Georgia Today: Fulton County taxpayers could end up paying Trump legal fees; College affordability

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, Fulton County taxpayers could end up paying President Donald Trump's legal fees. Atlanta Public School enrollment continues to decline, and a panel of lawmakers pushes for need based college scholarships, saying current options don't get the job done. 

Nan Orrock: People are still left with five-, six-, ten-, twelve-thousand-dollar gap to fill. 

Peter Biello: Today is Tuesday, Dec. 2. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today. 

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Fulton County taxpayers could end up footing the bill for President Donald Trump's legal fees in Georgia. GPB's Sarah Kallis explains a state law passed earlier this year. 

Sarah Kallis: The law says that a county can be ordered to pay attorney's fees for a defendant if the district attorney in the case was disqualified for improper conduct and the case dismissed. That set of circumstances applies to President Donald Trump and the other defendants in the now-dismissed 2020 election interference case brought by DA Fani Willis in Fulton County. Georgia State University political science professor Tammy Greer says:

Tammy Greer: The — the glaring part that goes through my mind is what does this say about how we view the criminal justice system? Who the criminal justice system is intended to provide consequences to.

Sarah Kallis: Trump and the other defendants would have to petition the court to have their legal fees covered. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis. 

Story 2:

Peter Biello: A panel of state senators says Georgia should create a need-based scholarship for higher education. Lawmakers looking into college affordability in Georgia released their findings today. Atlanta Democrat Nan Orrock says the state's current merit-based HOPE scholarship isn't enough. 

Nan Orrock: We've invested heavily in the HOPE Scholarship. And we know now that with the economy and the realities, that does not even get the job done. People are still left with five, six, 10, 12,000-dollar gap to fill. 

Peter Biello: Lawmakers will consider legislation to address the policy recommendations when the General Assembly convenes in January. 

Story 3:

Peter Biello: School systems in Atlanta's suburbs are growing, but the student population in Atlanta itself is shrinking. That's been the case since the COVID-19 pandemic. As GPB's Amanda Andrews reports, that shrinking student population has left Atlanta school leaders and parents with tough choices. 

Amanda Andrews: Parents, students, and advocates fill every chair and line the walls at the Atlanta Board of Education meeting in November. People like Claire Dozier are here to speak against the Atlanta Public School Redistricting Plan. 

Claire Dozier: And when you say that sacrifices must be made, we see that those sacrificed are Black children in communities with the fewest resources. 

Amanda Andrews: Dozier is talking about Dunbar Elementary, one of 16 schools selected to be closed or converted into something else as part of the APS Forward 2040 facilities plan. The new master plan is motivated by shifts in federal funding and demographics in Atlanta, creating budget shortfalls. Because even as Atlanta's population grows, the city's losing school-aged children. And because every child unenrolled means a missing chunk of federal funding, lower enrollment leaves APS with less money, but the same number of buildings to maintain. Tracy Richter works with the consulting firm leading the redistricting plan. Outside the meeting, he says APS currently has about 20,000 more desks than students to fill them, and the new plan will shave off about a quarter of that unused space. 

Tracy Richter: It's about $25 million of operational savings annually. And it saves about $70 million in deferred maintenance that the district wouldn't have to spend on unneeded square footage. And so those dollars get redirected. 

Amanda Andrews: The money would go towards offering new educational programs across the district. 

Tracy Richter: By getting the infrastructure right and not spending our money on unneeded square footage, we spend it on students and we spend it on teachers and we spend all the resources that students need. 

Amanda Andrews: One plan is to use the money that's maintaining empty desks to focus on performing arts education. APS selected Carver Early College High School to be repurposed into a districtwide school of the arts serving sixth through twelfth grade. Monique Nunnelly's family has lived on Atlanta's Southside for at least three generations. She asks who this development is for. 

Monique Nunnelly: If it's not for the kids that can stare at their front yard at this high school, then you're doing a disservice to my neighborhood. Because these kids just gonna go and not have what they need. And these are my babies. These are my kids. These are my streets. I live here. 

Amanda Andrews: Students would have to apply to the performing arts school. Applications from the kids in the Carver zone will be given weighted preference, but they're not guaranteed a seat. Nunnely says the Board of Education should know applications will block Southside families from attending the school in their neighborhood. 

Monique Nunnelly: An application is a gatekeeper. It's a barrier. It's a roadblock. If you ain't coaching folks all the way through that thing, it's not going to work. 

Amanda Andrews: Atlanta city leaders say the city's divided on a line from northwest to southeast. Southwest of the line are most of the city's Black residents, children in poverty, and most of the schools on the closure list, which struggle academically. Carver High School, where the performing arts school is planned, is just outside gentrifying Grant Park and right on the dividing line border. Nunnelly is fighting back, even though she believes the plan to convert Carver High School has been decided on. 

Monique Nunnelly: Once Atlanta takes over — the "Atlanta Way" steps in — and the powerful, influential establishment folks come to the table and they've decided, "I want you. I want this school. I want this to be my experience for my community. I want this thing to happen for my political wins." It's all done. 

Amanda Andrews: The APS Forward 2040 plan predicts closing these schools would save $20 million  a year in operational costs. The Atlanta Public School Board of Education will make their final vote on school closures this Wednesday. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews. 

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Speaking of Atlanta schools, on this runoff election day, three Atlanta Public School Board member seats are on the ballot. That includes the at-large seat in which candidates Casey Brock and Royce Mann face off. In metro Atlanta, Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul is facing a challenger from Dante Carter. It is the second electoral bout between the two. In Gwinnett County, two Democrats are vying to succeed Democratic state Rep. Shelley Hutchinson, who resigned her post earlier this year to care for a family member. In Cordele, a city commission candidate, Royce Reeves, is hoping to be returned to office months after Gov. Brian Kemp suspended him because of an indictment against him on RICO and drug charges. His challenger is Bernard Fenn. Fort Valley, Roswell, and Milledgeville are among the other cities holding elections. 

Story 5:

Peter Biello: A metro Atlanta nonprofit is close to opening an apartment complex in Decatur to provide housing for young adults aging out of Georgia's foster care system. GPB's Ellen Eldridge reports. 

Ellen Eldridge: The organization Wellroot works with 18-year-olds through the state's transitional living and extended foster care program. CEO Allison Ash says that with the funding made possible by the state legislature's Fostering Success Act, Wellroot can serve 24 adults over age 21 if they are pursuing an education. 

Allison Ash: Typically we would serve around 18 through that program. The property, when it opens fully later this month, will have space for 29 young people. So we will be able to keep youth past their 21st birthday, which we're super excited about. 

Ellen Eldridge: There are nearly 11,000 kids in foster care in Georgia, and more than 600 lose access every year at age 18. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge. 

Caption

Johnny Cash performing in Denmark in 1971.

Credit: Courtesy of © Sony Music

Story 6:

Peter Biello: The estate of the country music legend Johnny Cash is suing Atlanta-based Coca-Cola for allegedly using without permission a voice similar to the iconic musician's for a commercial. In the lawsuit, the John R. Cash Revocable Trust accuses Coca-Cola of using a voice remarkably similar to Johnny Cash's in a commercial that began running in August. The trust is suing the beverage giant under Tennessee's Elvis Act, which opens up to civil litigation any company that uses the voice of a singer for commercial purposes without getting permission first. In this case, the trust accuses Coke of using a Johnny Cash impersonator, which they argue amounts to infringement on Cash's voice. Coca-Cola has not responded to GPB's request for comment. 

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Georgia Tech this fall is rolling out an AI tool to review the college transcripts of transfer students. The move is expected to replace the need for staff to enter each course manually into a database. The Institute's Director of Enrollment Management says AI will allow Georgia Tech to tell applicants more quickly how many transfer credits they'll get, cutting down on uncertainty and wait times. The school hopes to expand the service to all high school transcripts. It comes as some colleges increasingly use AI in admissions, sometimes to a backlash from applicants, parents and students. Schools stress they're not relying on the technology to make admissions decisions, merely using it to reduce data entry tasks and human error. 

Story 8:

Peter Biello: Major League Baseball has released its end-of-year report on its drug prevention and treatment program. That's the program that aims to catch ball players cheating with performance-enhancing drugs. Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar received an 80-game suspension last year after testing positive for chorionic gonadotrophin, which is used to mitigate the side effects of anabolic steroids or to boost natural testosterone production. According to this report, Profar was one of only two adverse findings in the entire league, dating back to last offseason. MLB conducted 11,700 drug tests in that period, and 57 players received therapeutic use exemptions for otherwise banned substances, and the bulk of those were for treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 

And that is a wrap on Georgia Today. Come on back tomorrow. Subscribe to this podcast and we will pop up automatically in your podcast feed at about 4:30 or so. And if you would like an update on any of the stories you heard in this podcast today, or if you want to check out the latest headlines, go to GPB.org/news. Your feedback powers what we do at GPB, so we're hoping you will provide some for this podcast. Feedback, story ideas, whatever you've got, send it our way by email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. And I would be remiss if I did not mention that it is Giving Tuesday, a day when you can support the nonprofits that mean something to you. GPB is a nonprofit, and because we mean something to you, we hope you'll make a gift now. You can do it at GPB.org, and thank you so much. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow. 

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