(APN) ATLANTA — Reforming the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB), which investigates civilian complaints against police, is finally up for discussion at Atlanta City Hall. Atlanta City Councilman Ivory Lee Young Jr. (District 3) introduced proposed reforms toward the end of the council meeting on February 15, 2015. Atlanta Progressive News reported that Samuel Lee Reid, director of […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — The communities near Turner Field are seeking a binding Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) as part of the pending stadium sale. The Atlanta Fulton County Recreational Authority (AFCRA) is in the process of selling Turner Field and surrounding acres to Georgia State University and the development firm Carter. http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/12/24/residents-advocates-criticize-selection-of-gsu-to-redevelop-turner-field/ It is not clear how GSU […]
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(APN) SMYRNA, Cobb County, Georgia — Smyrna City Council members fled their chamber when the family of Nick Thomas––an unarmed Black man killed by a Smyrna police officer––and at least one hundred supporters interrupted their meeting on Monday, February 15, 2016. Sgt. Kenneth Owens killed Thomas in March, 2015 while the young man was working at a Goodyear in […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — State Rep. Sandra Scott (D-Rex) has introduced legislation calling for automatic voter registration in the State of Georgia, following in the footsteps of the State of Oregon and the State of California, which adopted similar measures in 2015. It is a hard sell in a state that has been ground zero for voter suppression–Georgia pioneered stricter […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Teachers, students, parents, and community members packed the Atlanta Public School Board of Education (APS BOE) meeting on Monday, February 01, 2016 to voice opposition to Superintendent Meria Carstarphen’s recently announced school turnaround strategy. The strategy aims to improve schools that Gov. Nathan Deal has deemed “failing,” so that they would not be subject to state […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) opened its wait list for rental vouchers to new applicants statewide, and the results have been overwhelming. Within the first 24 hours, the agency has received approximately 47,000 applications, according to Jana Wiggins, a DCA spokesperson. That is more than three times the number of households that currently […]
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UPDATE 1: Title and article updated with new total numbers (see below for full editorial comment). (APN) ATLANTA — The Atlanta Board of Education has conceded to recouping tens of millions dollars less than the original 162 million dollars promised to the Atlanta Public School system (APS) for its participation in the Beltline Tax Allocation District (TAD). In […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Atlanta’s boundaries are growing, as more unincorporated neighborhoods in DeKalb and Fulton Counties are successfully annexing into the City of Atlanta, opting to use the petition method provided for by Georgia law, instead of seeking voter referenda. Most recently, the City of Atlanta annexed the community of South Oaks, a small residential area in south Fulton, […]
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(APN) DECATUR — On Thursday, January 21, 2016, after eight hours of hearing evidence, a criminal grand jury indicted DeKalb County police officer Robert Olsen on six counts for the murder of Anthony Hill. The charges include two counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of making a false statement, and two counts of violation […]
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(APN) ATLANTA –– Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp kicked off this Presidential Election year with a new program to get high schoolers civically engaged. The program trains high school students to act as “Ambassadors” of the Secretary of State’s office by holding voter registration drives and educating other youth about the electoral process. “As the father of […]
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(APN) DECATUR –– Demonstrators are braving below-freezing temperatures as they camp outside of the DeKalb County Courthouse in the lead-up to a grand jury hearing in the case of Anthony Hill. Hill, a 27-year-old Air Force veteran and musician, was suffering a mental breakdown when DeKalb Police Department (DPD) Officer Robert Olsen fatally shot him last March. http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/03/14/rally-hold-for-dekalb-police-killing-of-anthony-hill/ […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — In the flurry of activity that marked the first week of the 2016 year of the 2015-2016 Legislative Session, members of the Georgia House Democratic Caucus gathered on Thursday, January 14, 2016, to announce their policy agenda. High on the list was Medicaid expansion in Georgia, an option under the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) that Georgia […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Two and a half months after officially putting Turner Field up for sale, the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority (AFCRA) has selected a bidder––Georgia State University. “The writing was on the wall that GSU was always going to win this particular bid. There’s not a lot of people in the market for a gently used stadium,” […]
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Photograph via Creative Commons. (APN) ATLANTA — World leaders have reached an historic agreement to address climate change, with input––and pressure––from local delegations the world over, including from Atlanta, Georgia, and throughout the U.S. South. The agreement, signed by 196 countries including the United States, sets a goal of keeping global temperatures from rising more than two degrees […]
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With reporting contributed by Rob Steven. Photograph by Steve Eberhardt. (APN) STONE MOUNTAIN, Georgia — Anti-refugee politicians like Gov. Nathan Deal do not speak for everyone: that was the message of a rally held on December 12, 2015 in Stone Mountain, where 150 people expressed support for bringing Syrian refugees to Georgia. “We are here to to denounce […]
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