On the Thursday, July 20 version of Georgia As we speak: Some Georgia cities are providing cooling shelters so the homeless can escape the warmth; a historic city sq. in Savannah is one step nearer to getting a brand new title; and two Georgia natives will probably be competing within the girls’s World Cup.
Orlando Montoya: Howdy and welcome to the Georgia As we speak podcast from GPB Information. As we speak is Thursday, July 20. I am Orlando Montoya. On right this moment’s episode, some Georgia cities are providing cooling shelters so the homeless can escape the warmth. A historic city sq. in Savannah, formally named after Vice President John Calhoun, is one step nearer to getting a brand new title. And two Georgia natives will probably be competing within the girls’s World Cup tomorrow evening. These tales and extra are developing on this version of Georgia As we speak.
Story 1:
Orlando Montoya: Warmth advisories are in impact for a lot of Georgia with triple-digit warmth index values anticipated right this moment for individuals experiencing homelessness. Accessing cooling shelters through the hottest components of the day is significant. GPB’s Sofi Gratas has extra.
Sofi Gratas: Temperatures in central Georgia reached near 100 levels this week, however the looks like temperature was hotter. At Dawn, a day heart for individuals experiencing homelessness, director Sister Teresa Sullivan says they’ve already despatched individuals to the ER for signs of heatstroke.
Sister Teresa Sullivan: Folks fear about individuals within the chilly and so they understand that they should get out. However the warmth is simply as intense.
Sofi Gratas: Dawn is considered one of two official cooling shelters in Macon with entry to water, snacks, shade and locations to take a seat inside. Calvin Taylor lives exterior and says what’s been most useful to him?
Calvin Taylor: Having a shower and attending to shade my bald head. Hold it cool.
Sofi Gratas: By doing this stuff and staying hydrated, Taylor hopes to outlive the warmth. For GPB Information, I am Sofi Gratas in Macon.
Story 2:
Orlando Montoya: Greater than 700 bridges throughout Georgia cannot deal with elevated weight limits permitted earlier this yr by state lawmakers. Georgia’s deputy chief engineer instructed members of the State Transportation Board yesterday that indicators posting the brand new restrictions on the bridges will probably be up by September. A brand new regulation permits a weight restrict of 88,000 kilos for vehicles hauling sure commodities. Even earlier than the brand new restrict, transportation officers mentioned greater than 1,000 Georgia bridges couldn’t safely face up to most weights.
Story 3:
Orlando Montoya: A historic city sq. in Savannah, formally named after Vice President John Calhoun is one step nearer to getting a brand new title. As GPB’s Benjamin Payne stories, metropolis officers signaled a transparent favourite to exchange Calhoun, a staunch supporter of slavery.
Benjamin Payne: Of the 14 potential names on the desk, the Savannah Park and Tree Fee this week really helpful 5 to metropolis council, however just one earned the vote of nearly all of members: Susie King Taylor. She was a Black girl born into slavery in close by Liberty County who went on to function a nurse for the Union through the Civil Warfare. A number of members of the general public spoke in favor of Taylor’s nomination on the assembly, together with Rossie Norris.
Rossie Norris: A number of Savannah’s enslaved historical past has been erased from this stunning metropolis, and my ideas are that this might be an incredible technique to give credence to an African-American she-ro.
Benjamin Payne: The following step within the renaming course of will occur on Aug. 3. That is when the historic Website and Monument Fee meets to make its suggestion to metropolis council. For GPB Information, Benjamin Payne in Savannah.
Story 4:
Orlando Montoya: As we speak is the thirtieth anniversary of a hearth that broke out within the press field at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium earlier than a Braves sport. GPB’s Peter Biello has the story.
Peter Biello: Gamers have been taking batting follow when the fireplace broke out. Members of the press evacuated and no person was harm. Chatting with the Behind the Braves podcast, pitcher Tom Glavine says he heard in regards to the fireplace and ran out onto the sphere to see it.
Tom Glavine: And also you search for on the press field and the flames are popping out of the press field window. Sort of — sort of rolling excessive of the facade above it. And it is similar to, “Oh my God, what? What is going on on?”
Peter Biello: A Sterno can used to warmth catered meals ignited the blaze. After it was put out, the sport went on and the Braves beat the Cardinals. Fred McGriff homered in his debut with Atlanta that day and the fireplace was a symbolic turning level for the ’93 Braves. The staff was 9 video games out of first place that July day and ended up ending on prime of the division. For GPB Information, I am Peter Biello.
Story 5:
Orlando Montoya: The nation’s 988 psychological well being helpline is a yr previous this month. So why is Georgia solely now selling it? As a result of relating to reaching these experiencing a psychological well being disaster, 988 would possibly work too properly. GPB’s Ellen Eldridge stories.
Ellen Eldridge: When somebody begins choking in a restaurant, individuals seize their telephones and name 911. They enter the identical three digit quantity when their kitchen catches fireplace.
911 Dispatcher: Cobb County 911. What is the location of your emergency?
Ellen Eldridge: Everyone knows 911 can save a life in an emergency. However now, so can 988. It is the easy-to-remember quantity for the suicide in disaster lifeline. Anybody wherever in the US experiencing a psychological well being disaster can name 988 and speak to a educated psychological well being counselor. If mandatory, somebody may be dispatched to assist in individual. The Georgia Division of Behavioral Well being and Developmental Disabilities led the state’s rollout of 988 right here. DBHDD’s Anna Bourque spoke on the Nationwide Alliance on Psychological Sickness Convention in Atlanta and instructed attendees the Hotline rollout final yr made her nervous as a result of name quantity was anticipated to double.
Anna Bourque: Now they stepped again final yr and mentioned, “Wait, wait, wait, we’re not going to promote.” We’re not going to promote as a result of if we give that quantity throughout all states, many states will actually fail.
Ellen Eldridge: The infrastructure was not the issue. The nationwide 10-digit suicide hotline was already related to the state’s 24 hour disaster and entry line, or G-CAL.
Anna Bourque: Our downside is workforce scarcity. I hold pointing to you for “workforce scarcity.” These are very arduous to employees and keep.
Ellen Eldridge: The anticipated enhance in name quantity additionally meant extra cell models have been wanted to take individuals to disaster facilities. It is an issue nationwide. Within the first yr, 5 million individuals throughout the nation reached out to 988. Even with out selling it, the numbers went up. However Bourque says thus far, Georgia has been capable of sustain. The state dispatched 239 cell disaster models in January. That is out of practically 26,000 calls to 988 and GCAL mixed.
Cell Response Unit Employee: So we’re going to see a 23-year-old African-American male who presents with some suicidal ideation.
Ellen Eldridge: These aren’t ambulance or EMS staff. In a video supplied by the DBHDD, licensed peer specialist Elvin Gittens lately responded to a disaster name from a 23-year-old man susceptible to suicide.
Elvin Gittens: It is at all times a plus once they name for themselves. That method they’re — they’re extra apt to be open to obtain companies and to get the assistance that they could want.
Ellen Eldridge: The vehicles aren’t marked and so they do not use flashing lights. The truth that somebody could not present up for 2 or extra hours means emergency conditions nonetheless want 911.
Cell Response Unit Employee: There is a complainant’s daughter who’s chopping her arm.
Ellen Eldridge: Kayla Bergeron works with a restoration neighborhood group in Forsyth County. She is aware of about 988, however she is aware of when to name 911.
Kayla Bergeron: Any person walked on the street and mentioned he was going to kill himself proper then and there.
Ellen Eldridge: She says individuals usually do not know who to name for assist. And that is why elevating consciousness of 988 is as essential as lowering the disgrace and guilt related to psychological sickness. Bourque says DBHDD is rolling out billboards and a social media marketing campaign to ensure everybody is aware of they’ll name 988. For GPB Information. I am Ellen Eldridge.
Orlando Montoya: Should you or somebody is experiencing a psychological well being disaster, please name, textual content or chat with the Suicide and Disaster Lifeline at 988.
Story 6:
Orlando Montoya: Officers in South Georgia’s Turner County plan to rededicate one of many area’s most iconic roadside points of interest tonight. The large peanut in Ashburn was destroyed in 2018 by Hurricane Michael. It is the official state monument for Georgia’s official state crop. Ashley Miller of the native Chamber of Commerce says it is also the world’s largest peanut.
Ashley Miller: You’ll at all times see it in your — in your drive house and also you knew you have been near house while you noticed the massive peanut. To have it lacking was — was heartbreaking. However now we’re again up! So we’re actual excited.
Orlando Montoya: The 8-foot monument on a 10-foot base was fully rebuilt at a price of about $70,000, most of it from the Georgia Division of Agriculture. It seems in numerous images and selfies of people that stopped for an image of it whereas they’re driving alongside a rural stretch of Interstate 75. Miller says Turner County leads the state in peanut manufacturing per capita. The rededication will characteristic peanuts and Coca-Cola.
Story 7:
Orlando Montoya: When the U.S. Girls’s Nationwide Soccer staff begins group stage play within the girls’s World Cup tomorrow evening, family and friends members of two Georgia gamers will probably be watching intently. Defender Kelly O’Hara from Fayetteville is making her fourth look within the Girls’s World Cup. And defender Emily Sonnett from Marietta is on the event for a second time. The U.S. is scheduled to play Vietnam in a sport to be televised on Fox.
And that is it for right this moment’s version of Georgia As we speak. If you would like to study extra about thesestories, go to our web site, GPB.org/information. That web page is stored consistently up to date with information from round Georgia. If you would like to ship us suggestions, we might love to listen to that from you. Tell us what you assume and ship us your story solutions as properly. Ship that to [email protected]. And naturally, hit the subscribe button so that you at all times keep present with us in your feed. I am Orlando Montoya. Thanks for listening to Georgia As we speak. I am going to speak to you tomorrow.
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For extra on these tales and extra, go to GPB.org/information