(APN) ATLANTA — Residents of the communities surrounding Turner Field are determined not to let history repeat itself. The stadium and surrounding property are up for grabs when the Atlanta Braves baseball team leaves for Cobb County in 2017. Georgia State University (GSU) is vying to acquire the real estate and has partnered with Carter real estate firm, […]
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(APN) LITHONIA — Candidates for DeKalb District 5 Commissioner squared off in a forum in Lithonia, Georgia, on Thursday May 28, 2015. Early voting is already underway for this seat, which has been without representation since July 2013, when District 5 Commissioner Lee May was appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal as Interim DeKalb County CEO following the indictment and […]
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(APN) DECATUR — The Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB) is looking to change some things about the way it operates. At a meeting of Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment (ABLE) on May 19, 2015, ACRB Executive Director Samuel Lee Reid outlined several of fifteen reforms the Board originally made public in February 2015. ABLE invited Reid to speak […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Low-income senior and disabled residents of Friendship Towers, a rent-subsidized apartment building, have been drumming up public pressure to get the building’s air conditioning fixed, as sweltering temperatures threaten their comfort, and in some cases, their health. News broke earlier in May that the building’s elderly tenants were suffering in the heat. Then a man was […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Atlanta’s only independent, non-profit community radio station is again in danger of leaving the airwaves. For over forty years, Radio Free Georgia, WRFG 89.3 FM, has lifted up marginalized voices through public affairs, news, and music programming that now reaches thirteen Metro Atlanta counties from its station in Atlanta’s Little Five Points Community Center. Now […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Atlanta’s large commercial buildings will be required to report their water and energy use under a newly adopted City ordinance that aims to reduce commercial energy consumption and cut carbon emissions. Mayor Kasim Reed announced the new policy on Tuesday, April 21, 2015. “We are building on our success with the Better Buildings Challenge to […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — A majority of likely Gwinnett County voters support expanding Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transit Authority (MARTA) service to the county, according to a poll commissioned by the Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce. “This reaffirms what we thought about how the Gwinnett community has changed over time. The community in general supports transportation alternatives,” Dr. Daniel Kaufman, President […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Four activists and one reporter were arrested in Valdosta, Georgia, on April 06, 2015, after marching from Atlanta to seek justice for Kendrick Johnson. The activists are Jakalia Brown, Jamel Cosby, Natalia Hall, and Harold Maze. According to a tweet by Drum Beats for Peace, Erica Walker was arrested while there with WAOK radio “and […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Five people arrested for criminal trespassing while protesting at an immigration detention center in November 2014 have been cleared of all charges. Known as the Stewart Five: Anton Flores, Kevin Caron, Maureen Fitzsimmons, Rebecca Kanner, and Jason McGaughey were arrested on November 22, 2014, at an annual demonstration held outside of Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Gov. Nathan Deal is expected to sign an historic transportation spending bill, HB 170, that lawmakers approved toward the end of the 2015 legislative session. This bill has come a long way from the original version, which would have sharply reduced revenues for local governments in order to boost funding for the Georgia Department of Transportation […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — The plastic bag lobby was active in Georgia this Legislative Session, but despite its influence, a bill to prohibit municipalities from banning plastic bags ultimately failed. Underlying the legislative push was a proposed ordinance to ban plastic bags in Tybee Island, Georgia. Supporters of the ban say that plastic bags are increasingly being ingested by […]
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With additional reporting by Matthew Charles Cardinale, News Editor (APN) ATLANTA — On Sine Die, the last day of the Georgia Legislative Session, on Thursday, April 02, 2015, Georgians’ already-reduced early voting period hung in legislative limbo with the possibility of it being further reduced from twenty-one to twelve days. But ultimately the effort to reduce early voting failed. […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — An estimated one thousand people gathered outside of Smyrna City Hall on Tuesday, March 31, 2015, to hold a vigil for Nicholas Thomas, the latest Metro Atlanta victim of police homicide. On March 24, 2015, Mr. Thomas, age 24, was working at a Goodyear Tire Shop near Cumberland Mall, when Smyrna police arrived to serve him […]
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With additional reporting Allie McCullen, Special to Atlanta Progressive News (APN) ATLANTA — In 2016, Georgia voters will be asked whether to amend the state constitution “to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance.” That’s the ballot language codified by SR 287, one of two pieces of legislation that […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — The full Georgia House and a Georgia Senate committee have passed a bill that would make raccoon trapping legal in most north Georgia counties. The full House passed the bill on February 20, 2015, in a vote of 144 to 18. Several Democrats and a few Republicans opposed the measure. The Senate Natural Resources and […]
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