: I would welcome anyone who thinks it's indoctrination to spend a week in a school. I really would. And, you know, that's, to me, more a symptom of politicization in schools. I have a background in education. I understand that if a student is unsure where they're sleeping at night, unsure where one of their parents are or is worried about the health and wellness of somebody in their family, they're not going to achieve reading, writing and arithmetic as well as they can if they're okay. You know, for those who want to call indoctrination, they really haven't spent a lot of time talking to educators who work with children. My focus is making sure all kids can read on grade level, high level math. I'm not content with where we are internationally, but let's follow the model of other countries that are successful. They make sure that the needs of the students are being met. Again, as a father and as an educator, that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Peter Biello: You're here in your official capacity as Department of Education with the Department of Education. So Hatch Act prohibits election questions. So not necessarily an election question, but a goals question, because a lot of the goals you've been talking about today are going to take years to accomplish. How confident are you that these goals are going to be met?

Miguel Cardona: Yeah. Well, you know, I appreciate your your disclaimer there and recognize in the Hatch Act, but the work that we're doing is what we know our schools need. We didn't come to Washington, D.C. to come up with a silver bullet on how to fix education and change it. And then when I leave, those changes go away. Now we're focusing on literacy and numeracy. We're focusing on mental health supports for students. We're focusing on increasing the highly qualified teachers in the classroom. When we give Georgia $50 million to provide mental health supports, those dollars are going to be there long after I'm gone. And there's consensus in the education sector. We need to support our students mental health better. And we're doing that.

Peter Biello: Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, thank you so much for speaking with me. Really appreciate it.

Miguel Cardona: Great to be with you, Peter. Thank you.

Peter Biello: And you can find a video of my full conversation with Secretary Cardona at GPB.org/news.

Peter Biello: That's a wrap on this edition of Georgia Today. Thanks so much for tuning in. There's always more to see at GPB.org/news. It's a great resource if you want to get caught up on all the Georgia News and if you want to stay updated through Georgia Today, the best thing to do is to subscribe to this podcast. When you do, we'll pop up automatically in your podcast feed every weekday afternoon. And if you've got feedback or a story idea, something we should know about. Send it to us by email. It goes to the whole team. The email address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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