Georgia Today: Ted Turner dies; Severe thunderstorm warning; Advisory group for Piedmont Park safety

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, media mogul Ted Turner died today at the age of 87. Parts of North Georgia are under a severe weather risk today and into Thursday. And Atlanta pop star Usher's nonprofit is partnering with the Atlanta Boys and Girls club to offer paid internships for young adults interested in the entertainment industry. 

Sean Wilson: Studios offer everything from wardrobe, special effects, makeup, full-blown production. We teach Unreal Engine, in-camera visual effects. 

Orlando Montoya: Today is Wednesday, May 6. I'm Orlando Montoya, and this is Georgia Today. 

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Orlando Montoya: Media mogul and Georgia icon Ted Turner died today at the age of 87. The Atlanta-based entrepreneur transformed television with the launch of CNN, the world's first 24-hour news network, and helped put Atlanta on the global stage. GPB's Pamela Kirkland looks back at his life and legacy. 

Pamela Kirkland: Entrepreneur and peace activist. Champion sportsman and warrior for the environment. Ted Turner redefined what it meant to be a media pioneer while using his fortune and influence to tackle global challenges. 

Ted Turner: I just was kind of an opportunist and I just went through life trying to take advantage of opportunities as I saw them.

Pamela Kirkland: Robert Edward Turner III was born Nov. 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio. When he was nine years old, the family moved to Savannah, where his father built a successful billboard business. When Turner was just 24 years old, his father's suicide thrust him into taking over the family business. Terry McGurk, longtime Turner broadcasting executive, recalled how much Turner wanted to live up to his father's expectations. 

Terry McGurk: To prove his worth to his father, I think was always sort of something that was deep inside of him. 

Pamela Kirkland: In 1970, he got into broadcasting, buying Atlanta's struggling UHF television station and taking it national through the new technology of satellites. Within three short years, Turner Broadcasting System, or TBS, had become profitable and the first superstation, a precursor to Turner's next innovation that would change the world. 

Ted Turner: I dedicate the news channel for America, the Cable News Network. 

Pamela Kirkland: On June 1, 1980, CNN became television's first 24-hour all-news station. By the mid-1980s, CNN was available in 100 countries. 

Tom Johnson: It was clear to many of us that CNN, especially, was a major, major breakthrough, that it clearly was very different. 

Pamela Kirkland: Tom Johnson, former president of CNN, worked closely with Turner for years. 

Tom Johnson: I said, "Ted, what are your rules about news?" And this applied during my 11 years. He said, "Tom, one rule. One rule. Be fair." 

Pamela Kirkland: Turner also understood the impact of sports on society. The avid sailor won the America's Cup in 1977. When Western countries boycotted the 1980 Olympics in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, Turner founded the Goodwill Games to keep international athletes competing. Tom Johnson, again: 

Tom Johnson: Ted had seen President Carter pull the United States out of the Olympics. Ted felt sports was so important that he created at great expense the Goodwill Games. 

Pamela Kirkland: When the 1996 Olympics were granted to Atlanta, the city was already known internationally, thanks in part to Ted Turner. Married twice before, Turner's sense of responsibility to society deepened during his decade-long marriage to actor Jane Fonda, starting in 1991. This is journalist Todd Wilkinson: 

Todd Wilkinson: But I can tell you what Jane Fonda told me. And that is, is that Ted knew at some deep inner level that in order for him to save himself, he needed to try to save the world and try to make conditions better for other people. 

Pamela Kirkland: Beyond broadcasting and sports, Turner made his mark on philanthropy. 

Ted Turner: All its money is going to programs. They're all going to be U.N. programs. 

Pamela Kirkland: In 1997, he announced a $1 billion donation to the United Nations. Four years later, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he tapped Georgia U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn to launch the Nuclear Threat Initiative to reduce nuclear proliferation. 

Ted Turner: We can't live in a world where nobody trusts anybody because then we'll never make progress with these weapons. 

Pamela Kirkland: For Turner, helping humanity also meant taking care of the environment. He became North America's second-largest individual landowner with 2 million acres, preserving Western wilderness and restoring the American bison population. Those who knew him will remember a billionaire maverick who invited people to just call him "Ted." 

Ted Turner: I think that I've done pretty much the best I could in my life, and I've had a wonderful life. I've been a very blessed, a very blessed person, and I did the best that I could. 

Pamela Kirkland: For GPB News, I'm Pamela Kirkland. 

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Orlando Montoya: The Atlanta Braves are remembering their former owner. Turner transformed the perennial doormats into champions in the 1990s. Through broadcasts on his TBS Superstation, they became known as "America's Team." Their former stadium, built for the 1996 Olympics, was named Turner Field. A team statement says, quote, "We'll miss you, Ted. You helped make us who we are today, and the Atlanta Bravers are forever grateful for the impact you made."

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Orlando Montoya: Atlanta City Council is forming an advisory group to address safety concerns in Piedmont Park. It comes after a shooting at the park wounded a 15-year-old girl and killed a 16-year-old on April 4. The City Council this week passed a resolution to create a 19-member City of Atlanta Special Event Technical Advisory Group. The group will conduct an emergency study of the celebrations on April 4, known as 404 Day. It also will review and recommend improvements to the special event permitting process for Piedmont Park, which holds a number of outdoor events each year. Members of the advisory group will include representatives from surrounding neighborhoods.

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Orlando Montoya: Commissioners in Southeast Georgia's Camden County have approved a six-month moratorium on new data centers in unincorporated parts of the county. The move yesterday comes after concerns about the environmental impact of a now-withdrawn data center proposal in Kingsland. County resident Rick Mann told commissioners the pause could give them time to put stronger rules in place. 

Rick Mann: More than likely, sooner or later, we're gonna wind up with a data center. But we need to do it right. There's things that can be done, but if there's no stipulations in place, no rules and regulations, we are gonna screw over the county. Simple as that. 

Orlando Montoya: Commissioner Ben Casey said the county could ban data centers entirely in unincorporated Camden County and suggested seeking public input on the idea. 

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Orlando Montoya: Parts of North Georgia are under a Level 2 severe weather risk today and into Thursday. Forecasters say widespread thunderstorms are expected to move into the region this afternoon before moving south overnight. The main threats include damaging winds and possible tornadoes, which could bring down trees and power lines and lead to scattered outages. Heavy rainfall also is raising concerns about flash flooding. The National Weather Service says storms could repeatedly move over the same areas, creating hazardous travel conditions despite the ongoing drought. Residents are being urged to stay weather-aware through Thursday. 

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Orlando Montoya: An Atlanta coffee shop is apologizing for painting over a mural of beloved local public figure Jovita Moore. Bellwood Coffee received public outcry when it painted over the mural that memorialized the Channel 2 news anchor who died in 2021 from brain cancer. Bellwood Coffee said on social media removing the mural was a mistake and they vowed to commission another one. 

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Orlando Montoya: Gov. Brian Kemp has six more days to sign or veto bills from the 2026 state legislative session. He put his pen to a flurry of bills today. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports on several new laws.

Sarah Kallis: Bills signed include Rio's Law, which creates an optional license plate symbol for drivers or passengers with autism, and training for law enforcement when interacting with people on the autism spectrum in cars. Other bills will make law enforcement officers who get a brain injury on the job eligible for compensation through the indemnification fund, and the maximum employer 401k contribution for law enforcement will be raised by 2%. A crackdown on pimping and pandering was also signed, increasing the minimum charge to a felony. And Kemp signed a bill that banned flying drones over prisons. Kemp has until May 12 to sign or veto bills. Some bills can become law automatically if he does not sign or veto. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis. 

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Orlando Montoya: Atlanta pop star Usher's nonprofit is partnering with the Atlanta Boys and Girls Club to offer paid internships for young adults interested in the entertainment industry. GPB's Amanda Andrews has more. 

Amanda Andrews: A cohort of 10 interns, age 18 to 24, will join Usher's nationwide tour for the summer. They will be divided into three learning tracks: tour production, wardrobe, and multimedia. Interns must live in Atlanta or Detroit, where the nonprofit Usher's New Look opened Spark Labs, a state-of-the-art content studio. Co-founder Sean Wilson says Spark Labs will offer additional entertainment training. 

Sean Wilson: Studios offer everything from wardrobe, special effects, makeup, full-blown production. We teach Unreal Engine, in-camera visual effects. 

Amanda Andrews: Applications are open through Friday on the Usher's New Look website. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews. 

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Orlando Montoya: Delta Air Lines is looking to hire pilots who lost their jobs in the recent collapse of Spirit Airlines. Atlanta-based Delta says it's accelerating reviews of applications from laid-off Spirit Airlines pilots to fill upcoming interview slots. United and JetBlue also say they're prioritizing hiring from Spirit. The discount carrier's bright yellow planes were grounded on Saturday as the airline went out of business after 34 years, two bankruptcies, and a recent spike in oil prices. 

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Orlando Montoya: At Georgia's largest research university, college students recently presented innovative projects to help solve some of life's big problems. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more. 

Sofi Gratas: Circle the Georgia Institute of Technology's Capstone Design Expo and you'll see a lot of prototypes, from robot dogs to a door you can unlock with your face. Smaller designs, like student Daniel Shee's sample of a silicone-based mattress, lean practical. 

Daniel Shee: The biggest problem with mattresses are, like, they are too heavy. They're probably up to 300 pounds. We're able to decrease the weight by up to 50%. 

Sofi Gratas: Down the hall:

Student: Tons of pictures of people doing the letter A in sign language. 

Sofi Gratas: Students have programmed a teddy bear with a webcam on its head to help teach kids American Sign Language. 

Student: It's very cute, very fun, easy to learn with too. 

Sofi Gratas: All of these designs should be innovative and show test-driven results, says volunteer judge David Newman. But Newman also considers this practice for the real world, outside of academia. 

David Newman: What I really hope for them is to be really excited about solving a hard problem. 

Sofi Gratas: This wearable vibrating chest plate hooked up to a keyboard was the only prototype from the music department. Student Levi Waterhouse says it could help deaf and hard of hearing people create music. 

Levi Waterhouse: Be able to explore, perform it and create their own sort of language and culture and even subculture out of it. 

Sofi Gratas: Because even problems that might not seem obvious deserve creative solutions. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas in Atlanta. 

Orlando Montoya: And that's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. It's always great to have you here and we always love hearing from you. So if you have feedback, send that to us at georgiatoday@gpb.org. Many of the stories that you hear on today's podcast are online at gpb.org/news. And we always you to hit "subscribe" on this podcast. You just do it once and that'll keep us current in your podcast feed going forward. Thank you for doing that. I'm Orlando Montoya. We'll be back again tomorrow with another edition of Georgia Today. 

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