Georgia Today: Water main breaks in Atlanta; Affordable internet access; Hurricane season begins

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Friday, May 31. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, water main bursts in Atlanta disrupt homes and businesses throughout the city. 1 in 6 Georgia households could soon lose affordable internet access. And as hurricane season begins, we'll preview a new tool for tracking the storms. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Officials say crews in Atlanta are working aggressively to repair water main breaks that are causing disruptions throughout Atlanta this afternoon. There are two known breaks, one on Glenwood Avenue southeast and one on Joseph Boone Boulevard Northwest. There's also a water shut off near Vining on East Beechwood Drive. Northwest. Portions of downtown, Midtown, Grant Park, Virginia Highlands, and other neighborhoods are reporting no or low water pressure. Atlanta Watershed has issued a boil water advisory under an abundance of caution. The breaks have prompted some employers to send their workers home early. The Georgia Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta and many other businesses closed early. There were reports of no water at the state Capitol, Atlanta City Hall, and disruptions at Grady Hospital. All Fulton County facilities downtown closed this afternoon, including the Fulton County Government Center and Courthouse. City officials are advising the public to not drink water from public water fountains in the impacted area.

Caption

Mail

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff visited the U.S. Postal Service's facility in Palmetto, southwest of Atlanta, yesterday after months of reported delays in mail delivery. GPB's Sarah Kallis has the latest.

Sarah Kallis: The delays at the mail sorting facility have impacted delivery statewide. Ossoff visited Palmetto outside of peak hours and said that while there are no obvious signs of dysfunction, he will continue to advocate for Georgians.

Jon Ossoff: I will continue to apply maximum pressure to hold the Postmaster General accountable for his obligation to my constituents.

Sarah Kallis: 60% of mail is now delivered on time, according to Ossoff, up from 36%. Ossoff said, quote, incompetent management is the problem, not postal workers. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Palmetto.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: The White House says 1 in 6 Georgia households could soon lose access to affordable, high speed internet. The FCC is asking Congress for two more years of funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program. The program offers high speed internet for as little as $30 a month. In some rural areas in Georgia, as many as 1 in 3 households is enrolled in the plan. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks touted the program's past success.

Geoffrey Starks: I think it's been the most successful program ever in our decadeslong bipartisan effort to solve the digital divide.

Peter Biello: The program is set to expire on June 1.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Georgia's top leaders are reacting largely along party lines to the New York jury, finding former President Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on X, formerly Twitter, called the trial partisan politics. Democrat U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock said on X that no one is above the law. Trump argued today that the verdict was illegitimate and driven by politics, and he sought to downplay the facts underlying the case.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Hurricane season officially begins tomorrow. New this year will be an enhanced forecast cone graphic from the National Hurricane Center. Instead of just showing the likely path of the eye of a storm, the new cone also will display watches and warnings for hazardous weather conditions in more outlying areas, including in Georgia. Michael Brennan directs the National Hurricane Center.

Michael Brennen: It doesn't take a major hurricane making landfall in your state, or in your area, or in your locality for there to be major impacts, especially from the water hazards. Rainfall. Flooding has been the deadliest hazard in tropical storms and hurricanes in the United States over the last ten years. It's been responsible for more than half of the fatalities.

Peter Biello: The agency plans to roll out its new hurricane cone graphic in mid-August.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: The man accused of killing a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus in February has pleaded not guilty to charges in her death. Earlier this month, the grand jury indicted Jose Ibarra with murder, aggravated assault and other charges in the killing of Laken Riley. Superior Court Judge Patrick Haggard said today he's hoping for a trial this fall.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Earlier this year, the dean of UGA's law school ordered its First Amendment clinic to stop working on lawsuits that helped journalists gain access to important government documents. This move essentially cut off a resource for local news outlets who needed free legal help, forcing the government to hand over public records. The move also stopped UGA's First Amendment clinic from assisting in a lawsuit against the Atlanta Police Foundation. The powerful backer of the controversial Public Safety Training Center proposed for Southeast Atlanta. Private attorney based in Macon, Georgia. Joy Ramsingh is picking up that case, and she's with me now.

Joy Ramsingh: Glad to be here.

Peter Biello: I wanted to ask you first about UGA's push to stop its First Amendment clinic from working on lawsuits that aim to force the government to hand over public records. What were your thoughts on hearing this news?

Joy Ramsingh: I was really disappointed by UGA's withdrawal from this case. I think a lot of open government advocates share that disappointment. I think that really the bigger concern, actually, is not just that UGA decided to withdraw from this case, but also that, according to one of their recent statements, they're not going to be representing anyone in open records at cases going forward, which is a tremendous loss for journalists and citizens in Georgia.

Peter Biello: So why is it important for news outlets to have access to a clinic like the one at UGA?

Joy Ramsingh: So in Georgia, if someone files an open records request and the agency denies it, no matter how unfounded that denial is, there is really no option except to take the agency to court.

Peter Biello: Money is often an issue for news outlets of any size when trying to fight the government in court over access to documents. You're a private attorney. What other ways could cash strapped media outlets access the services of someone in your position?

Joy Ramsingh: I'm sort of an odd attorney in that I try to do a lot of things and flat fee basis. I try to do a lot of pro bono work for journalists, but obviously I don't have the resources that a state university has, even at my best attempt, right, to provide pro bono representation as often as possible. There is no way that one person, even if I devoted my entire working hours to pro bono matters, I just simply could not take all of the cases that are being brought. And I do think that this should form a starting point for open government advocates, or the legislature, or concerned stakeholders to sort of put their heads together and say, Georgia needs a robust enforcement mechanism. A lot of people come to me after they have already tried to mediate a case through the attorney general's office. That is not really a mediation process, as you would typically consider it to be in a court. All that happens is that the attorney general sends a letter out to the agency. Typically, the agency responds with some sort of excuse for why they did this, that, or the other. And then the attorney general rarely follows up and even admonishes the agency, much less prosecutes or orders, I guess, the agency to comply.

Peter Biello: You picked up the lawsuit that is pushing for documents from the Atlanta Police Foundation. Tell us a little bit about that one. What documents are you seeking from the Atlanta Police Foundation?

Joy Ramsingh: These are garden variety public records. Okay, so the construction budget for cops, city board of directors meeting minutes for the Atlanta Police Foundation, bids for contracts, environmental test. And, you know, some communications relating to the training center. But fundamentally, all of the records that we are requesting relate directly to the building of the training center.

Peter Biello: The Atlanta Police Foundation is not a government agency, right. It's a booster organization for a government agency. But in your view, it's still subject to these public record laws.

Joy Ramsingh: Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's been the law in the state since 2017. So if records are held by private entities and those private entities perform a public function, then those records are subject to disclosure. It's in the name of the organization, right. The Atlanta Police Foundation, it's not the Atlanta Philanthropic Foundation. And they they do things for a variety of different causes. And the police just happened to be one of them. Know this is an organization that exist for the sole purpose of performing tasks for the benefit of the police. You know, this whole concept of Cop City relies on the police being able to get resources from this foundation. There's no Cop City without APF. You have a group of very powerful private executives controlling every facet of building this training center. So one of the reasons, for example, we have asked for meeting minutes is because the decisions that are being made at these board meetings are going to directly affect how people are served by the police.

Peter Biello: At what stage is this lawsuit?

Joy Ramsingh: We're in the very early stages. We filed a complaint. APF has filed their answer, and right now we are just poised to go into the discovery phase.

Peter Biello: Joy Ram Singh of Ram Singh Legal is representing the Atlanta Community Press Collective and the Chicago based digital transparency research organization Lucy Parsons Labs, and seeking records from the Atlanta Police Foundation. Joy, thank you very much for speaking with me.

Joy Ramsingh: Thanks for having me.

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Basketball

Story 8:

Peter Biello: In sports, the NBA finals matchup is set with the Dallas Mavericks taking on the Boston Celtics. One member of the Boston squad, Jaylen Brown, is a Marietta, Ga., native and graduate of Wheeler High School. This will be his second appearance in the NBA Finals. His first appearance was with the Celtics in 2022, when they lost to Golden State. Game 1 of the NBA finals is scheduled for Thursday, June 6 in Boston. In baseball, the Atlanta Braves face the Oakland Athletics tonight. This comes as the Braves have lost the recent series to the Washington Nationals, three games to one. The team has struggled to bat this month, and manager Brian Snitker says he's unsure of how to fix it.

Brian Snitker: If I knew, I'd tell 'em and we'd correct it. It's not that easy. And, just gotta keep, like I say, every day, we gotta keep grinding. That's what we're going to do.

Peter Biello: Before the game, star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. addressed his season-ending injury, saying he'll undergo a second ACL repair surgery next week.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: As we wrap up May and edge closer to summer, there's a lot going on around the state this weekend. The North Georgia Highlands Seafood and Wine Festival is in Young Harris. Also in North Georgia, you'll find the South's oldest balloon event, and the United States' only long distance hot air balloon race, the 51st annual Helen to the Atlantic Balloon Race. There's the Honeybee Festival in downtown Lafayette, the Putnam County Dairy Festival in Eatonton, the Chattahoochee Valley Daylily Festival is in Columbus, and the Georgia Blueberry Festival is in Alma. The 38th Georgia Peach Festival, a shared event between Fort Valley and Byron and the home of the world's largest peach cobbler, returns this weekend in Fort Valley and next weekend in Byron. And way down south on the coast at the Georgia Florida Line, you'll find the Saint Mary's Hello Summer Festival.

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. Take a moment and do it now. That'll keep us fresh in your podcast feed. If you've got feedback, we'd love to hear from you! Email us. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.

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