Georgia Today: Avoiding Cyber Monday scams; Private school scholarship; UGA Bulldog to coach Bears

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, Dec. 2. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode on this Cyber Monday, cybersecurity experts say it's getting harder to detect scams. Georgia releases a list of public schools whose students qualify for its private school scholarship program. And a former UGA player will coach the Chicago Bears. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Georgia retailers are welcoming the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. But Cyber Monday shoppers should beware. Cybersecurity experts say it's getting harder to detect real deals from scams. Technology risk advisor John Powell is a partner in the Atlanta accounting firm Moore Colson.

John Powell: We're just inundated. And what the — the threat actors are the bad guys want you to do is to just be so inundated so you're like, "Okay, fine, I'll actually click this one time."

Peter Biello: He says it's best to use trusted retailer websites instead of email links. Use credit, not debit cards, and never share sensitive personal information online. Adobe Analytics, which tracks online shopping, expects consumers to spend more than $13 billion today. That would make it the biggest shopping day for e-commerce this season and this year. Forbes says U.S. consumers already spent a record amount online on Thanksgiving Day, with shoppers heading to retail stores on Black Friday.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Georgia has released the list of public schools where students can qualify for state money to help pay for private school tuition or other education expenses. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.

Grant Blankenship: The Georgia Promise Scholarship program was approved this year by the General Assembly. It allows students attending a public school performing in the bottom 25% statewide to apply for $6,500 education spending accounts for everything from private school tuition to home school expenses. 513 schools across 111 different school districts from big cities to small towns, from north to south, made the qualifying list. But almost half of the listed school districts are in counties without a local private school accredited by the Georgia Independent School Association. A smaller number have approved private Christian schools. Schools which would like to participate in Georgia Promise have until Dec. 6 to apply to the program. Parent applications will begin in 2025. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: A Republican who lost a state House race by 48 votes out of more than 27,000 cast is challenging the outcome of the November election. Tracey Wheeler is seeking to represent a Middle Georgia district currently represented by Sandersville Democrat Mac Jackson. In a lawsuit, Wheeler alleges several irregularities and is asking a court to throw out the results.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: University of Georgia researchers want to understand what's causing Georgia farmers and their families, particularly women, the most stress. The goal is to shape how state and local agencies can help. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more on their findings.

Sofi Gratas: Just over half of all U.S. farms report having a female producer and thousands more have women working in other roles. Those women are the focus of a new paper from UGA. Researchers visited six rural South Georgia counties and found an underlying pattern: Many women on farms, though proud of their life, feel lonely and stretched thin. Here's social worker and study author Anna Scheyett.

Anna Scheyett: They really talked about there being fewer and fewer people farming, so there was less opportunity to get together. And I think also farming has just become more intense.

Sofi Gratas: They found women are also less likely to seek counseling due to stigma or accessibility. Scheyett says next steps include creating local spaces where women can connect in the largely male-dominated field. UGA will host its next farm stress summit in March. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: A judge in Savannah has thrown out a legal challenge to the city's ordinance that imposes fines or even jail time for people who leave guns in unlocked cars. A gun owner in Southeast Georgia's Wayne County took the city to court in September, arguing that the local ordinance violates the state law protecting gun rights. But the judge ruled that the gun owner lacked legal standing to sue because he doesn't live in Savannah and hasn't been cited under the law. Savannah City Council voted unanimously in April to crack down on guns in unlocked cars, making the offense punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: A new study finds high rates of undiagnosed cognitive decline in vulnerable communities. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more on the report from the Emory University School of Medicine and Indiana University.

Ellen Eldridge: Many older adults with Medicare receive services from federally qualified health centers. These are community resources that focus on essential primary and preventative care. Dr. Ambar Kulshreshtha is with Emory University School of Medicine. He says many of the people served by these health providers live with undiagnosed mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

Ambar Kulshreshtha: As a clinician, I find when patients are forgetting to take their medication, their other conditions get worse. Their heart failure gets worse, their diabetes gets worse. So that is such an important reason why when patients have memory problems, we should try and identify it sooner.

Ellen Eldridge: He says the study also shows African-Americans are twice as likely as white patients to have an undiagnosed cognitive issue. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: For several years, entomologists in Georgia have been bracing for the arrival of the spotted lanternfly. This past October, the large winged plant hopper, already in 15 other states, was spotted for the first time in Fulton County. GPB's Chase McGee has more.

Chase McGee: University of Georgia entomologist Dr. William Hudson says that lanternflies feast on most any type of plant and leave little bits of sugary excrement called honeydew. That residue can host a specific mold which can harm plant life. In addition, their eggs stick to nearly any solid surface, staying in place for months at a time. Hudson thinks that could be how they made the trip to Georgia.

Dr. William Hudson: It could be your RV or side of a vehicle or a shipping container, which is probably how they got here in the first place.

Chase McGee: State officials say if you find a lanternfly, take a clear picture of it, destroy it, and then report the sighting to the Georgia Department of Agriculture. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee. 

Caption

Airbnb rental

Credit: Airbnb/ X

Story 8:

Peter Biello: Commissioners in Albany's Dougherty County today approved regulations on homes used for short-term vacation rentals. Local tourism officials pushed for the new rules, in part to protect visitors by requiring home rentals to have county inspections. County Commissioner Russell Gray says the ordinance also is aimed at protecting residents from unruly temporary neighbors.

Russell Gray: So now I know that if a party erupts at a house that is set for short-term rental, now I can call the police and be very specific about it.

Peter Biello: Albany tourism officials say hotels fill up, especially during large events like Albany State University's annual homecoming in October.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: A Georgia native and former University of Georgia football player will helm the Chicago Bears. Thomas Brown will be the team's interim head coach, the Bears announced over the weekend. Brown joined Chicago this year as offensive passing game coordinator after five seasons as an NFL coach and nine seasons coaching at the collegiate level. The Tucker native played at UGA, where he finished his career as the fifth-leading rusher in program history. That's according to a release from the Bears.

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Peter Biello: And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. Thanks so much for tuning in. Hope you enjoyed it. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, you can always check out our website, GPB.org/news. And we'll be back tomorrow with more of the latest news from Georgia. We hope you'll tune in. And the best way to remember to do that is to subscribe to this podcast. You can do it wherever you're listening. Just click subscribe and we will pop up automatically in your feed tomorrow. And if you've got feedback or a story idea, send it our way by email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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