Georgia Today: Suspected tuberculosis outbreak in Cobb; Long term effects of Helene; Abortions fall

Orlando Montoya: Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Thursday, Oct. 31. I'm Orlando Montoya. On today's episode, new details on a suspected tuberculosis outbreak in metro Atlanta's Cobb County. An organization in South Georgia addresses the long term effects of Hurricane Helene. And as abortions decrease in Georgia, how do those numbers illustrate a national trend? These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Orlando Montoya: Public health and school officials in metro Atlanta's Cobb County confirmed today that no students were exposed to the germs that cause tuberculosis, or TB, in a suspected outbreak this week. Hundreds of students and staff members at Walton High School underwent skin tests that all came back negative. Kristen Nelson of Emory University's School of Public Health says TB is spread through prolonged close contact with an infectious coughing person.

Kristen Nelson: You're most likely to spread TB disease with people you spend a lot of time with every day. So those are people like family members, friends, coworkers and schoolmates that you are in close, close contact with every day.

Orlando Montoya: Officials have not shared details about what caused their concern over TB at the school, citing health privacy laws.

 

Story 2:

Orlando Montoya: A new organization is coming together in South Georgia's Coffee County to meet long-term needs stemming from Hurricane Helene. The faith-based initiative is being led by local, religious and civic leaders and a Kentucky-based disaster response ministry, The Hope Initiative. Pastor Michael Newton is chair of the Coffee County Hope Initiative and says the group already is conducting assessments for homes that need to be rebuilt.

Michael Newton: There's already a good community, but this is drawing us a whole lot closer. Where people they may have not talked to years ago walking and doing assessments, helping their neighbor, helping things get better. So this is a thing that is going to make Coffee County even better, a better place.

Orlando Montoya: He says the group is focused on hard-to-address rebuilding efforts.

Michael Newton: It'll help do the things that maybe those people that don't have insurance, or the insurance companies didn't fully take care of things — other things that the government won't take care of or won't be able to take care for the long term.

Orlando Montoya: He says the organizational structure of the Hope Initiative is modeled after the Georgia-based Habitat for Humanity. A planning and Q-and-A meeting is scheduled for Saturday at Coffee County High School.

 

Story 3:

Orlando Montoya: When Hurricane Helene barreled through South and East Georgia, it pummeled some 8.9 million acres of forest, including a rare gem, a place called Broxton Rocks. Surrounded by cotton fields and pine plantations, Broxton Rocks in South Georgia's Coffee County is an area conservationists have been nurturing back to its wild state for decades. Now, as GPB's Grant Blankenship reports, Hurricane Helene rolled back much of that progress.

Grant Blankenship: Most people come to Broxton Rocks for the waterfall. It slices down a sandstone shelf above a yards wide ravine with craggy cliffs on either side. The next waterfall is at least 150 miles away in any direction. Eric Brown is the director of stewardship for the Georgia chapter of the Nature Conservancy, which manages Broxton Rocks. He calls this place — amid cotton fields and pines planted for profit — an oasis.

Erick Brown: People have, like, this mental image of the palm trees in the middle of the desert. And that's — these aren't palm trees, of course, but it's — it's a very different system than everything around it.

Grant Blankenship: You just don't see rocks in South Georgia. Endangered eastern indigo snakes shelter in rock crevices downstream of the waterfall. The state's only rock-clinging orchid, the greenfly orchid, is here, too. But earlier this month, Hurricane Helene toppled more trees than you can count across the ravine.

Erick Brown: It's a new world. And I'm seeing this for the first time, like — like you are. And I'm trying to figure out what it means.

Grant Blankenship: Brown has been working to restore this space since the 1990s, and today his conservation goals include a specific pine tree that's been here far longer than the ones now on the ground: the longleaf pine.

Erick Brown: We're going to — we're going to try to make our way to the top of that hill. But there's a lot of downed debris in between us in there. 

Grant Blankenship: We clamor over tree trunk after tree trunk to a prime example.

Erick Brown: A longleaf pine that we know is well over 200 years old and it looks untouched.

Grant Blankenship: Longleaf pine forests once ranged from Louisiana to Virginia. Only about 10% of those forests remain. This longleaf has scars from being tapped for turpentine in its middle age.

Erick Brown: You wouldn't even know that a hurricane came through here, looking at that.

Grant Blankenship: The trees Helene stacked like cordwood are slash pines and loblollies, planted here years ago by a timber company. But longleaf pines evolved here to endure hurricanes and fire. In fact, controlled fire is the tool used to sculpt and nurture longleaf forests.

Erick Brown: We say that longleaf is fire tolerant and it's not fireproof.

Grant Blankenship: As a standing canopy, these toppled trees had been a longleaf nursery. On the ground, they're just fuel. The next fire could be out of control and way too hot even for longleaf seedlings, which, Brown, says 500 years ago —

Erick Brown: Wouldn't be that big of a deal at all because you would have tens of thousands of acres that were not hit by a hurricane that were in good natural condition. But that's — we don't have that.

Grant Blankenship: We had this oasis. Stephen Cabrera cares for a swath of old growth longleaf further east on the Altamaha River. Helene destroyed some tree cavities there, used by rare red-cockaded woodpeckers. The storm was strong enough to take the lives of people not far from his home, too. He and his neighbors were without power for nine days.

Steven Cabrera: And it has been hard to work maybe 4 or 5 hours in a day. And then do what you can back home. Your work and home balance during a disaster like this can be challenging.

Grant Blankenship: But Cabrera says it's necessary.

Steven Cabrera: When event like this happens. Where do those rare and threatened species go?

Grant Blankenship: After over 30 years of hard work, Erick Brown had been close to releasing red-cockaded woodpeckers at Broxton Rocks, too. He says Hurricane Helene set that goal back by at least another 30 years. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Coffee County.

Story 4:

Orlando Montoya: It's been nearly four weeks since Helene slammed into a wide swath of Georgia and its communities continue to rebuild. They're also examining ways to prepare for the next storm. Helene is the third big storm to hit Georgia in the last 13 months. GPB's Pamela Kirkland spoke with GPB's Lawmakers host Donna Lowry about how state lawmakers are coping with the devastation and considering future storms.

 

Pamela Kirkland: So you spoke with lawmakers directly who were hit by the storm. What did they tell you?

Donna Lowry: Well, I talked to two lawmakers who live in South Georgia; rural areas where Helene struck really hard: Tattnall, Toombs, Jeff Davis and surrounding communities. Two people died in the storm. And those communities and the areas are inland, so they're west of the Georgia coast. State Rep. Bill Werkheiser lives in Glenville and state Sen. Blake Tillery lives in Vidalia. They each describe similar ordeals while riding out the storm. Tillery and his wife and children, including an infant, spent the night huddled under a mattress.

Sen. Blake Tillery: It was a very surreal experience. Changes in pressure, it was literally pulling the windows, it'll pull your windows out as it pushed back.

Rep. Bill Werkheiser: I thought my windows were coming in on me, so I left and went into the hallway with a pillow and a blanket. And it lasted about three, three and a half hours like that.

 

Donna Lowry: Now, that second voice was Rep. Bill Werkheiser. Years ago, he was in a tornado that only lasted about a minute so he says this was much more powerful.

Pamela Kirkland: Wow. And they both stayed put despite the warnings.

Donna Lowry: Yes, because early on, that original storm warning said that Helene tracked more toward the west. Remember, it changed. After the storm passed, Rep. Werkheiser did decide to head to his family in Atlanta.

Rep. Bill Werkheiser: So I drove for an hour and a half in pitch black through five counties. It was just an eerie feeling. I mean, there was not a light to be seen for an hour and a half.

Donna Lowry: Now Werkheiser said his biggest concern was driving over power lines.

Pamela Kirkland: I've had to drive through hurricanes before. It's not a pleasant experience. He took that risk and luckily, it worked out for him. 

Donna Lowry: Yeah, very scary.

Pamela Kirkland: Yeah, very, very much so.

Donna Lowry: And the power was out for a long time. Residents of Jeff Davis County had no power for almost three weeks. Sen. Tillery says the worst part was losing communication with everyone, including his parents, and they were only 2 miles away. Helene took out cell towers and phone lines.

Sen. Blake Tillery: You don't realize how vulnerable you are until you lose something like the ability to communicate. And that — that, I think, in and of itself created its own panic. So we submit any work orders through the internet, or if you need water or ice or a generator — we've seen from this storm is how do you do that when you don't have the ability to respond, to answer an email, to — to turn in a call through a web portal. The 11 counties I represent, we were sporadic in our response. Sometimes the local governments were in a position where they could communicate and respond.

Donna Lowry: Now, Tillery says that during Hurricane Michael in 2018, power companies had to replace about 2,500 poles. Post Helene, he says they're replacing more than 8,000. Now, here's Werkheiser describing one of the other major concerns.

Rep. Bill Werkheiser: The water situation was something that kind of caught me by surprise because you don't think of that happening. The two of my area — three — two of the three hospitals in my area within 30, 40 minutes away were without water for close to a week.

Donna Lowry: In addition to those issues, the most devastating is the lasting impact on agriculture, the state's No. 1 economic engine.

Pamela Kirkland: Yeah, what do those numbers look like? How bad is the damage to the farm economy?

Donna Lowry:  Yeah, the timber industry took a big hit. Georgia is a global leader in the forest industry and the Georgia Forestry Commission says Hurricane Helene passed over about 8.9 million acres of forest land, causing an estimated financial impact of more than $1.2 billion in timber resources. Then there are the trees that actually grow crops. And here's Werkheiser talking about his friend, who's a farmer.

Rep. Bill Werkheiser: As bad as it is when you lose a cotton or a carrot crop, you can get insurance and you replant the next year. With pine trees and and pecan trees, that's generational — losing trees that were planted 60, 70, 80, somebody said 90 years ago.

Donna Lowry: Again, losing trees is generational. They take years and years, decades to grow.

Pamela Kirkland: Is there money in the damaged trees? 

Donna Lowry: Believe it or not, there is some money. Here's Sen. Tillery talking about that.

Sen. Blake Tillery: Acres and acres of trees that are splintered, broke, all twisted, all laying down. If they're not down now, they're laying at least 30 degrees, which I've been told means that: 30 degrees, you'll expect they'll be dead in 36 months. 45 degrees, you expect they'll be dead in 12 months.

Pamela Kirkland: So I'm guessing that this experience has changed how they view governmental operations. Sen. Tillery chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. Will we see money allocated to storm-related concerns or legislation on some of the issues that we saw come up?

Donna Lowry: Yeah, that's why I was really happy I was able to talk about — talk to him in particular, because he does chair Appropriations. So after having three named storms strike the state in a little over a year, just 13 months, the lawmakers realize that more might be coming. Tillery says we may see some consideration given to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, GEMA, in terms of funding. But Tillery is hesitant about anything else.

Sen. Blake Tillery: So I don't know that it's going to be in our best interest to mandate those things down on those local governments. But we can certainly highlight for them things that worked in certain communities and things that didn't in others. 

Donna Lowry: And there are a couple of other things to note, Pamela. In 2018, when Hurricane Michael hit Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal back then called a special session. Rep. Werkheiser, he believes they closed any legislative loopholes during that session and we'll have to see if there's a move for any new laws when we get there in January.

Pamela Kirkland: We'll have a lot to look for when the legislative session starts in January. We'll have to see what happens there and I know that you will keep us updated.

Donna Lowry: Absolutely.

Pamela Kirkland: Well, Donna Lowry, GPB's Lawmakers, thank you so much for joining me.

Donna Lowry: I enjoyed it. Thank you.

 

 

 

Story 5:

Orlando Montoya: Georgia saw a decrease in the number of abortions in the year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That ruling allowed the state to enact an abortion ban past six weeks of pregnancy. GPB's Sofi Gratas reports on how Georgia abortions play into a changing landscape nationally.

Sofi Gratas: Last year, abortions among Georgia residents went down about 13% compared to the previous year. That includes abortions managed for residents out of state. It's the first decline the state has seen in procedures since 2017, according to final data from the Department of Public Health. The trend isn't surprising, says Mimi Zeeman, a practicing OB-GYN in Atlanta. And it's something other states with strict bans are seeing, too.

Mimi Zeeman: People are coming in at the earliest signs of pregnancy, and sometimes it's early enough to get an abortion here. But because that's so early where our ban is in effect, many, many people are turned away.

Sofi Gratas: At the same time, abortions went up nationally about 10%, meaning legislation hasn't stopped abortions from happening, but rather changed how and where. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

 

Story 6:

Orlando Montoya: Gwen Walz, the wife of vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, made stops from Atlanta to Valdosta today as next Tuesday's election nears. In Macon, Walz knocked on doors in the city's Pleasant Hill neighborhood, including at the home of Gloria Crowder, who says she hopes this election will continue what she calls the peace of the last four years.

Gloria Crowder: And I'm looking for less hate. And we not think about whether we Black or white or whatever, but we are people. We are Americans.

Orlando Montoya: Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are expected in Georgia this weekend.

 

Story 7:

Orlando Montoya: Tomorrow begins National Diabetes Awareness Month. People who are overweight over 40 or have a family history of Type 2 diabetes are at an increased risk of developing the disease. And as GPB's Ellen Eldridge reports, Georgia is one of the top 20 states with people impacted by diabetes.

Ellen Eldridge: According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, around 1 million people in the state have Type 2 diabetes and close to a quarter million more likely have it and don't know. Griffin Rogers is the director of the National Institute of Diabetes. He says obesity is a major risk factor.

Griffin Rogers: Georgians also have a fairly high prevalence of obesity, 35%. And since obesity contributes to the development of Type 2 diabetes specifically, that's one of the reasons that — that Georgia ranks so high with respect to diabetes.

Ellen Eldridge: While Type 2 diabetes can normally be addressed with a healthier lifestyle, Type 1 is an autoimmune disease, and those with it must take insulin for the rest of their lives. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Caption

Solar panels

Story 8:

Orlando Montoya: An Arizona-based solar panel recycling company, is expanding its operations in Northwest Georgia's Polk County. Solarcycle already is building a $344 million solar glass manufacturing plant in Cedartown. The company said today it's now also building a solar panel recycling facility right next to it. The additional $62 million investment brings the total number of jobs promised to 1,200 by 2026. Solarcycle is part of a wave of solar panel, electric vehicle and battery producers to locate in Georgia in recent years as state and federal officials court and incentivize clean energy jobs.

 

Story 9:

Orlando Montoya: Georgia residents now can carry a driver's license or official ID in their Samsung Wallets. The Department of Driver Services announced the expansion of its digital ID program yesterday. Georgia was one of the first states to adopt digital IDs joining the Apple Wallet in 2021. It's also been rolled out to Google and Android products. And although digital IDs don't replace physical IDs in Georgia, and law enforcement officers won't accept them, TSA will accept them at certain pre-check security checkpoints, including at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

 

Story 10:

Orlando Montoya: Georgia is getting more than $82 million in federal aid to help reduce home energy costs. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the grant today. The federal dollars are aimed at heating and cooling assistance, repairing and replacing home energy equipment and some energy-related home repairs. It's funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Story 11:

Orlando Montoya: Today is Halloween, a day for ghost stories. We bring you one now by a Georgia writer whose ghost isn't scary. In fact, she's a supernatural force for good. The ghost in Lori Duff's short novel Broken Things, brings together two women trapped by grief and loneliness. I asked her about how the story came about.

Lori Duff: My friend Kristy sent me an article about the — I guess you'd call it the initiating event, where a woman had bought a storage bin in an auction and she found someone's ashes in the storage bin. That's kind of where the newspaper story ended. Nobody knew whose ashes they were.

Orlando Montoya: So you picked it up from there? The ashes come into a woman's house. The woman's name is Tracy. And then weird things start happening.

Lori Duff: Yes.

Orlando Montoya: What weird things?

Lori Duff: Well, she kind of takes the ashes on. It's very different from anything I've ever written before. And often when I write, I don't know where it's going to go. I just start and then see where the characters take me. And I had Tracy sitting at the table just trying to figure out what to do with this box. And then just all of a sudden, I saw the ashes swirling in the air and she just kind of absorbed them.

Orlando Montoya: So the ashes physically leave and then the ashes physically return?

Lori Duff: Yes.

Orlando Montoya: And all supernaturally?

Lori Duff: Yes.

Orlando Montoya: Now, are you normally a believer in such things? Ghosts and whatnot?

Lori Duff: No. Although I do like to read fiction, ghost stories and supernatural kind of fiction.

Orlando Montoya: One thing that I like about this story is that there is a ghost, but it's not a nightmarish kind of ghost. It's a very friendly ghost.

Lori Duff: Yes, she's very friendly and very helpful, and she just wants to make everyone's life better. That she left, finally found the vehicle to do it through Tracy.

Orlando Montoya: Yeah. So there's three main characters. There's Tracy, the woman who finds the ashes. There is Evelyn, who is dead. And then there's Maria. Tell me a little bit about Maria.

Lori Duff: So Maria and Evelyn were best friends in high school. And Maria believed that Evelyn committed suicide after Maria rejected a romantic advance from her. And so she spent her whole life feeling very guilty about this.

Orlando Montoya: And Maria and Tracy are both coming from experiences of loss and needing to find connection.

Lori Duff: Yes. Tracy is a widow, a young widow. She's only in her 30s. Her husband died very young.

Orlando Montoya: She sort of withdrew after her husband's death. But then COVID came.

Lori Duff: Yes.

Orlando Montoya: So are you trying to say something a little bit about COVID to hear the impact of COVID on our lives?

Lori Duff: Um, yeah. How isolating it was and how we all just kind of holed up for a little bit and forgot how to connect. And then when we came out, I always have this vision in my head, and I think it's Bambi, the beginning of Bambi, where spring comes and all the animals come out rubbing their eyes and like they're all waking up from this long, deep sleep. And that's kind of how I felt when we were able to emerge from our houses after COVID. And I think that's how Tracy feels, emerging from her house after this almost decade of mourning.

Orlando Montoya: Well, we won't give away the ending — tell, tell how how exactly it ends. But in the end, it is a hopeful ending and it lets you know that there is hope after grief. And I think that's probably one message that you wanted to get as well.

Lori Duff: Absolutely. That life goes on and her husband, Tracy's, is deceased. Husband isn't really a character, but there's some nods to him that he's giving her permission to go forward. And Evelyn kind of releases both Maria and Tracy to go forward.

Orlando Montoya: All right. Well, thank you very much, Lori Duff, for coming and talking about your novella Broken Things.

Lori Duff: Thank you so much for having me.

Orlando Montoya: Lori Duff lives in Loganville, east of Atlanta. Broken Things is her first published work of fiction. Peter Biello and I recently talked more about it on an episode of Narrative Edge, GPB's very own book podcast. Find it at GPB.org/NarrativeEdge or wherever you get your podcasts.

 

Orlando Montoya: And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. We have more about many of the stories that you hear on this podcast at our news website. GPB.org/news. The website is constantly updated with new stories from all over Georgia. If you haven't yet hit subscribe on this podcast, please take a moment to do that now. It helps us, it helps you and we all stay together with Georgia news. If you have feedback, send that to us at GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. We welcome your comments. I'm Orlando Montoya, sitting in for Peter Biello today. We'll be back with another episode tomorrow.

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