Georgia Today: New Ph.D. program at Ga. Southern; Camden County bridges; Charges imminent for Trump?

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, August 14th. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, charges against former President Donald Trump for trying to overturn the results of Georgia's 2020 election could come as soon as today. We'll hear from the first students of Georgia Southern University's new Ph.D. program for Environmental Science. And why does Camden County's plan to replace aging bridges have some residents concerned? These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Caption

Former President Donald Trump appears in an undated photo. He and 18 of his allies were indicted Aug. 14, 2023, on charges relating to an attempt to overthrow the results of Georgia's 2020 presidential election.

Credit: PBS/ File

Story 1:

Peter Biello: A grand jury is hearing testimony today from several people in Fulton County. As district attorney. Fani Willis seeks charges against former President Donald Trump and his allies for failed attempts to overturn the 2020 election. It's the culmination of two and a half years of investigations into efforts to reverse Trump's loss in Georgia. Former state Rep. Bee Nguyen says she testified today in front of the grand jury. In a statement, she says, quote, "No individual is above the law and I will continue to fully cooperate with any legal proceedings seeking the truth and protecting our democracy." The testimony appears to be proceeding ahead of schedule. Independent journalist George Chidi, who was scheduled to testify tomorrow, confirmed on social media today that his — confirmed on social media that his testimony was moved to today. This is a fast-moving process, so for the latest on the indictments, go to GPB.org/news.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: A federal judge in Atlanta says she needs more time to rule on the constitutionality of a Georgia law that bans hormone replacement therapies for transgender minors. Judge Sarah Garrity heard two days of testimony last week about the safety and benefits of hormone therapy for some teenagers. Garrity said last week that there are, quote, "significant interests" on both sides and did not indicate when she'd rule. The parents of four transgender girls filed the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law that went into effect in July.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Authorities say an incarcerated man has died after being found unresponsive at the Fulton County Jail. Medical personnel resuscitated 34-year-old Christopher Smith after a detention officer at the jail found him Thursday. He was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead early Friday morning. In a news release, the sheriff's office said the county's medical examiner's office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death. The county jail is under federal investigation for its conditions after a man died in a bedbug-infested cell in September.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: A plan to close sections of coastal U.S. Highway 17 and replace aging bridges has some residents concerned about public safety, as GPB's Orlando Montoya reports, the Georgia Department of Transportation project could impact travelers far beyond northern Camden County.

Orlando Montoya: County Commissioner Jim Goodman says he's fine with the project, just not its timeline, which would impact area schools, businesses and emergency services for at least a year and a half.

Jim Goodman: They're just doing it with complete and utter contempt for the citizens of Camden County.

Orlando Montoya: But beyond the rural area, the highway also serves as a backup for busy Interstate 95. If the interstate is blocked and 17 is closed, area resident Steve Winkle says the detour would be 77 miles.

Steve Winkle: I-95 carries 63,000 cars a day. And so it's just a completely unworkable situation.

Orlando Montoya: Residents want side bridges built during the construction, but the agency says that would be too expensive. For GPB News. I'm Orlando Montoya.

Credit: AtlRealty.com

Story 5:

Peter Biello: A project meant to improve pedestrian access in a car-dominant section of Atlanta's Buckhead is set to start construction in November. The Lenox Road Complete Street Project was originally announced as part of the 2017 Buckhead Redefined plan. It includes a 10- to 12-foot multi-use trail along Lenox Road between the Lenox MARTA Station and Peachtree Road. A spokesperson for the project says bids for construction will open next month. The entire project includes an elevated pedestrian and bicycle bridge designed to improve connectivity at the busy Lenox Road Route 400 interchange. The entire project is estimated to be completed by 2027.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: The remains of Army Cpl. Dewey E. Rewis, Jr. Were interred over the weekend at Wayfarer Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery in Echols, more than 72 years after he was reported missing during the Korean War. The Waycross native died a prisoner of war in March 1951 after his unit came under attack the previous December. North Korea turned over 33 boxes of remains to the United Nations command in 1993. The remains were sent to a lab for forensic analysis, and Rewis' remains were identified using DNA, dental and other circumstantial evidence. More than 7,500 Americans from the Korean War remain unaccounted for.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: A Georgia child advocacy organization has received a $3 million donation from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott. The nonprofit Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students says the onetime gift amounts to three-quarters of its annual budget. Executive director Mindy Binderman says the organization hasn't decided how exactly to use the money.

Mindy Binderman: What we're thinking about is a special strategic fund that the board approved to allow us to tap into special projects.

Peter Biello: The nonprofit advocates for state policies that include funding for child care subsidies, the elimination of the sales tax on diapers and helping eligible children stay on Medicaid. Mackenzie Scott, the ex-wife of billionaire Jeff Bezos, has previously used her fortune to help nonprofits nationwide and in Georgia, including communities and schools, Easterseals North Georgia and the Health Care Georgia Foundation.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: The Georgia Bulldogs will begin the coming season as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press preseason Top 25. The Bulldogs received 60 of 63 first-place votes in the poll released today to easily outpoint No. 2 Michigan. More Southeastern Conference teams joined Georgia in the top five. Alabama is No. 4, its lowest preseason ranking in more than a decade, and LSU is No. 5. The Bulldogs have won the last two national titles while going 29 and 2. But this will be only the second time in program history that they have been preseason No. 1. The first was in 2008. Georgia started the 2021 season No. 5, going on to win its first national title since 1980. The Bulldogs followed up with a perfect season in 2022 after being preseason No. 3.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: It's the first day of the fall term at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro and its Armstrong campus in Savannah. And with the new academic year comes a new academic program for the school, a Ph.D. in environmental science. In fact, it's the only such program in the Peach State. So what is it that drew the first eight students to the program? GPB's Benjamin Payne asked two of them, starting with Elise Lauer.

Elise Lauer: I am from the Savannah, Ga., area. We have a very cool location as far as like we're a two-hour drive from the swamp, the mountains and the beach, essentially from any point along the Lowcountry. So that gives me a variety of questions that I can ask with my research. And the biggest thing that I'm interested in with organisms is epigenetics. So epigenetics is the way the environment changes how the genotype is expressed in animals. Evolutionarily, you're not supposed to be able to necessarily deal with change well in a rapid setting. But we keep finding that organisms really do adapt well and they'll change their molecular mechanisms to respond to the things in their environments. And that to me is like the coolest part of most biology at this point, because we can see really small and we can learn a little bit more about the mechanisms that are in place as organisms respond to things. I did not have that typical four-year experience with my undergrad. I think it ended up taking me seven years to complete because I had kids along the way and other life things come out. But I don't see a problem personally with the fact that I'm probably 10 years older than some of my cohort members. I know that this is something that I've been thinking about for 10 years and it's something that I've been dreaming about. So here I am finally doing it, and I'm okay with that.

Carisa McPherson: So I'm Carisa McPherson. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Actually, as long as I can remember, animals have always come to me for saving, right? So even as a little girl, I was rescuing squirrels and seagulls and raccoons. All these creatures have come into my life really, that need to be helped. So I have my own plethora of scaly and furry creatures that live with me. Also, I always loved the water, so that's been a big part of my life with swimming, with being right by Lake Erie. So when I got to thinking about is trying to really figure out where I could have the most impact during my short time on Earth. And it materialized to be supporting and looking at the coral reef environments. Coral reefs support 25% of all of our marine life. So to actually lose the coral reefs, we lose the beauty of the corals themselves, but we also lose many animals that most people don't think we would lose by losing the coral reefs. They rely on them, you know, a nursery or shelter or breeding grounds or whatnot. Science is repeating and repeating and repeating. You know, you can't be faint of heart when you're a scientist because you will fail. You know, I had shipment after shipment after shipment of seagrass sent up to me by my buddies in Florida and it never lived in Cleveland. I tried to do it in a tank. It died probably nine times. And I said, "You know what? Forget it. I'm coming to Florida." So I hopped on a plane. I went where the seagrass grew and we made it work down there. So you can't give up. I have always had a dream of living in the pine tree forest and working in the ocean. And I couldn't believe that Georgia has that. I had never come to this area. I came to visit in January and I was like, "This is amazing. There are so many more pine trees than I could ever imagine." So it's just been a real blessing that this has all worked out.

Peter Biello: That was Carissa McPherson and Elise Lauer, two students at the new Ph.D. program in Environmental Science at Georgia Southern University.

Story 10:

Peter Biello: In sports: in baseball. The Braves face the New York Yankees tonight at Truist Park for the first of a three-game series. The Braves are coming off a series win against the other New York team, the Mets. The Braves won three of the four games since Friday, one of which included a 21-run slugfest on Saturday. And while they lost to the Mets yesterday, 7 to 6, the Braves did have something to celebrate: Matt Olson's major league-leading 43rd homer of the season. Also Kyle Wright, who has been on the injured list with shoulder inflammation for most of the season and who won a major league-leading 21 games last season, has begun ramping up his activity at the club's spring training complex in Florida. Max Fried is expected to get the start for the Braves tonight. And in basketball, the Atlanta Dream lost to the Las Vegas Aces yesterday, 86 to 65. It's their third loss in a row.

That's it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit GPB.org/news. Remember, you can also find the latest on any indictments that come down today. GPB.org/news is the place to go. If you haven't yet hit subscribe on this podcast, take a moment right now and we will be current in your podcast for tomorrow afternoon. And as always, if you have feedback, we would love 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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For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news