Georgia Today: Body of teacher found in Lake Oconee; New bike lane in ATL; Delta lowers projections

Sofi Gratas: Welcome to Georgia Today from GPB News. This podcast brings you the latest reports from the GPB news team. For feedback or story ideas, send us an email. That address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. Today is Tuesday, March 11. I'm Sofi Gratas. On today's episode, the months-long search for an Atlanta teacher ends when his body is found in Lake Oconee. Atlanta residents gather to celebrate the opening of a new bike lane in the city. And Delta Air Lines lowers its first-quarter earnings and revenue outlook for this year and the growing economic uncertainty.

Ed Bastian: People are too cautious and they're pulling back a little bit on travel, not in an organized manner, but just kind of waiting to see what's going to transpire.

Sofi Gratas: These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Sofi Gratas: The monthslong search for missing Atlanta teacher Gary Jones ended this weekend, when his body was found in Lake Oconee by a Wisconsin based nonprofit, Bruce's Legacy, a dive and rescue group, located Jones in less than two days after beginning their search. Director Keith Cormack informed the group in 2013 after the death of his brother Bruce, a firefighter who died while trying to locate a drowning victim. He vowed to help other search teams with extensive dive training and high-tech equipment.

Keith Cormack: So I could get out there and train other departments to do things safe. Back in those days, in the '90s, there was not really much training available for public safety divers. You could get certified as a diver, but — we were and, and I actually strongly feel that it was a lack of training. And I think my brother had a big heart and it got him into making decisions that — he was doing things he probably, you know, he definitely shouldn't have been doing because he wasn't trained in the water environment and that took his life.

Sofi Gratas: Cormack has trained teams across the country and helped in searches as far away as Nepal, Romania and Panama. Gary Jones and his fiancé Jocelyn Wilson went missing while boating on Lake Oconee in early February. Wilson's body was found the next day.

Story 2:

Sofi Gratas: People on bikes, scooters and even skateboards gathered for the ribbon-cutting on a new protected bike lane in downtown Atlanta today. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports the project is part of a broader effort to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.

Amanda Andrews: The Atlanta Department of Transportation and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District hosted the event for the enhanced bike lane on Forsyth Street. The corridor includes a mile of resurfaced roadway with upgraded ramps offering easier access to nearby landmarks like the Five Points Marta station and City Hall. Atlanta City Council member Jason Dozier says it's important to build infrastructure like this in his district so people can get around downtown in many ways.

Jason Dozier: You know, not everybody rides a bike, but bike lanes help slow down cars. So even if you're walking with your family, cars are moving slower. So at the end of day, we're trying to make sure that people can get around safely. Whether you're a driver, whether you're a cyclist, or whether you're a pedestrian.

Amanda Andrews: The project supports the city's Vision Zero Action plan, which aims to stop fatal or serious traffic accidents in the city by 2040. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews

Caption

In Warner Robins, sandbags were prepared as people waited in long lines to take them home.

Credit: Photo by Grant Blankenship

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Story 3:

Sofi Gratas: Cleanup efforts from Hurricane Helene are nearly complete in 10 Georgia counties after the storm scattered more than 3 million cubic yards or thousands of acres of debris last fall. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says its mission, with funding from FEMA, is now 97% complete at a cost of roughly $135 million. More than 400 Army Corps personnel and hundreds of contractors helped remove downed trees and storm debris. The debris typically consisted of construction material, downed trees, branches, and other things obstructing roadways and public spaces. Officials say the massive project should wrap up by late April.

​​​​​​​Story 4:

Sofi Gratas: Macon-Bibb County today began demolishing a failed charter school to make way for a new affordable housing development. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.

Grant Blankenship: An excavator began ripping down the former Macon Charter Academy mid-morning. Once the site at the top of Macon's historic Pleasant Hill neighborhood is cleared, the Macon Housing Authority will construct a 64-unit apartment building where, depending on income, rents will range from $600 to $900 a month. Carol Whitehead went to school here back when it was the Green Street School.

Carol Whitehead: It was my home. I broke cornbread here. Played basketball, my brother. We had a good time, so I'm praying that I might be one of the first tenants to live here.

Pleasant Hill Apartments will be the first big development to use seed money from Macon-Bibb County's new revolving affordable housing fund. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.

​​​​​​​Story 5:

Sofi Gratas: A guard is recovering after he was stabbed in the neck over the weekend at a jail in Atlanta that is currently under a federal consent decree. Fulton County Detention Officer Rico George was stabbed just after 11:30 a.m. on Saturday by a detainee who was being held on a murder charge without bond, according to a sheriff's office news release. The officer remained hospitalized Monday in stable condition after undergoing emergency surgery, and he is expected to recover. The Justice Department and Fulton County officials announced in January that they had entered into the consent decree after an investigation found that jail officials used excessive force, failed to protect detainees from violence and held them in, quote, "unconstitutional and illegal conditions." An independent monitor was appointed last month to oversee that agreement.

​​​​​​​Story 6:

Sofi Gratas: Today marks 20 years since a terrifying event in Atlanta's recent history: the deadly courthouse shooting rampage at the Fulton County Courthouse. Brian Nichols overpowered a deputy escorting him to the court for his rape trial, took her gun, and fatally shot the presiding judge and court reporter and killed a sheriff's deputy outside the building. He then stole a car and drove away, leading to a frantic manhunt. Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat issued a statement today remembering the victims.

​​​​​​​Story 7:

Sofi Gratas: A judge has ruled that statements made post-arrest by the man accused of targeting and killing the woman at an Atlanta massage business in March 2021 can be used in his trial. At a hearing yesterday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville rejected the request from the attorneys of Robert Aaron Long to keep the jury from hearing the shooter's statements. Fulton prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Long has already pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence without the chance for parole for killing four people at the massage business on that day in suburban Cherokee County.

​​​​​​​Story 8:

Sofi Gratas: An Atlanta-based foundation that has provided major funding for climate change research and other environmental causes in Georgia is shutting down. The Ray C. Anderson Foundation said today it will sunset by the end of 2030 after, quote, "an in-depth and rewarding strategic planning process." The foundation started with a $50 million bequest from the estate of Ray C. Anderson, founder of a commercial carpeting and flooring company. Since 2012, it has awarded more than $36 million in grants to organizations including Drawdown Georgia, focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions; the Ray of Hope accelerator, focusing on nature based startup businesses; and The Ray, an 18-mile stretch of Interstate 85 in West Georgia featuring various eco-friendly projects. The private foundation's announcement comes as the Trump administration's funding freezes threaten federally funded climate change mitigation projects.

​​​​​​​Story 9:

Sofi Gratas: Delta Air Lines is slashing its first-quarter earnings and revenue outlook, citing a recent decline in consumer and corporate confidence. The Atlanta-based airline lowered its forecast yesterday amid growing uncertainty that the economy is weakening its domestic demand. CEO Ed Bastian shared his concerns at an investors conference in New York City yesterday.

Ed Bastian: In the face of the amount of macro uncertainty that's out there, I think people are too cautious and they're pulling back a little bit on travel, not in an organized manner, but just kind of waiting to see what's going to transpire, whether there's trade and tariff challenges or macroeconomic policy changes or just a little bit of the unsettledness of the market.

Sofi Gratas: A widely followed collection of real-time indicators compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta suggests the U.S. economy already might be shrinking.

​​​​​​​Story 10:

Sofi Gratas: Georgia drivers could leave their wallets at home under a bill moving through the Georgia Senate. House Bill 296 would permit a digital license to be kept on a smartphone. A Senate panel yesterday advanced the legislation, which cleared the state House last week. Athens Republican state Rep. Houston Gaines carried the measure in the House.

Houston Gaines: I know one of the concerns is that we don't want for both the officer — and whoever they pulled over — they don't want to have to take someone's phone physically back to the vehicle. And so with that tap to touch technology, which is what you, when you go to the grocery store, if you use your credit card on the tap to touch, it'll be the very same technology.

Sofi Gratas: He said about a half million Georgians already use digital IDs, but so far they're only accepted by the Transportation Security Administration at airports. The bill now goes to the Senate Rules Committee, which could schedule a final vote on the Senate floor.

​​​​​​​Story 11:

Sofi Gratas: A new study says Georgia's worst drivers are driving Teslas. An analysis by LendingTree tracked driving incidents nationwide, including collisions, speeding and DUIs, and found Tesla drivers had the highest incident rate in Georgia. Georgia incidents were reported at about 35 per 1000, just under the national level. Tesla was also the car brand with the worst drivers in eight other states. The brand was followed closely by those driving Ram trucks and Subarus.

Sofi Gratas: That's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. Thanks so much for listening. If you would like to learn more about these stories, visit GPB.org/news. And if you haven't yet hit subscribe on this podcast, take a moment right now and keep us current in your podcast feed. If you have feedback, we would love to hear it. Email us at GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Sofi Gratas and we'll see you tomorrow. 

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