Georgia Today: 'No Kings' protests this weekend; Man dies in ICE custody; Federal cuts to Job Corps

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, weekend protests for so-called No King's Day are planned across the nation. A Mexican citizen dies by apparent suicide while in ICE custody in Georgia, and federal budget cuts to the Job Corps program leave vulnerable young people wondering where they'll go next.

Donna Hay: About 20% of students on Job Corps campuses across the country came directly from homeless shelters or from the foster care system before enrolling.

Peter Biello: Today is Friday, June 13. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Protests are planned across the country tomorrow, including several in Georgia. The so-called "No Kings" Day events are planned to coincide with a massive military parade in Washington, D.C. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: Activists in multiple cities, including Atlanta, Macon, Athens, and Savannah, are planning a quote, "day of defiance." Saturday is also Flag Day, the 250th anniversary of the Army, and President Donald Trump's birthday. Laura Judge, with the organization Indivisible North Metro, says she is expecting thousands of people to show up in Atlanta outside of the state Capitol.

Laura Judge: Atlanta is a place where it's rooted in civil rights and resistance and people power. And just, what we really would like to see is that the people are the reason for our democracy.

Sarah Kallis: Organizers of the event are calling for participants to protest peacefully, saying the goal is to stand up for democracy and reject, quote, "authoritarianism." For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: A citizen of Mexico died over the weekend while in ICE custody in Georgia. 45-year-old Jésus Molina Veya was in the care of the Stewart Detention Center in the Southeast Georgia city of Lumpkin when staff members discovered Molina Veya unconscious with a ligature around his neck. He was pronounced dead Saturday at Phoebe Sumter Hospital in Americus. Molina Veya entered the U.S. on multiple occasions beginning in 1999 and was repeatedly removed from the U.S. His most recent arrest was February of this year for probation violation and other offenses, leading to a conviction in April.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: A report by a Bibb County grand jury on conditions in the county jail describes unsecure and quote "inhumane" conditions. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.

Grant Blankenship: Grand jurors described, quote, "disgusting and inhumane" conditions on the same overpopulated cell block where they found broken locks. About a month after that observation, broken locks led to the second death in the jail in a year's time. In other sections of the jail, grand jurors saw pools of, quote unknown liquid substances. In the infirmary, they cited the smell of urine and unsanitary conditions. Local leaders have begun offering remedies. Now about 150 people with nonviolent offenses will be offered discounts on the out-of-pocket costs for ankle monitors to get them out of the jail. The Bibb County government is looking for a contractor with the expertise for an architectural solution. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: The U.S. House has voted to cut about $9.4 billion in spending specifically targeting foreign aid programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides money for NPR, PBS, and GPB — and thousands of other public radio and television stations around the country. The vote was 214 to 212. Republicans are characterizing the spending as wasteful and unnecessary, but Democrats say the rescissions are hurting the United States' standing around the world. The benefit for the administration of a formal rescissions request is that passage requires only a simple majority in the 100-member Senate instead of the 60 votes usually required to get spending bills through that chamber. So if they stay largely united, Republicans will be able to pass the measure without any Democratic votes. Want to help protect public media? Visit GPB.org/funding or ProtectMyPublicMedia.org to learn how.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: A deadline to apply for millions of dollars in grants to help treat people impacted by the opioid crisis is approaching. GPB's Ellen Eldridge reports the money comes from a settlement the state received from pharmaceutical companies in 2022.

Ellen Eldridge: This is the second round of funding from the more than $600 million Georgia received as part of a national settlement. The money is available to organizations that help people prevent, treat and recover from addiction. Taylor Payton is with the Georgia Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust.

Taylor Payton: So currently our portal is open. We have received about 48 complete submissions. That's going to be 20 on the state level and 28 on the regional level. We have 261 applications currently in the draft status.

Ellen Eldridge: The 2025 deadline to apply for grant money is June 18. The current round of grants funds 127 projects across Georgia for up to two years. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: As hurricane season gets underway, Coastal Georgia's Glynn County is hosting a hurricane preparedness rally tomorrow. Organizers say it's an opportunity to learn about preparedness, response and recovery from local experts. It's scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the Lowe's parking lot in Brunswick. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season this year.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Hundreds of paddlers are hitting the water this weekend for the start of this year's Paddle Georgia. The seven-day, 82-mile journey begins Sunday in East Ridge, Tenn. It travels through Georgia and wraps up next weekend in Stevenson, Ala. Along the way, participants will paddle through locks, camp each night, and take part in river cleanup efforts. This year marks Paddle Georgia's 20th anniversary, with organizers celebrating two decades of connecting people to Georgia's waterways. Details on campsites, launch points, and river access are available at garivers.org.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: Atlanta Pride has announced the theme for this year's festival: Rooted in Resistance. Organizers say it honors the history of the LGBTQ movement and the Stonewall riots of 1969. Atlanta Pride also announced that volunteer applications are now open for the festival, which draws hundreds of thousands of attendees annually. This year marks the 55th anniversary of Atlanta Pride, the largest free pride event in the country. The festival is set for Oct. 11 and 12 in Piedmont Park.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: A Cartersville resident won the $10 million top prize playing Georgia Lottery's 500X The Money scratcher. Georgia Lottery announced this week the unidentified player claimed the winnings on May 27, selecting a cash payout of more than $5.2 million. They purchased the lucky ticket at QuikTrip in Cartersville.

Story 10:

Peter Biello: Among recent targets for spending cuts is a 60-year-old Department of Labor program called the Job Corps. Critics say the program for some of the nation's most vulnerable young people is underperforming. Now thousands are wondering where they'll go next. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more from Albany.

Grant Blankenship: Estella McCrystal says she'd been living in a homeless shelter in Albany in Southwest Georgia for a few months when she first heard about the Turner Job Corps Center across town.

Estella McCrystal: At first I was a little apprehensive about it, but I looked at it and I was like, "OK, this seems like an amazing concept of a place."

Grant Blankenship: The concept at Turner and all other Job Corps centers is this: Young people between 18 and 24 can get vocational and technical training in a number of different careers like construction, welding, truck driving, for free.

Estella McCrystal: So that blew me away.

Grant Blankenship: Plus there's housing, three meals a day, and a paycheck just for going to school.

Estella McCrystal: That to me was insane.

Grant Blankenship: So she applied, got the call, and went to work, earning certificates in culinary arts and office administration over about two years. And now?

Estella McCrystal: My main focus right now is to try to get a job as quickly as possible.

Grant Blankenship: On average, just under half the students who graduate from Turner get and keep a job. For McCrystal, the search has been tough, and she thought she had about six months to find work. But now, with the federal Department of Labor's intent, announced at the end of May, to unwind Job Corps — to stop it cold by the end of June — she may only have weeks. McCrystal is afraid.

Estella McCrystal: I'm going to end up in a shelter again.

Grant Blankenship: Donna Hay says she's far from alone.

Donna Hay: About 20% of students on Job Corps campuses across the country —

Grant Blankenship: That's about 20,000 people.

Donna Hay: — came directly from homeless shelters or from the foster care system before enrolling.

Grant Blankenship: Hay is the executive director of the National Job Corps Association, which represents the private companies that run most of the over 100 Job Corps sites around the nation. Her group sued the Department of Labor in federal court in New York and won a temporary restraining order. She asks, why stop Job Corps now when the president is talking about growing American jobs?

Donna Hay: Job Corps is the nation's largest residential trade school. And when we see companies like FedEx and CVS line up to hire Job Corps-trained workers, these students are being put on the path to economic certainty.

Grant Blankenship: But the Department of Labor points to a $140 million funding deficit in fiscal year 2024 and an even bigger one shaping up for FY 25. Hay says that's because funding has remained flat while the cost of running the program has risen with inflation. She says while that's a problem, it shouldn't be enough to shut down the whole program.

Donna Hay: If your house has a leaky roof, you fix the roof. You don't demolish the entire house.

Grant Blankenship: The restraining order has put time back on the clock. But rather than use it to argue in court, Hay would like to talk about reforms, like allowing big companies to give money to Job Corps.

Donna Hay: And we have varying entities, including employers, willing to donate funds to campuses and to the program nationwide, but are prohibited from doing so.

Grant Blankenship: That would have to change the next time Congress reauthorizes the law undergirding the program. Velvet Poole serves on the Doherty County School Board and just left her job at the Turner Job Corps Center in Albany in May. There, she earned her commercial driver's license right alongside her students.

Velvet Poole: We love on them and then we also give them an opportunity to get some knowledge.

Grant Blankenship: But she says no one's really talking about the 200 or so people who still work at Turner, who make it run.

Velvet Poole: And there are people that have been out there for 20, 30 years. And this is all they've done, so where would they go?

Grant Blankenship: Albany's city government is hosting a rally for Turner Center workers and students Saturday. Job Corps has another day in federal court next week. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Albany.

Story 11:

Peter Biello: This final note: filed this one under things not to forget in the bathroom. On Saturday, a sheriff from Texas was passing through Covington, Ga., with his grandson, and they stopped at a Wendy's. They were in the restroom when the sheriff removed his holstered firearm from his belt. At this point, his grandson started to act up, which distracted the sheriff, who then left the gun in the bedroom. Well, the person to find that gun, a 15-year-old, fired it. Fortunately, no one was hurt. No criminal intent or criminal negligence charges were filed. But the Covington Police Department is reminding gun owners of the basics in firearm safety, including: Always keep firearms secured when not in use.

 And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit gpb.org slash news and remember to subscribe to this podcast. We'll be back with all the top stories from Georgia in your podcast feed on Monday afternoon, and your feedback is always welcome. Of course, we hope you'll send us an email with it. The address to send it to is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Bello. Thank you again for listening. And have a great weekend.

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