Section Branding
Header Content
Georgia Today: Murder charges dropped due to officer misconduct; Dem. National Convention wraps up
Primary Content
LISTEN: On the Friday, Aug. 23 edition of Georgia Today: Officer misconduct leads a Georgia prosecutor to drop charges in three murder cases; Georgians speak at the last day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago; and a Savannah columnist talks about her new books of essays.
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Friday, Aug. 23. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, officer misconduct leads a Georgia prosecutor to drop charges in three murder cases. Georgians speak at the last day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. And a Savannah columnist talks about her new books of essays. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.
Story 1:
Peter Biello: The Democratic National Convention wrapped up in Chicago last night, with Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepting her party's nomination for president. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports on Georgia Democrats who went out to watch.
Sarah Kallis: Georgia Democrats gathered in downtown Atlanta to watch the vice president speak. Harris focused on her background as a prosecutor and her childhood while laying out policies on the economy, immigration, abortion, and conflict in the Middle East. Alphonso Buiy lives in Lithonia and attended the watch party.
Alphonso Buiy: It feels like when Obama ran. And just being in Chicago at the time, just the energy, it's back. And I think people have a sense of hope. And that's what we needed, a sense of hope. Someone who can really get the job done, who isn't out just for themselves and their select group of friends.
Sarah Kallis: Republicans held their convention where they nominated former President Donald Trump in July. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.
Story 2:
Peter Biello: Georgia was well represented on stage during the four-day convention and last night was no exception. Metro Atlanta congresswoman Lucy McBath joined others in talking about their experiences with gun violence and calling for gun reform.
Lucy McBath: We will secure safer futures that we all deserve. We will organize. We will advocate. We will run for office.
Peter Biello: McBath became an advocate for gun safety after her son was shot and killed in 2012.
Story 3:
Peter Biello: A partnership between Houston County Schools and the county health department is bringing primary health care closer to where children and their adults spend time. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more.
Sofi Gratas: Houston County Public Health nurse manager Chris Sikes says she often sees adult patients who forego basic medical care.
Chris Sikes: They are really great about taking care of children, but as adults we don't get the physicals and they don't get the health screenings so that we can prevent diseases from ever happening in the first place.
Sofi Gratas: Starting Aug. 27, Sikes will be one of the nurses managing telehealth visits at the Lindsay Student Support Center in Warner Robins. The once-a-month screenings will be low cost and open to adults and kids in the community. A local agency will also offer help with prescriptions. About 14 patients can be seen each month with registration online. Local public health departments statewide offer screenings in-house, too. Those interested are encouraged to call for more information. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.
Story 4:
Peter Biello: A Georgia prosecutor is dropping charges against six people in three pending murder cases after a pair of police officers were indicted for alleged misconduct. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports, the district attorney's office in Savannah's Chatham County, determined the cases had been tainted by the officers involvement.
Benjamin Payne: Ashley Wood and Darryl Repress are currently under indictment for perjury and violation of oath of office as Savannah police officers. After the indictments were handed down in May, Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones says she and her staff thoroughly reviewed every case in which Wood or Repress had any involvement. In the end, Cook Jones decided that six murder cases would be dismissed. Here she is referring to the families of the victims.
Shalena Cook Jones: Those families suffer a grave injustice, not just because they lost a family member, but also because the criminal justice process will not be able to secure convictions in those cases for various legal and evidentiary reasons. Our hearts go out to them.
Peter Biello: Cook Jones says her office could reopen the closed cases if new evidence comes to light. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.
Story 5:
Peter Biello: Police in Albany have made an arrest in a three-year-old cold case involving the fatal drive-by shooting of a 9-year-old boy. The child, Nigel Brown, was sleeping in his bed when a vehicle passing through the area opened fire in August of 2021. Police announced yesterday the arrest of 35-year-old Gernardric Pittman. He's charged with murder and other crimes. Police say the arrest came after a citizen came forward with new information and anonymously provided video.
Story 6:
Peter Biello: The agency that runs the state's Medicaid program, has approved a $5.7 billion budget request for fiscal year 2026. The budget request, approved for the Department of Community Health, represents a $347 million increase over the agency's current spending plan, which took effect last month. The agency's chief operating officer told members of its board yesterday that a Medicaid enrollment surge is expected to start later this fiscal year and move into fiscal year 2026. That's because of the end of the federal redetermination process called unwinding that started with the official end of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. The budget request will go to the governor's office later this year, and ultimately will be decided during the General Assembly session that begins in January.
Story 7:
Peter Biello: Some homeowners in West Georgia's Troup County will see their property taxes reduced by $150 this year, thanks to a one-time reimbursement for homesteaded properties. County Chairman Patrick Crews justified the cut, pointing to housing costs and inflation impacting families budgets. Officials with the tax assessor's office says the reduction will save homeowners a combined $2 million this year.
Story 8:
Peter Biello: Citizen scientists in four Southeastern states, including Georgia, are heading out to their gardens to count pollinators this weekend. The Great Southeastern Pollinator Census takes place today and tomorrow, and anyone can participate. Becky Griffin, with the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, started the census in 2019. She says the data you collect helps researchers study pollinators.
Becky Griffin: A big example of that is, using some of the data that we've collected over the last five years, a person who is an economic statistician did some other research, added to it, and we were able to determine the monetary or economic valuation of pollination to our state.
Peter Biello: To participate, all you need to do is count how many pollinators like bees, butterflies and flies you see on a single plant within a 15-minute time period, then report what you count to the census website GSEPC.org. That website stands for Great Southeastern Pollinator Census.
Story 9:
Peter Biello: Delta Air Lines' chief operating officer is leaving the company weeks after the carrier's operational meltdown in the wake of the global CrowdStrike tech outage. The Atlanta-based airline told the Securities and Exchange Commission in a filing today that CEO Mike Spanos would leave the company at the end of this month. Delta CEO Ed Bastian told employees in a memo that Spanos has taken a position with another company. Spanos came on as Delta's chief operating officer 14 months ago, having held previous executive experience at Six Flags Entertainment and PepsiCo.
Story 10:
Peter Biello: The city of Atlanta is reopening a lottery for its popular e-bike rebate program starting tomorrow, and for one week only, city residents can apply online for a chance to receive a rebate good at several e-bike retailers of between $500 and $2,000. During the program's first lottery in June, a little less than 9,000 people applied for rebates. Only 413 were given out. Three-quarters of rebate dollars, a little less than $400,000, are reserved for low- and middle-income earners. The program, administered by the Atlanta Regional Commission, is expected to offer a third lottery later this year.
Story 11:
Peter Biello: Savannah columnist Jessica Leigh Lebos has survived decades of change in the city's media landscape. Irreverent, funny, poignant and hard hitting, she flies her progressive Jewish and motherly flags prominently in her writing, often latching on to lost causes and local characters. In Savannah, local writers matter, and few embody the city more than she does. Leigh Lebos recently spoke about her two-book essay series Savannah Sideways with Orlando Montoya.
Jessica Leigh Lebos: You know, I mean, I began writing probably in the early '90s, and the landscape was a lot simpler back then. I am an alternative weekly veteran, and that's where my career began. Moved into blogging and landed at the alt weekly in Savannah. After that, you know, now it's Substack. We don't call them blogs anymore. But then I still freelance a little bit in print. You know, I'm just kind of following where it all takes me. But my essential format hasn't changed, which is a weekly column, you know, somewhere between 800 and 1,000 words about what I see happening right now.
Orlando Montoya: And I like the fact that you've continued to do it even through many different changes, which can be stressful.
Jessica Leigh Lebos: Yes. I mean, I think COVID was fairly stressful — actually, not so much for me personally, but I feel like for the city of Savannah, it's really gone through a lot of cataclysmic cultural changes. A lot of people moving here, a lot of people leaving in the last few years. It's really remarkable. I mean, I think that people who have been here a long time, we see each other and we, you know, everybody's like, "Can you believe the growth? Can you believe the change?"
Orlando Montoya: The title of your two book series, Savannah Sideways, captures a sense that you don't take yourself too seriously. You have some hard-hitting pieces, but not too many. What do you consider an ideal mix of heavy topics and lighter topics in your writing?
Jessica Leigh Lebos: You know, I've always considered myself a writer. Some people have tried to characterize me as a journalist, and I'm always careful to correct them, because I do enjoy journalism, you know? But that's — it's really hard. It's really it takes a lot of rigor. It takes a lot of research. So I really enjoy doing those pieces. I also really like kind of riffing on social trends and just words themselves and descriptions and observations. So I guess an ideal mix would be, I don't know, like maybe 25% of really the hard-hitting stuff and the rest kind of assuaging my curiosity for what's going on now.
Orlando Montoya: As a columnist, there's always a question of how much of yourself to put into every column. Some columns might require more or others less, but you don't seem to have a problem putting yourself very loudly in print. How much of you would you say is in this collection?
Jessica Leigh Lebos: In the collections, Savannah Sideways, which is — comes together as the story of coming to Savannah and learning how to fit in in a place that didn't really welcome outsiders back then. And the second is The Camellia Thief; and that collection, the theme is around waking up after COVID and realizing the city that I'd come to know and love was changing very quickly. I have always admired Hunter S Thompson and Jack Kerouac. Those were the writers I wanted to be when I was in college. So I think that coming from a personal perspective is where I've always been, and it's what I enjoy most.
Orlando Montoya: I mean, there's no mistaking that you're a progressive, you're Jewish. You've got two kids that you talk about as well. Do people think that they know you in a way that maybe in print you're not putting all yourself there, you know?
Jessica Leigh Lebos: Yeah. I think that, you know, the — the, it is a — it's a personality. It's a, you know, a persona that I'm putting out there for sure. You know, I like to say, you know, I always tell the truth, but — but I do put in embellishments. And my children and husband have always been very patient about the way I characterize them. And, you know, it's interesting because I have built something of a national following, but I have always considered my audience to be my neighbors. So I feel like, yes, maybe people feel like they know me through my writing and, you know, they kind of do, because I am writing from a perspective of, "this is where I live, this is who I have interacting with. This is how I feel about it. This is what I see."
Orlando Montoya: As a writer, you're able to go to a lot of interesting places and bring your readers with you. And this compilation of columns, Savannah Sideways and The Camellia Thief. You write about a canoe trip, a wildlife center, a sewage treatment plant. But what are some of the most outrageous situations you found yourself in?
Jessica Leigh Lebos: Oh, gosh. Well. One, one — The writer and writing coach, Rosemary Daniel, recently said to me, she said, "did you really climb to the top of the bell tower in Mikvah, Israel?" I said, "yes."
Orlando Montoya: And Mikvah, Israel, we should say, is the city's downtown synagogue and the third-oldest Jewish congregation in America.
Jessica Leigh Lebos: It is. It was extremely dangerous and highly unadvised. But so that was probably one of the most outrageous places. One of my favorite places recently, because since The Camellia Thief came out, my reputation as a camellia lover and camellia thief, people have been inviting me to these storied, very old, camellia forests of Savannah that are out on Isle of Hope and Dutch Island, Vernon Burg, and places that have been cultivated with hundreds of different types of camellias where I've just been set loose to explore and find myself and try to identify different species of camellias. And so that's been really exciting.
Orlando Montoya: At the same time that you write about all these interesting and very unusual things, you also write about a lot of ordinary events and give them meaning. That's one thing I like about your writing. Are you always looking for stories?
Jessica Leigh Lebos: You know, I — yes, I'm always looking for stories. And they ultimately present themselves. People ask, well, don't you run out of things to write about? Never. There are so many stories from the past that still haven't even been told. They're endless. And even in a small city like Savannah is absolutely so rich with stories, I don't think we could ever run out of them.
Orlando Montoya: And where can people read you now?
Jessica Leigh Lebos: Well, I write a weekly Substack. It will take you directly there from SavannahSideways.com, and there's lots there to read, plenty of stuff that's not in the books.
Orlando Montoya: And there's plenty more to talk about. But I feel that this conversation takes care of this collection. It's called Savannah Sideways and The Camellia Thief. Jessica Leigh Lebos, thank you so much for for joining me today.
Jessica Leigh Lebos: Orlando. It is always a pleasure to hear your voice. Thank you.
Peter Biello: That was Orlando Montoya with Savannah writer Jessica Leigh Lebos. Her Savannah Sideways and The Camellia Thief are the latest books to be featured on Narrative Edge. That's GPB's podcast about books with Georgia connections hosted by Orlando and me. Find NarrativeEdge at GPB.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
Story 12:
Peter Biello: The Braves face the Washington Nationals at home tonight for the first of a three game series. Last night, the Braves beat the Phillies 3 to 2. Starting pitcher Spencer Scwellenbach through 6 2/3 innings, striking out nine and allowing only three hits. Adam Duvall hit the solo homer in the sixth inning. That ultimately kept the Braves on top, and he said the rookie Schwellenbach pitched a great game.
Adam Duvall: He's a smart kid, too. He — it seems like he knows how to pitch. And, you know, he's got the stuff to put guys away, and that's what you need.
Peter Biello: Defensively, the Braves haven't missed a beat since losing third baseman Austin Riley to a hand injury earlier this week. The Braves picked up Gio Urshela from the Tigers. And so far he's been turning slick double plays. And at the plate he's gone 3 for 10 with a walk and two RBIs during the three-game series against Philadelphia.
Peter Biello: And that's a wrap on a week's worth of news. We appreciate you tuning in. And if you want to check out the latest, you can always go to GPB.org/news. That's also a great place to catch up on the goings on at the DNC this week. And if you haven't subscribed to this podcast yet, we highly recommend you do it now. That way will pop up automatically in your feed on Monday afternoon. If you have feedback for us or a story idea, we'd love to hear from you. Send us an email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you next week.
---
For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news
Secondary Content
Author
