Georgia Today: Former NFL player arrested for Jan. 6; State budget priorities; Medical cannabis

Orlando Montoya: Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, Nov. 18. I'm Orlando Montoya. On today's episode, a former NFL player is arrested in Savannah for charges related to Jan. 6. A look at how Georgia's state budget is shaping up ahead of the 2025 legislative session. And enrollment in Georgia's medical cannabis registry reaches a new high. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Orlando Montoya: A former NFL player was arrested in Savannah late last week on charges related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.

Benjamin Payne: Leander Antwione Williams faces seven criminal counts, including a felony charge of assaulting law enforcement officers during the 2021 breach of the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. Williams, who lives in Savannah, played as a linebacker for the Detroit Lions in 2016 and before that for Georgia Southern University. Federal prosecutors allege he was among the first group of rioters to breach the restricted perimeter of the Capitol grounds. An attorney for Williams did not respond to GPB's request for comment on the charges. Williams was released on a $25,000 bond on Friday after making an initial court appearance in Savannah federal court. Prosecutors likely have little time to work with, given that President-elect Trump is expected to end Jan. 6-related prosecutions when he takes office. Williams is scheduled to appear in D.C. federal court Thursday. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.

Story 2:

Orlando Montoya: Rudy Giuliani has relinquished dozens of watches and a Mercedes once owned by movie star Lauren Bacall to two former Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shae Moss won a $148 million defamation judgment against him earlier this year. Giuliani's lawyer said in a letter filed Friday in Manhattan federal court that the watches and a ring have been delivered to a bank in Atlanta. Giuliani was ordered last week to immediately turn over his prized assets after missing an Oct. 29 deadline.

Story 3:

Orlando Montoya: The Georgia legislative session will get underway in less than two months. And between now and then, we can expect to hear about priorities from people and organizations across the state. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports and that the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute is watching.

Sarah Kallis: GBPI president of Research and Policy David Schaefer says before final policy recommendations are made, the organization has to assess what changes they can expect following the presidential election.

David Schaefer: There have been some shows, both at — both at the federal level, a little bit at the state level. But because the state does draw down federal dollars, a lot of what happens in Washington does also impact what happens here. So we take all that into account.

Sarah Kallis: GBPI tracks the dollars that move through the state budget and the impacts on policy proposals. Schaefer says he expects more need-based aid for students, a higher minimum wage and in-state tuition for DACA recipients ought to be some of their top priorities this year. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.

Caption

Some residents east of Atlanta were evacuated and others told to shelter in place after a fire at a chemical plant Sept. 29, 2024.

Credit: Rockdale County via X

Story 4:

Orlando Montoya: There are growing calls for Rockdale County leaders to revoke BioLab's business license. On Thursday, a group of activists started a Change.org petition to have the company's business license revoked. They point to a county ordinance requiring commissioners to revoke the license of any business that harms public health. A fire in September at the plant sent a chemical-filled smoke into the air for days. The facility partially reopened earlier this month.

Story 5:

Orlando Montoya: Hospitals nationwide are making strides in patient safety, but some Georgia hospitals are slipping. That's according to a twice-yearly ranking by the Leapfrog Group, a health care watchdog nonprofit that uses federal data and responses from a voluntary survey to grade hospitals on safety. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more.

Sofi Gratas: LeapFrog's grades are based on a hospital's reported ability to keep patients safe from injury or medical harm like infections. In Georgia, 70 hospitals were surveyed and overall the state dropped by 10 points in the rankings. All that means is patients should take extra care when choosing where to go, says Katie Stoddart with LeapFrog.

Katie Stoddart: If you're in an area where you don't have an "A" hospital, take a look at the facilities nearby. You can look by measure, see what they're doing well and have conversations. But ultimately, we want to see better performance.

Sofi Gratas: Of the 13 facilities that got straight A's this year. Piedmont hospitals came out on top, alongside Wellstar Paulding, Colquitt Regional in Moultrie and Fairview Park in Dublin. No Georgia hospitals received  "F" grades, but five got D's. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

Story 6:

Orlando Montoya: Authorities have identified 12 of the 18 decomposing bodies that were found at a funeral home in Coffee County. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Friday that the families of those identified have been notified and provided information needed to make final arrangements for their loved ones. The gruesome discovery last month shocked many in South Georgia and led to the arrest of funeral home owner Chris Lee Johnson. He's been charged with multiple counts of abuse of a dead body. The GBI says it continues to work to identify the remaining six bodies in what it calls a complex investigation.

Story 7:

Orlando Montoya: The White House is renewing its push for Congress to pass emergency disaster relief funding. The outcome of talks between the Biden administration and congressional leaders could spell millions of dollars for Georgians hard hit by Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricane Helene. White House Office of Management and Budget director Shalonda Young told reporters today that disaster relief is typically a bipartisan issue, and she expects the same as Democrats cede power in the White House and Senate.

Shalonda Young: There is no room for politics in disaster relief. As President Biden has said, there are no Democrats, there are no Republicans when it comes to delivering this relief. With Congress back in session, the Biden-Harris administration stands ready to work with lawmakers to deliver the vital resources our communities need and expect with strong bipartisan, bicameral support.

Orlando Montoya: The administration is asking for nearly $100 billion in emergency spending before the end of the year. About a quarter of the money would be earmarked for the U.S. Agriculture Department to help farmers that suffered losses and help food banks that provided relief in the weeks after Helene. The University of Georgia has estimated Georgia agricultural losses at about $6 billion.

Caption

Medical cannabis

Story 8:

Orlando Montoya: Enrollment in Georgia's medical cannabis registry has hit 25,000 patients. The milestone reached over the weekend means the state agency that oversees the program is authorized to approve more dispensaries. Six companies currently operate 13 dispensaries across the state. The executive director of the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission says he expects things to, quote, "pick up in pace" quickly from here. State lawmakers first approved low-THC cannabis oil to treat various conditions nearly a decade ago, but various legal hurdles slowed its actual use in Georgia until the past few years.

Story 9:

Orlando Montoya: Coca-Cola is facing backlash over a series of new holiday ads. The Atlanta-based beverage giant released the commercials produced by artificial intelligence last week. They feature people, lights, reindeer and snow, all the hallmarks of the season, except it's all computer-generated. Criticism has been intense on social media. That's where Tiktokers and YouTubers like Charles White, who goes by Penguin Z Zero and comments mostly on video games, are using words like "soulless" and "creepy" to describe the ads.

Charles White: This is the Coca-Cola Create Real Magic campaign. And I like how they're saying "real magic" when it's AI. That's the exact opposite. It's fake hocus pocus. It's so sad.

Orlando Montoya: Other social media users have mocked the ads in their own AI-generated videos. The ads creators tout the time-saving technology used to create them.

Caption

Ted Turner

Story 10:

Orlando Montoya: The Atlanta History Center recently hosted a birthday celebration for Georgia icon Ted Turner. Call Me Ted, a new documentary series on Max, profiles the life and cultural impact of the 86-year-old philanthropist and media magnate. GPB's Kristi York Wooten has more.

Kristi York Wooten: At the Atlanta History Center, an exclusive audience of CEOs, civil rights heroes and media executives are being instructed by Warner Brothers Discovery chief David Zaslav to sing "Happy Birthday" to Ted Turner, who is beaming on to the big screen in the auditorium via Zoom with a homemade cake, his two daughters and a son-in-law.

CROWD: Singing "Happy Birthday"

Kristi York Wooten: Turner's 86th birthday is still a few days away, but this premiere of Call Me Ted, a riveting six-part streaming series which premiered on Max this week, has brought together a group of the city's civic leaders, including Ambassador Andrew Young and Trumpet Awards creator Xernona Clayton, as well as former CNN President Tom Johnson. Before the screening of highlights from the documentary begins, the project's creative team producer Joanie Levin and writer director Keith Clark said Turner was due for an exhaustive examination of his life and career.

Joanie Levin: There's been a lot of smaller kind of docs that have been out there, but there's never been one that does the real definitive deep dive on his life and legacy where you're not just looking at his achievements and accomplishments, which are many, as you know, but really the shadows and sort of the obstacles that were behind the man that made him who he is today.

Kristi York Wooten: Call Me Ted is named after Turner's 2008 autobiography and follows its namesake as he heads to a Cincinnati boarding school at age 4. He worked for the family advertising company in Savannah and Macon, Ga., in his early 20s and moved to Atlanta in 1964 after his father's suicide. In one episode of the documentary. Turner and his eldest son, Teddy, explained in the series why he was driven by a need to please his own father.

Ted Turner: He said, "Teddy, you're just not going to make it."

Teddy Turner: But it was, "I really want to show him, prove to him that I could do it." For whatever reason, when his dad was around, he was always a failure.

Ted Turner: Turner Advertising represented my father's life's work. He loved the company, and what he'd really want me to do was to save it.

Kristi York Wooten: Building, merging and saving media companies is a theme throughout Call Me Ted, but its richness comes from mining billionaire Turner's risk-taking and eccentricities from wrestling Atlanta Braves, baseball and Russian TV to creating the Goodwill Games, the United Nations Foundation and the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Beneath it all, the city of Atlanta looms large in the storytelling, writer Keith Clark said.

Keith Clark: We have a greater appreciation just because I think he opened up the world to what Atlanta is — the history and the potential of the people. And now, after all these years, you know, we see what that is. It's one of the most fastest-growing, thriving communities in the country. Bringing CNN here was a way to put Atlanta on the map.

Kristi York Wooten: In addition to the executives, confidants and late family friend Jimmy Brown featured in Call Me Ted, Turner's Personal and Professional Lives are illustrated effectively in this series by contributions from Jane Fonda and CNN International anchor Christiane Amanpour. Levin says she hopes the variety of voices illustrate that Ted Turner's magnetism runs deeper than the surface.

Joanie Levin: If he really is a visionary and he has that "it" factor — you know, he has the vision. But more importantly, he believes in the vision, truly believes it. And he's the guy who was told "no" so often. I mean, on everything. And he just took "no" and turned it into "on."

Kristi York Wooten: For GPB News, I'm Kristi York-Wooten.

Orlando Montoya: That's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. If you'd like to learn more about these stories, visit our website. GPB.org/news. That's where you'll find many of the stories that you hear on this podcast in greater detail. And if you haven't yet hit subscribe on this podcast, always a good idea to do so. That'll help you to keep us current in your feet. And if you have feedback for us, we love feedback. Tell us what you like to hear and maybe what you don't. Email us at GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Orlando Montoya, filling in for Peter Biello today. We'll be back again tomorrow.

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