Georgia Today: Shooting in Midtown; Atlanta addresses affordable housing crisis; Macon revelopment

Orlando Montoya: Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Wednesday, May 3. I'm Orlando Montoya. On today's episode, a shooting in Atlanta puts the busy Midtown area on high alert. The city gets $100 million to address the affordable housing crisis; and Macon celebrates a major milestone in its redevelopment efforts. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

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Orlando Montoya: A shelter-in-place order was lifted this afternoon for thousands of people who were locked down in their offices and homes in Midtown Atlanta following a shooting that killed one person and injured at least four others. Heavily armed law enforcement officers surrounded the Northside Hospital Midtown Office on West Peachtree Street around noon. The Atlanta Police Department released a photo of the suspect and identified him as 24-year-old Deion Patterson. The situation remained fluid, but this afternoon, Atlanta public schools were dismissing children from schools in the area, and the mayor and police chief were expected to speak on the matter. For the latest on this developing story, visit gpb.org/news.

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Orlando Montoya: Atlanta's affordable housing crisis is getting a $200 million infusion of funding to provide more people with safe places to live. As GPB's Donna Lowry reports, major financial partners are making it possible.

Donna Lowry: Tonette Freeman spent 16 years with no place to live, but not anymore.

Tonette Freeman: Every day when I go in my door, I turn around and look at the building because I know I got a home.

Donna Lowry: The city of Atlanta found her that home. And through partnerships, leaders plan to help others looking for affordable housing. The Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta is donating $100 million from both the Woodruff and Whitehead foundations. The city plans to match that amount through a bond. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens says the combined $200 million will help secure thousands of mixed income housing units.

Andre Dickens: Some will be 20% affordable, some will be 50% affordable. If they're senior housing, it could be 100% affordable.

Donna Lowry: For GPB News, I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta.

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Orlando Montoya: Officials in Macon-Bibb County, celebrated a trio of milestones yesterday brought about by the demolition of dilapidated housing. GPB's Grant Blankenship explains.

Grant Blankenship: An excavator brought down the houses in a matter of minutes, marking the demolition of the 500th home in a two-year span. It's part of a major initiative of Macon Mayor Lester Miller, aiding redevelopment of the East Macon neighborhood now called the Mill Hill Arts Village. Bibb County Commissioner and executive director of the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative, Seth Clark, says the demolition not only means taking care of residents, but adding acreage to the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, too.

Seth Clark: It also means taking care of 17,000 years of history, the majority of which came well before the people — my grandparents, your grandparents — got here.

Grant Blankenship: Clark expects the U.S. Congress to authorize the even larger Ocmulgee National Park before the end of the year. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.

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Orlando Montoya: Federal Workplace Safety officials are investigating a construction worker's death at the site where Hyundai is building an electric vehicle plant in Southeast Georgia. The company says part of the worker's safety harness failed while he was on a three-story structure in the plant on Saturday.

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Orlando Montoya: Federal officials say there were no systemic structural issues at Savannah's federal courthouse when part of the building collapsed last month. Instead, there was insufficient support beneath just part of the third floor. That's according to the General Services Administration, which oversees federal property. They say an investigation is still ongoing and renovations there remain on hold. First built in the 1890s, the downtown courthouse largely has been closed to the public since 2021.

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Orlando Montoya: Nearly half of those under 18 who took the Mental Health America depression screening continued to struggle with their mental health. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more on the most recent survey.

Ellen Eldridge: 2022 data from the nonprofit finds the number and percentage of people with moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety and depression remains higher than prior to COVID-19, when rates soared. Schroeder Stribling is president of Mental Health America. She says young people are most affected.

Schroeder Stribling: About half of them said they were having frequent suicidal ideation. And if you look a little deeper in the data, it's youth of color and LGBTQ youth who are in at particular risk and in particular distress.

Ellen Eldridge: She says the free and anonymous online screening allows people to check in on their own mental health and find help. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

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Orlando Montoya: And Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines introduced first class seating at several smaller airports in Georgia this week. The company says it retired 50-seat regional jets from its fleet as of Monday. That means customers in Brunswick, Columbus, Albany and Valdosta for the first time will be served with larger aircraft featuring first class cabins.

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. If you haven't yet hit subscribe on this podcast, take a moment right now and keep us current in your podcast feed by hitting that subscribe button. And if you have feedback, we'd love to hear that as well. Email us at GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Orlando Montoya. We'll see you tomorrow.

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