Greetings, Georgia.

It's Wednesday, May 3, 2023.

Spelman College formally inaugurated Dr. Helene D. Gayle as its 11th president during a ceremony on April 28 at the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel.

Also, former political prisoners are sharing how Jimmy Carter saved their lives.

Meanwhile, supporters of Georgia’s music industry entered this year’s General Assembly session optimistic lawmakers would renew state tax incentives to lure music producers and create a state office dedicated to promoting the industry.

This is Georgia Today.

TOP STORIES

✭ Precision agriculture technology helps farmers — but they need help

Lee Nunn says he uses a lot of precision agriculture on his Georgia farm to save resources. (Georgia Public Broadcasting) 

Lee Nunn has the first tractor his grandfather ever bought sitting at his farm in Madison, about an hour east of Atlanta: a 1968 John Deere 4020 that's gleaming green and still runs like a dream.

Nunn uses a technique called "precision agriculture" — which means having a GPS that guides the steering of his tractor with sub-inch accuracy, and the equipment it pulls has sensors that sends an array of data up to the cloud and into the palm of his hand.

Nunn has been using precision agriculture in some form for the last decade and is an evangelist of the financial and environmental benefits it brings. But he said there are barriers to more widespread adoption among small and medium-sized farmers.

If you can afford the expensive equipment, spotty broadband can make it hard to access the data created by the machines. And if you've got the internet speed, these ag tech innovations don't always play nice across different machines or brands, like trying to use an Apple cable to charge an Android phone.

• "To be honest, that's just another added cost, another added headache, another added piece of electrical equipment on a piece of farm equipment," he said. "So what we would like to see is some sort of standard to where all these different manufacturers' pieces of equipment will seamlessly operate together."

That's something that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle agree on. They're also pushing for grants to make precision ag tech more affordable.

✭ While rare, Lyme disease is debilitating. But there could soon be a vaccine

Rachel Draddy receives treatment for Lyme disease. Now in her early 30s, Draddy contracted the tick-borne disease while in high school. (Contributed photo)

With rising atmospheric temperatures, Lyme disease, an illness spread by ticks, continues to increase across the country, affecting mainly children under 15 and older adults.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recognizes 18 tick-borne diseases in the United States, many of them newly emerging. Lyme is one of the most well-known tick-borne illnesses and has in recent decades grown into the most common vector-borne disease in the country.

• “Ticks are everywhere in Georgia,” Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, associate professor in Emory’s Department of Environmental Sciences said.

GPB NEWS HEADLINES

• Coastal Georgia's ecosystem received a relatively clean bill of health for 2022, as the state's Department of Natural Resources gave it a “B” grade in the agency's annual Ecosystem Report Card.
   
• Could Atlanta's next big trail be along the Chattahoochee?
   
• The president of Georgia's oldest historically Black public university is resigning amid employee layoffs sparked by declining enrollment and a faculty revolt against a top administrator.

WHO KNEW?

✭ Plugged in: Collective Soul headlines Fox Theatre's third 'Revivial' to benefit historic theaters

Kevn Kinney (left) of Drivin N Cryin and Ed Roland of Collective Soul visit the GPB Studios on April 14, 2023. (Kristi York Wooten / GPB News)

On May 13, musicians from Georgia and across the country will take to the stage at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta with a mission to raise money to preserve Georgia's historic theaters and expand The Fox's education programs. Two of those musicians with Georgia roots dropped by the GPB studio. 

GPB's Peter Biello spoke with Ed Roland of Collective Soul and event host Kevn Kinney of Drivin N Cryin to find out more about the special performance, which also includes Peter Buck of R.E.M., David Ryan Harris, Lenny Kaye, Mother’s Finest and Jet Black Roses. 

• Peter Biello: We'll start with you, Kevn, because you're the host of the show. I'd like to ask you first — and Ed, I'd love to hear from you on this, as well — what made you say "yes" to hosting a show like this, this fundraiser at the Fox? 
  
  Kevn Kinney: You know, for me, in this era where people aren't going to theaters anymore and kids aren't growing up in theaters — they're streaming constantly in the in the family playroom or whatever— and it’s a rare thing to get everybody together [at a theater]. As a parent [in those days], it was not a lot of fun bringing your kids to a theater. But it was a great memory for all of us. And so for me, it's the American theater. It's not only a building, but it's a place that we can — that we all celebrated being one thing together. Like when somebody went to go see Ghostbusters or E.T., it was people from all walks of life, all getting together and laughing or doing whatever came naturally to them, you know?

Tune into GPB Radio and GPB.org at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. for Political Rewind.

Today on Political Rewind: Bill Nigut chats with experts from Georgia Tech about AI and ChatGPT.

Gov. Brian Kemp signs a bill creating Georgia's own state-run health insurance marketplace; Atlanta Starbucks employees demand better working conditions; and a new program to raise awareness of autism is launching on MARTA.