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Georgia Today: Lawsuit for Tift County police; Macon celebrates Juneteenth; Watermelon crop delay
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On the Monday June 19th edition of Georgia Today: The state supreme court prepares for arguments in a wrongful death lawsuit involving Tift County police; Macon commemorates the Juneteenth holiday; And first it was the peaches and now the state's watermelon's crop is affected by the unusual spring weather.
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, June 19th. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, the state Supreme Court prepares for arguments in a wrongful death lawsuit involving Tift County sheriff's deputies. Macon commemorates the Juneteenth holiday. And first, it was peaches. Now the state's watermelon crop is affected by the unusual spring weather we've been having. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.
Story 1:
Peter Biello: The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments tomorrow in a wrongful death case involving the Georgia Tift County Sheriff's office. The lawsuit alleges Tift County deputies were negligent in April 2019 when they loaded James Aaron McBrayer face down into the back of a patrol car with his hands and feet restrained. That's where he died after being left unattended for more than 10 minutes. His widow, Sheri McBrayer, filed the suit. The Tift County sheriff argued successfully in lower courts that sovereign immunity barred the lawsuit filed by his widow. She's asking the state Supreme Court to decide whether the vehicle must be in use as a vehicle and not a holding cell for sovereign immunity to apply.
Story 2:
Peter Biello: The fight over the indictment of six jailers in the death of a Fulton County inmate also resumes tomorrow in the state Supreme Court. The six were indicted for criminal offenses, including the murder of inmate Antonio May in September 2018 at the Fulton County Superior Court threw out the indictment, saying the jailers were, quote, peace officers and had been entitled to appear before the grand jury in their indictment. The state appealed, saying the wrong definition of peace officer was applied and these six were not entitled to appear. The jailers are represented separately, but their case tomorrow will be argued together.
Story 3:
Peter Biello: Today is Juneteenth. And in Macon, the holiday commemorating black liberation was marked with a first ever Juneteenth parade in the city. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.
Grant Blankenship: The sun broke through the rain just in time for the late morning parade. At the head of the procession was Macon's street line percussion group, led by Cedavean Waller.
Cedavean Waller: I'm aiming for a lot of rhythm. A lot of rhythm. I want I want everybody, as I hear to Motorhead as that's my agenda today.
Grant Blankenship: Because, as Waller says, Juneteenth, which remembers the day enslaved people in Texas, learned they were free, is for celebration. Aileen Anderson Jordan grew up in Macon but didn't learn about Juneteenth until she was in the military in the 1990s. Now that it's both a federal and Georgia State holiday--
Aileen Anderson Jordan: We're excited about it. We want to be a part of it. We celebrate St Patrick's Day, Cinco de Mayo. Now we have a day for ourselves.
Grant Blankenship: Aylah Birqs says Juneteenth is a spotlight on black culture. And--
Aylah Birqs: I feel that black culture is American culture. It's about standing in, standing firmly in who you are, sharing your story and being happy to be free. And that's what America is. Liberty, freedom and the principle of the pursuit of happiness.
Grant Blankenship: Organizers are looking forward to the second annual Juneteenth Parade and make it for 2024. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.
Story 4:
Peter Biello: Commercial operation of a new reactor at Georgia Power's nuclear plant. Vogtle has been delayed for at least another month. GPB's Devon Zwald has more.
Devon Zwald: Georgia Power said Friday that Unit three has a problem in the hydrogen system that calls its electrical generator. The company now estimates the reactor will begin reliably producing electricity in July instead of June. Vogtle is already seven years behind schedule and its cost to its owners has more than doubled to $31 billion. From the GPB newsroom, I'm Devon Zwald.
Story 5:
Peter Biello: Georgia is among the top adopters of solar energy across the South, but still lags in rooftop solar panels. Those are the findings in an annual solar energy report released last week by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. The report estimates Georgia's solar capacity at just under 4000 megawatts last year. That's up from 3000 the year before. The growth comes mostly from large utility led projects. The report criticizes a Georgia Public Service Commission decision not to expand a popular rooftop solar program.
Story 6:
Peter Biello: The Biden administration has announced more than $12 million for broadband in northwest Georgia. The money will fund the construction of 185 mile fiber route that will pass through eight counties between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee. Those counties include Douglas Carroll, Harrelson, Polk, Floyd, Chattooga, Walker and Fulton. The effort is part of the Biden administration's nearly $1 billion middle mile program, which is designed to fund the construction improvement or acquisition of broadband infrastructure to connect communities, military bases and tribal lands to the Internet.
Story 7:
Peter Biello: A new report finds chronic underfunding of the nation's public health system is leaving states unprepared to deal with increasing needs. The report recommends a large increase in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention budget. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more.
Ellen Eldridge: The Trust for America's Health Report finds the CDC budget has risen just 6% in the last decade and needs a 26% boost to catch up. Its director, Dara Lieberman, coauthored this year's report. She says insufficient funding and key program areas include emergency preparedness and chronic disease prevention.
Dara Lieberman: So even though six in ten Americans have a chronic disease, about 40% of adults have obesity. And that's causing a lot of health care costs and disabilities. It's we really are chronically underfunding that system.
Ellen Eldridge: The organization recommends at least $11.5 billion in CDC funding next year. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.
Story 8:
Peter Biello: A breach on a transmission main has now been fixed, but the city of Sandy Springs is still under a boil water advisory. Repairs were completed this morning, but the city of Atlanta's watershed management is waiting for confirmation that the water is free of contamination that may take up to 24 hours. All residents and businesses that have experienced service loss or low water pressure are advised to boil all water prior to use or use bottled water for drinking, cooking, preparing baby food, or brushing teeth.
Story 9:
Peter Biello: Last summer, an early heat wave sent some watermelon farmers in Georgia rushing to pick the fruit before it burned on the vine. This year, farmers and consumers are having to wait for Georgia watermelons. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more.
Sofi Gratas: It normally takes about 70 days to grow a Georgia watermelon from flower to fruit, says vegetable production specialist with the University of Georgia Extension Ted McEvoy. But a cold and rainy May this season prevented bees from pollinating watermelon vines.
Ted McEvoy: That pollination wasn't encouraging. So we were getting flowers and no fruit. More flowers. No fruit. So just got delayed.
Sofi Gratas: It'll be a couple more weeks before Georgia watermelons show up in stores, McEvoy says about ten days later than usual. For farmers, that's cutting it close to the 4th of July holiday.
Ted McEvoy: You know, that's when your demand is highest and that's when the prices higher.
Sofi Gratas: But McEvoy warns farmers not to pick the fruit early because a sweeter watermelon likely means a return. Customer for GPB News I'm Sofi Gratas.
Story 10:
Peter Biello: In sports, the Atlanta dream hoped to complete a perfect four game road trip tomorrow when they face the Dallas Wings. The dream beat the Indiana Fever 102 94 yesterday behind Alicia Gray's 25 points. Atlanta set season highs for single game scoring and field goal percentage at just over 56%.
And the Atlanta Braves are off today after completing a four game sweep of the Colorado Rockies yesterday by a score of 14 to 6 in a Sunday series final. Eddie Rosario homered twice and drove in a career high six runs. He's had homers now in his last four games and he's also been drawing walks, which manager Brian Snitker says is incredibly helpful.
Brian Snitker: Eddie's a really good hitter. And there's nothing wrong with taking a walk. It's a really big thing, especially when you've got a lineup full of guys coming up behind you that can do what they can do.
Peter Biello: Michael Harris II hit a career high five hits in yesterday's game, including a home run. The Braves begin a three game series tomorrow against the Phillies in Philadelphia. Spencer Strider is expected to get the start.
And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit our website, Jp morgan News. Remember to subscribe to this podcast. We will be back with you tomorrow afternoon with all the latest headlines. And if you have feedback or a story idea, we want to hear from you. Send us an email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
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