Georgia Today: Willis investigation reopened; New tariffs for Savannah; Run the Jewels book author

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Tuesday, Jan. 14th. I'm Peter Biello. On this podcast, you'll hear the GPB news team's most recent reports. Your tips and suggestions for future episodes are welcome. Email GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. On today's episode, state senators authorized an investigation into Fulton County DA Fani Willis. Importers in Savannah brace themselves for new tariffs. And in 2011, an executive at the Cartoon Network brought Atlanta rapper Killer Mike and Brooklyn producer El-P together to produce an album.

Jaap van der Doelen: He thought that Mike and LP would be a great fit stylistically and also usher in something that hadn't been done before.

Peter Biello: What emerged was Run The Jewels, an iconic rap duo known as much for their beats as their politics. A new book looks into their rise. We'll hear from author Jaap van der Doelen. All that and more coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

 

Story 1:

Peter Biello: The Georgia state Senate is once again turning its attention to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. State senators voted yesterday to reauthorize a Senate committee on special investigations to examine her office. Democrats, including Sandy Springs State Sen. Josh McLaurin, criticized the move, calling the investigation purely political.

Josh McLaurin: This is a fixation on the past. But worse than that, it is a fixation on the past that is driven primarily by the obsessions of one man.

Peter Biello: Last year, the committee investigated Willis's conduct in her case against President-elect Donald Trump. Willis was subpoenaed to testify, but argued the committee lacked constitutional authority. In December, a judge ruled the committee does have the authority to subpoena Willis.

 

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Meanwhile, after a week of legal wrangling, the U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on President-elect Trump's attempts to interfere in the 2020 election have been released. GPB's Chase McGee has more.

Chase McGee: Trump will not face federal prosecution over the contents of the report. The Department of Justice maintains they do not prosecute sitting presidents. Smith says if Trump had not secured reelection, the evidence was, quote, "sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial." The report outlines the infamous call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, pressuring him to find enough votes to overturn the election results in Georgia. After losing the election, Trump held a rally in Dalton, Ga., where he pressured Vice President Mike Pence to alter the outcome of the 2020 election.

Donald Trump: Plus, if he doesn't come through. I won't like him quite as much.

Chase McGee: Jack Smith resigned from the Justice Department after submitting the report. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee.

Caption

Gov. Brian Kemp speaks at a press conference.

Credit: Stephen Fowler | GPB News

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Gov. Brian Kemp laid out some of his legislative priorities during the Georgia Chamber's annual Eggs and Issues this morning. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: Kemp told the gathering of business leaders that controlling the number of lawsuits in Georgia is essential.

Brian Kemp: Tort reform will be my top legislative priority for this upcoming session.

Sarah Kallis: He says the push for tort reform and changing the rules around civil lawsuits has been a multi-year effort.

Brian Kemp: I will soon be unveiling a robust legislative package that will bring balance to our proceedings in parity with our neighbors.

Sarah Kallis: Proponents of tort reform say it could lower insurance costs. Other priorities for Kemp include workforce training and housing in rural communities. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.

 

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Gov. Brian Kemp announced more funding for schools on the first day of the legislative session. Kemp announced a hefty one-time increase in the school safety grant to help schools beef up their security months after a deadly shooting at a high school in Winder.

Brian Kemp: With that in mind, I'm proposing an additional $50 million in one-time school security grants.

Peter Biello: That money, combined with the existing school safety grant, will even out to about $68,000 per school. Kemp also announced more funding for student transportation and money to increase the number of school psychologists.

 

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Georgia continues to lead the nation in the growth of clean energy transition-related jobs, especially in rural and disadvantaged areas. That's according to a new report by the advocacy group Climate Power. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.

Grant Blankenship: Since 2022, climate power has compiled public announcements of clean energy sector jobs incentivized by the Inflation Reduction Act. For 2024, the group counted over 43,000 of these new jobs in Georgia, close to twice as many as the No. 2 state, New York. Nationally, most of these jobs flow to Republican Congressional districts, and three of the top 10 Republican House districts for clean energy job growth are in Georgia. That's Buddy Carter's 1st District, anchored by the Hyundai mega plant in Bryan County; Barry Loudermilk's 11th Diistrict in Northwest Georgia, home to QCells Solar; and Georgia's 10th District, represented by Mike Collins and home to SK Battery in Commerce. Donald Trump will become president again next week. He and various Republican lawmakers have signaled their intent to cut Inflation Reduction Act spending. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.

 

Story 6:

Peter Biello: The Laken Riley Act cleared another procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate yesterday, bringing it one step closer to final passage. Named for a Georgia nursing student killed by an immigrant who entered the U.S. illegally, the bill would allow the detention of unauthorized immigrants accused but not convicted of certain crimes and give states more control over immigration. Emory University law professor Emily Davis says that likely would set up legal challenges that could take years to sort out.

Emily Davis: Criminal law applies the same to noncitizens and citizens. Additionally, stripping the federal government of its power to control immigration and to make immigration law and giving that to the states, I think, would also create a constitutional concern.

Peter Biello: Democrats, including Georgia Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, largely voted with Republicans on the measure.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: A U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for former Georgia congressman Doug Collins is being delayed. President-elect Donald Trump nominated Collins to be the next secretary of Veterans Affairs. In a statement yesterday, the chairman of the Senate's Committee on Veterans Affairs says his hearing would be delayed by a week because the FBI hasn't yet completed his background check. Collins represented Northeast Georgia's district for three two-year terms, winning notice for defending Trump during the Robert Mueller probe into Russian interference in U.S. elections.

 

Story 8:

Peter Biello: Atlanta leaders say the New Year's Eve vehicle attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans has helped guide their security plans for the College Football National Championship game. They also urge people who see threats online to report them to authorities. At a briefing this morning. Atlanta's police chief said his department took note of how a vehicle was able to ram into tourists on Bourbon Street. Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta will host Monday's game between the University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University. Authorities spoke in general terms about security plans without sharing specifics.

 

Story 9:

Peter Biello: Tariffs were among the many campaign promises made by President-elect Donald Trump last year. Now, with less than a week to go before Inauguration Day, U.S importers are preparing to pay more money to ship goods in from overseas. Many of those importers can be found in Savannah, a major gateway for global trade. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports on how tariffs may impact commerce in Georgia.

Benjamin Payne: It's nighttime along the Savannah River, where massive container ships slip through the darkness. their horns echoing across the water. These vessels and the cargo they carry represent billions in international trade — trade that could soon look very different.

Donald Trump: With a world class port and a world class workforce, this city will soon become one of the premier export hubs anywhere on Earth. Tripling and quadrupling traffic as your power will lead an American manufacturing boom.

Benjamin Payne: That was Trump at a rally in Savannah last year. On the campaign trail, candidate Trump teased universal tariffs of up to 20% on all imports, though trade experts expect a more targeted approach from a President Trump. This uncertainty is creating real challenges for those in Savannah's bustling logistics industry, like Tom Patterson. He's a manager for a bicycle importer at the Port of Savannah.

Tom Patterson: Whether it's all smoke or not, nobody really knows, you know? We don't know if it's just hyperbole that he's been spitting or reality. We have to plan for reality and hope it's not.

Benjamin Payne: Patterson says retailers might use tariffs as an excuse to raise prices, something he thinks they planned on doing anyway.

Tom Patterson: They've already built their profit plans for next year and they're going to maintain them come hell or high water. And so whether their suppliers shoulder the burden of tariffs, that doesn't matter to them. They're going to raise their prices as they've already planned to raise their prices. I mean, retailers will.

Benjamin Payne: Griff Lynch is president and CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority, which oversees both the ports of Savannah and Brunswick. He says manufacturing growth from tariffs, if it happens, won't be immediate.

Griff Lynch: I think it depends on what the goal is here. If the goal is to create exports and production manufacturing for the U.S., I think it won't have any impact in the near term. In the long term, certainly it could drive growth to the U.S.

Benjamin Payne: That's if it becomes cheaper to make things here than to import them from other countries. The impact could extend beyond manufacturing to your grocery bill, considering that Savannah doesn't just bring in heavy cargo, but also fresh produce, In fact, the world's largest cold food storage company, Lineage Logistics, recently opened a facility in Port Wentworth — basically a giant freezer just outside Savannah. Here was Jim Henderson, the company's vice president of global sales at the unveiling.

Jim Henderson: We looked at facilities all over the world at many different ports, and we said the Port of Savannah is really the perfect spot for us to be, in order to get this product in and get it to market faster. Because it's fresh produce, primarily. It's got a short shelf life.

Benjamin Payne: And much of it is imported from the southern hemisphere. Back at the bicycle warehouse, Tom Patterson says the supply chain may be running out of flexibility after years of disruption. People in the operations world, he says, are:

Tom Patterson: So tired of "unprecedented times." We never stopped during COVID and we never stopped during supply chain interruptions in 2021, 2022, And it's just been one thing after another. And like it just really feels like we're getting to a point where the supply chain and the logistics of it all are not as malleable as they once were,.

Benjamin Payne: Just how much the supply chain will need to bend and how much that slows action at the Port of Savannah should begin to become clear next week after Trump returns to the White House. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.

Credit: University of Georgia Press

Story 10:

Peter Biello:  Run The Jewels began as a one-off collaboration between Atlanta rapper Killer Mike and Brooklyn born rapper El-P more than a decade ago. Four albums and dozens of remixes later, Run The Jewels has built a cult following by capturing the discontent of the poor and the oppressed.

MUSIC: Run The Jewels (Killer Mike): We overworked, underpaid, and we underprivileged. They love us. They love us. Why? Because we feed the village. You really made it or just became a prisoner of privilege? You willing to share that information that you've been given?

Peter Biello: A new book looks at the music the duo has created and the political landscape it emerged from. It's called Kill Your Masters: Run the Jewels and the World That Made Them. Author Jaap van der Doelen is with me now. Welcome to the program.

Jaap van der Doelen: Hi. Nice to meet you.

Peter Biello: Michael Render, also known as Killer Mike and Jamie Meline, a.k.a. El-P. They kind of formed an unlikely partnership. Can you talk a little bit about how these two guys came together to form Run the Jewels?

Jaap van der Doelen: They met through Jason DeMarco, who was an executive at Adult Swim. At the time, the nightly programing of Cartoon Network and ran a music label which grew out of reaching out to musicians that he respected to create various bumpers in between the programing slots on and commercial slots on the television station. They brought a sense of cool to the television station, and he gave them a bigger platform than they had through music alone. Out of that grew a music label. And he wanted to publish a new solo record by Killer Mike. And he wanted to do something big. And he thought that Mike and El-P would be a great fit, stylistically, and also usher in something that hadn't been done before, at least not in that way, and introduced them to each other. And he was 100% right. And they immediately hit it off. And initially El-P was only supposed to produce two or three tracks on the upcoming Killer Mike solo album. But they had such strong chemistry that Killer Mike just wanted to use only his beats on the album and basically badgered him into producing the entire album.

Peter Biello: Well, let me ask you a little bit about some of the things that fans of Run The Jewels really like about them. One is that they don't dumb down their music, and although some of the lyrics can be on the nose, generally speaking, they aren't spoon-feeding you the interpretation they want you to have. Can you tell us a little bit about a song that exemplifies this?

Jaap van der Doelen: I think a great song that exemplifies that is "Early" from — from Run the Jewels 2, which is still my personal favorite of theirs. In its first verse, Mike tells a first-person story about a man being arrested for a minor infraction. It's — It's weed usage.

MUSIC: Run The Jewels (Killer Mike): And he still put my hands in cuffs, put me in the truck. When my woman screamed, said “Shut up”. Witness with the camera phone on saw the copper pull a gun and put it on my gorgeous queen. As I peered out the window I could see my other kinfolk and hear my little boy as he screamed.

Jaap van der Doelen: And I think the smart thing about the way that Killer Mike tells this story is that nobody in the story wants this thing to happen. These are all people in a pressure cooker that that society has has put them in.

Peter Biello: Each of Run The Jewels' four studio albums is responsive in its own way to the mood of the country. Can you give an example of how Run the Jewels has has captured that mood?

Jaap van der Doelen: I think the greatest example of this is also a very tragic one. It's "Walking in the Snow" on on on Run the Jewels' fourth album and there's a moment in their of the mike raps about being choked by a police officer.

MUSIC: Run The Jewels (Killer Mike): And every day on the evening news they feed you fear for free. And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me. Until my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, "I can't breathe."

Jaap van der Doelen: And that song came out very shortly after the murder of George Floyd, but it was actually recorded in response to the murder of Eric Garner. They're tragedies in themselves. But there's an even bigger tragedy in the fact that they keep on repeating; that they made this song in response to a tragedy and then around the time that it comes out, another extremely similar tragedy has happened again. And I think that's — yeah, it underscores how necessary it is to, to keep on responding and grappling with these instances and not turn a blind eye towards them.

Peter Biello: One testament to the group's strength was the choice to put Killer Mike at the podium when Atlantans were rioting in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Wearing a shirt that says "Kill Your Masters," Killer Mike went on camera and told Atlantans to stop destroying their own home and start organizing.

Killer Mike: And it is a responsibility of us to make this better right now. We don't want to see one officer charged. We want to see four officers prosecuted and sentenced. We don't want to see Targets burning. We want to see the system that sets us up for systemic racism burnt to the ground.

Peter Biello: You started your book describing this speech. What does this say about the impact of Run the Jewels' music that the government turned to Killer Mike to try to calm things down?

Jaap van der Doelen: I think it resonated with so many people. Maybe also because of the juxtaposition of the T-shirt and what he was saying. This isn't a man that's saying "Don't riot" or "Don't express your pain." He's acknowledging the pain that people are feeling. He is acknowledging that it is — their anger is just. But he is also explaining to them in a very honest and down-to-earth way that there are better ways to express this anger; to use this anger as fuel to organize and yet not burn down your own fortress that you need to organize. There have been — he has also referenced the riots that happened in in Ferguson.

Peter Biello: You're talking about Ferguson, Missouri, where Michael Brown was killed in 2014.

Jaap van der Doelen: Which had direct results for the people in Ferguson to the betterment of their community. Riots there worked. They they they got results. But he's saying don't burn down your own economy. He gave them a very direct way of how to be — how to use those emotions in a more constructive manner to the betterment of their community.

Peter Biello: Well, the book is Kill Your Masters: Run the Jewels and the World That Made Them. Jaap van der Doelen. Thank you so much for speaking with me. I really do appreciate it.

Jaap van der Doelen: Likewise. Peter, Thanks for taking out the time.

MUSIC: Run The Jewels - "Ooh La La"

Peter Biello: Jaap van der Doelen's book about Run the Jewels is the subject of the latest episode of Narrative Edge, GPB's podcast about books with Georgia connections. To hear more of RTJ's music and extra insights about the book, find Narrative Edge at GPB.org/NarrativeEdge or wherever you get your podcasts.

 

Story 11:

Peter Biello: One more story before we wrap up today. Bucee's, the gas and go stop with a couple of locations in Georgia and many more scattered throughout the American South, got approval from the middle Georgia Monroe County Commission last month for a new 74,000-square-foot location off I-75. Bucee's is a place to get your jerky, mixed nuts, hot sauce, plush toys, beaver-branded clothing and brisket, of course — and it's been sold to residents of Monroe County as a possible source of tax revenue. The exact amount of money collected in sales tax varies. During the meeting to approve the new Bucee's, several attendees claimed it could generate around $30 million in tax revenue per year for the county, But that figure of $30 million is actually how much Bucee's estimates it'll generate in retail sales for the company at the Monroe County location. That's according to documents Bucee's submitted to Monroe County. And in Monroe County, the combined sales tax rate, which is the total of state, county and city sales tax rates, is 8%. So that puts the estimated number of dollars to Monroe County at about $900,000. But it could come not exclusively from the locals, but from those just passing through who can't resist a slice of brisket and a photo with a guy in a beaver costume.

 

And that's it. Thanks once again for listening to Georgia Today. We do appreciate it. And we will be back tomorrow with all the latest news. So make sure you subscribe to this podcast. That way you won't miss a thing. And if you want to check out the details on these stories, head on over to our website, GPB.org/news. We are always posting new stories there. And again, your feedback is welcome. Send it to us by email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. Back tomorrow with more news from Georgia. 

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