Georgia Today: Disbarment for insurrectionist; Environmental advocate case; Ice storm warning

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, the Georgia Supreme Court recommends disbarment for a lawyer who stormed the U.S. Capitol five years ago. An environmental advocate won't face prosecution for allegedly stealing trade secrets, and the National Weather Service has upgraded Georgia's forecast to include an ice storm morning. 

Lindsay Marlowe: And what differentiates that from a winter storm warning is that we are expecting ice to be the primary, if not the only, type of precipitation that we see. 

Peter Biello: Today is Friday, Jan. 23. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today. 

Story 1:

Peter Biello: The National Weather Service says it has upgraded its forecast for Georgia. A majority of Georgia from north of I-20 from Alabama to South Carolina has now been upgraded to an ice storm warning. For more on this, I spoke with National Weather service meteorologist Lindsay Marlowe earlier this afternoon. 

So how far south in Georgia are we going to see significant ice buildup? 

Lindsay Marlowe We acknowledge at this point that there's still a little bit of uncertainty around kind of the far southern and western extent of where we're likely to see perhaps more than a glaze of ice. Right now we are expecting non-zero ice accumulation totals as far south as pretty much an arc extending from Rome all the way up in far Northwest Georgia down to Coweta County and then further over to our border with our forecast office to the east in Emanuel County. So all of that is pretty well to the south of metro Atlanta. And that's kind of our current best guess at where we could see, potentially, ice accumulation as high as a tenth of an inch for those far southern locations and far western locations. And then our confidence is going to increase on significant ice accumulations the further to the north and east that you progress. 

Peter Biello: I've seen on maps that the I-85 corridor into South Carolina may be the most impacted. Is that still true based on what you're seeing now? 

Lindsay Marlowe Yes, that's where we're expecting to see the greatest strength and depth of cold air. That's expected to move in overnight Saturday into Sunday, and as a result of those kind of deeper cold air and cooler temperatures, that's were we should see definitely the most significant ice accumulation. 

Peter Biello: What about Northeast Georgia and north central Georgia, the Jasper, Blue Ridge, Blairsville area? Are they looking at significant accumulations of ice and snow? 

Lindsay Marlowe That definitely remains the case at least of our forecast package from this afternoon. The ice storm warning that we have in effect through — that starts on Saturday and carries over well into kind of Monday morning time frame is for anywhere from about a quarter of an inch of ice up to perhaps as high as an inch of ice and the highest totals that are generally over a half of an inch of ice accumulation are to the north and east of a line extending from Cherokee County to Barrow County, and then all the way to the north and east up to Towns and Raven in far Northeast Georgia. 

Peter Biello: Yeah. And where's their potential for snow to melt after Sunday, let's say, and then refreeze again, creating hazardous conditions into the middle of next week. 

Lindsay Marlowe Yep, so that is our — our main concern kind of outside of just the initial onset of this major ice storm that we're expecting; is that temperatures may, in our forecast, to warm as we move into the afternoon on Sunday, potentially to above freezing for portions of the Atlanta metro and perhaps staying just a little bit colder than that for areas to the north and east. So we are expecting that, you know, any progress that would be made in kind of having brief improvements to our deteriorated roadway conditions will be short-lived as we are expecting lows on Sunday night into Monday morning to drop back down into the teens to 20s. So the cycle of melting and refreezing is definitely going to extend probably into Monday and maybe even Tuesday for the hardest hit areas. 

Peter Biello: How does the ice and snow in this forecast compare to storms we've seen in Georgia before? 

Lindsay Marlowe So it's a really good question, and it's also a tricky one because we realized that the public definitely connects with what we call analogs, which were kind of historical winter storms that have had significant impacts across the area. But we typically try to shy away from those as we get closer to the event onset, just because when you're looking at events that even occurred 10 or 15 years ago, there have been so many strides made in sprawl and infrastructure that it's possible that it wouldn't take quite as much accumulation to cause impacts that are the same or maybe even worse. 

Peter Biello: National Weather Service meteorologist Lindsay Marlow, thank you so much for updating me on this. 

Lindsay Marlowe Absolutely no problem. 

Peter Biello: This is of course a developing story. You can find the latest updates at gpb.org/storm. 

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Georgia Emergency Management Director Josh Lamb says Georgians should stock up on food, water and medication to last three days. 

Josh Lamb Ensure you have warm clothing and blankets. Have flashlights and batteries. Update your first aid kit. Remember, always have a way to charge your phone. If you have pets, make sure they have enough food and water for at least three days. 

Peter Biello: People in the northern half of the state, including Atlanta, should expect widespread power outages and ice on the roads starting Saturday afternoon. Officials are urging drivers to stay off the roads until the ice has melted. 

Story 3:

Peter Biello: The city of Atlanta has opened three warming shelters with a fourth location ready if capacity is reached. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is telling residents to stay off the roads. Dickens told Atlanta's Fox 5:

Andre Dickens: Especially if you're on the north end of the city all the way up through the metro north, you should probably see, you know, that 7 a.m., 9 a.m. service? It's gonna be still cold and icy. You might wanna just, you now, park it for today. 

Peter Biello: Atlanta will have salt trucks on the roads Saturday. Atlanta watershed and forestry crews will be standing by to address any burst pipes or downed trees. 

Story 4:

Peter Biello: The state agriculture commissioner is asking customers who purchased kerosene from Jasmine Petroleum in Gainesville to not use it in heaters or lamps because it may have been contaminated with gasoline. The warning issued today by Commissioner Tyler Harper applies to kerosene purchased on or after Jan. 17. Customers can return it to Jasmine Petroleum for a refund. 

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Georgia Supreme Court justices say it is, quote, "hard for us to see" how anything less than disbarment is appropriate punishment for a Georgia lawyer who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, five years ago. W. McCall Calhoun Jr. admitted to being inside the Capitol with rioters who put lawmakers and police in danger. He had been convicted of a felony and several misdemeanor federal offenses and was later pardoned by President Trump. A special master reviewing discipline had recommended a public reprimand. But in a unanimous decision, the state Supreme Court argued that this was not enough and asked for consideration of disbarment, given Calhoun's involvement in the insurrection. 

Story 6:

Peter Biello: A study commissioned by Home Depot finds Americans are not very confident that their communities can rebuild quickly in the event of a disaster. The philanthropic arm of the Atlanta-based company partnered with Morning Consult to conduct the survey last month. It found about a third of adults say their community has been affected by a natural disaster in the last five years. And of those rebuilding, about half of respondents said recovery has taken longer than expected. According to the foundation, that is in part because of the lack of available labor. In a news release, the company set its path to pro-education grants will expand to all 50 states to help young people prepare for careers in skilled trades. 

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Fulton County prosecutors will not move ahead with felony charges against an environmental advocate who stole a notebook belonging to the state's largest electrical utility during a regulatory hearing late last year. Patty Durand was accused of stealing trade secrets when, during a break in public hearings before the Public Service Commission late last year, she took one of about a half dozen Georgia Power notebooks left untended in the room, detailing the company's economic projections around data centers. In her decision to not follow through with felony charges, Fulton County DA Fani Willis said Georgia Power didn't guard the documents well enough to support their designation as trade secrets under Georgia law. Durand, who would spend 42 hours in the Fulton County jail after returning the notebook, says she will continue to press for transparency. 

Patty Durand: Because the extensive redactions and trade secrets that commissioners allow Georgia Power are outside of any regulatory norms and continues to harm Georgia Power customers. 

Peter Biello: To make amends for committing misdemeanor theft by taking, Durand performed 40 hours community service with a group fighting climate change. Georgia Power secured permission for new carbon-emitting generation to power data centers. 

Story 8:

Peter Biello: And the company that owns the Atlanta Braves has scheduled its next earnings call for next week. Atlanta Brave's Holdings plans to discuss results for the fourth quarter and the year end on Wednesday morning. The numbers may reflect any bump in revenue after having hosted the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in July. 

Outro:

Peter Biello: And that's a wrap on Georgia Today. We hope you stay warm and safe this weekend. Stay off the roads if possible. Everything seems like it's going to be pretty icy. And if you want to follow the updates on the storm, go to gpb.org/storm. If you haven't subscribed to this podcast yet, take a moment to do it now. In fact, if you're stuck inside over the weekend, listen to the archives and get caught up on the news or discover another of GPB's podcasts, including Fork in the Road, Narrative Edge, or Manufacturing Danger. If you've got feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at georgiatoday@gpb.org. I'm Peter Biello. We'll see you on Monday. 

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