By Max Blau ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Max Blau is an Atlanta-based ProPublica reporter who previously worked in partnership with Georgia Health News on a series of articles on coal ash. For the past several years, Georgia Power has gone to great lengths to skirt the federal rule requiring…
Near America’s largest coal-fired power plant, toxins are showing up in drinking water and people have fallen ill. Thousands of pages of internal documents show how one giant energy company plans to avoid the cleanup costs for coal ash. By Max Blau Mark Berry raised his right hand, pledging to tell the whole truth and…
The fight over the future of Georgia Power’s coal ash ponds has returned to the Gold Dome. And its outcome could influence whether thousands of Georgians will need to worry about groundwater contamination potentially caused by the toxic waste sites. Democratic lawmakers have announced legislation intended to protect Georgians from possible harmful health impacts of coal…
By Max Blau In the days after a pastor unknowingly spread COVID-19 at two funerals in Albany early this year, Gov. Brian Kemp looked to curb further spread of the virus. He issued a stay-at-home order, ordered the closure of some businesses and implored Georgians to avoid large funerals. The outbreak spurred Georgia health officials…
Sunken Costs: The utility giant’s quiet purchasing spree could shield it from coal ash cleanup expenses This article was produced in partnership with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Georgia Health News is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network. By Max Blau Over the past several years, utility giant Georgia…
He wanted to fix rural America’s broken nursing homes. Now, taxpayers may be on the hook for $76 million. By Max Blau This article was produced in partnership with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Georgia Health News is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network. Nearly 20 years ago, Ronnie…
By Max Blau Carolyn Dorondo couldn’t escape the smell of garbage. There were days last year when she couldn’t go outside due to the smell. Some nights, the stench wafted into her Ball Ground home, awakening her from a restful sleep. The odor grew so foul that Dorondo, along with other residents of Cherokee County,…
By Max Blau The Georgia nursing homes hardest hit by COVID-19 are scattered across the state, from the southwestern farm belt to the Blue Ridge Mountains. But the five with the highest number of total coronavirus cases have one thing in common: They’re run by the same company. PruittHealth, one of the South’s largest nursing…
Marvin Bowdoin, who had sold his neighbors on the utility’s promises of more jobs and greater tax revenues for the community, owned a store in the small town of Juliette that sold groceries and gas to the company’s employees. But over 35 years later, his grandson Tony Bowdoin, who worked at the family’s store for decades, discovered his home’s drinking water was full of contaminants. Last fall, he was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, and is still battling it today.
By Max Blau On March 3, the day after Georgia’s first confirmed COVID-19 case, an 11Alive reporter submitted an Open Records request seeking emails sent by Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health. The following day, a CNN reporter filed a similar request for emails. The following week, the Washington Post…