A few years ago, Ashley Cooper-Heath’s septic tank started leaking into her yard. She needs a ride-on lawnmower because she’s in a wheelchair, and the mower got mired in the wet spot.

“I got stuck right in the middle of the septic,” she said. “So I can't get off the lawnmower because I'm in a wheelchair, so I was kind of sitting up there just going, oh, well, this stinks. No pun intended.”

She had to wait for a neighbor to come by with a golf cart to help her out. But Cooper-Heath still couldn’t replace the leaky septic tank.

“We actually had somebody come out and give us an estimate and it was pricey,” she said. “So we were like, okay, we'll work on it. It just won't be anytime soon.”

“Pricey” as in $10,000 to $15,000.

Read more from Emily Jones and Mary Landers here.

A sign about cleaning voting machines greets voters at the Fulton County Government Center polling place. STEPHEN FOWLER | GPB NEWS

Here’s What State And Local Officials Are Doing To Prevent Coronavirus At The Polls

From cleaning touchscreen machines to encouraging absentee voting, recent guidance shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Georgia Secretary of State’s office seeks to minimize the risk of coronavirus at polling places.

Read more from Stephen Fowler here.

Georgia Power's Plant Scherer GRANT BLANKENSHIP / GPB NEWS

Some Georgia Coal Ash Efforts Survive Legislative Midpoint

Several bills relating to the regulation of coal ash in Georgia made it through crossover day in the Georgia legislature and may still become law. But those bills did not include the high profile “lined storage bills” supported by the people of Juliette who live next door to one of the largest coal-burning power plants in the country.

Read more from Grant Blankenship here.

For these stories and more, visit gpbnews.org.