Georgia Today: Cobb continues book bans; Student athlete heat safety; Vegan-friendly Truist Park

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Friday, Aug. 16. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode: as book bans continue in one school district, a West Georgia library system puts limits on who can challenge books. UGA researchers work to protect student athletes from heatstroke. And Atlanta's Truist Park is noted as a welcoming spot for vegans. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: The Cobb County School District says 13 more books have been removed from the school systems libraries this month. The district says the books were removed for containing what they identified as sexually explicit content. Cobb County Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the district did not take the decision lightly.

Chris Ragsdale: We reviewed the content and when the content was inappropriate, stopped providing unrestricted access to children.

Peter Biello: A total of 20 books have been removed from Cobb County media centers.

Peter Biello: Meanwhile, the board of the Chattahoochee Valley Library System in West Georgia has voted unanimously to change its policy on book challenges. Now, only people who live in the library system service area can challenge a book on the library shelves. That includes residents of Muskogee, Chattahoochee, Marion and Stuart counties. Previously, anyone could challenge a book. Alan Harkness is director of Chattahoochee Valley Libraries. He advocated for the change.

Alan Harkness: We want our local folks to participate because that's their library. But what you don't want is from people from either side of the aisle who don't live where you are to come in and influence policy or selection, that sort of thing. It's just — it's a best practice.

Peter Biello: He says, in his nearly dozen years as director, he has never once banned a book as a result of a request. But a few times he has moved books out of the children's section into sections reserved for older kids.

Caption

Mosquito

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Public health officials in Savannah's Chatham County are warning residents of an increased threat of waterborne and mosquito-borne illnesses, owing to flooding from Tropical Storm Debby. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.

Benjamin Payne: Chatham County's mosquito control helicopters and trucks have been spraying repellent almost every day since waters crested along area waterways, including the Ogeechee River. Not only can mosquitoes carry the deadly West Nile virus, but the floodwaters themselves often breed harmful bacteria, including staph and e-coli. Dr Bonzo Reddick is director of the state's coastal health district. He says people should also consider getting a tetanus shot.

Dr. Bonzo Reddick: The problem with floodwater is that it contains a lot of animal and human waste. There is a big risk for infection if you wade into it, and also there may be sharp objects that you can't see in the water that can poke you, that can injure you that way. So we strongly recommend that no one goes into the floodwaters unless they have no other option.

Benjamin Payne: The Chatham County Emergency Management Agency expects to soon learn whether FEMA will authorize financial assistance for Georgians impacted by flooding from Tropical Storm Debby. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Actors and studio owners alike are concerned about the ways AI will change the film industry. Chief among those concerns: protecting secondary actors from misuse of their likeness. Frank Patterson is president and CEO of Trillith Studios in Fayetteville, southwest of Atlanta. Trillith is one of the biggest studios in the country. Speaking at a hearing of the Senate Study Committee on AI, Patterson says the state needs laws to protect actors.

Frank Patterson: This is a struggle that we don't have an answer to right now, but I do think, clear protections from the state about how you can use my name, image and likeness publicly and license it accordingly.

Peter Biello: He also warned against overregulating AI, which could stifle innovation. The next meeting of the Senate Study Committee on AI is scheduled for Sept. 12.

Caption

MPOX

Story 4:

Peter Biello: State health officials are investigating a suspected case of Mpox at Georgia's Hancock State Prison. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.

Grant Blankenship: The Georgia Department of Corrections reported the suspected impacts infection in an inmate at Hancock State Prison, about halfway between Macon and Augusta. That's according to an official with the Georgia Department of Public Health's North Central Health District. But Public Health stresses this is only a suspected case of the disease formerly known as monkeypox. Full diagnosis waits for the end of lab testing. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say people most at risk for Mpox are men who have sex with men and their sexual partners, the CDC advice, as of July, says even the highest risk of infection is relatively low and in the U.S., Mpox is rarely fatal. But just this week, the World Health Organization declared Mpox a public health outbreak of international concern following the emergence of a more deadly strain in parts of Africa. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Three Jewish advocacy groups have filed a federal discrimination complaint against the Fulton County School District over what they say is anti-Semitic bullying. The complaint says students were harassed after the Israel-Hamas War broke out last October, and that the school district ignored repeated complaints about it. The school district denied the allegations and says it takes complaints seriously. The complaint was filed earlier this month by the Louis de Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education, and the National Jewish Advocacy Center. The organizations asked the district to denounce anti-Semitism, discipline teachers and students for anti-Semitic behavior, consider ways to improve experiences for Jewish students.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: Georgia's unemployment rate slightly rose last month to 3.4%. That's up from 3.3% in June. That's according to the Georgia Department of Labor. The state's labor force rose more than 5.4 million, which is an all-time high, while the number of jobs rose to nearly 5 million, also a record. The sectors that added the most jobs include accommodation and food and transportation and warehousing.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: It's not just hot this summer, it's extremely hot. But thanks in part to a team of researchers at the University of Georgia, high schools across the state now have a set of regulations in place to protect student athletes from heat stroke. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more.

Ellen Eldridge: Football practice at Rutland High School in Macon starts early in August: before the sun burns the dew off the grass, when it's cooler outside. That's in line with some of the Georgia High School Association's best practices for outdoor activities. Bud Cooper is a clinical professor of kinesiology at the University of Georgia. He helped establish those guidelines, which are now rules. Cooper says Georgia is a model for other states because the policy is backed by research. In 2008, he began a three-year study of heat exhaustion, stroke and death.

Bud Cooper: Georgia was unfortunately in a position where they had the highest number of heat-related deaths among high school football players in the nation.

Ellen Eldridge: Cooper says the GHSA asked for his help in understanding the risk of heat stroke after two high-profile deaths. The study quickly showed them that the time spent drilling plays a role.

Bud Cooper: You know, Aug. 1 to the — to the 7th, if practices went longer than 180 minutes, the risk rose exponentially.

Ellen Eldridge: And Cooper says the heat index is misleading when it comes to the risk for football players in particular.

Bud Cooper: The ... formula for heat index is based on an individual who is 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 147 pounds, is wearing a short sleeved shirt, long pants, and walking 3 miles an hour in the shade.

Ellen Eldridge: Most football players are, of course, larger and do more strenuous things than walking, often in the open sun. And that's why Heard County High School recently opened a covered stadium. The cover cools the field by about 20 degrees. So while many schools like Rutland in Macon spend extra time only in helmets, Lasseter's team gets to spend more time in full pads. Lasseter says he gets it that most counties can't afford similar setups, and he's humbled.

Shane Lasseter: I don't feel like that any high school coach deserves to have the facilities that we have and are — and are blessed to have, and so we try not to take it for granted at all and it is awesome facility to see.

Ellen Eldridge: With or without a covered facility for practice or for play, GHSA rules dictate athletes must stay hydrated. During games, coaches must offer rest breaks up to twice per quarter depending on conditions. But they're not timeouts, so coaches stay off the field. During games, coaches must offer rest breaks up to twice per quarter depending on conditions, but they're not timeouts, so coaches stay off the field. But if an athlete still falls to heat exhaustion, rules say players must have access to an ice bath before getting in an ambulance. Cooper calls the mindset "Cool first, transport second."

Bud Cooper: An ambulance has no way to cool a body between the time they pick them up and the time they get them to the hospital.

Ellen Eldridge: These rules are yearlong and apply to cross-country, tennis, soccer, softball, baseball, and even marching band. Band uniforms are sometimes made of wool, which Cooper argues is probably worse than full football gear. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: As we've heard, the Georgia high school football season is upon us. Tonight you can watch Buford and Milton square off to kick off our season of televised high school football games on GPB-TV at 7:30 p.m. And that also means we'll have more of the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast hosted by Hannah Gooden and Jon Nelson. And Jon Nelson is with me now. Hey, Jon, welcome to the program.  

Jon Nelson: Good to be with you, my friend.   

Peter Biello:  So what's different this year?  

Jon Nelson:  Biggest thing is reclassification. And in the state of Georgia, 7A is no longer the highest classification. They've compressed. And now we're back to 6A being the highest classification. So what that means is you have a lot of schools, that were in a higher classification, they are now in lower numbers. But that also means that you have a lot of regions around the state that have highly competitive teams — Top 10 teams that were in their old classifications — they're now all grouped together. And so you now have chaos in all of these regions with all this high competition, and it's almost going to be like survival of the fittest trying to get out to make the playoffs.  

Peter Biello: So is chaos good in this sense? Do people look forward to this kind of thing?  

Jon Nelson: Oh, I think — I think that if you want to be tested, I think that you do because you have — you have regions that will have just insane region matchups across the board. You've got a region that's got Gainesville, Milton and Roswell. You've got a region in South Georgia that has Benedict and Warner Robins, Ware, Wayne, Veterans and Thomas County Central. Literally you've got state — and Perry! So, so you have like three state champs in like one region. And now only one of you can make it out. It's like Thunderdome all of a sudden.  

Peter Biello:  Thunderdome. Okay. Well what about players and their name, image, likeness rights. How does that come into play?  

Jon Nelson: Still pretty much the same, but the GHSA changed, one of their guideposts, where you cannot interact with the NIL club as — as a part of your looking for name, image, and likeness if you are an athlete. So basically that was the only change. It is now a part of the bylaws that you cannot go through NIL club, but you can still pursue on your own as normal.  

Peter Biello:  So to — for those who aren't following this closely, it's — this isn't the first year that high school students can pursue name-image-likeness deals. They just have new rules about, I guess, not leveraging their team.  

Jon Nelson: Yeah. And so you cannot wear logos. You can't say that, you know, I can't be, you know, "Jon Nelson, from Lakeside,-DeKalb," you know, the Lakeside-DeKalb Vikings and wear Lakeside-DeKalb purple and gold. It has to be "I'm Jon Nelson, star quarterback in Georgia high school football," something like that.  

Peter Biello: Okay, well, today marks the first of your weekly drops of the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast. What can fans of the podcast look forward to hearing from you and Hannah in the coming weeks?  

Jon Nelson: If I have it my way. It's chaos,

Peter Biello: Chaos? More chaos?

Jon Nelson: Yeah, it's like I said, it's Thunderdome every week now, and especially in theFootball Fridays in Georgia podcast. This week, we caught up with the Football Fridays in Georgia All Stars, a lot of our media friends from around the state, to get their perspectives on everything in their regions of the state. To figure out, "okay, how does chaos apply to you now with reclassification? And who do you think's going to make it out? Who's going to be a surprise?" And so it's a rapid fire, our most "fastest-paced" hour — to speak English "very goodly" — here, you know, on the — on the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast. So please like and subscribe.  

Peter Biello:  Awesome. Well, when I hear chaos, I hear both sides of it, right? I hear, okay, competition's a little bit fiercer. And then I hear those who lose going, "Ahhh, if it weren't for reclassification—!"  

Jon Nelson: Rarrr! I didn't get a "Rarrr!" out of you for this. I know, but that'd be — you're going to have some absolutely insane competitions. And for those of us that cover it, it's going to be great! For the coaches and the fans, they're going to be pulling their hair out because, "okay, are we a three seed or four seed? Do we make it on the road? What are we doing? Ahhhh!" You're going to have one of those.  

Peter Biello: Wow. Okay. Well looking forward to the discussion on the podcast. And always glad to have you in the studio, John.  

Jon Nelson: Anytime, my friend.  

Peter Biello: That's Jon Nelson, award-winning journalist who's been covering high school athletics for Georgia Public Broadcasting. He's also co-host of the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast. Buford travels to play Milton tonight at the Eagle's Nest and kickoff on GPB-TV is at 7:30 p.m. this evening.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: In sports, the Braves head to Anaheim to take on the angels tonight in the first of a three-game series. Spencer Schwellenbach is scheduled to get the start for the Braves, who are hoping to avoid a second loss after yesterday's dropped outing against the San Francisco Giants. The Braves were shut out 6 to nothing. Starter Max Fried allowed three runs and struck out five. Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said that Fried struggled at times but limited the damage, but the offense was shut down by Giants hurler Logan Webb. The next Braves home game is Tuesday, when they begin a three-game series against their division rival, the Philadelphia Phillies.

Caption

Vegan burger

Peter Biello: And speaking of the Braves, Atlanta's Truist Park has made PETA's list of most vegan-friendly ballparks. The list, curated by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, highlights the presence of Slutty Vegan, a restaurant offering a vegan version of a Philly cheesesteak called "The Hollywood Hooker" that comes with or without onions. The ballpark also offers a vegan hot dog. Other stadiums on the list include the homes of the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies and Texas Rangers.

Peter Biello: And that is it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about these stories, visit GPB.org/news. And if you want to stay on top of the news, the best way to do that is to subscribe to this podcast. We've got more stories coming your way on Monday. We hope you'll tune in. Subscribe to Georgia Today wherever you get your podcasts, and we will pop up automatically in your podcast feed. Your feedback is important to us. We couldn't do what we do without interaction from people like you, people in the community. So send us your feedback. Send us your story ideas. Our email address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. That goes to the whole team. Again, GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week.

---

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