Georgia Today: Fulton Co. Jail class action suit; Ga. Syrians react to Assad downfall; Flag Football

Orlando Montoya: Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Friday, December 13th. I'm Orlando Montoya. On today's episode, attorneys representing people killed or hurt at the Fulton County Jail filed a class action lawsuit. Syrians living in Georgia respond to the downfall of the brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad. And Georgia High school football championships are next week. We'll tell you what to expect for the rapidly growing sport of flag football. These stories and more coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

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Oxycontin

Story 1:

Orlando Montoya: Several programs across the state in the spectrum of addiction care now know how much funding they're getting from the first year of grant based awards from Georgia's opioid settlements. GPB's Sofi Gratas reports on the numbers announced yesterday at a board meeting of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.

Sofi Gratas: The Georgia agency in charge of behavioral health programs has approved just over $70 million over two years for 128 projects. The money is part of the court damages paid by opioid distributors to the state. These projects are intended to address local needs in communities hard hit by the opioid crisis and required local input before final approval by the state trustee. Projects include overdose reversal training at a rural hospital and expansions to drug court programs. Most of the money is going toward recovery and treatment run by a variety of nonprofits, clinics and universities. This is the first round of grants as opioid settlement money comes down the pike. Georgia and others are still in a holding pattern in lawsuits against Purdue Pharma, which was denied bankruptcy earlier this year. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

Story 2:

Orlando Montoya: Georgia Senate leaders have started to outline specifics of their plans to reduce child care costs when they meet for the General Assembly next month. The Senate Study Committee on Access to Affordable Child Care met yesterday for the last time before the legislative session. McDonough State Senator Republican Brian Strickland said the panel is recommending improvements to the child care workforce, expanding access and increasing funding for providers.

Brian Strickland: We can't fix this state government. This is something that is bigger than us. The issue of affording child care has great impacts across our state. It affects individual families.

Orlando Montoya: The committee also wants to expand state funded child tax credits, an issue that could become a legislative priority this upcoming session. Presiding over the Senate, Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones says he's backing three tax credit tweaks.

Story 3:

Orlando Montoya: The city of Tybee Island wants visitors to pay more to improve the island's infrastructure. But as GPB's Benjamin Payne reports, the proposal faces several hurdles.

Benjamin Payne: The popular beach town is turning to tourists and residents to share in the cost of future infrastructure projects, things like stormwater drainage and wastewater treatment. The revenue will be raised through a 1% sales tax on all goods purchased on Tybee Island. However, the city first needs state lawmakers to give the go ahead in the form of the bill. Top councilmembers asked for just that at their Thursday night meeting, where they approve the town's legislative agenda for the new Year. Mayor Brian West.

Brian West: This would shift the burden of paying for the infrastructure to the almost 5 million tourists that come to our island and not so much on just the residents who are currently paying for that infrastructure through our water bills.

Benjamin Payne: Even if Georgia lawmakers authorize the sales tax, it would still need to be approved by Tybee on the residents in a ballot referendum. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne.

Story 4:

Orlando Montoya: Attorneys representing people hurt or killed at the Fulton County Jail want to change conditions at the troubled lockup through a class action lawsuit. The federal lawsuit filed yesterday alleges the jail's violent and filthy conditions amount to constitutional violations, echoing findings the U.S. Department of Justice reported last month. Atlanta attorney Michael Harper says the time for findings and reports is over.

Michael Harper: It really is about everything change at the jail with the courts because nothing else has worked up to now.

Orlando Montoya: Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat addressed the DOJ report on Monday, highlighting the need to modernize the facility.

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Story 5:

Orlando Montoya: Syrians living in Georgia are responding with a mix of elation, caution and hope after this week's fall of the brutal Assad dictatorship. Dr. Ahmad al-Dabagh of Roswell, north of Atlanta, says he escaped from Syrian repression in the 1980s, before both his parents and eight siblings were killed, along with thousands of others in a 1982 massacre. He plans to return to his country to help rebuild it.

Dr. Ahmad al-Dabagh: Actually, it's like a dream. We couldn't believe it, you know? Every time we think about this. The joy, you cannot describe it.

Orlando Montoya: Emory University student Ibrahim Jouja says he has cousins that were jailed by the regime and are still missing. He says his family is waiting for the situation to settle before returning.

Ibrahim Jouja: Of course, you know, things aren't very safe. And now with the, you know, Israeli bombardment and invasion sensibility. But I mean, people just want to go home, especially to their families.

Orlando Montoya: Both al-Dabagh and Jouja say they hope the end of the Assad regime brings stability and democracy to Syria.

Story 6:

Orlando Montoya: The Akins Ford Arena in Athens says it will officially open its doors tonight for the home opener of the city's new professional hockey League team. The $150 million arena failed a fire marshal's occupancy test last week, causing the Athens rock lobsters to cancel their home opener twice. A spokesperson for the arena says it has been issued a temporary certificate of occupancy. The Rock Lobsters are scheduled to play the Mississippi Seawolves. Athens legends The B-52s also are scheduled to perform tomorrow.

Story 7:

Orlando Montoya: The top marching bands from historically black colleges and universities will face off tonight in Atlanta for the Band of the Year competition in Division one, North Carolina. L.A. University's Blue and Gold marching machine will face Florida A&M University's Marching 110 Division two. Virginia State University's Trojan Explosion, or Face Myles College's Purple Marching machine. Only the teams ranked first and second in each division were invited to compete. But a Georgia band, the Savannah State powerhouse of the South, was ranked number five in Division two.

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The unbeaten McEachern flag football team.

Story 8:

Orlando Montoya: The Georgia High School Football Championships are next week. Yesterday on this podcast, I talked with Jon Nelson of GPB Sports about what to expect in tackle football this year. Today, GPB's Morning Edition host Pamela Kirkland spoke more with John, including the latest in the growing sport of flag football.

Pamela Kirkland: Joining me now is the man who's been all over every game this season. GPB sports broadcaster Jon Nelson. Jon, thanks for joining me.

Jon Nelson: You know, I go from here to Mercedes-Benz for the next three days, so it's going to be a fun ride, I'll tell you that.

Pamela Kirkland: We know where your home is going to be. So, John, Southeast Bullock High School's got a great story. McEachern High School has been ranked number one all season. But give us the lowdown. What are the matchups that you're watching this week?

Jon Nelson: I love all of my children equally. Come on now. I'm going to be watching all of them. Those four and the all the championship games that are tackle football. Hannah Goodin in the cast the thousands, the GPB Army, as Matt Stewart calls us, we're going to be there the whole time. I've just been really enthused about how the sport has continued to grow. This is the fourth. This is the fourth season and it's the first year that we have four separate divisions, four championship games. So you get to see just in championship games alone how the sport has grown here in the state of Georgia.

Pamela Kirkland: Yeah. And I want to talk about the talent, too, because the level of skill on display in these games has just been so impressive. What do you think is behind this rise in competition and just the talent that we've seen across the board?

Jon Nelson: I you know, the the attention to detail and when you have all of these these coaching staffs and these programs where you have multi-sport athletes that are diving into flag football and you're now to the point where you are getting college scholarships to play flag football, there have been championships in the past where we've broadcast a game and a student athlete literally will get a college scholarship offer to play flag immediately on the field after the game is over. So the dedication to craft the attention to detail and just making sure that it is treated as serious as all of the other sports that are on our respective campus. That's what you're seeing. And the athleticism has been on display.

Pamela Kirkland: And for those who have may not tuned in before, what makes girls flag football such an exciting sport to watch?

Jon Nelson: It's just it lies... It literally is--just it is one of the-- it's like, and I'm going to date myself with this reference, literally, it's like when you have a record player and the record player could either play 33 and a third R.P.M., 45 RPM or 78. It's like football at 78 RPMs and literally it's action. Everybody's eligible. You've got to pay attention to the rules and all these kinds of things. We've had exciting games that have gone to overtime in the past to decide champions. So all of these things that go into this, this stew that is the championships, we get to see it. I actually had folks on social media reach out to us at GPB Sports and let us know that this was meaning flag football, the addiction they didn't know they had when it came to watching sports until they started watching the championship games. And so it's been it's fun to see folks get addicted to watching flag football at something that they didn't watch before. They watch it. They get hooked.

Pamela Kirkland: That's amazing. And I know you said you love all your children equally, but I want to talk about the first matchups we're going to see. What can people expect?

Jon Nelson: Southeast Bullock In Columbus, Southeast Bullock. They had not lost in program history. Brooklyn, Georgia was one of the the foci, I think, is the proper focuses foci. One of the the central points of flag football in the state of Georgia. Southeast Bullock had never lost a game in program history until the playoffs this year. 77 wins in a row. They're going to be playing Columbus and it'll be good to see them. Greenbrier makes a return to the championships on day one. Pace Academy and Pulp. Pulp has a father and son coaching duo, and they're nationally ranked and Pope is chasing after another title in back to back years. And then McEachern. They've been running roughshod over everybody, putting up a lot of points and they're going to start day three of the championships with title game number four in Flag Division four. So you've got offenses, you've got history, you've got pedigrees, you've got a husband and wife at Southeast Bullock. You've got a father and son at Pope that are part of the coaching trees. And there's a lot of great storylines.

Pamela Kirkland: I'm going to have to look up folks, because I may have just learned a new word. You can watch every game and catch Jon on GPB TV. You can also stream the games online at GPB.org or through the GPB Sports app. Jon Nelson, GPB sports broadcaster. We'll be watching. Thank you so much for joining me.

Jon Nelson: Good to be the focus of everything going on for the championships.

Orlando Montoya: And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. If you'd like to learn more about these stories, visit GPB.org/news. Hit Subscribe on this podcast. It'll help you to keep us current with you in your feed. If you have feedback, send that to us at GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Orlando Montoya, sitting in for the vacationing Peter Biello this week. Peter will be back next week. Until then, I hope you have a great weekend. This is your GPB news update for Friday, December 13th. I'm Orlando Montoya. Find these stories and more on the Georgia Today Daily podcast at GPB Dawgs Georgia Today or wherever you get your podcasts and get the latest news any time at gpb.org/news.

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