The Brief from WABE

Utility officials move to lower electricity prices for Georgia customers; what's at stake in the primary race for Georgia Lieutenant Governor; and Republicans want to question Stacey Abrams over her 2018 gubernatorial campaign See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Georgia now has a need-based scholarship for students attending Georgia’s public colleges and universities; Two of the passengers from a cruise ship where some people have gotten sick and died from hantavirus are being transferred to Atlanta; The Atlanta-area man whose more than year-long detention in immigration facilities rose to the notice of members of Congress says he's focused now on rebuilding. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An Atlanta-based federal appeals court is the latest to reject Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s new mandatory detention practice; DeKalb County says it is building a new park project at Intrenchment Creek Park, years after a controversial land swap deal; and Atlanta-based poet Amy Pence's genre-bending debut novel explores themes of consciousness, trauma and connection through one young woman's relationship with a mysterious yellow blob. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A gallon of premium gas in Georgia is now averaging nearly five dollars a gallon according to motoring group AAA; State health officials say they are closely monitoring two passengers who have returned to Georgia after being aboard the cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak; Atlanta fiber artist Honey Pierre is being celebrated twice over, with a solo show now open at One Contemporary Gallery, and a just-announced Emerging Artist Award from the City of Atlanta. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CNN founder Ted Turner, a consummate salesman who changed how much of the world consumes news, has died; Governor Brian Kemp signed legislation regulating how health insurance companies use artificial intelligence in making patient decisions; A local non-profit is expanding a mentorship program for high school and college students to prepare them for high paying tech careers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fulton County is pushing back on federal efforts to obtain the personal information of over 3000 election workers, plus volunteers, who worked on November 2020 elections; Georgia Power wants to lower the rate it charges for fuel; This weekend, Atlanta Ballet opens the East Coast premiere of “Frida,” a full-length narrative ballet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Georgia abortion-rights advocates are among the national voices urging the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve access to abortion medication by mail after a flurry of back and forth court rulings; A disabled Georgia man has been released after more than a year in immigration detention; One of the few Black teachers ever hired by a south Georgia school district claims she was the victim of racial harassment. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fire crews are making gains on two large wildfires in South Georgia; Georgia Governor Brian Kemp says he will not delay the May 19th party primaries to allow for a special session to redraw congressional and state legislative lines; The race for the Republican and Democratic nominations to replace retiring Congressman Barry Loudermilk continue to focus on President Donald Trump and his policies. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Man claims he lost fingers, lower legs after Fulton County Jail failed to give him antibiotics; A look at the candidates for Georgia Secretary of State; and for the most part, candidates for the Georgia Public Service Commission agree on one issue--even across party lines. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wildfires continue to burn across South Georgia; Georgia has a new way to track voting; and how the Atlanta region became the number one market for 'build to rent' homes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Georgia officials say crews have made significant progress on two large devastating wildfires in the Southeast part of the state; Georgia U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock is calling on Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to bring the bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security up for a vote; Georgia's Democratic and Republican candidates for governor faced off in the Atlanta Press Club debates. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Southeast Georgia got some much-needed rainfall over the weekend – but not nearly enough to put out the tens of thousands of acres ablaze from two wildfires; In-person, early voting is now underway in Georgia for the May 19th primary election; and as a new generation witnesses astronauts travel to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, we look at how the Fernbank Science Center contributed to the Apollo missions of the 1960s. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Federal officials are stepping in to help as wildfires rage in Southeast Georgia; Members of Georgia's congressional delegation are supporting a resolution that would require the Trump Administration to extend temporary legal protections for Haitian migrants; A Black community founded by freed enslaved people after the Civil War is now an official historic district in the city of Decatur. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Firefighters in Georgia are working to contain a wildfire that has destroyed 87 homes so far; State officials warn some populations may be at higher risk for smoke-related health impacts from the wildfires; WABE's climate reporter Emily Jones reports from Brantley County, near one of the ongoing wildfires. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Longtime Georgia Congressman David Scott has died at the age of 80; Governor Brian Kemp has declared a state of emergency for 91 counties as wildfires rage across South Georgia; The Trump administration wants to allow new roads to be built on millions of acres of forest--acres where that hasn't been allowed for decades. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Baby, it's dry outside; Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, part of the CDC, meet in Atlanta; and a journey inside Inman Park's 'tree house.' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Georgia river finds itself on list of most endangered; Why your primary ballot might have some unusual questions; and gas prices fall a smidge, but likley not for long. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the backlog of immigration cases in Georgia grows while the Trump Administration shuffles judges around, members of Congress are trying to separate the courts from political influence; This last winter and spring were the driest in Georgia's recorded history according to federal records; and the director of water strategy at the Metro Atlanta Chamber places Georgia's current drought conditions in context. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Donald Trump nominates Erica Schwartz to lead the CDC; State lawmakers are running out of time to choose a new way for Georgians to vote; and Fulton Commission approves $1.3-billion to spruce up Atlanta's jail, among other projects. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ossoff co-sponsors Senate bill to give local cities agency over ICE immigration detention centers; Sonny Perdue retires; and Hartsfield-Jackson keeps 'world's busiest' designation for another year--and it isn't even close (despite how Chicago's O'Hare tries to spin it) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.