Georgia Today: Last day of early voting; Dock collapse witnesses testify; Young Thug pleads guilty

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today's Friday, Nov. 1. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, it's the last day of early voting in Georgia, and more than half of active voters have already cast their ballot. Witnesses of the fatal Sapelo Island dock collapse testify before the state Senate. And Atlanta rapper Young Thug pleads guilty, ending the longest criminal trial in Georgia history. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Credit: Stephen Fowler/GPB News

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Today is the last day of early voting ahead of Tuesday's general election. Already, more than 3.7 million voters — that's more than half of all active voters in the state — have cast their ballots. Early voting numbers show women are voting in higher numbers than men. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: Women are outvoting men in Georgia by more than 10 percentage points, according to secretary of state data. Democratic operatives close to the Harris campaign are optimistic that high turnout among women will help Vice President Harris in Georgia. Democratic state Rep. Shay Roberts is also encouraged. She says she believes abortion access may be one factor motivating women in Georgia to head to the polls.

Shay Roberts: We're scared for our kids. We're scared for our daughters. And we're not going to rest until our daughters have the same rights that we've had for the last five decades.

Sarah Kallis: As of Wednesday, Trump maintain a slight edge on Harris in Georgia in most major polls. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: The secretary of state's office says more than 100,000 voters cast ballots before noon today. Joey Stansell and Emory Gross of Macon were among those voting today. They say it's the economy driving them to the polls.

Joey Stansell: Tired of seeing grocery prices are crazy. Get the price of housing down. Fuel. So we've — we've tried four years of unsuccessful politics.

Emory Gross: Let's get back to the small things — that everyone should be treated like a human being. Everyone should have food. Everyone should have shelter. Let's start there and then we can move on from there.

Peter Biello: Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and many of their surrogates have events planned in Georgia over the weekend. Meanwhile, in metro Atlanta's Cobb County, election officials say they're late in mailing more than 3,000 absentee ballots. They're blaming faulty equipment and a late surge in absentee ballot requests as they use overnight delivery to get them out on time. Civil rights groups were expected in court this afternoon to ask a judge to give the county three extra days to receive and count the ballots. Tune in for our election night coverage on GPB Radio and GPB Television.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Federal intelligence agencies say Russia is behind a video that purports to show a Haitian immigrant talking about how he intends to vote multiple times in two Georgia counties for Kamala Harris. Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, says the video shared by right-wing conspiracy theorists is, quote, "obviously fake" and an attempt to, quote, "sow discord" on the eve of the election. The video began circulating on the social media platform X late yesterday, prompting an immediate response from Raffensperger and today's statement from the FBI and other agencies. There's more election news at GPB.org/election.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Several witnesses of the fatal dock collapse on Coastal Georgia's Sapelo Island testified yesterday at a state Senate hearing on the tragedy. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.

Benjamin Payne: Seven people died after the dock's aluminum gangway fell on Oct. 19 as attendees of a college kitschy festival were waiting to board a ferry. One of the deceased was 79-year-old Isaiah Thomas of Jacksonville, Fla. His niece, Regina Brinson, fell with him and testified before the Georgia Senate's Urban Affairs Committee.

Regina Brinson: I was saying to myself, "Oh my God, I am going to die today. I am going to die today." The spirit told me, "You're going to have to release your uncle to live." So that's what I did. I'm going to be scarred for the rest of my life, from what I experienced.

Benjamin Payne: Lawyers for the victims are calling for a federal investigation into the collapse of the Sapelo Island dock, which is owned and operated by the state. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Atlanta rapper Young Thug has pleaded guilty to gang, drug and gun charges and has been released from jail. The surprise plea late yesterday ends the longest-ever criminal trial in Georgia history. It began with jury selection nearly two years ago and has taken several unexpected turns, halting proceedings for months at a time. It also attracted national attention as the 33-year-old Grammy winning Young Thug was charged with running a violent criminal enterprise. A judge sentenced him to 40 years in prison but commuted the sentence to time served, followed by 15 years on probation. Among other terms of the probation: He's supposed to stay out of metro Atlanta, except for certain rare family-related visits and to share anti-gun, anti-violence messages in front of children.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: The Georgia Department of Public Health has rolled out several changes to the state's medical cannabis cards. GPB's Amanda Andrews has the reaction from advocates.

Amanda Andrews: The DPH will increase the cost of cards for low-dose THC oil from $25 to $30. It will also allow cardholders to renew every five years instead of two and have the cards shipped to their homes. Angela Weston with the Georgia Medical Cannabis Society says they would prefer a system that allows patients to acces THC products immediately, similar to the Department of Driver Services.

Angela Weston: You get your license the same day, even if it's a temporary one. You get something in your hand that same day. So what we would like to see is for there to be a connection between the Department of Health and the dispensaries.

Amanda Andrews: Georgia law allows patients with an active card to possess up to 20 ounces of low-dose THC oil. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Georgia officials are directing $100 million to help farmers and timber producers recover from Hurricane Helene. Gov. Brian Kemp says the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission approved the relief measures today. The money will come in the form of loans to those in the agriculture industry and support for cleanup and debris removal for those in the timber industry. An initial estimate from the University of Georgia last month said Helene left behind at least $6 billion in damage to Georgia agriculture and timber.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: The parent company of Georgia Power says it expects to spend a little more than $1 billion to rebuild its infrastructure after Hurricane Helene. The chief financial officer for Southern Company gave his initial estimate of the company storm-related damage on a quarterly earnings call for investors yesterday. Georgia Power has described Helene as the most damaging storm in its 140-year history.

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College

Story 9:

Peter Biello: More than 60 Georgia colleges and universities are waiving application fees from today through the end of November. It's the fourth year the Georgia Student Finance Commission has worked with public and some private colleges to promote fee waivers as part of the state's Apply to College Month. The waivers apply to high school seniors, and there is no limit on the number of applications seniors can submit using the waivers. More information is available at GAFutures.org.

Story 10:

Peter Biello: Daylight Saving Time will end this weekend at 2 a.m. on Sunday when clocks will fall back an hour. Don't forget to reset any of your clocks that don't automatically reset. And it's also a good time to change the batteries in your smoke alarms. The National Fire Protection Association says nearly two-thirds of home fire deaths were caused by fires and properties with either no smoke alarms or smoke alarms that did not work.

And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit GPB.org/news. And if you haven't yet subscribed to this podcast, do it now. That'll ensure that you are on top of all things related to Georgia's election and all the other stories happening in the state. If you've got feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Email us. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next week.

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