Georgia Focus

Distracted Driving Awareness Month Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Director Allen Poole and Lt. Maurice Raines from Georgia State Patrol discuss the now 3-year old Hands-Free law and continuing efforts to eliminate distracted driving in the state.

Mattie’s Call is an emergency missing alert for disabled or elderly persons. Established by the Georgia General Assembly in 2006, the alert can be activated by local law enforcement. Mattie’s Call is named in honor of Mattie Moore who went missing from her home in Atlanta in April 2004. Kim Franklin from the Georgia Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, Cristi Moore, granddaughter of Mattie Moor...

Guest Grainne Owen founded Curing Kids Cancer in 2005 in order to fund research to find a cure for childhood cancer. Since then Curing Kids Cancer has raised millions for pediatric cancer research and treatment, funding 1.5 million in research awards in 2020 alone. Dr. Stephen Grupp discusses the latest developments in the fight against childhood cancer.

April 5-11 is National Crime Victims Week. Marsy’s Law, passed in GA in 2018, seeks to give crime victims meaningful and enforceable constitutional rights equal to the rights of the accused. Program guests are Rita Davis-Cannon, Director of Victim Services Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, Aisha Ford, Victims Compensation Division Director of the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Coun...

Jerry Smith and Dennis Dorman, have biked thousands of miles together all over the world. For over a decade their travels have been to help charities fight hunger. In April they will begin a cycling trip up the Atlantic coast to raise funds for Mary’s Meals, an organization that provides one hot meal a day to almost 2 million children worldwide.

The Georgia Ag Experience is a Mobile Classroom Powered by the Georgia Foundation for Agriculture is a unique STEM-based educational program that invites students across Georgia to explore the vast opportunities in agriculture in a 36-foot trailer turned classroom that goes on the road to elementary schools and community organizations throughout the state. Lily Baucom, Executive Director of the Ge...

Alzheimer’s Association 150,000 Georgians age 65 an older are living with Alzheimer’s. That figure is expected to reach 190,000 by 2025 according to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2021 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report which provides an in-depth look at the latest national statistics on Alzheimer’s prevalence, incidence, mortality, costs of care and impact on caregivers. Linda Davidson,...

Due to covid last year’s FOLDS OF HONOR QUIKTRIP 500 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway had to be postponed with limited fans. This year the race is back on schedule and will be held Sunday, March 21 and General Manager at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Brandon Hutchison, discusses that and the work of Speedway Children’s Charities.

February is American Heart Month. Enduring Hearts is the only nonprofit solely dedicated to research that helps kids with heart transplants live longer, healthier lives by funding research that increases the longevity of pediatric heart transplants, improves the quality of life for children living with a new heart and eliminates pediatric heart diseases that may lead to a transplant. Carolyn Salva...

111 Places in Atlanta That You Must Not Miss is the ultimate insider's guide to Atlanta. The book by Travis Swann Taylor features interesting and unusual places not found in traditional travel guides. The book is part of the international 111 Places/111 Shops series with over 250 titles and 1.5 million copies in print worldwide.

Dr. Joey Faucette is Author of two #1 Best-Sellers, Work Positive in a Negative World and Faith Positive in a Negative World and well as many other books. He has appeared on hundreds of radio and TV shows across North America and has written over 1,000 articles for publications and websites all of that with the goal of helping people Work and Live Positive in this negative world.

Scott Higley from the Georgia Department of Transportation discusses important safety programs such as their safe driving push to decrease roadway crashes resulting in fatalities and Keep it Clean GA, a state wide campaign focused on preventing and eliminating litter on the state’s roadways.

Reverend Howard Finster, a self proclaimed “Man of Visions”, was one of America’s most widely known and prolific self-taught artists. Today, his home and outdoor art exhibit known as Paradise Gardens, in Summerville, has been preserved and is open to visitors. The Paradise Garden Foundation works to preserve, maintain and showcase Paradise Garden and Tina Cox, Executive Director and Howard Pousner...

Tom Rawlings, Director of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, discusses adoption and proposed changes being put before the 2021 Legislative session.

The Music of The Statler Brothers is an in-depth look at the musical career of The Statler Brothers’ forty-year reign as country music's premier group. Lead singer, Don Reid, writes about each song ever recorded by the Grammy Award-winning foursome and gives backstage insight to the writings and the selections of each composition.

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation works for the preservation and revitalization of Georgia's historic resources and advocates for their appreciation, protection and use. Each year they release a list called Places in Peril of 10 historic locations in Georgia that are in need of revitalization. Mark McDonald, President and CEO of the GA Trust for Historic Preservation, discusses the 2021...

In Athens in the eighties, if you were young and willing to live without much money, anything seemed possible. Grace Elizabeth Hale experienced the Athens scene as a student, small-business owner, and band member. Blending personal recollection with a historian's eye, she reconstructs that period in Athens’ history in the book Cool Town: How Athens, Georgia, Launched Alternative Music and Changed...

GAgives on #GivingTuesday offers every Georgia nonprofit the chance to be part of a worldwide end-of-year giving-season kickoff, and the tools to make it a revenue-generating success. This year GAgives is Tuesday December 1. Guests Karen Beavor, Georgia Center for Non-Profits President and CEO and Gena Taylor and Cherie Trice from the Greenbriar Children’s Center in Savannah, talk about the impact...

For many of the state’s counties, economic prosperity has dwindled and many rural communities are slowly dying. The Georgia Chamber recognized this and established the Rural Prosperity Council to champion the needs of rural Georgia and recently Gov. Brian Kemp named a new Deputy Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development to lead his Rural Strike Team. Gov. Kemp talks about the...

National Adoption Month is celebrated every November government agencies, courts, child advocacy organizations and families across the nation. Its purpose is to provide awareness, celebrate children and families, and call the nation to action to find families for children waiting in foster care. Deborah Burrus, State Adoption Director for Georgia Division of Family & Children Services, discusses A...

Haunted Tourism is a unique segment of Georgia’s Tourism industry that highlights the state’s history as well as the unexplained. Mark Jaronski, Deputy Director for Tourism at the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Visit Savannah’s Jeremy Harvey and Steve Short from the Windsor Hotel in Americus, talk about the interest in hauntings at Halloween and year round.

Mark McDonald, President and CEO of the GA Trust for Historic Preservation, discusses this year’s Places in Peril list of 10 historic structures in Georgia that are in danger of being torn down and efforts to save them.

Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life, by Jonathan Gould is the long-awaited, definitive biography of The King of Soul, timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Redding's iconic performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. Redding remains an immortal presence in the canon of American music yet an aura of myth and mystery has always surrounded his life, which was tragically cut short at the heig...

Americorps AmeriCorps offers a variety of service opportunities, from the classroom to the outdoors, and everything in between. No matter what you're passionate about, where you're from, or why you choose to serve. Linda Thompson, Executive Director, Georgia Commission for Service and Volunteerism, discusses their programs.

Marsy’s Law seeks to give crime victims meaningful and enforceable constitutional rights equal to the rights of the accused. It was passed in GA in 2018. Guests are Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia - Executive Director Pete Skandalakis, Cordele Judicial Circuit District Attorney Brad Rigby and DeKalb County Solicitor-General Donna Coleman-Stribling. A