In The Southeast, Many People Move To Fire-Prone Areas, But Few Know The Risk
2016 was a terrible fire season across the Southeast, including a wildfire that killed more than a dozen people in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Fires in North Georgia blanketed mountain towns in smoke. That fall is a reminder that while the West braces for another ugly summer, it’s not the only region threatened by wildfire.
Aired on WABE and NPR July, 2021 and the reporting was featured on NPR’s podcasts Up First and Consider This. Interactive project published on NPR.org in August, 2021.
Southeastern pocket gophers glow, but no one knows why
They’re secretive. They’re ferocious. They look like potatoes. Now, a scientist has discovered they glow under black light. They’re Southeastern pocket gophers.
Aired on WABE in September, 2021 and Here and Now in November, 2021.
Amid Debates About Memorials, Advocates Push To Remember Atlanta’s Forced Laborers
At a time when people are reckoning – again – with the monuments that have been built to tell the nation’s story, some are pushing for a memorial to be built at the former site of a brick factory, where convict laborers were forced to work under brutal conditions.
Aired on WABE and Here and Now, and published on NPR.org, August, 2020. This reporting was cited in the City of Atlanta’s ultimately successful effort to block development.
‘Tidal Wave’ Of Power Shut-Offs Looms As Nation Grapples With Heat
Dozens of states and utilities around the U.S. suspended disconnections early in the pandemic, ensuring that even as businesses closed and millions of Americans lost their jobs, people would still be able to keep their lights on regardless of their ability to pay.
Now, many of those power shut-off moratoriums are expiring, including Georgia Power’s, which ended on July 15. And this comes as Americans who are still struggling face the end of another lifeline: supplemental unemployment benefits that are set to lapse.
Aired on WABE and NPR July, 2020.
This Has Been A Record-Breaking Summer For Georgia’s Sea Turtles
Decades of conservation work on loggerhead turtles in the Southeast have made a difference for the threatened, long-lived, somewhat mysterious species.
Aired on WABE and on NPR July, 2019.
Atlanta, Southern Company Make Climate Promises. The Challenge Is Making Them Happen
In Atlanta, utility customers – including the city – don’t choose where their energy comes from. Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, makes that decision. And Georgia Power isn’t considering the city’s – or its own parent company’s – carbon goals as it develops its long-range plans.
Aired on WABE and published on NPR.org in May, 2019.
Molly Samuel 