(APN) ATLANTA — On July 17, 2017, the City Council of Atlanta voted unanimously to authorize the Atlanta Development Authority (“Invest Atlanta”) to issue a 26 million dollar Homeless Opportunity Bond (HOB) to combat homelessness in Atlanta. The United Way of Greater Atlanta will match that with a 25 million dollar philanthropic donation. Mayor Kasim Reed announced […]
Read more
With added legal analysis by Matthew Charles Cardinale. (APN) ATLANTA — A family in DeKalb County has joined a coalition of plaintiffs from around the country to challenge the federal government’s classification of cannabis, or “marijuana,” as a Schedule I drug, which means a dangerous substance with no medical benefits. Sebastien Cotte is representing his son Jagger, 6, […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Ding, Dong. V.C. Summer’s two planned new nuclear power reactors near Columbia, South Carolina are dead. The culprits include rising costs, falling demand for energy, construction delays, and the bankruptcy of lead contractor Westinghouse. After nine years, Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) are pulling the plug on the fourteen billion dollar […]
Read more
(APN) DECATUR — On Monday, July 17, 2017, over a hundred activists held their first boycott and day of protest at the Chevron gas station at the intersection of Glenwood Road and Line Road in DeKalb County, after a video circulated on social media showing an incident where a DeKalb County police officer brutalized a homeless woman. On June […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — “No Medicaid Cuts, No Medicaid Caps, No Cuts to Medicaid Waivers.” These were the demands from over fifty people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) at the Georgia State Capitol, on Wednesday, july 12, 2017. Their protest highlighted how the various U.S. Congressional Republican proposals to repeal the Affordable Care Act would harm Georgia. People […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — At the Georgia Public Service Commission’s (PSC) 16th Vogtle Construction Monitoring (VCM) hearing on June 29, 2017, the PSC’s staff reported, for the first time, that it may be uneconomical to continue developing two new nuclear reactors–Vogtle Units 3 and 4–at Plant Vogtle. During cross examination, the PSC staff hypothesized several outcomes for Vogtle and the […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — On June 21, 2017, the City Council of Atlanta voted, as part of the approval of next fiscal year’s budget, to raise the minimum wage for workers employed by the City of Atlanta from to $10.10 to $15 an hour over the next two fiscal years. The raise does not cover people working in the City […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — As the U.S. Senate Republican majority released their much anticipated version of “Trumpcare” or the Affordable Healthcare Act (AHCA)–which is supposed to replace “Obamacare” or the Affordable Care Act (ACA)–Georgians mobilized in opposition. Progressives are increasingly pointing to the predictable failure of the private insurance/individual mandate model of Obamacare to provide truly universal care or to […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — The success of the Mother’s Day Bail Out earlier this year when approximately one hundred “Mamas” nationwide were bailed out on Mother Day’s, has led to a Father’s Day bail out in Atlanta. The ideal is it grow into a national movement to get poor and homeless people out of jail when they cannot afford to […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — A recent interview with Logan Lamb, 29, the man who breached highly sensitive election data in Georgia, published by the Politico news service, reveals that the reported breach–involving the Kennesaw State University Center for Election Systems (KSU CES) website–is much more serious than the University previously stated. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/14/will-the-georgia-special-election-get-hacked-215255 The so-called “hacker” was Internet security employee, […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Sheriff Jeff Hobby’s office in Worth County near Albany, Georgia, inappropriately and apparently unlawfully searched almost 900 students at Worth County High School for illegal drugs. On April 14, 2017, some forty uniformed officers from five law enforcement agencies invaded the school and put the school on lockdown for four hours. Police dogs were used […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Georgia Public Service Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald (District 4) filed a motion to give Georgia Power ratepayers a break by asking the company to suspend collecting the nuclear construction tax, or CWIP. But it had as much chance as a snowball in hell of being honored by the PSC or Georgia Power. The Commission voted to […]
Read more
With additional reporting by Matthew Charles Cardinale (APN) ATLANTA — Facing pressure from Mayor of Atlanta Kasim Reed, Central Atlanta Progress, and other organizations, the City Council of Atlanta has stalled on legislation that Councilman Kwanza Hall (District 2), a Mayoral candidate, introduced nearly three months ago, to lower the municipal penalties to a fine and eliminate the possibility […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Concerned citizens living near Peachtree Hills Park, an eight acre park near Atlanta’s Lindbergh MARTA Station, are up in arms about a developer’s plans to use the public park land for private gain. Neighborhood advocates are saying this plan–already approved by the City Council of Atlanta– sets a dangerous precedent. Ashton Woods, a private developer, […]
Read more
(APN) CLARKSTON — The City Council of Clarkston, Georgia, has passed a non-detainer policy on May 02, 2017 that prohibits the federal agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from arresting people in Clarkston with a “detainer request” or an “administrative immigration warrant.” ICE must obtain a legal judicial warrant and show probable cause that authorizes an individual’s arrest and […]
Read more