Solar farm upgrade; PTSD research; Mike Collins speak at GOP convention

0:00Welcome to the Georgia Today Podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB Newsroom. On today's episode, a Georgia Power Solar Farm in Middle Georgia gets an upgrade. Emory researchers test a new way to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Mike Collins spoke at the GOP's first ever midterm convention. And because of our work, y'all over 20,000 criminal illegal aliens are all far streets, behind bars, or back where they came from. Today is Thursday, September 10th. I'm Peter B. Yellow, and this is Georgia Today. A Georgia Power Solar Farm in Middle Georgia, already considered an asset by the US Air Force, now has an upgrade. GPB's Grant Blankenship reports. The Robin's Air Force-based solar site has been generating electricity for years in former farmland and Maikin, just north of the base. Now a new array of batteries at the site will store 128 megawatts of solar power, enough for thousands of homes on the proverbial rainy day when solar panels struggle.

1:02Colonel Jehari Hemphill commands the 78th air-based wing at Robbins. He says the batteries will help the Air Force ensure mission readiness. We have our own power plant, we have our own steam plants, but this opportunity for solar power and now with battery power gives us extra ability to keep the mission going. The Robin's Site is the fifth of 15 battery energy storage systems, or BES, that Georgia Power is building to help cope with skyrocketing energy needs. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship and Maikin. Representative Mike Collins addressed Republican voters last night at the party's first-ever mid-term convention. GPB's Chase McGee has more. Representative Collins spoke after a video featuring the family of Lake and Riley, a nursing student murdered by an undocumented immigrant in 2024. Collins touted his authoring of the Lake and Riley Act, which requires detention without bond for non-citizens accused of crimes ranging from burglary to causing the death of another person. And because of our work, y'all over 20,000 criminal illegal aliens are all far streets,

2:07behind bars, or back where they came from. Collins also painted his opponent incumbent Senator John Assoff as a radical who opposed the bill. But Assoff was among a dozen Democrats to vote for the Lake and Riley Act, helping to send it to President Trump's desk in the second week of his second term. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee. Researchers with Emory University School of Medicine recently completed their first human trial of transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The procedure uses magnetic pulses to calm the fear center of the brain. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more. In Abigail Parnum was 16, the dog she'd had since she was five had died. And so she sobbed with excitement when her dad agreed to get a puppy. Brutus, he was the sweetest boy. He was like a bell-cut dog. All he ever wanted to do was be like attached to you at the head. And he was a very good boy. A good boy with some behavioral issues, she says.

3:07Then, two years later, when Parnum was 18, Brutus, the 200-pound African-Mastiff attacked her. She had to reach down to go hug a leash up to his collar. And that's when he lunched at my chest and he got the side of my arm. And I remember just thinking, like, I can't believe this is happening to me right now. Parnum says, up until then, she had never been afraid of a dog. But after the attack, she couldn't even look at her family's golden retriever. You know, I realized how outrageous it was, but there was nothing I could do to combat that fear that was so ingrained in me at that point. The life or death fear kept returning. That's a hallmark of post-traumatic stress disorder. People with PTSD have a more active fear center in the brain, called the amygdala. So that's where son of Enroy with Emory University School of Medicine started her study of transcranial magnetic stimulation or TNS. Every day, we're going to assess four safety and just check. And so when we know impetus, the individuals will have a stronger response to anything potentially

4:11threatening. And so the amygdala is hyper-reactive. So hyper-responsive to anything that signals potential threat or danger. The US Food and Drug Administration approved the non-invasive treatment for people with depression in 2008. In Van Roy's PTSD research, it works like this. While the amygdala is the fear center of the brain, Van Roy says the secondary locations for fear response in the brain are different for different people. So TMS is targeted to those second locations. Everyone had their own specific location that was stimulated with TMS in order to indirectly dampen the amygdala. A helmet that looks like a hair dryer covers the patient's head. Meanwhile, they're asked to think to themselves about their trauma and talk through coping skills while the magnet's pulsed as controlled by a technician. Van Roy says this lessons the fear response from the amygdala. So basically changes how easily it is for your brain to respond to something.

5:15Abigail Parnum participated in 36 TMS sessions, focusing on depression, anxiety and cognition over the course of two months, but not for PTSD. She says she felt the color returned to her black and white world immediately after her first session. Another side effect? She's less scared of big dogs today. I am able to walk by a house without having a meltdown because I know that there's a big dog that lives there, which has been a outrageously amazing change for me. On a hike at Lanierland Park in Forsyth County, she even brings her own dogs. This one's Clover. Clover's the little one. She's about seven pounds. Clover's a small fluffy dog that resembles a teddy bear. Her dog, Bimo, gets his name from the favorite cartoon Adventure Time. He's bigger. And Bimo's just a pound dog mixed, glorified pound dog. Today, Parnum works in an animal hospital in coming. She's in training to be a vet technician. Parnum says she plans to have the TMS treatment for PTSD when it's available to her.

6:16Meanwhile, Ben Roy says her research will continue. For GPV News, I'm Ellen Elridge. The DeCab County Board of Education says it will vote next week on making Dr. Norman sauce the third the finalist to become the district's superintendent. This has been the interim superintendent since November. Prior to that, sauce served as Chief of Student Services. He's also held roles including area superintendent for DeCab County's High Schools and Principal of Chambley High School. If approved, the Board will take a final vote on October 5th, the previous superintendent, Devon Q. Horton resigned last year after the U.S. attorney indicted him on 17 charges for acts at his former job. To practice home of the Ghost Pirates in Southeast Georgia's Port Wentworth is planning a ribbon-cutting Saturday for its new ViStar Pavilion and Ghost Pirates icecove. The free event kicks off at 11 a.m. and features live music, family-friendly activities, games, crafts, local vendors, food trucks, and public skating.

7:18It's part of 912 Day, Southeast Georgia's area code plan for September 12. Five-time Grammy Award winner singer, songwriter, and humanitarian Angelique Kijou is visiting Athens this week as UGA's Wilson Center for Humanities and Arts Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding. Laura Duas-Swarz has more. Kijou's 3-day residency as chair kicked off with a conversation with students in a survey class and world music Tuesday, followed by a live taping of WUGA's African perspectives Wednesday night at the 40 watt. Speaking with show host Dr. Akanloy Ojo Wednesday night, Kijou spoke to the idea of globalization. You cannot live in a world where many people live in faith and few live largely. Nature don't like unbalanced. Globalization will only exist fully and really profiting everybody. When we all together refuse a system that disenfranchises people. Tonight Angelique Kijou will conclude her residency with a performance at Hodgson concert

8:21hall. For GPP News, I'm Laura Duas-Swarz. In sports, the Atlanta Dream's Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever showed their growing chemistry on the court together as they helped the U.S. to feed Hungary 108-56 to advance to the semifinals of the women's FIBA World Cup. Their interactions are a subplot of both the tournament and the season as a whole. Both players are intense and animated competitors and their fan bases are fiercely loyal and generally speaking, fans on social media favor one or the other. But both Clark and Reese say they are having fun playing together. Clark said many of the stories about their relationship are false takes, saying she loves the fiery competitiveness that she and Reese share. The U.S. plays its next match up on Saturday in Berlin. The U.S. Open tennis championships are underway with more Americans with shots at winning than in decades. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports. Atlanta locals Coco Gough and Ben Shelton are in the semifinals of the U.S. Open after two dramatic matches.

9:21Shelton won his match with a record late finish after 3am. Before coaching his son, Ben's father Brian Shelton played at Georgia Tech alongside current men's tennis coach Kenny Thorn. Thorn says the people in Atlanta that grew up with Ben are still rooting for him. They're pulling for him. I have more people. He finished at 3.30 in the morning. His last match. I have more people saying I stayed up the whole time. So I go really, you say, the whole time. Shelton will face off against Francis TFO Friday. Guaranteeing a black American man will play in the finals for the first time since 1972. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews. The address is Georgia today at gpb.org.

10:24I'm Peter B. L.O. Thanks again for listening. We will see you tomorrow.