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Georgia Today: Charges dropped for arrested journalist.; cursive writing; and a firefighter calendar
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On the Thursday June 26th edition of Georgia Today: Charges have been dropped for the journalist arrested while covering a recent protest; Cursive writing is coming back to Georgia public schools; And a look behind the scenes at this year's Macon-Bibb County Firefighter calendar.
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here, we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, charges have been dropped for the journalist arrested while covering a recent protest. Cursive writing is coming back to Georgia public schools and we'll take a look behind the scenes at this year's Macon-Bibb County firefighter calendar.
Shane Edwards: 75 firefighters have competed for this calendar and only 36, of course, were selected. Firefighters love a competition, a good competition.
Peter Biello: Today is Thursday, June 26. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today.
Story 1:
Peter Biello: A Metro Atlanta prosecutor has dropped charges against a Salvadoran journalist who was arrested while covering a protest on ICE raids earlier this month. Mario Guevara was arrested on charges of unlawful assembly and obstructing law enforcement on June 14. Dekalb County Solicitor General said yesterday that the evidence, including the arrest video, shows Guevara generally complied with officers and doesn't support prosecution. He remains in ICE custody, facing possible deportation. Because the Department of Homeland Security says he entered the country illegally in 2004.
Peter Biello: Lightning is one of the leading causes of weather deaths in the United States, according to the National Weather Service. GPB's Chase McGee reports summer is the busiest time of year for lightning in Georgia.
Chase McGee: Back in April, a father and son in Columbus were killed by a falling tree when lightning struck it on a golf course. Direct lightning strikes only make up about 5% of all injuries and fatalities. You're more likely to be indirectly injured. Chris Vagasky is a meteorologist and member of the National Lightning Safety Council. Each year, the council holds National Lightning Awareness Week in order to educate the
Chris Vagasky: The simple rule of lightning safety is there is no safe place outside during a thunderstorm.
Chase McGee: He says education on safety has led to a decline in fatalities as part of their two-decade effort. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee.
Story 3:
Peter Biello: Videos and photos of what appears to be a meteor streaking across the sky are appearing in social media feeds across Georgia this afternoon. Some local officials have confirmed the fireball sighting around noon today. A forecaster at the National Weather Service in Peachtree City says the office has received a heavy volume of calls about the possible meteor. Some of those calls also reported a loud boom or shaking of windows in areas south of Atlanta. The National Weather Service office in Charleston says a lightning detection system indicated a streak in a cloudless sky over the North Carolina-Virginia border. Fireball sightings are being reported in several southeastern states, none of them with injuries.
Story 4:
Peter Biello: International travelers returning to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will use a new streamlined system as they pass through customs, GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.
Sarah Kallis: The Enhanced Passenger Processing System, or EPP, captures photos of travelers going through customs on a tablet and matches them with facial recognition technology instead of requiring them to pull out their passports. Customs and Border Protection Port Director Clay Thomas says wait times are down 22% in the six weeks since the program began.
Clay Thomas: With the capability of eliminating the administrative burden, it allows that officer to really engage with the passenger to determine the true intent of their arrival today and maybe where they have been throughout their travel.
Sarah Kallis: Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is one of seven airports around the country that has implemented EPP. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis at the Atlanta Airport.
Story 5:
Peter Biello: A long-awaited product will once again hit the mailboxes of Macon Bibb County residents this year, a calendar featuring the county's best-looking firefighters. GPB's Sofi Gratas takes us behind the scenes with this audio postcard from a photo shoot for the calendar, which benefits the local hospital as the Middle Georgia Fire Department prepares for its release.
Sofi Gratas: Off the Interstate 75 exit toward Perry through a security gate and down a long gravel road is what looks like a town ravaged by natural disasters. There photographer Brittany Stevens is setting up at the base of a pile of concrete rubble standing above a shirtless and sweaty fireman.
Brittany Stevens: Get that, get that, Get that side show.
Sofi Gratas: It's been seven years since she got the call for this job, photographing the middle Georgia firefighter's calendar.
Brittany Stevens: You know, I do family style sessions and stuff like that and then I'm, you know, doing a calendar and don't know what I'm doing, but we made it work. It's a lot of hype this time I feel like, so it's pretty cool.
Shane Edwards: You good? I'll get him.
Sofi Gratas: County-wide collaboration was needed to get the calendar back up and running, says Fire Chief Shane Edwards.
Shane Edwards: So where we are today is we are at the Guardian Center down in Perry, Georgia. We did do a calendar seven years ago that we were able to utilize the Guardian Center at the same time. However, this time they want to make it bigger and better. So we've got some really nice scenes that are coming in now. This could be a little bit different. So a scene can be anything from a building collapse. It may be cars, for example, like a parking garage collapse. Could be car strapped under something like that. So it's all scenes that're set up, manmade, artificial for our calendar.
Sofi Gratas: The calendars will sell for $20 a piece.
Shane Edwards: The calendar is really about raising money for children in our community who are under some type of medical care, some medical needs and things like that. The other side of it is fire service is a very tight knit brotherhood and sisterhood. Of course there's water right here, but if y'all want to come in right here. Seventy-five firefighters have competed for this calendar and only 36 of course were selected. Firefighters love a competition, a good competition.
Brittany Stevens: What were you all doing?
Shane Edwards: Just doing a few exercises trying to get some blood flow into the muscles and get a bump. So the push-ups, curls, a little bit of shoulders, make sure your muscles round.
Roberto Jose-Jooks: I'm Roberto Jose-Jooks at station number 6, C-Shift. I've been on for 25 years. Still love it. Over the years I've known this is my third time.
Sofi Gratas: Third time.
Roberto Jose-Jooks: Yeah, we did it a couple of years ago when I first come on. I think 2005 and 2008. I say I do it for a good cause and get in shape. We have to be fit to do this job, right? So this is our time to shine and let people know you have to get in to shape to do his job. Because if I gotta save you, I gotta be able to carry you, I pull you, or whatever it takes, right. And same for what I got. If we go down, they gotta be be able carry me.
Brittany Stevens: Don't go crazy in here, we've got...
Sofi Gratas: When the last firefighter calendar came out, social media was in its infancy. Now posts about the calendar have gone semi-viral. Content specialist for Bibb County, Emily Hopkins, keeps an eye on the comments.
Emily Hopkins: I will say, after they get over their looks, they are proud to be supporting the cause. I don't know exactly how many comments there's been, I mean we usually maybe get 50 likes on a post and now we have 12,000, so it's a pretty significant difference.
Sofi Gratas: Those likes have since gone up.
Shane Edwards: She wants that one.
Roberto Jose-Jooks: Oh, you want that one? Okay. Okay, I think I know what to do. Move to Georgia, light a fire.
Shane Edwards: It's fun, we're having a good time, we are making the counter and there's a lot of muscles and stuff being built up. But at the end of the day when that bell hits, I know that my firefighters can perform on the scene of these accident scenes. They structure fire calls and that's what truly makes a difference at the ending of the night.
Peter Biello: You just heard from Brittany Stevens, Macon Bibb Fire Chief Shane Edwards, Roberto Jose-Jooks, Emily Hopkins, and others behind the production of the Macon firefighter calendar. Lenka Anuraj contributed to the story.
Story 6:
Peter Biello: Georgia's U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have re-introduced legislation to make Atlanta's West Hunter Street Baptist Church a national historic site. It would honor the late civil rights leader Ralph David Abernathy Sr., who served as pastor of the church for nearly three decades. Abernothy was a close friend of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And co-founded the Atlanta-based Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The bill received bipartisan backing in 2023, but it didn't reach the full Senate for a vote.
Story 7:
Peter Biello: Cursive writing is coming back to Georgia schools. New changes to the standards for English language arts will require students to learn cursive in elementary schools starting this fall. The skill had seemingly fallen out of favor with the increased use of laptops and touchscreen devices. The Department of Education says cursive strengthens fine motor skills, improves literacy, and connects students to historical documents in their original form.
Story 8:
Peter Biello: In sports, Ronald Acuna Jr. says he'll participate in this year's Home Run Derby. The Home Run Derby is scheduled for Monday, July 14th at Truist Park. Major League Baseball's all-star game is the following day. The star right fielder for the Braves has been putting up spectacular numbers since returning to the lineup after an injury kept him sidelined for nearly a year. He's had nine home runs in 30 games this year and is batting 383. The Braves take on the New York Mets tonight to close out the four game series, which they now lead two games to one. Then the Braves return home tomorrow to start a three-game series against the Phillies.
Story 9:
Peter Biello: This final note, before we wrap up the podcast today, congrats to Kinsley Stevens, a recent Dalton High School graduate who made her Broadway debut Monday at the Jimmy Awards. The Jimmy Awards recognize outstanding high school theater talent. Stevens, along with fellow Dalton high graduate Hayden Po represented the Georgia High School Musical Theater Awards. Kinsley Stevens did not win this year's Jimmy Awards, but she advanced to the top four finalists for best actress in a national program that included more than 2,300 schools across the country. Among the performances she gave... A rendition of "I Cain't Say No" from Oklahoma!
MUSIC: Kinsley Stevens performs "I Cain't Say No" from Oklahoma!
Peter Biello: Congrats to Kinsley Stevens and Dalton High School for this incredible accomplishment.
And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. Thank you so much for tuning in. More stories are available anytime at GPB.org/news. That's where you'll also find updates to any of the stories you heard on the podcast today. If you wish you heard something on this podcast but didn't, maybe you know of something going on in your community, let us know about it. The email address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. That's also where you can send feedback. Again, GeorgiaToday@GPB.org, make sure you subscribe to this podcast because we will be back in your feed tomorrow afternoon. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening.
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For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news
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