Georgia Today: Tort reform bill faces pushback; Senate debates book bans; Ga. HS Basketball Finals

Sofi Gratas: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB news. On this podcast, we feature the latest reports from the GPB news team. We'd love to hear your feedback and or story tips, so send us an email to GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. Today is Tuesday, March 4. I'm Sofi Gratas. On today's episode: Gov. Brian Kemp's tort reform bill faces pushback from some survivors of violent crimes. The Georgia Senate reignites a debate over the banning of books deemed, quote, harmful material to minors, and the Georgia High School Basketball Finals begin tomorrow. We'll have a look at what's to come.

Jon Nelson: You've got a lot of a lot of big names, a lot of the powerhouses that are there. But there's also some really cool stories on the flip side too.

Sofi Gratas: These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Caption

JOHN BAZEMORE / AP

Story 1:

Sofi Gratas: Gov. Brian Kemp's proposed tort reform bill aims to reduce insurance premiums for businesses by scaling back their liability in cases of personal injury. That legislation, Senate Bill 68, is getting some pushback from survivors of crimes that occurred in the places that would be protected under the new law. Some involved in negligence cases are now saying that the tort reform bill is moving too fast and without clear enough language. Atlanta attorney Kara Phillips says that survivors of sexual assault, including people she represents, could be barred from a jury trial and damages if the bill passes. She also referenced cases where people were violently harmed at amusement parks, apartment complexes and in churches.

Kara Philips: Frivolous lawsuits is something that's thrown around a lot. In my experience, representing crime victims, no one who has been sexually assaulted wants to draw attention to that and bring it up. They're doing it because they don't want others to have the same thing happen to them.

Sofi Gratas: She wants lawmakers to consider amending the bill to protect the "vulnerable." SB 68 passed the Georgia Senate in late February and was sent to the House for more debate.

 

Story 2:

Sofi Gratas: The Georgia Senate has reignited a debate on books children are allowed to access in libraries. GPB's Sarah Kallis has more.

Sarah Kallis: SB 74 would amend a current law allowing book bans in school- and state-run libraries to also punish librarians who allow children to access, quote, "harmful material." Supporters of the bill, like Sen. Max Byrnes, say it protects children and makes an exception for librarians who mistakenly break the rules.

Max Byrnes: They have the same affirmative defense if they make a good faith attempt to identify and remove from access.

Sarah Kallis: But opponents like Sen. Josh McLaurin say it seeks to control librarians.

John McLaurin: Because it's the threat of being charged that's going to make that librarian comply with the first demand.

Sarah Kallis: SB 74 passed along party lines. It now moves to the House. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis at the state Capitol.

 

Story 3:

Sofi Gratas: A bill passed through the Georgia Senate yesterday that would require companies to pay people with disabilities minimum wage. Under current law, some people with disabilities are paid as little as 22 cents per hour. Senate Bill 55, named the Dignity and Pay Act, received bipartisan support. Gainesville's state senator, Republican Drew Echols, said the bill is personal to him.

Drew Echols: We all know this is a matter of of minimum wage. It's ultimately a matter of value and dignity. I would submit to you that my son Coen is no less deserving of a minimum wage than a typical, fully functioning adult.

Sofi Gratas: The bill passed 51 to 3 and now moves to the House for more debate.

 

Story 4:

Sofi Gratas: The majority of Georgia senators are in favor of banning prescriptions of puberty blockers for minors. Senate Bill 30, which passed through the state Senate yesterday, would outlaw those medications to treat gender dysphoria for those under 18 years old. It also would ban other forms of gender-affirming care. Savannah's state senator, Republican Ben Watson, said the bill protects children.

Ben Watson: Yes, we are here to protect minors. That is part of what we do. We don't allow minors to do lots of things.

Sofi Gratas: Duluth's state senator, Democrat Nabilah Islam Parkes, opposed the bill.

Nabilah Islam Parkes: It's about controlling them. It's about stripping transgender youth of their right to health care and criminalizing the doctors who provide it.

Sofi Gratas: The bill passed 34 to 19, in a mostly party-line vote. It now moves to the House for more debate.

 

Story 5:

Sofi Gratas: The Trump administration's tariffs on America's biggest trading partners will hit Georgia's powerhouse logistics industry, including the Port of Savannah. That's according to market experts, including Sina Golara, who teaches supply chain management at Georgia State University. He says tariffs on China, in particular, will drive down container traffic.

Sina Golara: Everyone is just now incentivized to do less of these imports, which means less economic activity for anyone involved in the supply chain. Like the people who work at the port, the companies who manage the trade, the trucking industry, the warehousing.

Sofi Gratas: The Port of Savannah continues to break cargo traffic records, and the CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority made no reference to tariffs at an annual address last week.

 

​​​​​​​Story 6:

Sofi Gratas: Georgia leaders are blasting a decision by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to rename Fort Moore back to Fort Benning. Hegseth announced the move yesterday as the Trump administration rolls back Biden-era changes aimed at removing names honoring the Confederacy. Hegseth is renaming the base, not for the Confederate Benning, but for a distinguished World War I soldier with the same last name. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff calls that a, quote, "sleight of hand" to restore a name honoring the Confederacy.

 

​​​​​​​Story 7:

Sofi Gratas: Georgia is now once again free of highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as bird flu. Georgia's Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper today said the World Organization for Animal Health has recognized the state as bird flu-free after at least 28 days of no new infections since January's outbreak in Northeast Georgia's Elbert County. The virus remains very active in the U.S., though, with new cases reported as recently as last week. Harper warns Georgia poultry producers to remain vigilant. Surging egg prices over the last few years have been tied to the nation's ongoing battle with bird flu.

 

​​​​​​​Story 8:

Sofi Gratas: The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, or RCI, and the Carter Center's Mental Health Program are merging their advocacy efforts. Both mental health and caregiving were issues championed by the late former first lady. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more.

Ellen Eldridge: The Carter Center's mental health program focuses on public policy, school based mental health, and strengthening access to care worldwide. The Caregiver Institute advocates on behalf of family taking care of people who are aging, ill or disabled. Paurvi Bhatt interim CEO of RCI. She says the mission is to help people better care for one another.

Paurvi Bhatt: And so this has been an exciting opportunity for us to — to join forces and work hard on and expanding our reach to make sure that caregivers, family caregivers are better seen, heard and supported.

Ellen Eldridge: The merger is expected to be complete by June of 2025. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Caption

While many museums have their guests exit through the gift shop, patrons of the American Prohibition Museum in Savannah end their journey at a "speakeasy," run by bar manager Nicole Price.

Credit: Benjamin Payne / GPB News

​​​​​​​Story 9:

Sofi Gratas: Alcohol is falling out of favor among many Americans, especially young adults. This comes as awareness grows about the health risks of even moderate consumption. So how is this public health awakening playing out in the party city of Savannah? And what does the decline of alcohol mean for its bustling tourism economy? GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.

Nicole Price: Nice little. And then we shake.

Benjamin Payne: Nicole Price manages the speakeasy at the American Prohibition Museum in downtown Savannah. I meet her there on a Sunday, the day most bars in Georgia — yes, even this speakeasy — cannot serve booze because of state liquor laws. And so she makes me a mocktail.

Nicole Price: Get all those little ice chips out of there. And just like that, got a mocktail. That's our brown derby. You want to try it?

Benjamin Payne: I feel like I should drink it slowly. But I'm like, I guess I don't need to, right?

Nicole Price: Exactly. You get to sit and socialize like you're drinking a cocktail and you don't feel that weird stigma of, oh, you're not drinking, why aren't you drinking?

Benjamin Payne: For many, it's because they know what Dr. Sharon Bergquist knows.

Sharon Bergquist: No amount of alcohol has a health benefit.

Benjamin Payne: Bergquist is a professor of medicine at Emory University and a researcher in preventative care. She says the federal government's dietary guidelines for alcohol consumption will be revised later this year.

Sharon Bergquist: The current ones, just to recap, say that for women, you can have up to one drink a night and for men, up to two drinks a night.

Benjamin Payne: But more recent science suggests even that much drinking —

Sharon Bergquist: — in itself is enough to lead to various cancers and health risks.

Benjamin Payne: The new guidelines will help inform public health policy and perceptions through 2030. And so Dr. Bergquist hopes they will more accurately reflect modern scientific understanding. Whether or not federal regulators sober up to the science and update the guidelines accordingly remains to be seen. But in Savannah, tourism leaders say they're ready for whatever the future may bring.

Michael Owens: Our tourism community is not based on alcohol.

Benjamin Payne: Michael Owens is president of the Tourism Leadership Council, a trade group in Savannah representing businesses and the city's $6 billion tourism industry.

Michael Owens: Our tourism community is based on our history, our architecture, the aesthetics of Savannah. That's — that's really the bread and butter of — of our visitors.

Benjamin Payne: This, he says, is why Savannah's tourism sector and its roughly 40,000 workers are well positioned to handle young Americans slow but steady decline in alcohol consumption.

Charles Marville: People are drinking mocktails more than ever.

Benjamin Payne: Charles Marville is a business professor at Georgia Southern University, where he teaches food and beverage operations. He says the shift away from alcohol doesn't have to hurt a bar's bottom line.

Charles Marville: Mocktails are very profitable. I've seen them on menus as expensive as any alcoholic drink. But the ingredients that go into them are generally juices and other types of flavoring agents that don't tend to have super-high costs.

Benjamin Payne: Meaning mocktail profit margins could be even higher than those of their cocktail counterparts. But again, as Michael Owens from the Tourism Council pointed out, nowadays it's not so much Savannah's nightlife that draws visitors to Georgia's oldest city. Rather, it's cultural attractions like the American Prohibition Museum, where Nicole Price made me that alcohol-free brown derby on a dry Sunday morning.

Nicole Price: I think people are thinking more about the long run and kind of pivoting where they need to get that sort of thrill. And so I think rather than just binge drinking, which was the culture when I was younger, like when I was 21, I think people are recognizing that you don't need to be drinking that heavily.

Benjamin Payne: And so the days may be numbered for the old joke here in the Hostess City that Savannah is a drinking town with a history problem. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.

​​​​​​​Story 10:

Sofi Gratas: The Georgia High School Association's basketball finals begin tomorrow at the Macon Coliseum. After four days of competition, we'll find out if any dynasties fall, if Cinderella slippers fit on any teams and who finally reigns supreme. With a lot riding on the outcome for players and coaches, GPB's Orlando Montoya spoke with Jon Nelson of GPB Sports.

Orlando Montoya: Hi there, Jon.

Jon Nelson: Good to be with you my friend. It is going to be a fun four days when it comes to hoops down in Macon. It's going to be a blast.

Orlando Montoya: And we have the possibility of back-to-back championships in several divisions. Let's talk favorites.

Jon Nelson: Sure, I'll give you one off the top of my head — Baldwin, and it's back-to-back, but it's a little different. They would be winning a championship in a different classification. It would be different "A"s attached to a place like Baldwin. And then you have, you know, perennial powers like Hebron Christian on the girls side, and they're going up against Holy Innocents' and there's some back story there with those two coaches and their time together all the way from Central Georgia in private schools, all the way up to private schools in the Atlanta area, with Jan Azar and Nichole Dixon. You've got, let's say, perennial power in Wheeler, who has won like 38 bazillion championships in their time in the past. And so, you got a lot of — a lot of big names, a lot of the powerhouses that are there, but there's also some really cool stories on the flip side, too.

Orlando Montoya: We have the possibility for Cinderella stories, too — underdogs without recent appearances in the finals to look out for as well. Who are they?

Jon Nelson: Oh boy. We got a lot of them. Trying to flash really quickly. Okay. AA you have Butler, and Butler is chasing after their first title since 1966 with Chaz Clark. On the flip side of that same bracket, they're playing Union County. Union County is chasing after their first-ever title. They have not been in the finals since 1971. You've got Savannah chasing after their first title since 1998 on the boys side. And I'll give you one on the girls side: Washington Wilkes. First winning season since the 2008 team. First time out of the first round of the playoffs. First-ever region championship. Lost their first six games. They've won 14 out of 16. They have 10 underclassmen on their team — eight freshmen on the roster.

Orlando Montoya: I mentioned pressure to win. What kind of college prospects are in the mix here?

Jon Nelson: A lot. Looking on the boys side of things, you look at Eric Chatfield [Jr.], a point guard out of Pace Academy. You have Maki Joyner out of Savannah who's shooting guard you need to be paying attention to. On the girls side, you're looking at Aubry Beckham and Hailee Swain, two point guards, Hebron Christian, Holy Innocents'. Oh boy. I'm trying to, like, buzz through them really quickly. to see if I find — Let's start there and just say, watch 'em all. How about that?

Orlando Montoya: And watch 'em all on GPB. We've got a lot of ways for people to watch. We cover high school sports like no other broadcaster. How and when can people tune in?

Jon Nelson: Let's see 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and we go all the way through until the games are done. Four games each day, plus some really good competitions in between Game 2 and Game 3, whether it's wheelchair, 3-point or slam dunk. 11 a.m. is the start on Thursday. GPB, GPB.org, the GPB sports app, all the GPB Sports social media, it's going to be there, and you can watch over the air if you just want to park in front of your couch. We're going to be there for that four-day period. We ain't leaving. They shouldn't either.

Orlando Montoya: All right, John, it's always a pleasure having you on.

Jon Nelson: I'mma catch my breath. I'll see you on the other side.

Orlando Montoya: See you later.

 

Sofi Gratas: That's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. Thanks so much for listening. If you would like to learn more about these stories, visit GPB.org/news. Until tomorrow.