Georgia Today: Ga. senate prepares for change; Union protests; Savannah unhoused resource center

Orlando Montoya: Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, the Georgia Senate prepares for an exodus of leadership ahead of the 2026 campaign season, union members gather in Atlanta to protest federal funding cuts, and Savannah officials announce a new resource center to help the city's unhoused population.

Greg Parker: Having this, we're creating this place where people can feel safe, where they can come and take a shower, get mental health coaching, where we can help them try to get permanent housing.

Orlando Montoya: Today is Wednesday, July 23. I'm Orlando Montoya, and this is Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Orlando Montoya: Union members from across the Southeast gathered in Atlanta last night for a Workers Over Billionaires rally. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports it's part of a nationwide labor-organizing tour.

Amanda Andrews: Atlanta is the latest stop in the AFL-CIO's "It's Better in a Union" bus tour. Speakers discussed federal funding cuts and ongoing lawsuits against the Trump administration. Yolanda Jacobs works at the Centers for Disease Control. She says Georgia unions are fighting on every front because the impact of federal cuts doesn't stop at layoffs.

Yolanda Jacobs: It's still worse to destroy our lives by dismantling essentials such as public health programs, Medicaid funding, student loan programs — intentionally breaking things that didn't require fixing.

Amanda Andrews: Many federal workers lost union representation under a White House executive order in March. Now some lawmakers are backing union efforts with a bill to restore those rights. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.

Story 2:

Orlando Montoya: The Georgia Senate is preparing for an exodus of leadership as the 2026 campaign season heats up. At least 10 state senators are stepping away from their seats to run for higher office as the dominoes fall from decisions higher up. Three state senators are running to succeed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who announced his bid for governor earlier this month. Two are running to succeed state Attorney General Chris Carr, who also is running for governor. Others are vying for congressional seats, and one has declared for governor. Such turnover is not unusual in competitive election years. It opens the door for city and county officials, state representatives, and others to aim for Senate seats, but it also threatens to turn colleagues into rivals when the Legislature gavels into session in January.

Story 3:

Orlando Montoya: Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirms it arrested migrants at a construction site in Marietta yesterday. According to an ICE spokesperson, an unspecified number of construction workers were arrested at an under-construction fast-food restaurant. It's ICE policy not to share the names of the arrested in order to protect their privacy. According to data kept by the Deportation Data Project, just over 4,000 people have been arrested by ICE in Georgia so far this year. That's twice as many as in all of 2024.

​​​​​​​Story 4:

Orlando Montoya: Officials in Savannah today announced a new resource center for people experiencing homelessness in the city's downtown. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.

Benjamin Payne: The over-8,000-square-foot building will be run by Union Mission, a nonprofit which provides services to Savannah's unhoused population. The new resource center will be located next to the bus station in West downtown and will include a day center able to serve up to 150 people per day, as well as medical exam rooms, counseling services, and a workforce training area, among other amenities. Greg Parker is CEO of Parker's Kitchen, a regional convenience store chain that donated $1 million to the project.

Greg Parker: People get out of the homeless shelters and then they have nowhere to go. Now having this, we're creating this place where people can feel safe, where they can come and take a shower, get mental health coaching, where we can help them try to get permanent housing.

Benjamin Payne: The resource center was designed in part by students at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Construction is scheduled to begin in September and finish next spring. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.

​​​​​​​Story 5:

Orlando Montoya: One could argue that Atlanta-like traffic has plagued parts of Savannah for a while. But a sure sign of the problem? Ramp meters. The Georgia Department of Transportation has installed the first-ever ramp meters in Southeast Georgia on two ramps to Interstate 16 at Dean Forest Road and Chatham Parkway. The ramp meters, common in metro Atlanta, prevent too many cars from entering a highway at once by making drivers wait at a short light. A GDOT spokesperson says there are some ramp meters in Columbus, but they're unusual outside of the metro Atlanta traffic juggernaut. The traffic control devices are part of a $320 million road improvement project at Interstates 16 and 95. The spokesperson says the overall project will be quote, "substantially completed" by the end of this year, with punch list work continuing into 2026.

​​​​​​​Story 6:

Orlando Montoya: A new report suggests the U.S. won't need as much electricity for power-hungry data centers as forecasts are projecting. The London Economics Institute prepared the study for the Southern Environmental Law Center. The report says there's a mismatch between data center electricity demand forecasts and how many chips semiconductor manufacturers realistically can produce for them, among other issues. Georgia has become a hotbed for data centers. With projections for their development driving utilities and regulators to change policies. Those decisions often come with implications for the environment and how much people pay for electricity.

​​​​​​​Story 7:

Georgia's alternative to full Medicaid expansion has cost the state $100 million, but only $26 million has been spent on health benefits. That's according to an analysis of Georgia's Pathways to Coverage program by GPB partner, KFF Health News. Pathways launched in 2023, a priority of Gov. Brian Kemp. As of the end of June, it has enrolled just over 8,000 people — a fraction of the $300,000 that would be eligible if the state fully expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The U.S. Government Accountability Office is investigating the program's costs. A Kemp spokesperson defends the program, saying it's doing what it was designed to do: provide free health care to low-income people who are able and willing to work.

​​​​​​​Story 8:

Orlando Montoya: Officials overseeing construction of a new Augusta arena say they're going to do everything they can to recognize James Brown at the entertainment venue in the legendary singer's hometown. But they say ultimately the arena's name will be up to whoever buys its naming rights, a potential $1 million annual source of revenue for the arena authority. The authority's naming plans have upset many in the community, including commissioners, who have voiced their support for keeping the arena's longtime name. Also upset? One of Brown's daughters, Deanna Brown Thomas, who spoke to commissioners yesterday.

Deanna Brown Thomas: If historic Augusta can make places historic forever, then we can make the James Brown arena the James Brown Arena forever. It was given to him in his lifetime. Let's not take it away from him after he's gone.

Orlando Montoya: She said keeping it the James Brown Arena would fulfill a promise made to voters when they approved a special purpose local option sales tax to build it.

​​​​​​​Story 9:

Orlando Montoya: A two-year-old Georgia law requiring teachers to use the quote "science of reading" in their lessons has led to literacy gains in the state's lowest-performing schools. The State Department of Education said today scores on new reading tests improved 15% with the strongest gains in kindergarten. The 2023 law called on the agency to overhaul teacher training. It responded by sending literacy coaches to 60 schools that had been performing in the bottom 5%.

Caption

Walmart

​​​​​​​Story 10:

Orlando Montoya: And finally today, Georgia businesses have until Friday to apply for a chance to pitch products for possible placement in Walmart and Sam's Club stores. The company's 2025 open call event is part of a nationwide effort to increase its domestic sourcing of products. Several Georgia companies made it into Walmart's 2024 open call, including East Georgia pecan candy seller, Stuckey's.

Orlando Montoya: And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. If you'd like to learn more about these stories, visit GPB.org/news. If you haven't yet hit subscribe on this podcast, take a moment right now and keep us current in your podcast feed. Got feedback? We'd love to hear it. Email us at GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Orlando Montoya. We'll be back with you again tomorrow.

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For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news