Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signs a bill to give state income refunds of more than $1.1 billion on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, at the Georgia capitol in Atlanta. The measure gives refunds of $250 to $500 to people who filed tax returns for 2020 and 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Gov. Brian Kemp says special state income tax refunds will begin this week, although it could be early August before everyone who filed a return before the April deadline will get paid. 

Kemp persuaded lawmakers to approve paying $1.1 billion in one-time refunds out of Georgia's historic budget surplus. 

House Bill 1302, which Kemp signed into law March 23, will give a refund of up to $250 to single filers, up to $375 to single adults who head a household with dependents and up to $500 to married couples filing jointly. The refund would only be paid to people who filed tax returns for both the 2020 and 2021 tax years, and no one can get back more than they paid in state income taxes in 2020.

Crediting or issuing a refund will be automatic for anyone who files a 2020 and 2021 return, with no further action required. People who have already filed 2021 tax returns won't have to refile their taxes.

Neighbors Lelia Middlebrook and Ron Hightower have been living in Edgewood for decades. As the neighborhood changes and prices go up they're among the many people looking for relief on their property taxes. (Amanda Andrews / GPB News)

Leila Middlebrook has lived in Atlanta long enough to see six mayors, the Olympics, and two Atlanta Braves World Series wins. She lives in a small pink house near the end of Whitefoord street in the Edgewood neighborhood. It sits one story high, surrounded by taller condos and multi family homes in muted colors.

Since then, the demographics have changed — along with the prices in the area. As property values and the cost of living in Edgewood go up, many of the Black families moved to the suburbs. Now, wealthier, white residents are moving back in. 

• “Somebody knocked on the door one time — my son was here, and I was gone," Middlebrook said. "When he answered the door, [the stranger] said 'How much, how much?' So he told him, 'It's not my house, it's my mom's house.' 'I’ll write her out a check right now for $350,000.' ” 

Despite Middlebrooks’s skepticism, an offer of about $300,000 lines up with what the Dekalb County Tax Assessors Office said her home is worth. Even though she only paid $38,000 for it originally, the average home in Edgewood is selling for over $400,000, which means Leila is paying a similar amount in property taxes to her younger, wealthier neighbors.

Which creates a problem: Newcomers bring money, push up property values, the property taxes rise, and locals can’t afford to stay in the neighborhood.

Fentanyl, which is several times more potent than heroin, can be found lacing all street drugs, not just painkillers. (File)

Drug overdoses continue to increase in Georgia, but the COVID-19 pandemic saw a meteoric rise in deaths, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

A major factor in the worsening opioid epidemic is fentanyl, which is several times more potent than heroin. The deadly substance can be found in all street drugs, not just painkillers. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation found fentanyl in counterfeit Adderall and Xanax, as well as in cocaine.

• "Some drug users seek fentanyl for the high and the low price," said the DPH's Laura Edison, "but oftentimes drug users are not aware that they're taking fentanyl, and only one pill can kill if you have the wrong pill."

The amount of fentanyl on the streets also surged.

In 2020, the Drug Enforcement Agency seized about 3,400 fentanyl doses. Last year, that number skyrocketed to more than 70,000.  

Read more from GPB’s Ellen Eldridge.

(File)

Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings says she is "deeply troubled" following news of the stop and search of a bus carrying members of the women's lacrosse team of Delaware State University, a historically Black university, last month in Georgia. 

On Wednesday, Jennings called on officials in Georgia and at the U.S. Justice Department to investigate what members of the team say was racial profiling.

• "Like so many others, I'm deeply troubled by the actions that our Delaware State University Women's Lacrosse team and staff endured in Georgia this past April," Jennings said in a statement.

In a letter addressed to the U.S. assistant attorney general for civil rights, Kristen Clarke, Jennings referred to the incident as "troubling" and one that is "deserving of your attention."

Henry Ssendagire, a Ugandan master's student working with CAES virologist Mike Deom, investigates aphids that carry viruses causing groundnut rosette disease, a serious peanut disease in sub-Saharan Africa. (University of Georgia)

The University of Georgia's Peanut Innovation Lab, a partnership between UGA's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the U.S. Agency for International Development, is a program to alleviate hunger by helping farmers in developing countries grow more peanuts. 

• “Peanut is an amazing plant that provides health benefits to consumers, agronomic benefits to the farm and economic benefits to producers,” lab director David Hoisington said. “Tapping into those benefits to improve food security is important, and UGA's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has spearheaded that work for years.” 

The lab's projects dive into how to create resilient varieties, how eating peanuts may help kids do better in school and how to reach women with this information. 

• “In many countries, those who are in charge of nutrition are going to be the women,” Hoisington said. 

However, the effort is nearing the end of its funding. The lab is now in the fourth year of a five-year, $14 million grant.