Mining Plan Scrutiny, Doc Shortage

Sunday Solutions — Jan. 22, 2023

From the Okefenokee Swamp to the Savannah River, there’s plenty to talk about this week in Coastal Georgia. For your second cup, we’ll explore the scary collision of marketing, college athletes and disrespect. Let’s roll.

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Regulators, miners and public scrutiny

You may have read where the Georgia Environmental Protection Division has opened a 60-day comment period for public review of the Draft Mining Land Use Plan for the much debated titanium dioxide mine near the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge. What you might not have read is that documents show the same state agency may be poised to levy fines on Twin Pines Mining for earlier work to collect data at the proposed mining site. The Current’s environment reporter Mary Landers writes about the company’s work on the edges of regulations to move this project along. The story also looks at how the state regulators who are tasked with protecting the taxpayers’ environmental protection interests have — or have not — responded to the actions.

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Need a doctor? We all do.

GPB News brought us a nugget this week that continues to remind us that health care access in Georgia remains poor by almost any data set you can find. This week’s nudge comes from the Kaiser Family Foundation survey that shows only 40% of Georgians have their primary care needs met. Federal standards show that only 3 of Georgia’s 159 counties have adequate numbers of primary care doctors. A state report released this month agrees, saying retiring workers aren’t being replaced and uninsured and aging patients are straining a system already aching from the pandemic and workplace violence.

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Inside sales practices of title lender

The second installment of The Current’s and ProPublica’s series on the title-pawn business published Thursday. If you haven’t checked it out, the piece by Editor-in-Chief Margaret Coker looks at how the state’s largest title lender, Savannah’s TitleMax, trains its managers to avoid telling customers the actual cost of the high-interest loans. One manager, who eventually sued the company, said she still carries guilt about the work she did that targeted low-income workers who were already struggling. “My community trusted me. What the company was selling to the community wasn’t good for them,” said Cordelius Brown, who worked for TitleMax in two cities. See the ongoing series pieces here to catch up.

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Know your news

Here’s a quick plug for something near and dear to The Current: News literacy. And while it’s always a great time to learn more about the sources of information and how to discern their credibility, this week is set aside for exactly that. The News Literacy Project has 7 webinars on various topics this week you can view for free, and Georgia Humanities has a terrific web site, Know Your News, with information on questions to ask when you view a source and how to determine if you’ll trust it. We like it so much, we gave it a permanent link on thecurrentga.org.

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Mother sues Housing Authority after child killed

Desaray Gilliard, 15, was shot and killed last May in Yamacraw Village. On Wednesday, her mother filed suit against the Housing Authority of Savannah. The Current’s Jake Shore writes the suit alleges the 315-unit apartment complex is unsafe and the authority knew about violent crime in the common areas there. It’s one more problem for the authority, which was sued over security after the death of community activist Shawntray “Puff” Grant in 2018.

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Let’s read

We know you like to read, and we’re here to help. The Savannah Book Festival is coming up, and over the next few weeks The Current staff will be suggesting books and authors to check out while you’re there. We’re a Community Partnership sponsor for the event because we’re all about great writing and storytelling. Need info for the festival? Here’s the link. Festival Saturday on Feb. 18 has free events all day.

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Your second cup: NIL, security and athletes

When the NCAA opened the ability for college athletes to make money from managing their own name, image and likeness, it was hoping more athletes would stay in the college systems longer and blunt some of the accusations of profiteering from the student-athletes’ work. What it didn’t account for was the effects enhanced popularity would bring to some teams and stars through unbridled social media. Olivia Dunne, a gymnast at Louisiana State University, is an example of what can go sideways under NIL rules set mostly for men who have professional careers to look forward to. The 19th, which focuses on women’s issues, takes a look at the fallout from the new system and the debate over the double-edged effects on women, which reach far beyond personal or institutional marketing. The work is an Editors Choice for good reason.

Enjoy.

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