Georgia Today: Kemp signs tort reform bills; Georgia crop outlook; Atlanta Beltline rail link

Orlando Montoya: Hello and welcome to Georgia Today. On this podcast, we feature the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, Gov. Brian Kemp signs into law two new bills limiting lawsuits in Georgia. Favorable weather conditions could mean a good year for Georgia crops. And will the imagined rail link on Atlanta's Beltline ever come to fruition?

Matt Garbett: In theory, if we actually had rail, people would take rail to do that; people do take rail. So, yeah, I think the promise was broken.

Orlando Montoya: Today is Tuesday, April 22. I'm Orlando Montoya, and this is Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Orlando Montoya: Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law yesterday one of his top priorities for this year's legislative season: two bills limiting lawsuits in Georgia. GPB's Sarah Kallis has more.

Sarah Kallis: SB 68, the more controversial of the two bills, limits a business owner's liability when a crime occurs on their property, stops attorneys from recovering legal fees twice for the same case, and allows separate trials for assigning responsibility and damages. Opponents said the bill can hinder some crime victims from getting justice. Meanwhile, SB 69 passed both chambers easily. It lays out rules to finance certain lawsuits. Kemp said the changes could help small business owners.

Brian Kemp: In the end, both of these bills accomplished our goal of leveling the playing field in Georgia's courtrooms and ensuring our business environment remains the best in the nation.

Sarah Kallis: SB 68 goes into effect immediately and SB 69 goes into effect in 2026. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis at the state Capitol.

Story 2:

Orlando Montoya: Atlanta's pedestrian and bike trail the Beltline has been a rousing commercial success. But debate remains about whether it ever will be used for one of its original imagined purposes: a passenger rail link around the city. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens recently said there will be Beltline rail, but he says the project first will roll through a part of town yet to see a Beltline boom: Atlanta's south side. GPB's Amanda Andrews went there to talk to residents about what a new transit option might mean to them.

Amanda Andrews: Matt Garbett has watched the Beltline grow in Southwest Atlanta's Adair Park neighborhood since he moved here in 2013. He's a bike commuter on the Belt ine. He sees the Beltline as a utility. But on a sunny afternoon full of dog walkers, joggers, and baby strollers, he recognizes for most, the Beltline is more of a toy.

Matt Garbett: Everyone we've seen here today while we're sitting here is out here for fun on the day off. No one's using this trail to get to work, besides me.

Amanda Andrews: But originally the city of Atlanta promised Southside residents the Beltline would bring more: connections, jobs, and ultimately a commuter train. He says without that his neighbors won't use the Beltline

Matt Garbett: No one's going to walk from my house to Poncey Highland.

Amanda Andrews: That's 5 miles away.

Matt Garbett: Very few people are going to bike there. But in theory, if we actually had rail, people would take rail to do that. People do take rail. So yeah, I think the promise was broken.

Amanda Andrews: That's why in March, Mayor Andre Dickens made a new promise to the MARTA Board. Atlanta will start building 4 miles of Beltline rail that will connect to a planned new MARTA station on the south side first. This will take priority over the original plan: extending the Downtown Streetcar an additional 2 miles onto the east side Beltline. Atlanta Chief Policy Officer Courtney English told the MARTA Board there is a quality-of-life divide running from Northwest to Southeast Atlanta. The mayor's office wants to amend it.

Courtney English: The folks below that line — it's a mixed income, but it's certainly where the concentration of poverty in the city of Atlanta resides. The folks above that line are mostly our white neighbors, and the folks below the line are mostly our African American neighbors and are people of color.

Amanda Andrews: Maps show jobs, health care, education, and even life expectancy are lower on this side of town than further north. Dickens says starting with the south side would connect people in South Atlanta directly to the amenities of the east side. Matthew Rao is a longtime Atlanta resident and founder of Beltline Rail Now. He says the dividing line the mayor's office wants to fix persists partly because places like Ponce City Market and other Eastside amenities don't have rail stops yet.

Matthew Rao: Those three stops on that East Side Trail have grocery stores and the city's most important skate park and a middle school and a Kroger and a Whole Foods and a Home Depot and a CVS pharmacy that's open-laid. It has opportunity for folks.

Amanda Andrews: You could take MARTA to those places, but...

Matthew Rao: There are so many transfers and buses that it's difficult to do it and nobody would transfer three times to get where they're going.

Amanda Andrews: Some Eastside Beltline business owners are opposing the project. They claim that a rail line would restrict access for walkers and cyclists and hurt small business owners. Mayor Dickens says avoiding those business disruptions is another reason he wants to build rail on the south side first. Public engagement sessions where the city will reveal more of the plan for Southside Rail and hear public opinions begin in June. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.

Story 3:

Orlando Montoya: Atlanta's Marcus Autism Center is studying the root causes of elopement, or running away from supervision, among children with autism — and what caretakers can do to make wandering less likely. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more.

Ellen Eldridge: During the study, therapists met with parents for 12 weeks to discuss their children's complex behaviors, including wandering. Mindy Shytower is with the Marcus Autism Center. She says nearly half of children with autism wander.

Mindy Shytower: Our goal of this research is to make it so that it's an easier tool for clinicians, so that clinicians are more likely to provide parents with the help that they need for their child's behavior.

Ellen Eldridge: Shytower says this was the largest study of elopement yet, with 76 children ages 4 to 12 participating. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 4:

Orlando Montoya: Home Depot's CEO was among leaders from top national retailers who met with President Trump yesterday to talk about how tariffs will impact their companies. The Atlanta-based retail giant said in a brief statement that CEO Ted Decker had a, quote, "informative and constructive" meeting at the White House. NBC reported that the leaders of Walmart and Target also attended. Analysts are concerned that Trump's new tariffs could hit the retailers hard.

Story 5:

Orlando Montoya: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport said yesterday that it will increase its parking rates starting May 1. It's the first rate increase in eight years. ATL says prices will align with current economic conditions and will help the airport modernize parking infrastructure. Among the increases, hourly parking is going from $3 an hour to $10 an hour, and economy is going from $14 per day to $20 per day.

Story 6:

Orlando Montoya: Many of Georgia's favorite fruits and vegetables are looking good this year, thanks to favorable weather conditions during the growing season. GPB's Chase McGee has that story.

Chase McGee: Two years ago, you might have had a hard time finding Georgia-grown peaches in produce sections across the state. But this year, peaches, strawberries, and blueberries are all flourishing, thanks to more chill hours and favorable frost conditions. Pam Knox is the director of the University of Georgia Weather Network. She says farmers are even having to thin out their plants so their fruit reaches a marketable size.

Pam Knox: Some years the frost kind of does the thinning for them, but this year they're having to do it either mechanically or chemically.

Chase McGee: Additionally, the Vidalia onion harvest is underway, and with a pack date of April 15, you should see them at local farmers markets and in grocery stores soon. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee.

Caption

Pope Francis

Story 7:

Orlando Montoya: A former archbishop of Atlanta is now in Rome to help elect the next pope. Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who led the Archdiocese of Atlanta for 14 years, is one of the few U.S. Cardinals eligible to vote in the Papal Conclave. Pope Francis made Gregory the first Black cardinal from the United States in [2020]. During his time in Georgia, he was inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of preachers at Morehouse College. He now serves as Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C., and remains active on several Vatican committees. Meanwhile, the current archbishop of Atlanta is calling on Georgia's Catholic community to reflect and pray following the death of Pope Francis. Archbishop Gregory Hartmeyer says the Catholic Church is entering a period of mourning and transition, but that the faithful should remain calm. 

Gregory Hartmeyer: I want to assure you the Church is in good hands. The Holy Spirit is always at work, even in times of worry and distress.

Orlando Montoya: In his message yesterday, Hartmeyer also called on Georgia's Catholic community to pray, not only for the deceased pope, but also for the cardinals who will select the next pope and for the new leader himself.

Gregory Hartmeyer: May he respond with generosity to the gifts of the Holy Spirit in his new role.

Orlando Montoya: Pope Francis died of a stroke on Easter Monday.

Story 8:

Orlando Montoya: A Georgia man known as the quarterback guru, who has trained some of the NFL's biggest stars including Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes, is the subject of a Hulu documentary debuting tomorrow. The Quincy Avery effect follows the career of the football coach of the same name. Avery's story has inspired many. From homelessness to the heights of football coaching, the Morehouse alumnus founded the Atlanta-based coaching program QB Takeover. The film also highlights the rise of Black quarterbacks in the NFL, breaking through decades of barriers. Avery told The Atlanta Voice he hopes viewers take away from the documentary an understanding of resilience and perseverance. He says he's not the most talented person, or the most gifted, otherwise he'd be in the NFL. But he can quote, "outwork everybody." He plans to attend a premiere of the film in Atlanta.

And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. For more Georgia news, visit our website, GPB.org/news. Hit subscribe on this podcast so you always stay current with us and never miss an episode. If you have feedback, we'd love to hear it. Email GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Orlando Montoya. We'll talk to you again tomorrow.

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