WABE's Week In Review

A bill defining anti-Semitism cleared Georgia's House and Senate Thursday, despite concerns about free speech. Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns rolled out a Republican legislative package this week that includes tax relief for homeowners, parents and on income taxes. Plus, a new investigation from WABE and ProPublica shows how the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services uses housing as a k...

Opponents of Atlanta's controversial Public Safety Training Center call for action and the release of more information on the activist who was shot and killed by state troopers at the controversial site one year ago on Thursday. Plus, Governor Brian Kemp's proposed budget includes a four-percent cost of living adjustment for all state employees and even larger raises for child protection workers t...

Governor Brian Kemp had a busy week. In his State of the State address he announced spending priorities of the Georgia's massive surplus, which includes possible tax breaks and increased safety measures. Earlier in the week, Kemp took aim at the labor movement, that has picked up some steam in Georgia, with this legislative session possibly seeing legislation to make unionizing more difficult in t...

Rudy Giuliani is declaring bankruptcy just days after a judge ordered he pay $148 million in damages for defaming two Fulton County election workers. And Georgia Power rates will increase by about nine dollars per customer when the last new nuclear reactor at Plant Vogtle goes online next year. Plus, Governor Brian Kemp says Georgia's public educators and state employees will get a one-time s...

A jury in Washington D.C. is ordering Rudy Giuliani to pay $148 million in damages to two former Fulton County election workers for lies he spread about them after the 2020 election. Also, We look at several angles of the planned and controversial Public Safety Training Center in Atlanta, including whether opponents have the signatures to put it on the ballot. And the civil rights and religio...

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has signed new congressional districts into law that maintain state Republicans advantage in Washington. The maps could still face a big challenge ahead. Plus, stats show an increase in the number of people living unsheltered in Dekalb County, but a new partnership is trying to help. And Fulton County Commissioners are still mulling over the $1.7 billion price tag of bu...

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter was buried in Plains on Wednesday after a memorial and tribute in Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday. Plus, family members and advocates are calling for accountability more than a week after the body camera footage was released of the fatal encounter between a now former Atlanta police officer and a 62-year-old church deacon. And an activist group is offering help...

Fulton County's District Attorney released body camera footage from a former Atlanta police officer who repeatedly tased a church deacon, who died over a dispute for a traffic ticket. Plus, Georgia’s state Supreme Court is refusing to approve rules for a new commission to discipline and remove state prosecutors. And we remember former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who died Sunday at 96. Se...

Metro Atlanta saw very low turnout for municipal elections. Plus, as Ohio voters decided to protect abortion access, some Georgia lawmakers question if voters here should have that opportunity. And some coaches and students at HBCUs saw recruiting internationally for some sports does not meet the mission of the schools. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

DFCS Commissioner Candice Broce allegedly asked judges to consider placing developmental disabled foster kids in a juvenile detention center "for a few days" in order to deal with a lack of caregivers. Broce said in a statement that the judges testimony to the Senate committee lacked context and accuracy. And this week marked one year since since Atlanta Medical Center in the city's Old Fourth War...

Georgia's Supreme Court ruled this week the state's ban on abortion at around six weeks of pregnancy will remain in place.  Meantime a federal judge ruled Georgia lawmakers must redraw the state’s political maps for Congress and the state legislature before the 2024 election. Plus, we see how early childhood care centers are coping with a huge understaffing problem generated from the pandemic...

Lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Cheseboro pleaded guilty this week in Fulton County's election meddling case that includes former President Donald Trump as a defendant. We also hear from Georgia U.S. Senators Warnock and Ossoff who are among lawmakers weighing in on the Israel-Hamas war. Fulton County Commissioners voted this week to take back more than $2 million previously allotted to the sher...

WABE obtained the completed autopsies for those who died at Fulton County Jail and found half suffered from issues like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The 2023 Atlanta Pride Festival will feature more than 80 sponsors and businesses from all across the metro. We look at the business of visibility.  And Atlanta police are increasing security around places of worship as the Israel-Gaz...

A Georgia prosecutor will not charge the state troopers who shot and killed an activist in January at the site of the planned Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. And a state Senate committee is launching an investigation into conditions at the troubled Fulton County Jail, just three months after the U.S. Department of Justice launched its own inquiry. Plus, a Georgia hospital program is te...

Former President Donald Trump has notified a Fulton County judge that he will not try to have his Georgia criminal case removed to federal court. The 61 activists charged with conspiracy over efforts to stop the construction of Atlanta's planned public safety training center are set for arraignment in November. And  former President Jimmy Carter turns 99 years old on Sunday. See omnystud...

Jeffrey Clark, Shawn Still, Cathy Latham, and David Shaffer are trying to have his Georgia criminal case tried in federal court. Clark is a former DOJ official. The other three were among the 16 Georgia Republicans who met at the State Capitol in December 2020 to cast electoral votes for Donald Trump. Plus, a group of public defenders are advising county officials against a proposal to move inmate...

A Georgia judge, this week, separated the 2020 election interference cases of attorneys Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell from the cases of former President Donald Trump and 16 others. Plus, a group of voting and civil rights organizations are calling on the City of Atlanta to let voters decide on its proposed Public Safety Training Center, dubbed "Cop City" by opponents. And a federal judge is...

A special grand jury that investigated efforts to overturn the 2020 election result in Georgia recommended indicting 39 people, according to a final report unsealed Friday. Plus, the balance of power in Congress and the legislature is on the line as a trial is now underway in Georgia to decide whether the state’s political maps must be redrawn before the 2024 election. And transgender children in...

Former President Donald Trump pleads not guilty to 13 felony charges alleging he and 18 others tried to subvert the 2020 election result here in Georgia. We also look at more calls for a new Fulton County Jail on Rice Street after a fifth death in August. Georgia's Department of Natural Resources is putting more game wardens at posts across Lake Lanier over this Labor Day holiday weekend as d...

Our team looks at the historic week that was in Georgia when former President Donald Trump on Thursday turned himself in to Fulton County Jail. Trump and 18 others face election interference charges in a massive conspiracy case in Fulton County, and Friday was the deadline for them to surrender. Plus, UPS workers ratify a labor deal with the delivery giant, ending the chance of a crippling work st...

Fulton County's District Attorney announced the indictment of former President Donald Trump and 18 others late Monday night. It stems from an alleged conspiracy to illegally overturn Georgia's presidential election results in 2020. We look at what sparked the investigation, reaction after the wide-ranging indictments were announced, attempts to move it out of Fulton County and what booking might l...

Former President Donald Trump is likely to get indicted in Fulton County early next week. It will be his fourth indictment, and experts are across the spectrum on whether the Fulton case is duplicative or critical in the quest for justice. Also, Georgia Labor Commissioner Bruce Thompson is blasting his predecessor for the handling of millions of agency dollars. Plus, Georgia's Stewart Detention Ce...

Former President Donald Trump’s activities in Georgia play a central role in the federal criminal charges filed against him. and that comes as the state's own charges are expected soon. Plus, almost 3 million people in Georgia rely on Medicaid for health insurance but with rules changing, thousands are losing coverage. And  the family of a man whose dead body was found covered in bed bugs in...

Rudy Giuliani is no longer contesting that he made claims after the 2020 election about two Fulton County election workers were false. We also look at the similarities and differences between the federal and state probes into election interference by former President Donald Trump and his allies like Giuliani. Plus, UPS and the Teamsters union struck a deal to avoid a strike of some 340,000 thousan...

We look at the impact of Georgia's restrictive abortion law, which went into effect one year ago this week. Former President Donald Trump's lawyers are renewing a bid to disqualify the Fulton County District Attorney from prosecuting him. Plus, opponents of Atlanta's controversial Public Safety Training Center are launching a paid operation to get the issue on the ballot. And we exp...