Georgia Today: Fani Willis court appearance; Rome water contamination; Amicalola Park land transfer

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Tuesday, Nov. 21. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis makes a rare appearance in court in the election interference case. The Court of Appeals has blocked the release of the settlement details in the case of contamination in Rome's drinking water. And there's now three times as much conserved land around one of Georgia's most popular state parks. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

 

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis made a rare appearance in court today to argue that one of former President Donald Trump's co-defendants in Georgia's election racketeering case should have his bond revoked. Harrison Floyd was a leader in the organization Black Voices for Trump. Willis accuses Floyd of attempting to intimidate and contact likely witnesses. Floyd's attorneys call the allegations meritless.

 

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Debris found six miles off the coast of St Augustine, Fla., has been identified as belonging to a boat taken by three Georgia fishermen who went missing after they left docks in Brunswick last month. After the boat's owner identified the debris, the U.S. Coast Guard in Jacksonville yesterday launched a renewed search for the men or further clues about what might have happened to them. The Coast Guard's spokesperson said this morning they have no further findings. A volunteer and privately funded search continues for Tyler Barlow, Dalton Conway and Caleb Wilkinson. The 24-year-olds set off on a fishing trip on Oct. 14 and have not returned.

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Gavel

Story 3:

Peter Biello: The Georgia Court of Appeals is temporarily blocking the city of Rome from releasing the financial terms of a settlement between the city and several chemical companies. At issue is how much the city will receive following a yearslong legal dispute over toxic contamination into the city's drinking water supply. A state judge last week ordered the city to disclose the terms, requested by several news outlets, by noon tomorrow. The judge rejected the company's argument that the information was a trade secret. In its emergency order yesterday, the appeals court halted the terms' release while an appeal against it goes forward.

 

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Georgia environmental groups say state regulators have flouted a federal rule by issuing a permit this month to close one of the state's largest coal ash ponds. GPB's Grant Blankenship explains.

Grant Blankenship: Coal ash watchers have been waiting to see how Georgia's Environmental Protection Division would enforce a federal Environmental Protection Agency rule prohibiting leaving coal ash in contact with groundwater. Ash Pond 3, a Georgia power plant. Hammond on the Coosa River is their first answer. There, EPD's final permit, issued this month, allows over 1 million cubic yards of coal ash to remain partially submerged in the surrounding aquifer. Jesse Demonbreun-Chapman is the Coosa Riverkeeper.

Jesse Demonbreun-Chapman: It is a little mind-boggling. I don't understand what the the hope or dream of issuing this when EPA has clearly said that this does not comply with federal regulations.

Grant Blankenship: In an emailed response to GPB, the EPA gave no sign the Hammond permit raises red flags. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship and Macon.

 

Story 5:

Peter Biello: The National Nonprofit Conservation Fund says it's transferred more than 2,000 acres around North Georgia's Amicalola State Park to the State Department of Natural Resources. The land was threatened by development. As of today, the acreage of conserved land around the park has tripled. It becomes part of the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management area. Public and private financing made the transfer possible. Amicalola State Park is about a 90-minute drive north of Atlanta and home to Georgia's tallest waterfall, attracting thousands of visitors each year.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: Middle Georgia has waited for years for Macon's Ocmulgee mounds to officially become Georgia's first national park. A new report means progress has been slowed once again. GPB's Eliza Moore reports.

Eliza Moore: On a visit yesterday, Sen. Raphael Warnock toured the grounds of the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park, calling it holy ground.

Sen. Raphael Warnock: And so it is clear to me that the conservation and the preservation of our history is important.

Eliza Moore: Warnock's visit comes after the National Park Service released a study to Congress last week finding some of the land in the Ocmulgee River corridor did not meet National Park Service criteria. Warnock says he's still hopeful.

Sen. Raphael Warnock: Our offices will work together, and I look forward to championing continued efforts in Congress to make this a reality for Macon.

Eliza Moore: Ultimately, Warnock says the decision to make Ocmulgee a national park is up to Congress, where it has bipartisan support. For GPB News, I'm Eliza Moore in Macon.

 

Story 7:

Peter Biello: A ban on new development at the site of the former Wellstar Health System's Atlanta Medical Center has been extended for another six months. The Atlanta city council voted 11 to 1 last night for the extension. The city first banned new development at the site in October 2022 after Wellstar announced it would close the medical center on Nov. 1. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens says the moratorium gives him and other local leaders time to ensure future development of the property includes health care services.

 

Story 8:

Peter Biello: Savannah art students are helping automaker Hyundai design a water tower at the company's electric vehicle plant being built in Southeast Georgia's Bryan County. GBP's Benjamin Payne reports.

Benjamin Payne: Six teams of students from the Savannah College of Art and Design competed to create artwork for the roughly 200-foot tower along Interstate 16. The winning design depicts solar panels, a wind turbine, a car rolling off an assembly line toward a hand holding a light bulb and at the tip top, a cog. Industrial design student Jacob Pirone was part of the team behind it.

Jacob Pirone: I'm interested in the automotive field and I felt that Hyundai was a really great opportunity, especially since this water tower will be seen by millions of people going down the highway.

Benjamin Payne: Hyundai says it plans to power its Metaplant from 100% renewable sources, primarily through power purchase agreements. The factory is expected to begin production of electric vehicles in early 2025. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.

 

Story 9:

Peter Biello: The state of Georgia has a new online portal to link job seekers and employers. The Technical College System of Georgia has unveiled Worksource Georgia. The website takes over from the state's previous job website run by the Georgia Department of Labor. It also adds new links to job training, financial aid and resume building opportunities.

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Former first lady Rosaylnn Carter reacts during an interview at the Carter Center in Atlanta on Tuesday, June 13, 2006.

Credit: (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

Story 10:

Peter Biello: Services will be held next week for former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who died Sunday in Plains at the age of 96. She lived her life as a love story growing up three years and 3 miles apart from Jimmy Carter. Their 77-year marriage is the longest-lasting presidential union in history. But Rosalynn Carter was more than what she accomplished alongside her partner in the Georgia's governor's mansion or in the White House. She also leaves a legacy of caring, compassion and community. GPB 's Ellen Eldridge has that story.

Ellen Eldridge: Rosalynn Carter was born during the summer of 1927, just two years before the Great Depression. Her family knew hardship in their small South Georgia city of Plains. Katharine Cade served on Mrs. Carter's staff in the White House. She is vice chair of the Carter Center's Board of Trustees and a member of the center's mental health task force.

Katharine Cade: I mean, we've often talked about her growing up in, you know, her childhood and growing up in Plains. And and the two things that she always says is "We were poor and we didn't know it."

Ellen Eldridge: Carter became a caretaker for her siblings after her father died. She also spent time alone as a new mother while her husband served in the Navy. But Cade says these experiences are not what shaped her passion for those with mental illness.

Katharine Cade: And so I think that what shaped her concern for vulnerable people was really this upbringing where you took care of one another, that that was part of the ethos of being raised in a small town.

Ellen Eldridge: Georgia had one of the worst mental health care programs in the nation in the decades leading up to Jimmy Carter's run for governor in the 1970s. And so when mental health became an issue on the campaign trail, Rosalynn noticed. In a 2012 town hall on mental health in Americus, she recalled how she snuck into the crowd listening to a stump speech to get then-candidate Jimmy Carter on the issue and on the record.

Rosalynn Carter: Well, he reached for my hand before he looked, before he knew who I was. And he said, "What are you doing here?" And I said, "I want to know what you're going to do for people with mental illnesses when you're governor of Georgia." And he said, "We're going to have the best program in the country and I'm going to put you in charge of it."

Ellen Eldridge: Rosalynn Carter did advocate for better mental health care during the years in the Georgia Capitol. Later, less than a month after Jimmy Carter won the presidency, she convinced her husband to create a presidential commission on mental health. Rosalynn Carter held hearings across the country, testified before Congress, and spearheaded passage of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980. She advocated for closing Central State, Georgia's notorious 168-year-old psychiatric hospital, and addressed the nation's fragmented and often inadequate mental health system. Katherine Cade says, in part because of Mrs. Carter's work, the way people think about mental health and mental illness today is dramatically different from the way people thought about it 50 years ago.

Katharine Cade: Today, most people are not afraid to seek help. They're not afraid to admit they need help. And today, most people can recover from mental illnesses. So the hope of recovery is real and tangible.

Ellen Eldridge: Carter's work carried through to the founding of the Carter Center in 1982. Eve Byrd is the director of the mental health program at the Carter Center. She says that as passionate as Mrs. Carter was advocating for those with mental illness, she was most proud of her family.

Eve Byrd: I can't tell you how many times she would, after a meeting, would say that she was getting together with everybody here at the Carter Center, all of her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren for a dinner. And we would tease and I'd say, "Well, I better let you get on with your way and do some cooking, right, Mrs. Carter?" And we would kind of laugh together.

Ellen Eldridge: Those had to be big dinners. Rosalynn Carter leaves a family legacy of four children, 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 11:

Peter Biello: In sports, Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium will host the opening game of the 2024 Copa America. The two governing bodies of North American and South American soccer announced the selection yesterday. It'll be one of the most important soccer matches the city hosts as it prepares to host matches in the 2026 World Cup. Copa America is held every four years and features all 10 South American national teams. Defending Copa America champion Argentina will presumably be one of the teams taking part in the opener, leading once again to the possibility of Lionel Messi, one of soccer's biggest stars, playing in Atlanta. In basketball, the Hawks host the Pacers in an NBA in-season tournament game tonight. The in-season tournament is a new feature of the NBA in which teams compete for the NBA Cup. All in-season tournament games will count toward the regular season standings except the championship, which will sit outside the regular season and take place in Las Vegas next month. The Hawks have a 1-1 record in this four-game first round of the in-season tournament. The Hawks lost to the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.

And that is it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit GPB.org/news. And if you haven't yet, subscribe to this podcast. Do it now; we'll be back with you in your podcast feed tomorrow. And if you've got feedback or a story idea, we would love to hear from you. Send us an email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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