Georgia Today: Arrested journalist could be deported; Atlanta tree protection; Proposed Medicaid cuts

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, a journalist arrested in Georgia over the weekend could face deportation. The city of Atlanta updates its ordinance on protecting trees and proposed federal cuts to Medicaid have some caregivers worried.

Lisa Thigpen: I feel like if you take this out or cut back, then you're gonna see more people decline, not only in their physical wellbeing, but their mental wellbeing.

Peter Biello: Today is Tuesday, June 17. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: The baby of a Georgia woman who was declared brain-dead and has been on life support for months has been delivered. The baby was born prematurely by emergency cesarean section on Friday and is expected to survive. The baby is named Chance. April Newkirk says her daughter, 31-year-old Adriana Smith, will be taken off life support today. The pregnancy became caught up in abortion politics after the family said doctors told them they weren't allowed to end Smith's life support because of the state's abortion law. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr later said the law did not require medical professionals to keep a woman declared brain-dead on life support.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: A Spanish-language journalist known for documenting immigration raids could face deportation after police arrested him on charges of obstructing officers as he covered a weekend protest in metro Atlanta's DeKalb County. The county sheriff's department confirmed today that Mario Guevara was being held for Immigration and Customs Enforcement after he was jailed Saturday. Guevara was covering a protest when he live-streamed video of his arrest.

Credit: Sofi Gratas

Story 3:

Peter Biello: As the U.S. population skews older, more people are choosing to age at home. For many, Medicaid has been helping by paying for the services that seniors can no longer do for themselves. Now, proposed cuts to Medicaid have caregiving providers worried. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more.

Nurse: How about we'll do the first five, okay? Y'all ready?

Sofi Gratas: Every morning, nurses at the Homeplace Adult Day Center in Wrens, Georgia, engage their visitors in an exercise routine. They do right and left leg kicks and ankle rolls and weights and jumping jacks for those who are able. Here's nurse Pam Williford.

Nurse Pam Williford: We just do different activities that they can do to still keep them moving, to keep that range of motion going.

Sofi Gratas: Also on the center's calendar today? Painting. Other days they do field trips to a local grocery store, pet therapy, and gardening. Homeplace, which really is laid out like a home, is just one example of what aging can look like with the help of federally funded Medicaid services. Most of the clients here are on the elderly and disabled waiver program. It's a program for people with low incomes who want to get care at home or in their communities, rather than at a nursing home or hospital.

Bingo caller: G-47!

Sofi Gratas: For Patricia Cheeley, the waiver also pays for an aide who helps her clean her apartment.

Patricia Cheeley: Sometimes I can't even hardly walk so far without pain starting to slow me down and stuff.

Sofi Gratas: Cheeley lives alone. She doesn't have family in town. She comes to Homeplace every day and has been for about five years.

Patricia Cheeley: It feels good, you know, getting away from the house because it's more comfortable being up here around people than just sitting around the house by myself.

Sofi Gratas: Cheeley says she's heard about potential cuts to Medicaid, but trusts that if she did lose access to services, her faith community would support her. Others may not be so lucky, says nurse manager at the center, Lisa Thigpen.

Lisa Thigpen: I feel like if you take this out or cut back then you're gonna see more people decline not only in their physical well-being but their mental well-being.

Sofi Gratas: Not just that of elderly people, but families too, she says, who might rely on day centers to recharge from the job of being caregivers. Plus, in Wrens, there is no pharmacy and no hospital. The same goes for other towns the day center goes and picks up clients from. When people come here, there's a flock of attentive nurses and two hot meals a day — stability that not every client has, Thigpen says.

Lisa Thigpen: It may be that maybe they only get one meal at home.

Sofi Gratas: Thigpen, other nurses, and Medicaid caseworkers can look out for them. Georgia has 22% of its state budget set aside for Medicaid. That's around $14 billion. $9 billion of that comes from the federal government. Becky Kurtz leads aging services for the Atlanta Regional Commission. She says Georgia recently hit a milestone. The state has seen Medicaid fund services at home for almost as many people who use Medicaid to pay for nursing homes.

Becky Kurtz: It's exciting because the vast majority of older adults say, I would rather be in my home, or I would rather live with my family. That's my choice.

Sofi Gratas: A choice that could be threatened by President Trump's big spending bill, which proposes a historic cut to federal Medicaid spending.

Becky Kurtz: If it's small, I'm thinking Georgia can handle it. If it huge, if it's hundreds of millions of dollars, I don't see how Georgia's going to replace the funding needs.

Sofi Gratas: Already, a federal grant supporting senior AmeriCorps volunteers was canceled, and Kurtz says demand for aging-in-place services is outpacing state money. The federal spending bill is now in the hands of the Senate. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

Caption

Trees

​​​​​​​Story 4:

Peter Biello: Atlanta City Council members unanimously passed the city's first major update to its tree protection ordinance in more than 25 years. The measure raises the fee for tree removal, doubles fines for illegal removals, and boosts funding for arborists, among other measures. Greg Levine of Trees Atlanta says the updated fee structure still allows too many loopholes.

Greg Levine: Trees really are important for the health of the people that live here. And as much as this ordinance has, these drafts have had some improvement in them, they're still just not doing enough.

Peter Biello: City council members say it was important to pass the legislation now, so it's in place ahead of the city's major zoning rewrite in 2026.

​​​​​​​Story 5:

Peter Biello: State health officials are responding to a spread of infectious diseases by reminding people to get vaccinated. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more from a recent meeting of the Georgia Board of Public Health.

Sofi Gratas: State epidemiologist Cherie Drenzek says the investigation into Georgia's fifth measles case this year is ongoing.

Cherie Drenzek: They were family members that lived in the same household, one of whom had traveled internationally.

Sofi Gratas: The state has provided follow-up care and is still tracking possible exposure. Measles is extremely contagious and cases have more than doubled in the U.S. this year compared to last. Public health guidance is that anyone traveling internationally should be fully vaccinated. Georgia could see another summer wave of COVID-19. Drenzek says vulnerable groups like babies, seniors, and the immunocompromised should consider a booster despite what she called, quote, "confusing changes" to the CDC recommendations amid recent firings of a vaccine council. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

​​​​​​​Story 6:

Peter Biello: The Georgia Film Academy is partnering with Assembly Studios to provide film education and workforce training in a new facility next to the Assembly Atlanta campus. Starting in August, Georgia Film Academy will offer courses in a 32,000-square-foot space designed to give students hands-on experience. GFA already operates an instructional hub at Fayetteville-based Trillith Studios. Located at the former site of a General Motors assembly plant in Doraville, Assembly Studios is a newly completed studio complex owned by Atlanta-based Gray Media. CEO of Gray Media Hilton H. Howell Jr. says the partnership offers a, quote, "unparalleled opportunity to thrive in the vibrant film and production world."

​​​​​​​Story 7:

Peter Biello: Georgia historic preservation groups are scrambling amidst delays in funding from the federal government, and the Trump administration's proposed cuts to next year's budget are leaving the fate of preservationists in limbo. GPB's Lenka Anuraj reports.

Lenka Anuraj: The Federal Historic Preservation Fund sends money to states largely to help preserve old, important buildings. The fund's money for this fiscal year has not yet been disbursed, and the proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 eliminates it altogether. The money comes from offshore oil and gas leases and not taxpayers. Nathan Lott is the executive director of the nonprofit Historic Macon, which receives federal money.

Nathan Lott: The problem here is that these are funds that were already authorized by Congress that the state of Georgia was counting on, and we built a state budget around the assumption that this pass-through funding would come down.

Lenka Anuraj: Law emphasizes if preservation is to continue in Georgia, taxpayers could be asked to help. For GPB News, I'm Lenka Anuraj in Macon.

​​​​​​​Story 8:

Peter Biello: In Atlanta's first World Cup match yesterday, Pedro Neto scored in the first half in Enzo Fernandez in the 79th minute to give Chelsea FC a 2-0 win over Los Angeles FC. Chelsea put pressure on LA goalkeeper Hugo Lloris early into the match. Neto found the breakthrough in the 34th minute, picking up a pass from Nicholas Jackson and cutting into his left foot for a near post finish. The next Club World Cup Match scheduled for Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta is Thursday when Inter Miami takes on FC Porto. In other sports, the New York Mets arrive at Truist Park today for a three-game series against the Braves. Spencer Schwellenbach is scheduled to get the start for the Bravers. And in basketball, Atlanta Dream Guard Allisha Gray has been named the WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week and AP Player of the Week for Week 4. It marks the second weekly honor of Gray's career, both coming this season, and makes her the first Dream player since 2018 to win the award multiple times in a single season.

All right, that's it. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast today. And Georgia Today will be back tomorrow afternoon, of course. So make sure you subscribe to this podcast and check GPB.org/news often as our reporters are constantly posting new stories there. If you've got feedback, let us know by email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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