Georgia Today: Trump campaigns in Georgia; Harris support rising for Black men; Monarch butterflies

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, Oct. 28. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, former President Donald Trump makes two campaign stops in Georgia. A new poll suggests Vice President Kamala Harris has growing support among Black men. And what's causing a change in the migration patterns for monarch butterflies? These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Former President Donald Trump is making two high-profile appearances in Georgia today. Trump earlier this afternoon addressed an audience of religious leaders at the National Faith Summit in Powder Springs, northwest of Atlanta. He's scheduled to rally supporters at Georgia Tech in Midtown Atlanta around 6:00. That means traffic in midtown will likely be worse than usual. Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, was in Atlanta over the weekend. Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: Vance spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of hundreds at the Georgia Freight Depot in Atlanta Saturday. He continued Trump's tactic of doubling down on anti-immigrant rhetoric. He encouraged voters to choose Trump and said he would accept Georgia's election results even if he loses, but —

J.D. Vance: One that, yes, we're going to accept the results of the election. But two, we're also going to fight to make sure that every legal ballot and only every legal ballot is counted — counted in the state of Georgia.

Sarah Kallis: Vance's visit comes in the final days of the campaign. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff also visited Atlanta over the weekend. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: The NAACP says Vice President Kamala Harris is expanding her lead with Black men. The organization released polling data today countering a narrative that former President Donald Trump is gaining among that demographic. NAACP Vice President for Advocacy, Phaedra Jackson, shared the numbers on a call with reporters.

Phaedra Jackson: From August to October, Black men under the age of 50 have decreased their likelihood to vote for Trump from 27 to 21% and increase their likelihood to vote for Harris from 51 to 59%. So again, as we're getting closer to election, folks are really firming up where they're going.

Peter Biello: Pew Research and other polling organizations continue to show increasing Republican support among younger Black male voters since Barack Obama's presidency. Both Harris and Trump have specifically reached out to Black men in Georgia, a key swing state with both appearances and other campaigning.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Delta Air Lines is suing the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike over a global technology outage this summer. The Atlanta-based airline says the company caused it to lose more than a half a billion dollars because of thousands of canceled flights. Delta says CrowdStrike cut corners by failing to test an update before sending it to Microsoft computers around the world. CrowdStrike has questioned why Delta took longer than other airlines to recover from the outage. The company says Delta has failed to modernize old IT systems.

Caption

Storms

Story 4:

Peter Biello: The Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to help Georgians impacted by Hurricane Helene, but it also needs help. Agency spokesperson Nikki Gaskins Campbell says FEMA is holding a job fair in Augusta on Wednesday.

Nikki Gaskins Campbell: Currently, we have more than 450 jobs posted in the state of Georgia, 169 jobs posted for Augusta.

Peter Biello: The jobs range across professions. They're temporary, but have the potential to be permanent.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service wants to train certified storm spotters. If you've ever wanted to know what to look for in the sky when severe storms approach, there are a few more chances in Georgia this year. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.

Grant Blankenship: The National Weather Service Peachtree City office holds about a dozen training opportunities for the SkyWarn StormSpotter program every year. In a recent session in Macon, about 20 people learned the proper names for signs of severe weather.

Katy Martin: Let's say someone calls in our office and says, "you know, we we see a rotating wall cloud." We would definitely then pull the trigger and issue a tornado warning.

Grant Blankenship: Peachtree City-based meteorologist Katy Martin leads SkyWarn Training. She says when community storm watchers call in, they help validate what experts think they see on radar.

Katy Martin: What's happening at your house, what's happening at your workplace is extremely beneficial.

Grant Blankenship: There are two SkyWarn sessions left this year, one in person in Banks County and another online. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Metro Atlanta has the second-largest property tax increases in the nation. That's according to a report released today by Seattle-based real estate brokerage firm RedFin. The company says rising home values, populations and infrastructure budgets contributed to the surges, exacerbating housing affordability concerns. The median monthly property tax payment in metro Atlanta over the last five years increased by nearly two-thirds. Indianapolis led Redfin's list, followed by metro Atlanta and three cities in Florida.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: A South Georgia woman has been sentenced to a dozen years in prison for her role in what the U.S. Justice Department calls one of the largest COVID fraud cases ever prosecuted. 32-year-old Tyshion Hicks of Southwest Georgia's Dooley County pleaded guilty in February to a scheme to defraud Georgia out of more than $30 million in unemployment benefits. According to court documents, she and seven coconspirators filed more than 5,000 fraudulent jobless claims over a two-year period that began in March 2020.

Credit: Linda May, Georgia DNR

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Researchers at the University of Georgia say an increasing number of monarch butterflies aren't surviving their annual fall migration south to Mexico. GPB's Chase McGee has more.

Chase McGee: Over 17 years, citizen scientists surveyed the number of monarch butterflies making overnight pit stops in shrubs, trees and other plants. These numbers show a decline by as much as 80%, with losses worsening as the butterflies head south. Researchers aren't sure what's causing it, but Dr. William Snyder says there are ways people can assist.

Dr. William Snyder: What you could do to try to help would be to plant more flowering plants along the fall migration route.

Chase McGee: UGA's Dr. Andy Davis says sometimes well-meaning people do more harm than good by bringing these butterflies inside to rest.

Dr. Andy Davis: One of the best ways to make really strong, healthy monarchs is to simply leave them alone in the wild.

Chase McGee: The butterflies normally return in the spring. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: Jelly Roll performed a private concert for the faculty and students of Apalachee High School in Winder on Saturday. In a post on social media, the city said the private event was meant to foster healing and unity for the students, faculty and families of Apalachee High School as they come together to reflect and support one another following September's tragedy. The concert was held Saturday afternoon, just hours before Jelly Roll performed at State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta. Two Apalachee High School students and two teachers were killed in the Sept. 4 shooting.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: A young Georgia boy recently got a behind-the-scenes look at life as a state trooper. Grant Minton joined the Georgia Department of Public Safety as "Trooper for the Day," which took him through a day working in law enforcement. That's according to the DPS Facebook page. Grant's experience began at Floyd County EMS headquarters, where he met local first responders and suited up in his own uniform. Later, he took a helicopter ride to the Department of Public Safety headquarters, where he was awarded an honorary trooper title.

Story 10:

Peter Biello: In sports, Georgia native Clarke Schmidt will start Game 3 of the World Series on the mound for the New York Yankees tonight. The Yankees trail the Los Angeles Dodgers two games to none in the best-of-seven Fall Classic. Schmidt attended Altoona High School in Acworth, northwest of Atlanta, and went on to play college baseball at the University of South Carolina before being drafted in 2017. He made his debut with the Yankees as a reliever in 2020.

In soccer, Atlanta, United fell to Inter Miami 2 to 1 on Friday and is now looking forward to Game 2 of the Eastern Conference first round in Atlanta on Saturday, Nov. 2.

And in basketball, the Atlanta Hawks host the Washington Wizards today. The Hawks are coming off a loss to the Thunder yesterday.

That's all we've got on this edition of Georgia Today. Come back tomorrow. We'll have the latest on the Trump rallies being held in Atlanta today. And if you want the latest headlines, check out GPB.org/news. And if you haven't subscribed to this podcast yet, take a moment and do it now. We'll be current in your podcast feed tomorrow if you do. And if you have feedback or a story we should be covering, let us know. Our email address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thank you for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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