Georgia Today: BioLab lawsuits; Macon shooting; Giant pandas arrive at Zoo Atlanta

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, 12 people are wounded at a birthday party shooting in Macon. Georgia marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Helene as recovery efforts continue. And there's a week left to register to vote and Democrats are pushing early voting.

Charlie Bailey: It's the quickest, it's the easiest way, it is the fewest steps along the way. And so that's why we're encouraging people to do it that way. 

Peter Biello: Today is Monday, Sept. 28. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today. 

Story 1

Peter Biello: This week marks two years since Hurricane Helene damaged and destroyed homes and forests across a wide swath of Georgia. As GPB's Grant Blankenship reports, the recovery from the storm continues. 

Grant Blankenship: In his disaster relief role with the United Methodist Church, Scott Parrish has been looking for homes to repair, even rebuild, in and around Augusta since Hurricane Helene. Now two years after the storm, Parrish says he and the volunteers he coordinates still have plenty of work to do. 

Scott Parrish: There are 70- and 80- and 90-year-olds living in a home with a tarp, living in home where they're having to deal with rainwater buckets. 

Grant Blankenship: Parrish says he has a list of over 100 projects in the three counties he's worked in, just a fraction of the 63 Georgia counties affected by Hurricane Helene. He says across that region, relief workers are also looking ahead to weather chaos in the winter and spring, spawned by the still-brewing El Niño pattern in the Pacific Ocean. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship. 

Story 2

Peter Biello: There's just a week to go before the deadline to register to vote in the midterm election, and both major parties are working to boost turnout among their voters. Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey is encouraging voters to make a plan to vote early and in person. 

Charlie Bailey: It's the quickest, it's the easiest way, it is the fewest steps along the way. And so that's why we're encouraging people to do it that way. 

Peter Biello: Early voting starts on Oct. 13 and runs until Oct. 30. Republicans also say they're focused on turnout, especially among low-propensity voters ahead of the election. You can check your voter registration on the secretary of state's My Voter page. And for more information on the candidates running and to see what will be on your ballot visit gpb.org/elections. 

Story 3

Peter Biello: Investigators in Bibb County are looking for the people who shot and wounded [12] teenagers early yesterday morning during an 18th birthday party in a Macon park. Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said several people, likely party goers, were responsible for the shooting. Surveillance video of the incident shows people fleeing during about 30 seconds of what sounds like nonstop gunfire. Davis said he expects even teenage shooters to be charged as adults. He also wants to hold parents responsible. 

David Davis: I'll guarantee you there's some adult loved ones or some guardians that knew they had guns. Not a doubt in my mind. And if we can charge any adult in connection with this, we're going to do that,too. 

Peter Biello: Davis cited as precedent the murder conviction of Colin Gray, who gave his son Colt the weapon Colt used to kill four people at Barrow County's Appalachee High School. The shooting left two teens in critical but stable condition as of yesterday afternoon. 

Story 4

Peter Biello: Two new proposed class action lawsuits are seeking damages for health problems residents say they suffered after the 2024 BioLab fire in Conyers. The lawsuits were filed in a federal court earlier this month, just days before the second anniversary of the chemical fire. The latest was filed Sept. 22 by five Rockdale County residents seeking damages for personal injuries and property damage. A separate proposed class actions suit filed Sept. 16 makes similar claims. Both suits are asking the court to require BioLab and its parent company, as well as private equity firm CenterBridge Partners, to pay for medical monitoring for residents in affected areas. An existing consolidated federal class action lawsuit stemming from the fire has largely focused on property and economic damages. Medical monitoring also has been a central legal question in that case. GPB has reached out to BioLab for comment. 

[BREAK]

Story 5

Peter Biello: A new report from the nonprofit Trust for America's Health shows obesity rates among adults in Georgia are stabilizing, but still too high. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more. 

Ellen Eldridge: The State of Obesity 2026 report finds nearly 36% of Georgians are classified as obese. That's according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Dr. Nadine Gracia is with Trust for America's Health. She says medications like GLP-1s are an important development in the treatment and management of obesity, but —

Nadine Gracia: As a public health organization, we focus in the continuum in public health and prevention. And what we know is that as a nation, we have chronically underfunded prevention and, specifically, chronic disease prevention. 

Ellen Eldridge: She says policy makers can address root causes of obesity by making healthy food and physical activity accessible, affordable, and convenient. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge. 

Story 6

Peter Biello: The U.S. Department of Transportation is giving Augusta Regional Airport $800,000 to incentivize new service to Chicago. The award, announced today, is one of 14 to small airports around the country. It doesn't guarantee new service, but it allows airport officials to shop around to carriers who might be willing to start up new service with the federal help. 

Story 7

Peter Biello: In honor of World News Day today, Georgia preschool students became junior journalists for an afternoon. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports they celebrated the day with questions of their own. 

Amanda Andrews: Students at the Goddard School of Sugar Hill formed their own newsroom, taking turns as hosts and doing interviews. The children talked to teachers, parents, and members of the media to explore the importance of journalism.

Kieran: What is the thing that you wish every— everybody knew? 

Amanda Andrews: That's a good question, Kieran. Education director Emily Price says these hands-on activities help students like Kieran develop lifelong skills. 

Emily Price: Natural inquiry, natural questioning is the child's way of learning and if we can get them asking questions and being curious at a young age, it continues on as they get older. 

Amanda Andrews: Sugar Hill is one of about 700 Goddard schools nationwide celebrating World News Day. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews. 

Story 8

Peter Biello: Two giant pandas have arrived in Atlanta. They arrived at Zoo Atlanta yesterday morning as part of an agreement between the Chinese and American governments. The bears will be quarantined for about a month in a bio-secure area of the wildlife park's new giant panda complex, so visitors will have to wait a bit to see them. Park officials haven't confirmed a specific opening date. 

Story 9

Peter Biello: In Georgia sports, Rhyne Howard had 26 points and five steals, and Angel Reese added 13 points and 12 rebounds as the Atlanta Dream beat the Washington Mystics 92 to 77 in the first game of the WNBA playoffs. Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Wednesday in Washington. The Major League Baseball Wild Card Series begins tomorrow, featuring four best-of-three matchups that include the Atlanta Braves taking on their NL East rivals, the Phillies, at Truist Park. The Braves are regulars in the playoffs and have another strong roster, but they fell to the Marlins last night 5-3 in a regular season finale in Miami. And in MLS action, Argentine midfielder Giuliano Galoppo scored his first league goal and Trinidadian midfierder Jay Fortune added a goal for Atlanta United on Saturday night in a 2-2 draw with New York City FC. Down two separate times in the match, the Five Stripes pushed back for a winner but came up short in a physical end-to-end fixture. 

Peter Biello: And that is it for Georgia Today, but we hope you'll come back tomorrow. Make sure you subscribe to this podcast and as always you can check gpb.org/news for updates. And if you've got feedback we'd love to hear from you, send us an email. The address is [email protected]. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We will see you tomorrow. 

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