Section Branding
Header Content
Georgia Today: Federal funding freeze for education; Women's sports bar; New Alzheimer's medication
Primary Content
On the Monday, July 7 edition of Georgia Today: A federal freeze of education funding impacts schools across Georgia; Georgia's first-ever women's sports bar opens its doors; and an Atlanta man is one of the first to be treated with a new medication for Alzheimer's disease.
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here, we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, a federal freeze of education funding impacts schools across Georgia. Georgia's first-ever women's sports bar opens its doors and an Atlanta man is one of the first to be treated with a new medication for Alzheimer's disease.
George King: I didn't expect to feel better, I expect not to feel worse. I do feel more focused than when I was diagnosed.
Peter Biello: Today is Monday, July 7. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today.
Story 1:
Peter Biello: The Georgia Department of Education is calling on the federal government to send promised federal funds for schools and after-school programs, GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.
Sarah Kallis: State School Superintendent Richard Woods said in a written statement that already-approved federal funds need to be released to the states so that, quote, "we can ensure the success of our students." After-school providers in Georgia have not received the $41 million promised to them in federal grants after the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, or CLCC grant, was frozen by the federal Department of Education. States typically receive funding on July 1. The Trump administration has proposed ending the grant altogether for 2026, as it continues to scale back the U.S. Department of Education. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis.
Story 2:
Peter Biello: Two leading Democrats in Georgia's 2026 governor's race report collecting $1.1 million each in early fundraising. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says she loaned her campaign $200,000 and collected $900,000 from donors. State Sen. Jason Estevez says almost all his money came from donors. The reporting period covers Feb. 1 through June 30. Both totals surpass early Democratic fundraising in recent governor's races. A Democrat hasn't won a governor's race in Georgia since Roy Barnes in 1998. Estevez is emphasizing support from fellow Democrats, while Bottoms highlights her name recognition and popularity as key advantages.
Story 3:
Peter Biello: Early voting in a Democratic runoff for a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission began today. Keisha Sean Waites, and Peter Hubbard are vying for the party's nomination for the District 3 seat on the five-member regulatory commission. There will be one week of early voting starting today. The election is July 15. Low turnout is expected as only 2.5% of voters turned out in the June primary.
Story 4:
Peter Biello: Residents of an Atlanta homeless camp have until Thursday to find a new place to live after the city announced a coming sweep. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports advocates are trying to negotiate.
Amanda Andrews: Old Wheat Street residents are still grieving the death of Cornelius Taylor, who was killed by heavy equipment during a sweep in January. Advocates and remaining residents submitted an alternative housing proposal to the city. They say the city did not respond. Timothy Franzen is part of the Cornelius Taylor Coalition advocating for the unhoused. He says Old Wheat Street residents lost trust in the city.
Timothy Franzen: What we have is this whack-a-mole approach of destroying an encampment, putting people into temporary housing only to see them back in the street days or weeks later with less property and more desperate.
Amanda Andrews: The city says it's reached out to all the residents of the encampment to offer housing options. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.
Story 5:
Peter Biello: The number of people living without homes in Augusta has more than doubled in the past year to nearly 1,100. That's according to a January count made public last month. Naomi Stanton of Gap Ministries works closely with a shelter that has five family rooms. She attributes the shocking numbers partly to Hurricane Helene.
Naomi Stanton: All five of those rooms have consistently been full for several months. And again, a lot of that has to do with what we experienced Sept. 27.
Peter Biello: She also says it has to do with more accurate counting and larger economic concerns.
Story 6:
Peter Biello: A South Korean battery recycler is the latest company to cancel plans to invest in Georgia as the federal government pulls back on support for clean energy. Sung-il Recycling Park told state officials in 2022 that it planned to build a $37 million facility to employ about 100 workers in Northeast Georgia's Stevens County. Local officials say the company told them the project was stalled in April, months before President Trump's policy-setting budget bill was signed into law last week. The head of the local development authority says the agency is now in the process of buying back the land in an industrial park in Taccoa and is confident the site will attract a future investor.
Story 7:
Peter Biello: Gov. Brian Kemp has tapped the state's chief medical officer to lead the Georgia Department of Community Health. Former Bainbridge state senator, Dr. Dean Burke, practiced obstetrics and gynecology for 27 years. Kemp said today he'll succeed Russell Carlson as DCH commissioner, overseeing the agency that runs Georgia Medicaid and Peach Care for Kids, among other programs. Carlson is leaving state government for a position in the private sector.
Story 8:
Peter Biello: An Atlanta man is among the first being treated with a new medication designed to slow the progression of Alzheimer's. GPB's Ellen Eldridge reports.
Ellen Eldridge: 78-Year-old George King was diagnosed with Alzheimer's 18 months ago, but he says his symptoms have improved since he started taking transfusions of Leqembi nearly a year ago. Alzheimer's is a degenerative disease of dementia. King says other than short-term memory problems, he feels cognitively sharper.
George King: I don't — didn't expect to feel better, I expect not to feel worse. So, and — what I have feel, I must say, I do feel more focused than when I was diagnosed.
Ellen Eldridge: King says he believes his continued travel and new experiences are also helping his brain fight decline. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.
Story 9:
Peter Biello: The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has launched a pilot program to put whole sounder feral hog traps in the hands of those who are already killing them in large numbers. A sounder is a family group of hogs. Charlie Killmaster is the state deer biologist with Georgia DNR. He says these traps can catch whole sounders at once. He says they'll give away five whole sounder traps each quarter for the next year.
Charlie Killmaster: And it's the people that are doing the most work are the most eligible to win them, the more likely to win these traps. And so what we're doing is we're putting, you know, quality equipment in the hands of the people that are willing to do the work.
Peter Biello: Georgia DNR says feral hogs are an invasive species that can cause extensive damage to native flora and fauna, agricultural crops, livestock, forest regeneration and the environment. The first window for killing these hogs closes on Sept. 30. Reporting rules are at georgiawildlife.com.
Story 10:
Peter Biello: Two fishermen in Southeast Georgia's Glynn County managed to catch a 400-pound fish last month off the coast of St. Simons Island, GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.
Benjamin Payne: When Robert Turybury and his friend Seth Silverstein went out on a fishing trip, their plan was to haul in a shark. They dispatched a drone to drop their bait some 300 yards from the shore, and as Silverstein recalls —
Seth Silverstein: After about an hour, that reel took off and the fun began.
Benjamin Payne: Turybury reeled in the line all by himself with no motorized assistance.
Robert Turybury: It's just basically straight work. I haven't ever experienced anything that has the strength like that does.
Benjamin Payne: The goliath grouper is a federally protected species, so Turybury and Silverstein made sure to take a photo with the 400-pound fish while it was still in the water and then release it. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne.
Story 11:
Peter Biello: An Atlanta bar owner has opened Georgia's first ever women's sports bar. Jolene Jolene, named after the Dolly Parton song, shows women's sports on five screens. Customers can expect the usual sports bar fare, burgers, wings, and alcohol, while watching some of the city's women's sport teams, including the WNBA's Atlanta Dream and pro volleyball's Atlanta Vibe. Owner Chelsea Fishman is a lifelong soccer player whose college athletic career led to a job in marketing at a women's sports apparel company.
Chelsea Fishman: I love to watch sports with other people and you know it's fun to go to bars and it's you know for like college football games and like that kind of thing and I wanted to have that same kind of experience for the women's sports that I like to watch but it was hard to find that.
Peter Biello: Jolene Jolene is partly inspired by a similar bar in Portland, Ore., The Sports Bra. The new bar takes over a space formerly occupied by an Asian restaurant in Pullman Yards, a historic rail depot transformed into an arts and entertainment complex.
Story 12:
Peter Biello: And Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. Has been named a starter for next week's all-star game at Truist Park. It'll be his fifth All-Stars start. Braves first baseman Matt Olson has been name as a reserve infielder. And pitcher Chris Sale was named an All-Star as a player-elected pick. It'll his ninth All-Star game. Atlanta will play host to the best players in baseball on Tuesday of next week for the first All-Star Game in Georgia since July of 2000.
And that is a wrap on this edition of Georgia Today. We hope you had a great Fourth of July weekend. If you wanna learn more about any of these stories, check out GPB.org/news. We're always posting new stories there. And remember to subscribe to this podcast because we're gonna be back in your podcast feed tomorrow afternoon with all the top stories from Georgia. And if there's something we're missing, something we should know about, please let us know. We love news tips. Send them to GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
---
For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news
Secondary Content
Author
