Daycare Closed, More or Less Power

Sunday Solutions — June 2, 2024

Good morning! Post-holiday weeks are always interesting as we move from school to vacation breaks and the coastal heat of June. We’re now in the full-on summer mode: odd news, more daylight and hurricane season. You’ve been warned.

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NEWS: CHILDREN

Daycare faced problems before

The Kid’s Nest Learning Center in Brunswick will remain temporarily closed after its owners lost an appeal Thursday to stay open after a toddler died from choking on a 2-inch square of watermelon at the center on May 21.

The center’s staff attempted life-saving procedures but the child later died at the hospital, according to an inspection report from the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL). The center will remain closed while DECAL continues its inspection report on the child’s death. In October, the daycare had been put on notice to train staff for CPR after inspections over the past year found training inadequate, and in an April inspection the state deferred the training. It wasn’t the center’s first troubling inspection, reports The Current’s Jabari Gibbs. In recent years, the center’s owners have been fined for numerous infractions ranging from injury to open access to dangerous products.

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NEWS: ENERGY

Celebrating power

Last week, Gov. Brian Kemp and state officials joined utility officials to celebrate the completion of the $31 billion Plant Vogtle nuclear project — 7 years behind schedule and billions in cost overruns later. Georgia Power customers paid more than $1,000 a household into the construction over the years and recently saw their monthly power bills rise an average of $9 to help cover about $7.6 billion of the tab. The plant expansion is a partnership with Georgia Power (45%), Oglethorpe Power, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Salton Utilities. The two new nuclear units provide power for about 500,000 homes and businesses each. During the party, which featured a sheet cake in the shape of the nuclear plant units, Kemp cheered for a future expansion: “And now, let’s start planning for Vogtle Five.”

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NEWS: ENVIRONMENT

Speaking of energy

Rural Georgia is starting to push back on cryptocurrency mining, which requires noisy, giant data centers that use large amounts of water and electricity, reports Dave Williams for Capitol Beat. Gilmer County in north Georgia just stopped development for one, and so has Fannin. An effort to take away tax exemptions for the centers passed the General Assembly but was vetoed by Gov. Kemp. Georgia is second in the U.S. for crypto mining, and operations are as close as Brooklet and Swainsboro. In Virginia, data centers may be undermining the state’s efforts to lower its carbon emissions. Utility companies in Georgia have asked to add capacity through fossil fuels to serve the server farms sprouting across the state. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a single crypto mining transaction can use more energy than powering six houses for a day.

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It’s a tight race, but you can still join

We’re barreling to the mid-year finals, and hoping you’ll join us for the ride. Here’s this week’s leaderboards:

Will stalwart Peaches hold on for the win? Test your own skills and join us to find out. Here’s a link to this week’s quiz — be sure to leave a first name or nickname so we can track you’re doing.

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NOTES FROM THE CURRENT

Kudos and more

When we have good news, we like to share! And it’s been a good couple of weeks for The Current. Not only did you all help us set some web records at thecurrentga.org on primary election night, your support over time brought us some notice nationally.

• A few weeks ago, we asked you to vote for us in the Next Challenge for Media & Journalism competition with more than 400 startup news sites and organizations. Thank you! While we didn’t win, The Current was a top 10 finalist in our Future of Local News category, and we were a top 4 finalist for the Trust in News Award. We’re pretty thrilled to be in great company there!
• In its annual honors ceremony May 22, Report for America honored The Current for sustainability work to fund new reporting positions to serve Coastal Georgia. It specifically noted the matching funding from readers to underwrite RFA corps members and reporters Jake Shore and Jabari Gibbs. Shore covers public safety, and Gibbs started May 20 as accountability reporter in Glynn County. We thank you all for that support!
• And, we also want to congratulate our radio colleague Emily Jones at WABE (National Public Radio for Atlanta) and Grist, two of our nonprofit news partners. Her work on the historical and cultural ties to the Okefenokee Swamp won a prestigious Murrow Award for excellence in broadcasting last week. You may remember Jones, who lives in Savannah, as morning radio host for Coastal Georgia at GPB News. Here’s the story The Current republished last May. We appreciate our terrific news partners and their great work!

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EXPLAINER: ENVIRONMENT

☕ Your second cup: About that warm beach water…

When you head for the beach for a relaxing swim this summer, know that the warmer water is likely to bring us a nastier storm season. Saturday opened the annual hurricane season, and most experts warn of a very active year for Atlantic storms. So, we’ll say it now (and more times this summer): Get your storm stuff together. In the meantime, here’s a terrific nerd view of why the season is likely to be less fun from an extreme weather researcher at Purdue. It explains why warm water can be bad, why we care if it’s cool out west and why the rains down in Africa matter.

Enjoy.

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