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Georgia Today: ATL agrees to settle training center pollution suit; TikTok helps teach online safety
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LISTEN: On the Tuesday, Nov. 26 edition of Georgia Today: The city of Atlanta agrees to settle a pollution lawsuit stemming from the construction of its police and fire training center; Georgia high schools use grant money to fund events about on-line safety; and electric automaker Rivian is getting a big loan from the Biden administration.
Orlando Montoya: Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Tuesday, Nov. 26. I'm Orlando Montoya. On today's episode, the city of Atlanta agrees to settle a pollution lawsuit stemming from the construction of its police and firefighter training center. Georgia high schools use grant money to fund events about online safety. And electric automaker Rivian is getting a big loan from the Biden administration. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.
Story 1:
Orlando Montoya: The city of Atlanta has reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit over pollution coming from its almost-completed police and firefighter training center being built in the city's largest forest. The South River Watershed Alliance challenged the contentious project in court last year, alleging its stormwater discharges violated the federal Clean Water Act. A spokesperson for the alliance says a deal has not been finalized, but the case was halted in federal court after the judge overseeing it indicated an agreement was expected. A coalition of groups have fought the training center based on environmental and other concerns for years, at times leading to violent clashes. But city officials confirmed in September that it will still be on track for a December opening, although no specific date has yet been given.
Story 2:
Orlando Montoya: The Biden administration said today that it plans to loan electric carmaker Rivian more than $6 billion to save the company's planned manufacturing facility east of Atlanta. The loan from the Inflation Reduction Act comes in addition to an earlier $1.5 billion incentive package from the state of Georgia. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.
Sarah Kallis: The additional federal funding comes eight months after Rivian announced it was stalling construction on its manufacturing plant in Morgan County due to financial concerns. Now it's set to begin again at the site, with automobile production expected in 2028. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff said that he urged the Department of Energy and Rivian to come to an agreement.
Jon Ossoff: We are on track to continue construction of the manufacturing facility, and with that, to bring online the thousands of Georgia jobs that this project will create.
Sarah Kallis: The plant promises to bring thousands of jobs to rural Georgia. A spokesperson for Gov. Brian Kemp says that they will continue to work with Rivian and that, quote, "Our shared vision to bring opportunity to Georgia will remain no matter who resides in the White House." For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.
Story 3:
Orlando Montoya: The University of Georgia is lowering its estimate for how much the state's agriculture industry lost because of Hurricane Helene. An initial loss estimate of $6.4 billion made in October has been revised down to a still-staggering $5.5 billion. A UGA professor involved in making the estimate said the downward revision stems in part from power companies getting peanut-buying locations back up and running more quickly than initially expected.
Story 4:
Orlando Montoya: Four Georgia high schools are receiving a grant to fund community events about online safety. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports the program is a collaboration with media giant TikTok.
Amanda Andrews: The Create With Kindness Program is a nationwide effort between the social media platform and the National Parent Teacher Association. Local PTA groups in Jonesboro, Powder Springs, Riverdale and Columbus will each receive $3,000. Eric Epstein is the director of public policy for TikTok. He says the focus is on bridging generational gaps.
Eric Epstein: It's an interactive program that's aimed at having these conversations between teens and their parents about important things that we're —we're all dealing with these days, right? Online safety, civility, how to create positive digital boundaries and do it together.
Amanda Andrews: The program offers materials for breakout groups, panel discussions, roleplaying challenges and information on TikTok safety tools. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.
Story 5:
Orlando Montoya: The Georgia Department of Natural Resources says its first commissioner died on Sunday. Joe Tanner led the agency from its inception under Gov. Jimmy Carter in 1972 to 1984 and again for five years ending in 1995. He was Georgia's lead negotiator in the state's water wars with Florida and Alabama and played critical roles in shoreline protection and dam safety, among other achievements. He also oversaw the privatization of the state's Stone Mountain Park, Lake Lanier Islands Beach and other natural resources. An agency statement did not include his age or cause of death.
Story 6:
Orlando Montoya: All right now, Thanksgiving is approaching and we know that many of the foods we're going to eat on that day will make us feel very happy. And some ingredients like tryptophan found in turkey can even make us sleepy. But these foods aren't the only thing impacting our brain's reward system. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more to know as we prepare for the big feast.
Ellen Eldridge: The feeling of fullness or being stuffed when celebrating is a combination of our food and the emotions we attach to a meal. That includes those who prepared it, those we share it with, and the recipe itself. Negar Fani is a clinical neuropsychologist with Emory University. Her work focuses on the brain's reward system and emotional processing. She says comfort foods like chicken noodle soup are about more than the ingredients.
Negar Fani: It's warm and soothing. But it's also — there's the aspect of someone providing nurturance for you, and that is part of it, too, that social connection and nurturance that you feel when you're having that. I think Thanksgiving's like that.
Ellen Eldridge: Fani says holidays are a time to indulge, but too much emotional eating in day-to-day life can affect your health. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.
Story 7:
Orlando Montoya: The Atlanta Hawks paid tribute to the late Dikembe Mutombo on Monday night. He played four seasons with the Hawks. Mutombo's life and NBA career were celebrated during a halftime video the team posted on their social media accounts. The NBA Hall of Famer and worldwide humanitarian died Sept. 30 from brain cancer at age 58.
Story 8:
Orlando Montoya: The Savannah Philharmonic will be looking for a new music director. The orchestra said yesterday that its music director, Keitaro Harada, will step down from the position after the 2026-2027 season. Harada has led the orchestra since its 2019-2020 season, which was canceled partway through because of the pandemic. He then led orchestra members in outdoor and other nontraditional performances. In a statement, the Philharmonic did not mention Harada's future plans, except that he would return as guest conductor.
Story 9:
Orlando Montoya: And Georgia's parole Board and Office of Victim Services introduced their newest employee: Asher the Comfort Dog. Georgia's parole board is the first in the nation to launch a comfort dog program, providing emotional support to victims, staff and communities statewide. Asher is a labradoodle and was obtained through Tales of Hope, an organization that provides rescue dogs for training to become service, therapy or comfort dogs.
Orlando Montoya: And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. We have many of the stories that you've heard on this podcast at our website, GPB.org/news. That's a constantly updating source of news from around Georgia. If you haven't yet hit subscribe in this podcast, please do so now to help you keep us current in your feed. And we appreciate feedback. We really do. Send us a note to GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. 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
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