Section Branding
Header Content
Georgia Today: Judge orders Trump on Fulton ballots; Rural health funds; Ossoff rally in Atlanta
Primary Content
On the Feb. 9 edition: A Federal Judge has ordered the Trump Administration to produce records behind the Fulton County ballot seizure; Georgia is set to receive more than $200 million this year as part of a federal effort to shore up rural health care; And Senator Jon Ossoff held a rally in Atlanta on Saturday.
TRANSCRIPT:
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, a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to produce records behind the Fulton County ballot seizure. Georgia is set to receive more than $200 million this year as part of a federal effort to shore up rural health care, and Sen. Jon Ossoff held a rally in Atlanta on Saturday.
Jon Ossoff: But they made a big mistake. They came to Fulton County, Ga. They came to the political and spiritual heart of the civil rights movement.
Orlando Montoya: Today is Monday, Feb. 9. I'm Orlando Montoya and this is Georgia Today.
Story 1
Orlando Montoya: A federal judge in Atlanta has given the Trump administration until Tuesday to give the court the documentation that led to the seizure of Fulton County ballots from the 2020 presidential election. The order signed on Saturday by U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee also unsealed the court file for the subsequent lawsuit against the administration brought by Fulton County Commission Chairman Rob Pitts. Pitt sued after the Jan. 28 raid on a county elections warehouse, when FBI agents entered a county property and left with hundreds of boxes of ballots.
Story 2
Orlando Montoya: U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff rallied hundreds of voters in Atlanta on Saturday. GPB's Sarah Kallis has that story.
Sarah Kallis: Ossoff energized the crowd by hitting back against a recent FBI search and seizure of 2020 ballots in a Fulton County elections warehouse.
Jon Ossoff: But they made a big mistake: They came to Fulton County, Ga. They came to the political and spiritual heart of the civil rights movement.
Sarah Kallis: Ossoff also said that the Trump administration is corrupting the Department of Justice. A spokesperson for the National Republican Senate Committee said in a statement that Ossof does not vote in the interest of Georgians in the Senate. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.
Story 3
Orlando Montoya: Jury selection began today in the trial of Colin Gray, whose teenage son is accused of killing two students and two teachers at Northeast Georgia's Apalachee High School in 2024. Gray faces 29 counts, including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors say he gave his son access to a gun despite warning signs. The trial will be held in Winder, but jury selection is taking place in Gainesville. Gray has remained in custody since his arrest. His son Colt has pleaded not guilty to 55 counts, including murder and aggravated assault.
Story 4
Orlando Montoya: Georgia is set to receive $218 million this year as part of a federal effort to shore up rural health care. The Rural Health Transformation Program was funded under President Trump's signature spending package known as the Big Beautiful Bill. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more on how Georgia hospitals are preparing to take advantage of the funds.
Sofi Gratas: Hospitals will have to apply for the federal funding through the Department of Community Health, which has until October to allocate the money. It's a tight deadline, says Van Loskoski, CEO at Stephens County Hospital in Toccoa. He and other hospital leaders recently gathered at the state Capitol to share ideas for the funds.
Van Loskoski: We just in the last two weeks have had two events where we've had the shelter staff in place for an extended period of time with snowy and icy weather. And there's funding built into this package that helps hospitals in emergency situations to shelter in place and to beef up their infrastructure so that they're better prepared for these types of events.
Sofi Gratas: Easing pressure off an already tight operational budget common for small hospitals like his. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.
Story 5
Orlando Montoya: State senators filed two bills today that would reduce Georgia's income tax if they become law. Senate Bill 476 aims to eliminate the income tax entirely in the next six years. Vidalia Republican state Sen. Blake Tillery says the bill would eliminate the tax for some Georgians sooner.
Blake Tillery: It takes six years to do it, but in Year 1 you eliminate the income tax on two-thirds of Georgians: all of those making less than $100,000.
Orlando Montoya: That's the amount for joint filers, and for single filers it's $50,000. And Senate Bill 477 would reduce the income tax rate to just under 5% for all taxpayers.
Blake Tillery: On 477, we take a little bit more modest approach, I would say, and we still reduce the tax rate at a greater rate than we're moving right now.
Orlando Montoya: Tillery says cutting some corporate tax breaks will pay for the first round of income tax eliminations. Gov. Brian Kemp has publicly supported a proposal to reduce the income tax, but he has not commented on a plan to eliminate it.
Story 6
Orlando Montoya: State lawmakers are considering a bill that would exempt videos showing a person's death from open record laws. Legislation would allow investigators and the victim's family to request videos of a death incident, but journalists and the general public would not. Dallas Republican state Rep. Joseph Gullett is sponsoring the bill.
Joseph Gullett: The final moments of someone's death shouldn't become online viral material.
Orlando Montoya: Under current law, people can file an open records request of police body camera footage. Jonesboro Democratic state Rep. Eric Bell says that he worries the bill could impede civil rights investigations.
Eric Bell: I think public outcry is a huge factor in some of these investigations.
Orlando Montoya: Body camera footage has been released to the public in some police shooting incidents, like Rayshard Brooks' death in 2020. The bill has bipartisan co-sponsors, but it still needs to make it through a committee before it receives a floor vote.
Story 7
Orlando Montoya: Sonny Perdue was Georgia's first Republican governor since the Dixiecrat era, serving from 2003 to 2011. He served in the first Trump White House as Secretary of Agriculture and is now Chancellor of the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents. GPB's Peter Biello spoke with Jeff Hullinger, who profiled Sonny Perdue in an episode airing tonight, Monday night, of Georgia Legends on GPB TV.
Peter Biello: Jeff's here with us now. Welcome to the program.
Jeff Hullinger: Peter, good to be here, and it's interesting and good to talk about Sonny Perdue, the former Georgia governor and the chief of the Board of Regents. He is a man of great ambition, and he has never, seemingly, from the time that he was a kid, ever lost that focus and that desire to succeed and to do well.
Peter Biello: And is that what makes him stand out as a Georgia legend? I mean, Georgia's had a lot of governors, not all of them are legends.
Jeff Hullinger: Well, I think — look, he is, as we know, he's the first Republican since Reconstruction to be elected. He is a two-term governor, served in the administration as the director of agriculture — the secretary of agriculture — and now heading up all of the universities around the state. This has been a man of tremendous impact and has been for so many years. It's It's extraordinary to think how long he has been a factor in — in so many lives around here. And I think that's the ultimate determination of a "Georgia legend": is not someone who is Haley's Comet who comes streaking across the horizon but somebody who has been here over the decades and continues to influence public policy and — and our lives
Peter Biello: Well, let's hear a little bit from Georgia Legends, where he talked about his time as governor.
Sonny Perdue: You know that era, 2003 to 2011, when I governed, had twin recessions. So I tingly said it probably took a penny-pinching farmer to try to get the money out of there. When your revenue is decreasing sometimes at double digits in a year and you have a balanced budget amendment, you cannot spend within that year more than you take in.
Peter Biello: So is that what kind of characterized his success, that he managed money well as governor during tough times?
Jeff Hullinger: I think he is a guy who had a sense of the public pulse, the majority, and I think that is how he has been able to succeed over the years. When you look at Sonny Perdue, I look at him in a couple of contexts. One is, this is a former quarterback, a former standout athlete, and standout athletes seemingly have a ticket toward success as adults. They — they know not to quit. They know how to lead. And they know how to get people to support them. And those lessons, I think, that Sonny Perdue learned as a high school quarterback is something that has served him throughout all of his life. And I think the other aspect of this is — and maybe because I'm older, I always find this curious, certainly talking with people of great success, whether it's in a public venue or a private venue — is they can be 80 years old. And this ambition, this fire continues in them. These — these are not guys that that go to play golf or to fish somewhere in Florida.
Peter Biello: Not that there's anything wrong with those things.
Jeff Hullinger: Not that there's anything wrong — or go for the early bird dinner at 4:30 somewhere in Destin, Fla. I mean this is a guy — just sitting across from him and talking to him for, I think I talked to him for about 40 minutes on camera — he was just full of ideas, full of things he wanted to accomplish and — and look, he is, you know, he's 80 years old. It's amazing how some men and women have that fire of ambition that burn within. It is an extraordinary thing to see and it always gives me pause for reflection.
Peter Biello: Georgia Legends airs tonight at nine on GPB TV. The subject tonight is Sonny Perdue. Host Jeff Hullinger, thank you for speaking with me.
Jeff Hullinger: Thank you, Peter.
Story 8
Orlando Montoya: Are you a fan of Ken Burns? I imagine since you're listening to GPB, you probably are a fan of his historical documentaries. Well, Ken Burns is promoting what organizers are calling the nation's first major national film festival dedicated exclusively for historical documentaries, and it's going to be hosted in Savannah. It's called the Hindsight Film Festival, and it's set for the first week in March. You can find out more about it at the Hindsight Film Festival webpage.
Story 9
Orlando Montoya: In other news from the coast, Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia has announced a new CEO. The Savannah-based nonprofit last week said Miriam Langley will lead the organization. Langley most recently served in leadership roles at nonprofits in Charleston, S.C. Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia last year distributed 25 million pounds of food to fight hunger in 21 Southeast Georgia counties.
Story 10
Orlando Montoya: A buoy off the coast of Tybee Island listening for the calls of endangered right whales heard a few for the first time late last month. GPB's Peter Biello has that story.
Peter Biello: The buoy had been listening for two years before it picked up this sound.
SOUND: (Whale noises)
Peter Biello: That's a contact call, says Mark Baumgartner, senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which monitors the buoy.
Mark Baumgartner: We call it a contact call because we believe it's designed for animals to stay in contact with one another. I call and then maybe you call and I know you're there and you know that I'm there.
Peter Biello: Knowing where the right whales are is essential to protecting them. Boaters are notified when the buoy indicates whales may be nearby. If boaters then slow down, they could avoid deadly boat strikes. And with fewer than 400 right whales left, Baumgartner says these buoys serve as a reminder that they need protection. For GPB News, I'm Peter Biello.
Story 11
Orlando Montoya: A global manufacturer of precision balls for industrial use plans to build a $17 million facility in Southeast Georgia's Greven County. Precibal USA, a Pooler-based division of Belgium-based Seluk International, said on Friday the investment will create 65 new jobs. The company makes products for bearings, pumps, valves, and other industrial uses.
Story 12
Orlando Montoya: In Georgia Sports, a Georgia high school is congratulating one of its alumni for coaching a Super Bowl-winning NFL team. Coach Mike Macdonald led the Seattle Seahawks to a 29-13 win over the New England Patriots last night. He graduated from Centennial High School, home of the Knights, in Roswell, north of Atlanta. The school's social media today called him an incredible Knights. And that's not all the Georgia natives who woke up this morning as Super Bowl champions. Jared Ivey, a graduate of North Gwinnett High School, and Ernest Jones from Ware County High School were both part of the Seahawks' active roster, while Chris Paul Jr. from Crisp County High School and Ricky White of Marietta High School are members of the Seahawks practice squad. Congratulations to the Georgia-connected Super Bowl champs — and congratulations to all Seattle Seahawks fans. The Atlanta Braves made a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance at the Super Bowl last night when Ronald Acuña Jr. Appeared on stage during Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show. What did you think of the show? There are lots of opinions out there. You can send us feedback to the usual address. And I'll also point you to the NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. On their latest episode, they dig into the performance and tell you why it was such a landmark. Find that wherever you get your podcasts.
Story 13
Orlando Montoya: And finally today, Atlanta Braves slugger Marcel Ozuna is heading to Pittsburgh. The Associated Press is reporting the 35-year-old free agent has reached a $12 million one-year deal with the Pirates. The right-handed Ozuna last season hit .232 with 21 home runs for the Braves.
And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. Learn more about these stories at the GPB News webpage at gpb.org/news. Hit "subscribe" on this podcast so you never miss an episode. Stay current with Georgia Today by hitting "subscribe." Send us feedback. We'd love to hear your ideas and opinions at georgiatoday@gpb.org. I'm Orlando Montoya. Peter Biello will be back tomorrow for another edition of Georgia Today.
Secondary Content
Author
