Hometown Headlines Radio Edition: Local news without the static.

Today's headlines:

Rant of the Day: 1,100 reasons to extend shelter in place.

On Tuesday, the day Georgia recorded fatality no. 1,000 from coronavirus, there were other numbers fed to the news media.

Tuesday also was the day the state set a record for conducting nearly 13,000 tests on potential coronavirus patients. The state wanted to know why more people weren’t lining up for tests.

A day later, on Wednesday, as Georgia’s death count jumped to 1,100, there was another milestone to observe. A free system was now in place to decontaminate 80,000 N-95 masks (heathcare centers just pay shipping to and from).

In fact, there are more stats coming out of the governor’s office than what you see from most football games: the number of ventilators in use and how many are available; how many thousands of personal bottles of hand sanitizer that have been shipped; how many Ipsum Diagnostic test kits are being moved out from the state warehouse to local communities (15,000 if you’re counting).

And we’re grateful for each and every report. Nearly two months after the start of community spread in our state, we’re mobilizing. That’s two months and 1,100 deaths and 26,000 positive cases and more than 5,000 hospitalizations later.

Those stats and others support extending shelter in place for all Georgians until at least May 13. Will the governor make the call?

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RANT OF THE DAY: Absence of malice

Georgia’s secretary of state might turn out to be the smartest person in Atlanta this year. We know the fifth-graders in all of us are chuckling right now because we put smart and Atlanta in the same sentence. Rarely happens, we agree, but this time, we think Brad Raffensperger got it right.

He’s the guy who ordered more than 6.9 million absentee ballot requests mailed to registered Georgia voters early in the pandemic. Raffensperger was thinking ahead – what if this coronavirus thing mushrooms and people can’t get out to vote?

We soon found out as the under way presidential primary was delayed from March to May and then the combined May 19 primary was moved to June 9. 

Already, nearly 25 percent of Floyd voters have cast ballots in the primary primarily because of absentee ballots. Similar reports are coming in from Bartow, Polk and Chattooga counties.

Detractors allege security and other potential issues. What some really fear is a larger voter turnout.

The bottom line: Absentee voting already is a success and that's before thousands of additional ballots arrive, safe and secure.  

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RANT OF THE DAY:  “Nattering nabobs of negativism”

One question has been asked repeatedly since Gov. Brian Kemp said it was OK for certain businesses to reopen starting last Friday, with restaurants following on Monday. Was it too soon?

The decision came under repeated fire from Donald Trump, even though his administration had been briefed about it earlier and apparently raised no red flags. It even came up during Monday’ Zoom-powered Rome City Commission meeting.

It came up during the question-and-answer session following Kemp’s briefing on where the state was as his shelter-in-place order ticks toward ending this Thursday night.

Among the first to raise her hand was NBC reporter Blayne Alexander, who did go a little Sam Donaldson in asking for more detail on the decision to reopen Georgia’s economy. She carefully recounted the initial reaction to Kemp’s decision. Bad move, it seems.

Kemp – who has been brutalized by national media for his decision, especially in magazine pieces ranking him as America’s dumbest governor – borrowed a play from the Trump media relations guide.

He stopped her midquestion, asking her whether she was making a statement or asking a question. She politely answered “a question” and continued to do her job. Kemp went Trump again by saying he understood that it may be hard for NBC News to understand facts and figures.

Welcome to the prelude of the next chapter in all this: The simple answer is blame the media. 

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Rant of the Day: Dine in or carry out? 

There’s a legendary group of mostly older Rome men who gather for a lively round of updates and insults – usually toward each other – one morning a week at Dirttown Deli off U.S. 27 south of Summerville.

The roadside oasis is known for a great sitdown breakfast, a biscuit to go, produce and other food items for area residents and usually a pretty strict closing time each afternoon at 3 p.m. – 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

Like many other restaurants and shops, it went curbside only during the shelter-in-place order but today reopens to in-house dining. The state has OK’d the return to on site dining providing the restaurant practices social distancing and other enhanced sanitary steps. Our bet is those community coffee cups are gone today but we could be wrong.

Will the crusty crew return? The question has additional meaning as among its members is the guy who helped solve the mystery of Legionnaires Disease years ago. Even the last seating before the official dining shutdown drew just a handful of the regulars.

It is a question many are asking today as some area restaurants resume sit-down service. 

Coronavirus updates:

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RANT OF THE DAY: The adults now in the room.

The adults are taking over the coronavirus story. Amid an ugly week of pandemic politics and grandstanding, we’re hearing voices firmly saying “Enough. We’ll handle this.”

Maybe it is the restaurant owner on Broad Street or the WinShape directors or the bishops leading Georgia's 1 million Catholics or small business owners. 

Their message is simple: It is too soon, it is not safe, it is not work endangering more lives.

We thank each and every one of them. 

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Rant of the Day: Beyond the headlines.

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RANT OF THE DAY: Skipping opening day.

So who’ll be the first one in the beauty shop on Friday morning, perhaps sitting center chair with six weeks of gossip to unleash? Or at the gym? Or bowling alley? Or at church on Sunday? 

Let’s be honest: Most of us could use an extra dose of hair care right now. Some need coloring; others need to abandon this comb-over idea with a quick clip. And after too many Zoom meetings and conference calls, we’re ready to throw bowling balls and not mute switches.

And many of us have some new curves to flatten even if we’re sporting a nice tan courtesy of the fridge light.

Is it worth the risk? Nope.

So we're practicing civil disobedience as well as social distancing by ignoring the governor and Trump.

We're likewise honoring and remembering another group of heroes -- the local business owners who have a greenlight to open but instead will wait until the time is right.  Many already face permanent closure because of dwindling revenue. But they also know the danger is poses to their customers, families and friends. 

Northwest Georgia won't forget those sacrifices, eiter. 

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RANT OF THE DAY: ‘It’s the economy, stupid.’

That’s not meant to be offensive. If anything, it is a piece of history. It is the mantra James Carville preached to campaign staffer as he coached Bill Clinton to win the presidency over the late George Bush.

Those words quickly became top of mind on Monday as we tried to figure out why Gov. Brian Kemp was announcing the phased return of business in Georgia starting as early as this Friday and continuing on Monday. Shelter in place ends at midnight April 30.

Said Kemp: “According to the Department of Public Health, reports of emergency room visits for flu-like illnesses are declining, documented COVID-19 cases have flattened and appear to be declining, and we have seen declining emergency room visits in general.”

That’s odd as less than three hours after Kemp liberated Georgia’s economy, we got to see another bottom line. These numbers, by the way, came from that same Department of Public Health. 

The bottom line is the state's bottom line is more important than the lives of 775 people -- including 40 from Northwest Georgia -- and counting. 

Ware Mechanical Weather Aftermath: Final storm sweeping into Northwest Georgia this morning; around 60 customers without power. Rainfall at an inch to 1.30 inches.  Another round due Thursday.

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RANT OF THE DAY: Open up Georgia? We're not ready.

Almost every coronavirus update from the weekend had a resulting debate: 

Our answers to those and more 'debates:' No, no, yes and no. Our conclusion: It is not yet time to 'reopen Georgia.'

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RANT OF THE DAY: Prioritizing our priorities.

It was a sidenote at best.  While checking the status of the county where I grew up in Florida, I saw the “official” list include a measurement of community social distancing.

Sure enough, it had data on not just Northwest Georgia but the state – and beyond. Even worse, it gave most of our region an F for not reducing our community exposure. So we posted it, with a short story and links to the website itself.

Minutes later, an expected bomb went off. We knew the March numbers from the Georgia Department of Labor would be bad. We didn’t forsee nearly a 1,000 percent increase in first-time jobless claims in Floyd, Bartow,  Gordon and Polk counties.

Let’s be exact here: More than 10,600 Northwest Georgians were suddenly out of work vs. slightly more than 1,000 a month earlier. Remember, the headlines had been talking about record-low jobless rates this year. Not any more.

So which story was the best read on Thursday's Hometown Headlines? The f-bomb grade on social distancing. A 1,000 percent surge in local unemployment cases didn't even crack the top seven.