Georgia Today: Passengers with hantavirus at Emory; New tax bills now law; Last week to early vote

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, two people were on a ship with hantavirus are now at Emory University. Braves fans say goodbye to iconic manager Bobby Cox, and a new report from Georgia environmental regulators highlights the severity of the state's ongoing drought. 

Damon Mullis: We're probably 4 foot, 3 foot lower than what I would consider base flow. 

Peter Biello: Today is Monday, May 11. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today. 

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Peter Biello: Two people who disembarked the ship at the center of the hantavirus outbreak are now at Emory University in Atlanta. The Georgia Department of Public Health said today the individuals were being transported to the university's Serious Communicable Diseases Unit. Media helicopter footage showed a police escorted medical convoy arriving at Emory this morning. Former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tom Frieden, says hantavirus is not the next COVID. 

Tom Frieden: There's nothing to suggest that this hantavirus is a risk to anyone in this country who has not had a close contact with someone who was on that cruise ship, and it is not going to become the next pandemic. 

Peter Biello: Still, he says that layoffs, resignations, and leadership changes at the CDC have weakened the U.S. response to the outbreak. Gov. Brian Kemp talked about the arrivals at Emory University at a bill signing this morning. He said the university is primed to take care of the individuals because it treated four patients with Ebola in 2014. 

Brian Kemp: If you were one of those passengers that was stranded, especially if you were from Georgia, you would want your state to come to your aid, and that's exactly what we're going to do. And there is nobody better to handle that than the folks at Emory. You think about how they've dealt with folks that had Ebola that had been transported back here. 

Peter Biello: In a statement, Emory says one symptomatic individual is receiving care in Emory's biocontainment unit, and one asymptomatic individual identified as a close contact is undergoing evaluation and monitoring. 

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Peter Biello: This is the last week of early voting in Georgia. Advanced voting can help voters avoid crowds on election day or find a better time to vote that fits their schedule. Unlike election day, you do not have to vote at an assigned polling location during early voting. You can vote at any early voting location within your county. And you can find early voting locations near you by visiting the secretary of state's website. Local elections officials may allow early voting beyond regular weekday business hours, but it is up to the county. 

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Peter Biello: Income and property tax bills passed during Georgia's legislative session are now law. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports on today's signing from the state Capitol. 

Sarah Kallis: Gov. Brian Kemp signed a series of bills, including one that reduces the income tax rate to just under 5% and paves the way for other reductions in the future. 

Brian Kemp: It also enacts annual reductions of 0.125% until the rate lowers to just 3.99% so long as the state meets revenue benchmarks. 

Sarah Kallis: Another bill signed would cap property tax assessment increases at 3% per year and establishes an optional 1% local sales tax to offset lost revenue. Some Democrats in the Legislature urged Kemp to veto the property tax bill, saying it is unconstitutional because it originated in the Senate, and the constitution requires revenue-increasing bills to start in the House. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis at the state Capitol. 

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Peter Biello: Regular cancer screenings are a necessary part of preventative health care, but research from the University of Georgia suggests that not all patients are getting the same access. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more. 

Sofi Gratas: Federally Qualified Health Centers, or FQHCs, are part of the safety net of health care created for people who are under or uninsured or lack easy access to medical care. So, when study author Eunhae Shen found gaps in cancer screening rates among patients of these centers, she wanted to learn more. 

Eunhae Shen: We found this huge variation across FQHCs in terms of socioeconomic vulnerability. 

Sofi Gratas: Her analysis of over a thousand of these centers serving millions of people showed that lower rates of cancer screenings followed patients with higher social vulnerabilities, including lower incomes, chronic conditions, and for those who live in states without Medicaid expansion, like Georgia. Policies to better fund FQHCs could help, Shen says. The study was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

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Peter Biello: A new report from Georgia environmental regulators is shedding light on the historic severity of the state's ongoing drought. GPB's Jillian Magtoto reports. 

Jillian Magtoto: Under an Effingham County bridge, the Ogeechee River is visibly shallow. Stripes across the exposed dirt bank mark where water was. 

Damon Mullis: We're probably 4 foot, 3 foot lower than what I would consider base flow. 

Jillian Magtoto: Or at about half the normal flow, says Ogeechee River keeper Damon Mullis. 

Damon Mullis: The low water levels do a couple of things that can be concerning. 

Jillian Magtoto: Like for fish and other aquatic life, which breathe underwater. 

Damon Mullis: And as we move into the summer and the temperatures rise and the water levels continue to drop, we could really see dangerously low oxygen levels if the drought continues. 

Jillian Magtoto: Which could lead to fish kills. According to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division's latest drought indicators report, almost all — 85% — of the state's river gauges measure flows as troubling as the Ogeechee's. Mullis says that spells trouble for the water underneath the rivers, too. 

Damon Mullis: You cannot disconnect groundwater and surface water. 

Jillian Magtoto: EPD found most groundwater wells were near their lowest recorded depths. The effects of the recent rain will be reflected in the next drought report in a few weeks. For GPB News, I'm Jillian Magtoto in Ellabell. 

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Peter Biello: Advocates for Rodney Taylor, a disabled Georgia barber held in ICE detention for 15 months, are celebrating his release. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports the family spoke at a press conference this morning for the first time since he was freed. 

Amanda Andrews: Rodney Taylor was released from Southwest Georgia's Stewart Detention Center May 1. Last year, his wife, Mildred Taylor, began raising the alarm about his lack of medical care and access to food. State and federal legislators at the event recognized Taylor's release as an important step in the fight for immigration reform. Taylor says he's heard from his friends, who are still detained. 

Rodney Taylor: They're like, "We just can't stop talking about it. You know, you got released. You still can't believe it." And so it's a blessing for me. And for everybody else that's still detained? Your day is coming. 

Amanda Andrews: Taylor, a double amputee, arrived in the U.S. decades ago from Liberia at age 2 on a medical visa. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews. 

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Peter Biello: The publisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is stepping down, three years after he launched an ambitious plan to reinvent the paper. The AJC reported today that Andrew Morse announced his decision at a staff meeting this morning. In 2023, the former television news executive took charge of the paper, laying out a strategy to grow its subscriber base. That included ending the AJC's print edition and going completely digital this year. So far subscriptions have fallen well short of Morse's goals The company says he'll be replaced by Paul Curran, a senior advertising executive with Atlanta-based Cox Media. 

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Peter Biello: A Georgia middle school teacher is getting a Tony Award. The Tonys announced today that Freddie Hendricks, an Atlanta theater teacher, will be recognized with a special award that honors educators. Hendricks founded the Youth Ensemble of Atlanta and estimates that between 20 and 28 of his students have gone on to Broadway. The award includes a $10,000 prize for Utopian Academy in Ellenwood, south of Atlanta, where he trains students, and tickets to the Tony Awards ceremony on June 7. Hendricks emphasizes self-love and creating a safe space for his students to express themselves with topics they care about. Two of his former students will be at the Tonys with him, sound designer Justin Ellington and performer-producer Kandi Burruss, both nominated for theater's biggest prize. 

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Peter Biello: Georgia's participation in the FIFA World Cup got a little sweeter last month with the rollout of new flavors from the King of Pops. That is Atlanta-based Popsicle purveyor Steve Carse, whose popsicles are sold at outdoor carts in 10 states. Over his company's 16 years, Carse estimates he and his team have come up with more than 500 flavors. For the World Cup, he's highlighting the flavors of World Cup teams coming to Atlanta, and he spoke with GPB's Orlando Montoya about it. 

Orlando Montoya: I just knew someone would do this, you know, because we have the world coming to Atlanta, and it just makes sense that we would highlight the world now. So tell me a little bit about this idea that you have. 

Steve Carse: Yeah, I'm so excited about it as well. We do one big kind of flavor push each year on a theme. So we were trying to think of our theme last year and it almost seemed like a no-brainer to, like, yeah, "What's the big thing happening in Atlanta? The World Cup." But it just seemed like the best way for us to show up as a local brand would be to kind of celebrate and highlight and kind of figure out a way for the people that are local and also the people that are visiting to kinda participate in something that we do. So we did a ton of research on the countries and tried a bunch of flavors that we thought might translate into good pops and then got to work on making them. 

Orlando Montoya: You're choosing one flavor for each of the countries that are coming here, such as Spain's Tinto de Verano. 

Steve Carse: Yup.

Orlando Montoya: How did you go about making these up? Tell me about Tinto De Verano and what these things are gonna taste like. 

Steve Carse: Yeah. So that one in particular, I think, you know, we knew people from Spain. It was kind of a little easier. So we chatted with them like, "Hey, would this feel on brand or off brand?" And we would make two or three flavors. And then some of them — this is a good, a good example of one — we did put our spin on it a little bit. So like we're using Muscadine, which is probably not what they're using in Spain, where they've got a lot of great vineyards there. But, um, you, you know it's a, a take on something that is a popular Spanish drink. But I think the others, so think about Morocco, mint tea, it's kind of just, if you've been to — I haven't been to Morocco, but when we talk to people about it, it's like, yeah, you basically are gonna get like forced to drink a bunch of mint tea when you're there. So you might as well get used to it. So we were inspired by that as a big, just like part of it. And it makes for a delicious pop. I mean, it has to do both, two things. It has to be kind of a fun flavor that we think associates, like, authentically with the country. And then it also needs to be delicious. Those are kind of our two criteria. 

Orlando Montoya: Now, when you get to a country like Uzbekistan —

Steve Carse: It was a bigger challenge. We didn't know too many people from Uzbekistan as well that we could reach out to. We did eventually find some folks. So yeah, Compot: that one is like probably the hardest for us to make. It's a lot of kind of filtering of fruits. So that's a slow process when you're trying to make a large batch of things. It's easy to make 20 of them, it's harder to make thousands. But yeah, we haven't done a whole lot of stuff with apricots, So that was exciting. I mean. We've been doing this for 16 years now. So I feel like we've made most flavors and then, you know, you start to look at cuisines of other countries and you're like, "Oh my gosh, never even thought of that." So it's inspiring in that way. 

Orlando Montoya: How many flavors have you guys made so far in all these years? I mean, have you even counted? 

Steve Carse: We have not counted. My off the cuff math is about a little over 500, though. Quite a lot. 

Orlando Montoya: And do you still get excited about new flavors and rolling them out and seeing the look on people's faces when you go out into the parks? 

Steve Carse: I certainly do. And I think this was even a more fun one. I mean, I shouldn't take the credit because Jessica Luna, who does, like, our pop development, is improving recipes all the time. She spearheaded these flavors and did a great job. I think it's going to just, it's gonna be a fun one for us. It just feels like a sweet spot for us as brand overall. 

Orlando Montoya: Now, the most controversial one, I think, is USA. You could have gone with chocolate, you could have done with key lime, you could've gone with any number of things there, but you are picking the official dessert flavor of the USA? How —

Steve Carse: Yeah, you're right. Well, it looks like a bomb pop, so that's pretty American. It's red, white, and blue, so it's a three-tier, which people like. It looks like our flag. And then just think, you know, vanilla ice cream, strawberries, and blueberries. I don't know that I'll claim it is the official American dessert, but I think it'll be a fun one. It'll definitely be very Instagram-able. 

Orlando Montoya: And finally, I didn't want to let you go without giving you an opportunity to talk about your new book. You released a book last year, and it's got a lot of great messages in it. So in the brief time we have left, what is the book about? 

Steve Carse: Yeah, so I wrote a book about Work is Fun. I would say it's a mix of the King of Pop story and my perspective that maybe we're all taking ourselves a little bit too seriously. And that if you're gonna spend a bunch of time doing something — most of us do spend a lot of time at work, whether we want to or not, you should at least be trying to have fun. So. I don't promise that everyone can have fun all the time, but I do promise you can make it a little bit more fun no matter where you're at. And it's got some practical tips on how to do that and hopefully it's just some inspiring kind of stories of what we went through. But that's been a fun process. I've been doing some public speaking about it and it's helped for us to kind of get our brand out there in a fun way as well. 

Orlando Montoya: Steve Carse, King of Pops, thank you for joining us. 

Steve Carse: Thank you so much. It's a pleasure. 

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Peter Biello: A metro Atlanta-based restaurant industry giant plans to go public. Inspire Brands announced on Friday its intention to offer an initial public offering of common stock. The company is the private equity firm that owns several global restaurant chains including Dunkin, Arby's, Sonic, and Jimmy John's. Inspire Brands says it plans to use the IPO proceeds to pay down debt. The offering is subject to review by the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

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Peter Biello: Atlanta Braves fans are mourning the loss of beloved skipper Bobby Cox, who died on Saturday. The Hall of Fame manager led the Braves to 14 straight division titles, five National League pennants, and a World Series title in 1995. Cox took over a last-place team in June 1990, and led the braves to a worst to first finish in 1991, making it to the World Series. Under his leadership, the team became the so-called "Team of the '90s." Cox also was first in being ejected from 158 regular season games. He managed the Braves for a quarter century and retired after the 2010 season. He died in Marietta on Saturday. He was 84 years old. 

Peter Biello: And that is a wrap on Georgia Today. Thank you so much for tuning in. Why don't you come back tomorrow? The best way to remember to do that is to subscribe to this podcast. That way we will pop up automatically in your podcast feed. Remember you can check gpb.org/news for updates to the stories you heard today and for new stories that our reporters are writing. And if you have feedback, send it our way by email. The address is georgiatoday@gpb.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thank you again for listening. We will see you tomorrow. 

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