Georgia Today: State Election Board rules struck down; Housing challenges for intellectually disabled

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, the state Supreme Court strikes down changes to state election board rules. Georgia is getting a new area code, and we'll take a look at the challenges Georgians with intellectual disabilities face when it comes to housing.

Shelly Simmons: And I honestly believe that that is one of the biggest barriers that people who want to live independently face.

Peter Biello: Today is Tuesday, June 10. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: The largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in the nation will be located in Southeast Georgia. That's under a deal now approved by ICE, Charlton County, and the for-profit prison company GEO Group. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.

Grant Blankenship: The Folkston ICE Processing Center is not far from the Okefenokee Swamp. Besides the city of Folkston, population of about 5,000, the closest city is Jacksonville, Florida, about 60 miles away. Now with the Charlton County government acting as a pass-through for federal money from ICE to Geo Group, the center will more than double its capacity for detainees to just under 3,000 by folding in Geo Group's D. Ray James Correctional Facility into service for ICE. GeoGroup is treating the deal as a continuation of a recent spate of good news. Their stock valuation doubled immediately after President Trump's re-election. With the expansion of their Folkston facility, they expect to increase annual revenue by $66 million a year. Charlton County expects 400 new jobs. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: The Georgia Supreme Court has struck down several changes to the state's election rules. The decisions announced today largely reject measures enacted by a Trump-aligned majority of the State Election Board. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: Board members approved seven new rules just before last November's elections. They said the changes were needed to restore confidence in elections after Georgia's contentious vote in 2020. Among the changes is a requirement to use video surveillance of absentee ballot drop boxes after polls close each day. And, after a lawsuit brought by a conservative-leaning nonprofit, that's the only change that the Georgia justices upheld. Four others, including a requirement to hand count ballots, were invalidated and two more were sent back to lower courts for review. The court found the rules exceeded the board's legal authority. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Georgia's Republican Party is saying Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger shouldn't be able to run under the party's banner anymore. Delegates voted overwhelmingly for the resolution at the state GOP convention on Saturday. But the party chairman, Josh McKoon, says state law doesn't let the party deny someone the opportunity to qualify. The resolution shows how hostile many are to Raffensperger following his refusal to help Donald Trump overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. A spokesperson for Raffensperger's office declined to comment.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: As bird flu spreads across the U.S., the federal government has canceled its contract with Moderna to develop an mRNA vaccine. Researchers at Emory University say the decision could have unintended consequences. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more.

Ellen Eldridge: H5N1 bird flu is currently being seen in migratory birds, dairy cows, chickens, and even cats across the U.S. The last confirmed cases in Georgia were in January in commercial and backyard poultry flocks. Seema Lakdawla is a virologist with the Emory School of Medicine who focuses on influenza transmission and pandemic preparedness. She says that means a multi-pronged approach that includes vaccines.

Seema Lakdawla: We should be thinking about all sorts of vaccine modalities for domestic wildlife to protect our cows, to protect our dairy farmers, to protect poultry workers, to protect veterinarians, to protect our chickens. And then that'll inevitably protect human health.

Ellen Eldridge: She says one way Georgians can protect themselves is to not consume raw milk or raw meat. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: A mining project next to Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp is on hold as the company planning it struggles financially. Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals has not submitted $2 million in financial assurances needed to get a permit for the mine. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division has been considering the permit for more than a year. The agency said yesterday the company hasn't even made a partial payment on the required assuriances. A lawsuit filed earlier this year accuses the company of being financially insolvent. Environmental groups have criticized the project, saying it would damage the nation's largest intact freshwater wetlands, while its supporters tout its potential jobs. Twin Pines yesterday declined to comment on both the lawsuit and its pending permit.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: A former Georgia sheriff convicted of violating the civil rights of people in his custody by unnecessarily strapping them into restraint chairs says he plans to run for Congress. Former Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill announced his candidacy on social media late yesterday. Hill was convicted in 2022, served time in federal prison and was released last spring. He's currently serving six years of probation. His announcement didn't say what congressional seat he planned to seek. But Clayton County is represented in the U.S. House by 79-year-old Democrat David Scott, who already has attracted three challengers from within his own party.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: A 1999 Supreme Court ruling was supposed to pave the way for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or IDD, to live more independently. It was called the Olmstead case. And while people with IDD can, by and large, take care of themselves, they still face major challenges in finding a place to live, more than a quarter-century after the ruling. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more.

Sofi Gratas: 35-year-old Bethany Beech leads the way to her new apartment. Inside, a back porch looks into some tall pine trees. Everything feels brand new. Bethany points to a signed photo from her friends, a housewarming gift.

Bethany Beech: This one is my favorite. "You enjoy your new home, and we love you."

Sofi Gratas: Bethany and her roommate, Emma Farrell, plan to get a lot of use out of the kitchen.

Emma Farrell: Because we want to do a lot baking and cooking.

Bethany Beech: And me, I'm a bakery person, and I also love cooking breakfast every day.

Sofi Gratas: On the couch, they make a grocery list alongside Bethany's mom, Greta Beech.

Greta Beech: What do you put on your burger?

Sofi Gratas: Bethany and Emma both have Down syndrome, and this is their first time living alone. Mom Greta says it's been a long time coming, as her other kids have grown up and moved out. But finding a place where Bethany could live independently isn't as easy as just logging on to a rental site. Greta said the supportive living facilities they toured were either too far away or didn't feel like the right fit.

Greta Beech: Everything was strictly one population.

Sofi Gratas: So the family invested in the development of this building, called Soaring Heights. Built with a mix of private and public money, here rents are capped. Half the apartments are for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and the other half are for local public service workers. Already, a couple of teachers, firefighters, and law enforcement officers have moved in. Affordable housing in and around Atlanta is in short stock. People with disabilities and on fixed incomes, like the $900 maximum most can get a month from Social Security, have even fewer options, says Shelly Simmons with the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia.

Shelly Simmons: And I honestly believe that that is one of the biggest barriers that people who want to live independently face.

Sofi Gratas: As rents go higher and social benefits don't rise to meet them. Simmons says they're trying to work with developers to encourage more accessible, affordable housing, but there aren't many financial incentives. Bethany and Emma's complex came together in part because Bethany's parents are on the corporate board. At the state level, director of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, Kevin Tanner, says the agency will only help with housing for people whose disability or mental health concern mean they need 'round-the-clock care. That's at the core of the state's agreement with the federal government under the 1999 Olmstead case.

Kevin Tanner: If someone's capable of living independently, then we're not directly involved in finding housing for that individual. We are exploring, currently exploring, ideas.

Sofi Gratas: Meanwhile, Simmons says many are left to figure out —

Shelly Simmons: — what do you do when all of your money is going towards housing?

Sofi Gratas: Tanner would direct people to federally funded Medicaid waivers. Susan Walker Goico, attorney at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, says those waivers are lifelines, but —

Susan Walker Goico: Unfortunately, there is a 7,000-person waiting list.

Sofi Gratas: Meaning thousands promised a chance at integration by the federal court often can't take those first steps. Back in Conyers, a few months after move-in, Bethany Beech says she misses her parents' home but has enjoyed meeting neighbors.

Bethany Beech:  I'm just happy where I am and enjoying my time even on my own.

Sofi Gratas: She hopes more of her friends apply to live here. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas in Conyers.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: Georgia is getting a new area code. The utility regulating state Public Service Commission said today that residents in southeast Georgia's 912 area code soon will be seeing a second set of three-digit numbers to identify the telephone service region. Get ready for 565. The commission says a national industry group determined the new area is needed because the region is on track to run out of available phone numbers by 2028. Georgia currently has 10 area codes. The last new one, metro Atlanta's 943, was added in 2022.

Credit: Courtesy of Jeff Turner / © Terra Mater Studios & River Road Films

Story 9:

Peter Biello: Gov. Brian Kemp is in Canada this week to promote Georgia as a top destination for business. Kemp, is attending the annual Southeast United States-Canadian Provinces Conference where he and first lady Marty Kemp are meeting with international companies that already operate in Georgia, as well as courting new ones. So far the governor has highlighted visits with a tile supplier with a growing footprint in Savannah and Irving Tissue, which plans to add 100 jobs at its facility in Macon. The trip comes amid President Donald Trump's ongoing trade war. Canada was Georgia's [fifth-largest] trading partner last year, with $13.9 billion in total trade, including $7.4 billion in exports from the Peach State.

Story 10:

Peter Biello: Georgia shrimping season officially opened this morning. Starting at 8 a.m., commercial and recreational shrimpers began harvesting in state waters from the shoreline out to 3 nautical miles offshore. The Department of Natural Resources says shrimp this year are slightly larger than average, a good sign for the health of the fishery. Last year, shrimpers harvested nearly two and a half million pounds of shrimp worth nearly $9 million.

Story 11:

Peter Biello: In sports, the Braves faced the Brewers in Milwaukee tonight. Yesterday, the braves beat the Brews to snap a seven game losing streak. Rookie pitcher A.J. Smith-Schauver has had reconstructive surgery on a ligament in his right elbow, a procedure known as Tommy John surgery, which will take him out of the game for the rest of the year. Braves officials already had announced May 30 that Smith-Schauver had a torn UCL. He left a 5 to 4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies a day earlier and said he felt a pop. Also, reliever Craig Kimbrell elected free agency yesterday. Kimbrel opted for free agency two days after the Braves designated the nine-time All-Star reliever for assignment. The club had attempted to send Kimbrel outright to its AAA Gwinnett affiliate. Kimbrel had been attempting to make a comeback with Atlanta, where he spent his first five major league seasons and earned four straight All-Star selections from 2011 to 2014. His 186 saves with the Bravers are the most in franchise history.

There's always another news story right around the corner and you can find the latest that GPB reporters are writing at gpb.org/news. And don't forget to subscribe to this podcast too. Georgia Today will be back in your feed tomorrow automatically if you subscribe, so do that now. And if you've got feedback, we'd love to hear from you. The best way to reach us — and you can reach the whole team — is by email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. That's 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, to go to GPB.org/news