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Georgia Today: Wrongful death lawsuit for Hancock police; Hurricane season; Columbus pro baseball
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On the Thursday May 25th edition of Georgia Today: The family of the woman who fell from a moving police car in Hancock County has filed a wrongful death lawsuit; A look at the upcoming hurricane season; And professional baseball may soon be returning to Columbus.
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Thursday, May 25th. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, the family of the woman who fell from a moving police car in Hancock County has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. The National Weather Service has released its outlook for the upcoming hurricane season. We'll have details. And professional baseball may soon be returning to Columbus. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.
Peter Biello: The family of a Georgia woman who died last year after she fell from a moving patrol car in Hancock County has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. GPB's Devon Zwald has the story.
Devon Zwald: The lawsuit announced yesterday says sheriff's deputies improperly arrested 28 year old Brianna Grier and ultimately caused her death. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation found that the deputies who put Grier in the back of a patrol car failed to close the rear passenger side door before driving away. Grier suffered brain trauma when she hit her head in the July 15th fall. She died a week later at an Atlanta hospital. From the GPB Newsroom, I'm Devon Zwald.
Peter Biello: Award winning journalist Maynard Eaton has died at the age of 73. Eaton trained young journalists as a professor at Clark Atlanta and Hampton Universities. Eaton's decades long career started in 1970 as WVXU TV in Virginia's first African-American newsman. He won eight Emmys for television news reporting and writing. He also served as the national communications director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's legacy organization. Eaton's family, said he died late Tuesday evening after a brief battle with lung cancer.
Story 3:
Peter Biello: Pro-Union flight attendants at Delta Airlines planned to rally at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport today. The demonstration of the airline's main hub came months after the airline and its pilots agreed to a new contract, raising pilots pay by 34% over four years. Flight attendant and union organizer Rasaq Adeyemi says he's encouraged by both the pilots vote and Delta's post-pandemic travel boom.
Rasaq Adeyemi: When a company is making money, it's important not to take revenue to the point where, you know, hurt the company. We want to see the company grow and be healthy, But there's a bit of a disparity of what we see percentage wise for some of the top ranking people in the company versus the people that are doing the majority of the manual labor.
Peter Biello: A Delta spokesperson says company employees repeatedly have rejected union representation because of its direct relationship with them. Today's rally involved off duty flight attendants and won't impact company operations.
Story 4:
Peter Biello: The National Weather Service today announced their outlook for this year's hurricane season, which officially starts on June 1st. GPB's Benjamin Pane reports.
Benjamin Payne: The Atlantic should churn out anywhere between five and nine hurricanes throughout the six month season. Federal forecasters are calling that range near normal. Even so, those storms may be more intense owing to warmer ocean temperatures fueled by climate change. Officials didn't give state specific data in the outlook, but they are warning places that don't usually see strong hurricanes like Georgia to not be complacent. Here's FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell.
Deanne Criswell: It's going to be a cultural shift for the people that live in areas that are typically going to say, well, I've lived through a Category one, and then all of a sudden it's a Category three or I've lived through this before, and now we have intense storm surge. The risks of these storms are different than the risks that they faced ten years ago.
Benjamin Payne: Last September, coastal Georgia narrowly avoided a direct hit by Hurricane Ian for GPB News I'm Benjamin Payne.
Peter Biello: More Georgians are expected to travel this Memorial Day weekend. Auto club AAA says 1.3 million Georgians are expected to travel, most of them by car. Many will be on their way to lakes, rivers and beaches, where officials are urging caution on the water. And Sandy Springs, north of Atlanta Police Sergeant Matt McGinnis says the city this weekend is launching a boat patrol unit on the Chattahoochee River.
Matt McGinnis: We're not just responding as a rescue. We're now going to be out there on a daily basis interacting with the public in a positive way, encouraging safety.
Peter Biello: McGinnis says that means wearing life vests, avoiding rocky ledges, and recognizing the river is stronger and deeper than it looks.
Peter Biello: Georgia Power says the first of its two nuclear reactors at East Georgia's plant. Vogel is expected to reach full power output in the coming days. The company says the reactors are a success, but the project is $17 billion overbudget and seven years late. Regulators estimate Georgia Power will collect $4 billion in advance charges, or $913 for every ratepayer. A second new reactor is expected to come online next year.
Story 7:
Peter Biello: Columbus is exploring the possibility of bringing a minor league baseball team back to the city. City councilors on Tuesday approved a resolution backing Mayor Skip Henderson's move to discuss a return of minor league baseball to the city's historic Golden Park. The resolution mentioned talks with California based Diamond Baseball Holdings, which owns several minor league teams across the country. Golden Park hasn't had a major league farm team since the Columbus Catfish left the city in 2008.
Story 8:
Peter Biello: The Atlanta Braves avoided a series sweep last night by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 to 3. Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna both homered and with a tie game in the bottom of the ninth. Ozzie Albies drove in the game, winning RBI with a sacrifice fly. Starting pitcher Bryce Elder yielded one run in six innings of work. He says he's pleased with his performance against the powerful Dodger lineup.
Bryce Elder: I thought they made me work a little early, but obviously to come out with a win, that's huge to end the series and go to the next one. So I was very pleased with it.
Peter Biello: The Braves begin a four game series against the Philadelphia Phillies at home tonight. The Braves will be paying tribute to Atlanta based duo Outkast with a bobblehead giveaway. Music and artwork. And I'll have more on the special Outkast celebration on tomorrow's show.
And that is it for today's edition of Georgia Today. Do appreciate you tuning in. If you want to learn more about these stories, check out our website, GPB.org/news, and make sure you subscribe to this podcast that will be with you every weekday afternoon in your podcast feed. If you have feedback, something you like about this program, something you'd like to hear us do differently, let us know. Our email address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. We'll take story ideas too, if you've got them. Again, the email address. GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thank you again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
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