Georgia Today: Public Service Commission Primary Elections; Job Corps students sue Dept. of Labor

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, voting in the Public Service Commission primaries come to a close with low voter turnout. Job Corps students sue the U.S. Department of Labor, and Senator Jon Ossoff criticizes the defunding of maintenance programs for military housing.

Jon Ossoff: There is substantial defunding of family housing accounts for the Army and the Navy. I think we all know that privatized family housing at DOD installations is a mess.

Peter Biello: Today is Wednesday, June 18th. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Primary elections for Georgia's Public Service Commission have come to a close, with low voter turnout across the state. GPB's Chase McGee has more.

Chase McGee: According to data from the Secretary of State's office, around 200,000 Georgians voted in the PSC primaries. That's just under 3% of the state's active voters. Republican incumbent Tim Eccles won in District 2 and will face off against Democrat Alicia Johnson. In District 3, Democrats Keisha Waits and Peter Hubbard will head to a runoff next month. The winner of that race will run against Republican incumbent Fitz Johnson. Currently, the five-member commission is comprised of all Republicans. It's the first election for the commission since 2022, following a delay after a lawsuit alleged the elections discriminated against black voters. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Seven students from across the country are suing the U.S. Department of Labor over plans to shut down all 99 Job Corps centers, including those in Albany, Atlanta, and Brunswick. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.

Grant Blankenship: Thousands are enrolled in the program aimed at providing vocational training to vulnerable young people. One of the plaintiffs is a student from Turner Job Corps Center in Albany, where GPB reported last week that many fear returning to homelessness if the program ends. The suit brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Public Citizen Litigation Group is the second court challenge to the closure plan, but the first brought by students, says public citizen attorney Adam Pulver.

Adam Pulver: I mean, I thought it was really important for the young people who are being faced with losing housing, losing healthcare, to put a face to what's actually at issue and what's at stake here. It's not a waste to spend money to make young people's lives better.

Grant Blankenship: Temporary restraining order in the first suit is in place through the 25th of June. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Georgia U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is questioning the Trump administration's proposed fiscal year 2026 budget for military construction and family housing in Georgia. At a Senate hearing yesterday, he said the spending plan could reduce the armed force's ability to hold contractors accountable for substandard housing.

Jon Ossoff: There is substantial defunding of family housing accounts for the Army and the Navy, including for programs that provide essential maintenance of and oversight of privatized family housing. I think we all know that privatized housing at DOD installations is a mess.

Peter Biello: Ossoff has spent years investigating military housing conditions, especially at Fort Gordon in Augusta. At the same hearing, a Marine Lieutenant General committed to pushing a new communications facility at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany towards Swift construction.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: A former jail employee in Atlanta's Fulton County has been indicted in federal court for allegedly using excessive force against people in custody. Sergeant Khadijah Solomon is accused of repeatedly using stun guns on compliant, non-resisting pretrial detainees. The indictment announced Monday comes months after Fulten County agreed to resolve claims of civil rights violations at the troubled aging facility.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: The twelve-person staff at Cafe Momentum in Atlanta is working with young people impacted by trauma. GPB's Ellen Eldridge reports the program is designed to help young people succeed.

Ellen Eldridge: Café Momentum offers justice-involved youth between 15 and 19 a paid opportunity to learn life skills and gain self-confidence while working at the restaurant. Benjamin Wills is the executive director of the non-profit restaurant. He says the staff took the trauma course from Chris 180, calling it a powerful front porch for conversation.

Benjamin Willis: A real highlight of the course was people understanding that they had some trauma that they were responding out of and then them beginning to work through that and us beginning to talk about that.

Ellen Eldridge: He said the impact on the staff has been an added benefit. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Caption

Tyler Perry

Story 6:

Peter Biello: Actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry is being sued by an actor from one of his TV dramas. Derek Dixon worked on the political drama, The Oval. He accuses Perry of sexual harassment, assault and battery and professional retaliation. He seeks $260 million in damages. Dixon would eventually move from Atlanta, home of Perry's production studio, to Los Angeles to put distance between the two of them. The lawsuit was filed Friday and was first reported Tuesday by TMZ. Perry's attorney says the allegations are false and amount to a scam, saying Perry, quote, will not be shaken down.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: All this week, GPB has been turning the spotlight on the importance of caregivers in our state. Let's turn now to Leslie Pool, Innovation Manager at the Rosalyn Carter Institute for Caregivers. Leslie Pool, thank you so much for speaking with me.

Leslie Pool: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Peter Biello: I want to start with Rosalynn Carter's advocacy for caregivers. What drove that advocacy for her?

Leslie Pool: It started when she was 12, so she has been a lifelong family caregiver. Her grandfather got sick and had to be cared for in the family home, and her mother took on the role of primary caregiver, and then she had to kind of get the house settled and care for her younger siblings, so learning what family caregiving is happened at a young age for her so When you look at her life, it really shows her demonstration of the love that she has for family caregivers and really understanding the journey they go on. It's not all fun and there's some really hard parts in it, but also there can be some really beautiful parts as well.

Peter Biello: And how does the Rosalynn Carter Institute advocate for caregivers today?

Leslie Pool: A couple of different methods, I would say the one that really sticks out is we do a lot of evidence-based work. So we do lot of research, we listen to caregivers, we really try to see where they're at. So what really makes a difference in a caregiver's life? What do they really need to know? Whether that's teaching problem-solving to caregivers. Whether that's teaching caregivers how they can care for themselves and then also care for somebody with advanced stage Alzheimer's. And that's how we spread the word in the field and really show what's making the difference.

Peter Biello: So what resources does Georgia have for caregivers that people giving care right now may not know about?

Leslie Pool: First and foremost, we tell all of our caregivers, if you're located in the state of Georgia, know where your area agency on aging is. They have a lot of information to help you. They have lot of the information they want to help with. They don't know you're out there, so you have to come and say, hey, I'm a caregiver, what is there for me? I also tell people to not be scared to look for what I call unusual caregiving resources. One of the things I'll tell you is that we did a lot of work at RCI with emergency preparedness for caregivers. We realized very early on in my tenure at RCA that a lot of everyday resources that people in our community, especially non-caregiving peers in our committee have access to or not really focused on if you're caring for someone else. So if you are worried about the new hurricane season that's coming up or bad weather. Don't be scared to go out and reach out to your first responders or your emergency management offices. They want to help you. They just need to know where you are.

Peter Biello: The Rosalynn Carter Institute is merging with the Carter Center's Mental Health Program. Can you talk a little bit about how that merger is going to help the RCI meet its goals?

Leslie Pool: So the merger is super exciting in several different capacities. One, it brings all of Mrs. Carter's work under one big house, so we're all in the same space together, which is really fun to think about and all the things that we can do. I think when we look about caregiving and how this merger's gonna advance caregiving, it's gonna do it through two things, really primarily. One. We are now from a national organization, a national resource, we then become global, which means we get to share globally what we've done for the past 40 years and how we've helped caregivers in our home country and what that looks like. And then also it allows us to really get best practices from other countries that have been doing it, that other countries have. Taken on caregiver initiatives and implemented it through a national sense and really taking care of their caregivers through a bunch of different resources.

How can we take that and bring that back over here so that all caregivers feel seen, they feel supported, they feel like somebody's there for them, and we're using what's been established already for decades and decades. It's really going to be helpful in seeing what others are doing, but then also showcasing what we've done and how we can help in different kind of sectors of the world. And that's really exciting and it's really hopeful, I would say. In a world where caregiving can be a really doom and gloom journey, I don't make light of the fact that caregiving could be really hard. I've seen it through. Doing dementia caregiving for a long time, both personally and professionally, and helping people navigate that through veteran caregiving and caregiving of our veterans and what that's like. It can be a really hard journey, but I think knowing this merger is coming, it's really hopeful because it means that we can spread our reach and we can also look at the best practices that have been happening all around the world.

Peter Biello: Well, Leslie Pool, Innovation Manager at the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers. Thank you so much for speaking with me.

Leslie Pool: Thank you, thank you.

Peter Biello: And you can find all of GPB's coverage of caregiving at GPB.org/caregiving.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: The district attorney in South Georgia's Decatur County on Monday dismissed bonds from the city of Bainbridge that residents feared could be used to support a proposed facility to breed monkeys for medical research. The massive plans by the company Safer Human Medicine worry residents concerned about potential environmental, health and quality of life impacts. Three lawsuits are challenging the proposed facility.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: Georgia is getting a team in what's being billed as the nation's first professional cheerleading league. Varsity Spirits Pro Cheerleague promises to pay athletes 18 and older, giving cheerleaders a chance to keep them competing after college. The league is starting with four teams, including Dallas, Miami, Southern California, and Atlanta. The Georgia team is led by Casey Jones and Roger Shonder, founders of the Marietta-based cheerleading program, the Stingray All-Stars.

Caption

Quavo

Credit: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File

Story 10:

Peter Biello: Two ATLiens will play in the MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball game at Truist Park next month as part of Major League Baseball's All-star festivities. Graevo, best known for his work with the rap duo Migos, will participate for his third time. And comedian, actor and entrepreneur from Atlanta, Druski will participate. Druski gained fame on social media with his Coulda Been Records sketches and Instagram lives alongside established celebrities Drake and Kevin Hart. No word on what positions either will be playing on the field. The event is one of several events, beginning the second weekend of July, leading up to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 15th.

And speaking of baseball, Austin Riley hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to deep center field in the 10th inning last night, lifting the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 comeback over the New York Mets. And this follows an embarrassing 10-1 loss to the especially bad Colorado Rockies on Sunday. New York, which leads the NL East, has dropped four in a row for the first time this season. The two teams face off again tonight at Truist Park. Chris Sale is scheduled to get the start for the Braves.

That's a wrap on the podcast today. Thank you so much for listening. Hope you have a great Juneteenth tomorrow. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit GPB.org/news. And if you've got feedback, let us know. The email address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. Subscribe to this podcast. So you won't miss a thing going forward. We publish on weekday afternoons. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening, have a great day.

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