On Second Thought

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Georgia last week for allegedly segregating and mistreating thousands of public school students, who are enrolled in a statewide program called GNETS. The program serves students with behavior-related disabilities. We revisit our conversation about the GNETS program with journalist Marian Wang and parent Natasha Hall, whose son is in the program.

The Decatur Book Festival kicks off this weekend. We bring you a preview of the authors and artists who will speak at this year's event. Frank Hamilton is a legend in the American folk revival scene. He performed throughout the 1950s and 1960s with The Weavers and Pete Seeger. Hamilton now runs a folk music school in Candler Park. Students gather to learn instruments like guitar, fiddle and banjo, and to jam with Hamilton. We stop by the school for a music lesson, and talk to Frank Hamilton

Mercer University President Bill Underwood welcomed students last week with a somewhat tough message. "It’s not the role of the university to shield you from ideas and opinions that you find disagreeable or even that you find deeply offensive. It is our role to to help you learn how to engage productively with those with whom you disagree, and that’s sometimes difficult.” Underwood's speech was echoed even more strongly by the dean of students at the University of Chicago. His letter to students

Georgia's decision not to expand Medicaid has cost the state billions of dollars in federal funding and thousands of jobs, and may prompt several hospitals to shut down. It’s also forced large hospitals like Grady Memorial in Atlanta to absorb the costs of helping poor, uninsured and mentally ill patients. Journalist Mike King traces the history of urban hospitals and how public policies have failed them in his book, "A Spirit of Charity: Restoring the Bond between America and Its Public

Thousands of students once roamed the hallways of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, but now the campus stands largely empty after a financial scandal in 2002. Atlanta photographer Andrew Feiler was granted access to capture images of what was once one of the South’s most prominent historically black colleges. His collection of sixty photographs are published in his book, “Without Regard to Sex, Race, or Color: The Past, Present, and Future of One Historically Black College.” We speak with Andrew

A new report says Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship program will run out of money by 2028 – the year today’s pre-K students will start college. Nearly two million students have received HOPE since the program began in 1993, and 98 percent of the freshman class at UGA will be getting either HOPE or Zell Miller scholarships. We talk with Nancy Badertscher, who authored the report “Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship: A victim of its own success?” about the effect this will have on students and the state.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Georgia last week for allegedly segregating and mistreating thousands of public school students who are enrolled in a statewide program called GNETS. The program serves students with behavior-related disabilities. We revisit our conversation about the GNETS program with journalist Marian Wang and parent Natasha Hall, whose son is in the program. Meanwhile, the DOJ recently said it was reviewing a separate case in Newton County, Georgia. As we reported on

The University of Georgia recently created two new fellowship programs to recruit the most promising graduate students. The fellowships will waive tuition and provide at least $20,000 a year for research that aligns with the needs of Georgia's economy. But is graduate school worth the cost? We talk about the return-investment on graduate and doctoral programs with University of Georgia Graduate School Dean Suzanne Barbour and Andrew Hanson, a senior analyst at Georgetown University Center on

Robert Stackowitz appeared in court on Tuesday for an extradition hearing, and was taken into custody. Back in 1968, he fled a prison work camp in Carrolton, Georgia while serving a 17-year-sentence for home burglary. He’s been on the run for nearly 50 years. Authorities identified him earlier this year living in Connecticut. We talk about the case with his attorney, Norm Pattis. Then, we ask Fordham University professor Tina Maschi about how we know whether someone is rehabilitated. Then,

Summer in Georgia is always hot, but if you feel like 2016 has been warmer than normal, you're right. The temperature in Atlanta was higher than average every single day during the month of July. Climate experts say this year could go down as the hottest on record. We talk with University of Georgia agricultural climatologist Pam Knox about the trend and what it means for everyone who lives and works in the Peach State.