We continue our series Pulitzer Peaches with a look at a newspaper that won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing members of the KKK. We also visit a place in Lumpkin, Georgia that offers refuge to people whose loved ones may have to leave the country. And we head into the kitchen for some real Southern food.

If you happen to work and live along a MARTA line in metro Atlanta, you’re one of the lucky ones who can avoid daily highway traffic. Many area homeowners pay a premium to live in a neighborhood with convenient access to public transportation.  But proximity to MARTA doesn’t translate to increased home values in every community.  A recent study by consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton reveals that home prices went up for residences on the south side of the city while north side home prices decreased the closer they were to MARTA.  We talk about how public transportation fuels the real estate market with Derrick Duckworth, owner of The Beltline Team Real Estate Company. We also talk with Emory University history department chair Joseph Crespino.

We continues our series  Pulitzer Peaches about Georgians who have won the Pulitzer Prize. Columbus Sun-Enquirer was the first Southern newspaper to win the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1926. The award recognized the work of the paper’s publishers, Julian and Julia Harris, about laws to block teaching evolution in public schools and exposing Georgia elected officials as secret Ku Klux Klan members. We talk with Greg Lisby, chair of the Communication Department at Georgia State University, about the history of the award for our monthly installment of Pulitzer Peaches. Then, we continue our conversation about the Pulitzers with how it’s become a tradition to honor Klan coverage with the public service award. We talk with Jennifer Berry Hawes, Watchdog and Public Service reporter at The Post and Courier. She tells us about the history of the award and how today it embodies the intent behind Joseph Pulitzer’s journalistic standards today.

Each year, thousands of refugees are detained at the Stewart Detention Facility in Lumpkin, Georgia. The majority of them end up being deported. But for families and loved ones of detainees, the ministry known as El Refugio can provide invaluable assistance. We hear from the director of El Refugio, Amilcar Valencia,  and from a woman who experienced the kindness of his organization firsthand.

Plus, Georgia has become home to many refugees who have fled Syria and the state may welcome many more of these families as the U.S. plans to take in as many as 100,000 refugees by next year. Last March, producer Sean Powers visited one family who now calls Georgia home. 

Finally, National Pie Champion Francine Bryson stays true to her roots. She remembers watching her mother and grandmothers baking and cooking in the kitchen for Sunday supper. She takes those recipes and makes them her own in her new cookbook, “Country Cooking From A Redneck Kitchen.” 

Tags: OST Full Show  Atlanta  Georgia