WABE’s Week In Review: A Tornado, A Storm At The Capitol And Eagles Soaring

Democratic State Rep. Park Cannon was arrested at the Georgia State Capitol Thursday night after repeatedly knocking on the door to the governor’s office, in an attempt to witness the signing of the state’s new voting bill into law. Kemp signed the bill, which Cannon and other Democrats oppose, in private.

The Georgia General Assembly passed the Republican-led measure to make sweeping changes to the state’s election code, with a focus on absentee and early voting regulations on Thursday. 

Republican state lawmakers have defended the bill as a necessary cleanup of the state’s election code after a crisis in confidence in the system during the 2020 election.

Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to limit voting access after the GOP’s presidential and Senate losses and have argued their counterparts are playing into false claims of widespread voter fraud.

President Joe Biden criticized Georgia’s new voting law again Friday, saying its Republican sponsors were trying “to deny people the right to vote” and that the measure was “a blatant attack on the Constitution and good conscience.”

Guns in an ATL supermarket… 

Atlanta Police Department says 22-year-old Rico Marley was armed with guns at the time of his arrest on Wednesday at a Publix in Atlantic Station. Authorities say Marley, was also wearing body armor and was spotted by a witness who immediately became suspicious and alerted management.

Marley’s arrest came just days after the mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, and a week after the shooting spree that killed eight people at massage businesses in the Atlanta area. 

Organizations in Atlanta and across the country are calling for $300 million of federal money to fight anti-Asian hate.

It comes after eight people—including six Asian women—were killed in the spree of shootings at Atlanta-area massage businesses. Law enforcement hasn’t ruled the shootings a hate crime. But the killings happened during a rise of anti-Asian hate during the pandemic.

Many say elected officials’ rhetoric around the violence led to this spike in hate. Now groups want the federal government to allocate $300 million to Asian American communities.

“They need money. There’s now tons of victims,” said Stephanie Cho, the head of the Atlanta chapter of Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

Nearly 200 community groups agree with Cho. In a letter, leaders say money is urgently needed for mental health and translation services as well as for a federal task force to address hate

Reflecting on hate during the pandemic… 

Dr. Chenyi Zhang, a Georgia State University associate professor of early childhood and elementary education, joined “Morning Edition” on Tuesday to express his sentiments after six women of Asian descent were killed during a shooting spree last week that targeted spas in metro Atlanta.

Zhang first spoke to WABE after facing racist incidents at the start of the pandemic a year ago. He reflected on the current state of things this week.

Vaccines in Georgia now open to those 16 and older…

All Georgians over 16 years of age now qualify for COVID-19 vaccination. On Thursday, officials dropped eligibility requirements in response to slowing demand for shots in some parts of the state.

It was a day earlier when employees of the Fulton County Schools and Atlanta Public Schools were able to receive their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine at Mercedes Benz Stadium, which is usually the home of the city’s professional soccer team Atlanta United this time of year.

Wednesday, March 24, was the first day APS employees could receive the shot.

“We just want everyone to simply get vaccinated,” APS Superintendent Lisa Herring said during the event. “That’s the key.”

A Soaring Return… 

Fifty years after nearly disappearing from Georgia, the bald eagle population is doing better in the state. In fact, according to a new report from U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the number of bald eagles around the country is high.