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Georgia Today: Early voting continues; State of emergency extended; Six-week abortion ban impact
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LISTEN: On the Wednesday, Oct. 30 edition of Georgia Today: Georgia voters continue to shatter early voting records; Gov. Brian Kemp extends the state of emergency for Hurricane Helene; and we'll hear the story of how Georgia's six-week abortion ban complicated a Savannah woman's pregnancy.
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Wednesday, Oct. 30. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, Georgia voters continue to shatter early voting records. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp extends the state of emergency for Hurricane Helene. And we'll hear the story of how Georgia's six-week abortion ban complicated a Savannah woman's pregnancy. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.
Story 1:
Peter Biello: Georgia voters are casting ballots ahead of next week's election in numbers that continue to shatter records. The secretary of state's office said today the votes now have surpassed 3.2 million. Despite the turnout, the office's chief operating officer, Gabe Sterling, says their team is noticing an onslaught of unfounded accusations of voter fraud on social media.
Gabe Sterling: You can ask questions and those can be legitimate, but some of these things are so cuckoo-ca-choo crazy town that it's ridiculous to even try to respond to sometimes.
Peter Biello: Sterling says the office already is gearing up for any potential lawsuits tied to the presidential race in Georgia. At a news conference this morning, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger pledged to hold both parties accountable and defend the election results.
Story 2:
Peter Biello: Former first lady Michelle Obama encouraged young voters to participate in this year's election at a rally in Atlanta last night. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.
Sarah Kallis: Obama encouraged young voters to choose the candidate that best aligns with their goals. She also told them to talk to their friends about voting, especially those who say elections don't matter.
Michelle Obama: Ask them to list the policies that have been changed by people who didn't vote. Ask them the name of one single community that's been improved by people who were uninvolved. And let me tell you: They will not be able to do it.
Sarah Kallis: The rally targeted first-time voters and was sponsored by the nonpartisan voting organization, When We All Vote. Obama has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and campaigned for her in other states. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.
Story 3:
Peter Biello: Minnesota governor and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz held a get out the rally vote in Savannah yesterday. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.
Benjamin Payne: Walz spoke before a capacity crowd of about 300 people at a reception venue on Tuesday, exactly one week before Election Day. He urged Georgians to cast their ballots for Kamala Harris before early voting ends on Friday and said the country cannot afford another term of Donald Trump as president.
Tim Walz: When those old Republicans talked about freedom, they meant it. That's not who this guy is. When this guy talks about freedom, freedom to have government, in your doctor's office and your school library in your bedroom. Golden rule up North, as I'm sure it is down South: Things work better if you just mind your own damn business about my business.
Benjamin Payne: Walz criticized Trump for his plan to expand tariffs, which Walz said would cost U.S. households about $4,000 a year through higher prices. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.
Story 4:
Peter Biello: Gov. Brian Kemp has extended the state of emergency for Hurricane Helene for a fourth time. Kemp's order yesterday covers the state's hardest-hit counties, including Augusta-Richmond, where city crews continue removing debris. City Administrator Tameka Allen briefed commissioners on storm recovery yesterday.
Tameka Allen: We are 33 days into this and we have made clear progress. However, I also want to caution you that we still have a very long way to go.
Peter Biello: She says the Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse the city 100% for debris removal, but only for work within 90 days after the storm. After that, the reimbursement rate goes down to 75%, making getting work done quickly a high priority.
Story 5:
Peter Biello: About 300 students at a high school in metro Atlanta's Cobb County were tested yesterday for tuberculosis, or TB, after a possible exposure.Tuberculosis is the leading killier among infectious diseases. Public health officials will examine the skin tests from Walton High School tomorrow. Students with a positive reaction then will have a chest X-ray to rule out active disease. At that point, if the X-ray is negative, they'll be offered preventative medication. And if the X-ray is positive, they will be treated for the disease. Statewide, a total of 262 TB cases were reported in 2022, an 18%increase from the year before.
Story 6:
Peter Biello: It's been more than a year since Georgia's partial Medicaid expansion program, Pathways to Coverage, became available to people who are uninsured and who live below the poverty line. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more on a recent analysis suggesting the program may not be living up to its potential.
Sofi Gratas: Public data and interviews conducted by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute suggest Pathways isn't reaching its intended population: people who can meet the program's work requirement but who can't afford private insurance. GBPI reports the rules locked many out of coverage and consistent hours can lead an enrollee to make too much money to qualify, while others face a coverage gap if their hours are just under what's necessary, says Insurance navigator Deanne Williams.
Deanne Williams: Or for someone who's not working in a job that gives you actual 80 hours a month, or they had hours that fluctuate. Those — those were some of those hard decisions you have to work with.
Sofi Gratas: Just over 4,000 people have enrolled in Pathways, its first year, a fraction of the nearly 200,000 uninsured people possibly eligible. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.
Story 7:
Peter Biello: An Alabama man who left threatening phone messages for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the county sheriff has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison. Prosecutors say Arthur Hansen made the calls last summer because he was angry over Willis's investigation into former President Donald Trump. The calls were made just before Trump and 18 others were indicted in an alleged election interference scheme. Hansen had pleaded guilty in June and apologized at his sentencing yesterday.
Story 8:
Peter Biello: The merger of two of Atlanta's largest real estate developers is now complete. Real estate investment firm Jamestown says its acquisition of the Atlanta subsidiary of its competitor, North American Properties, closed today. The combined company now has about $14 billion in assets under management. Jamestown is the name behind some of metro Atlanta's marquee retail developments, including Ponce City Market and now Colony Square and Avalon.
Story 9:
Peter Biello: Delta Air Lines is expanding its daily flights between Atlanta and Albany. The city of Albany said today the Atlanta-based airline would increase its service between Atlanta and Southwest Georgia Regional Airport from two to three daily flights beginning Nov. 11. The announcement said flight times would vary, but a check of Delta's website suggests the new flight would be added in the morning.
Story 10:
Peter Biello: Sixty nine organizations across 51 counties will share $1.4 million in grants from the Georgia Council for the Arts. The Georgia Department of Economic Development announced the awards from the Council's Vibrant Communities Program today. Libraries, historical societies and theaters are among grant recipients in mostly rural counties that did not receive FY 2025 funding from the council in previous grant announcements.
Story 11:
Peter Biello: Next week's presidential election will be the first since the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative supermajority overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively clearing the way for Georgia's six-week abortion ban to take effect. A survey released last month by the health research nonprofit KFF found that abortion is the single most important issue to women voters under 30. GPB's Benjamin Payne spoke with a woman in Savannah about her own experience with the law throughout a complicated pregnancy.
Benjamin Payne: When Callie Beale found out last year she was pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl, she was elated. But genetic testing and an ultrasound revealed that the boy had a severe chromosomal problem. Her doctor said he wouldn't make it to birth.
Callie Beale: And he explained to me that allowing him to continue to collect fluid would kill my healthy twin and possibly me as well. So what he recommended was a procedure called a selective reduction — and that procedure is illegal in the state of Georgia.
Benjamin Payne: In this case, because it would have happened after six weeks of gestation, which is illegal under Georgia's abortion law. On its face, it might seem that exceptions written into the law, including for the life and health of the mother or when there was a non-viable pregnancy, would have allowed for the procedure. And that's what Beale thought when talking to her doctor.
Callie Beale: But what they told me is that it was not a black-and-white issue — that I could not receive care until I was actively in said emergency, which would put her, my daughter's life, at risk. And I was not willing to wait around for that.
Benjamin Payne: Four weeks later, Beale went to New York for the selective reduction she was denied in Georgia. But because of that four-week delay in care, she says her own health would later deteriorate while still pregnant with her daughter.
Callie Beale: My body started to turn septic. My lactate levels, my white blood count levels, skyrocketed, and the doctor said that, unfortunately, they were going to have to then give me an abortion for my completely healthy daughter because I was turning septic and allowing her to live inside me would kill me.
Benjamin Payne: Luckily, her body recovered on its own. But Beale was left furious. But today she's grateful that her daughter, Kit, who was born pre-term at 27 weeks, is a healthy toddler. Dr. Carrie Cwiak is an OB-GYN in Atlanta. Testifying at a recent US Senate hearing, she said complicated pregnancies like Beale's have become all the more complicated under Georgia's abortion law.
Dr. Carrie Cwiak: Physicians, myself included, have seen patients in the ICU with sepsis, with renal failure, needing tube feeds, with hemorrhage, needing blood transfusions or a hysterectomy, who would not have been in those positions if we had been able to offer them care to avoid further harm.
Benjamin Payne: At least two Georgia women have died because of Georgia's abortion law, according to reporting by ProPublica. Callie Beale says none of this should have happened.
Callie Beale: It is my belief that, as a mother, I should have been able to act without the government's interference in order to save my daughter's life.
Benjamin Payne: Donald Trump has taken credit for reshaping the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and has said abortion policy should be left up to state governments. Kamala Harris says she wants Congress to pass a bill protecting abortion rights and that she would sign it into law. Beale says she's voting for Harris. For GPB News. I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.
Peter Biello: And that is it for this edition of Georgia Today. Thanks so much for tuning in. We hope you'll come back tomorrow. We'll have more of the latest headlines from Georgia. The best way to do that is to subscribe to this podcast — we'll pop up automatically in your podcast feed if you do. And of course, if you want the latest news any time, check out GPB.org/news. Now, if there's something we should be covering or you have something to say about the way we're covering it, send us an email. The address is 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
And for all our election coverage, visit GPB.org/election
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