On the Monday, Sept. 30 episode of Georgia Today: Georgia's abortion law has been struck down; a chemical fire in Rockdale County has residents sheltering in place; President Jimmy Carter's grandson, Jason Carter, joins the podcast in celebration of 100 years of Jimmy Carter.

GA Today Podcast

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, Sept. 30. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, Georgia's abortion law is struck down. Residents of Rockdale County have been told to shelter in place after a fire at a chemical plant. And we'll talk to Jason Carter, the grandson of Jimmy Carter, as the former president gets ready to make history tomorrow. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1

Peter Biello: A judge has struck down Georgia's abortion law, which took effect two years ago and effectively prohibited abortions beyond about six weeks of pregnancy. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his order that liberty in Georgia includes the "power of a woman to control her own body." When the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022 and ended a national right to an abortion, it opened the door for state bans. Fourteen states now bar abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Georgia was one of four where the bands kicked in after about the first six weeks of pregnancy, which is often before women realize they're pregnant. McBurney wrote that his ruling means the law in the state returns to what it was before the law was passed in 2019.

Some residents east of Atlanta were evacuated and others told to shelter in place after a fire at a chemical plant.

Caption

Some residents east of Atlanta were evacuated and others told to shelter in place after a fire at a chemical plant.

Credit: Rockdale County via X

Story 2

Peter Biello: More than 90,000 residents in metro Atlanta's Rockdale County have been told to shelter in place a day after a chemical plant fire sent a massive plume of dark smoke high into the sky. A haze and chemical smell spread today over Atlanta. Mayor Andre Dickens says officials are waiting for more guidance from state and federal environmental officials.

Andre Dickens: It's not at exceeding levels — it's not at levels that exceeds where humans can deal with it. But those that are immune — immune challenged, those that have conditions may want to stay indoors or wear a mask out of precaution.

Peter Biello: Authorities say chlorine was detected in the air from the fire at the Biolab plant in Conyers. Some school districts in the area have canceled outdoor games this afternoon. Rockdale County's fire chief says a sprinkler had malfunctioned at the plant on Sunday morning. No injuries were reported.

Story 3

Peter Biello: Two controversial new rules passed by the Georgia State Election board are set to face their first test in court and tomorrow will go to a bench trial, meaning a judge, not a jury, will decide the case. The board's Republican majority approved the rules last month after being lauded by former President Donald Trump as "pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory." Democrats are challenging the rules, saying they could be used to, quote, "upend the legal process for certifying the state's election results.".

Story 4

Peter Biello: Georgia Power and Georgia EMCs say half-a-million electric customers were without power as of this afternoon, days after Hurricane Helene ripped across the state. Georgia Power calls the storm the most destructive hurricane in its history. It says Helene took down more than 5,000 power poles and the equivalent of more than 400 miles of wire. Georgia Electric Membership Cooperation representing the state's EMCs says the hardest-hit areas could be without power for a week or more.

Story 5

Peter Biello: A month of tragedies in Georgia is expected to push back this year's high school football playoffs. The Georgia High School Association's Dr. Robin Hines and Dr. Tim Scott told GPB's Football Fridays podcast today that schools will be able to use a preplanned week without games in late November to catch up from games canceled because of Hurricane Helene and the Apalachee High School shooting.

Dr. Robin Hines: But most importantly, it's going to give additional options for those people, like, for instance, down in Valdosta who are hurting so badly. And talking with those people, Danny Redshaw, the AD down there — you know, he's called me every day and — and he doesn't know what to do. They don't know what to do. He said, "Right now, we're just in survival mode." And in the way Tim's thinking about this thing is the right way to help those people as much as we possibly can.

Jon Nelson: Okay. So, Dr. Scott, break this down for me. So the fortunate idea of coming into this season of having that Thanksgiving bye week has turned into something fortunate that you've got as a vehicle now to give folks that leeway to finish that football schedule — and even other sports as well, because it's not just football that's affected here — but football being the, the big, the big marquee event here, you now have that leeway available.

Dr. Tim Scott: Absolutely. That's — that's just what we're looking at. Not just football, but we have, you know, girls flag football, softball, volleyball, cross-country. I mean, we've got several activities that we're looking at, all of them. And I, I think that having that opportunity to push back to give our schools support and — but not just to give our schools more support, but each region of the state gets the opportunity to choose "how can we best use this time to help our community and help ourselves as we move forward?"

Peter Biello: That was the GHSA's doctors Robin Hines and Tim Scott along with GPB's Jon Nelson. According to that conversation, the start of the football playoffs will be pushed back from Nov. 8 to 15, while the state championships in Atlanta will remain from Dec. 16 to 18. A final decision is expected to be announced tomorrow. You can hear the entire conversation on the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast at gpb.org/podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Shaday Collins balances bottled water on her head for a miles long walk back home from one of the Augusta distribution sites.

Caption

Shaday Collins balances bottled water on her head for a miles-long walk back home from an Augusta distribution site aiding residents after damage wrought by Hurricane Helene, Sept. 30, 2024.

Credit: Grant Blankenship / GPB News

Story 6

Peter Biello: The pace of recovery from Hurricane Helene in Georgia is only beginning to match the human need and hard hit communities like Valdosta. The situation is similar in Augusta, where GPB's Grant Blankenship reports.

Grant Blankenship: By Monday morning, Augusta was in the second day of having no city water, so firefighters and volunteers handed out bottled water at a handful of spots around town.

Unknown: Thank you so much.

Grant Blankenship: Most people put the water in their cars. Not Shaday Collins.

Shaday Collins: We ain't got no car. So right now we just got to make it — make it do what we do. What we can.

Grant Blankenship: She says she's grateful for the help. But into Day 4 after Helene, she says she's struggling, like now, walking for miles, carrying this water on top of her head.

Shaday Collins: We're running out of candles, running out of batteries. Everybody right now is kind of in survival mode because everything is very limited.

Grant Blankenship: That includes food. A lot of that in her refrigerator has spoiled. Collins will walk through Tyrone Hill's neighborhood around east Boundary Street before she makes it home.

Tyrone Hill: Things down there kind of desperate. All our stores down there have been looted and it's not even no food in the community.

Grant Blankenship: The Dollar General was emptied. It's boarded up. The gas station around the corner was emptied last night, too, but the owner is open again. State officials say the National Guard is in the city. Hill's not seen them yet.

Tyrone Hill: There ain't no National Guard out and it's not in — at least not in my community where I live at.

Grant Blankenship: Help is coming. During an Augusta press conference with Gov. Brian Kemp, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency said it's opening 13 more food and water distribution sites around Augusta. Their locations will be listed on the GEMA website. Meanwhile, Georgia Power says it could be Saturday before the power is back on. For GPB News. I'm Grant Blankenship in Augusta.

Story 7

Peter Biello: Former president and now candidate Donald Trump visited Valdosta today to see the damage done by Hurricane Helene and talk about relief efforts. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: Trump spoke in front of a furniture store that was ravaged by hurricane winds. An entire wall of the building was torn off and bricks littered the ground around it. Trump said he delivered gasoline, water and food to Valdosta to help with relief efforts from Hurricane Helene.

Donald Trump: And we'll be back and we'll be back again soon. And we'll continue to help until you're bigger — I say bigger, better, stronger than ever before. But again, you can't ever