Atlanta Progressive News

(APN) ATLANTA — An Atlanta activist with the Georgia Task Force for the Homeless requested April 4, 2007, that the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) impose a voluntary moratorium on the demolition of the city’s public housing for at least one year. “I have always felt in my heart, public housing that is available to people who are making minimum wage […]

(APN) ATLANTA–The Georgia Working Families Caucus (WFC) is the Georgia General Assembly’s newest legislative caucus, having officially formed this session “in order to develop and promote legislation and policies that invest in workers, families, and communities,” Atlanta Progressive News has learned. The Caucus is composed of over 20 members from around the state and meets every Thursday at noon during […]

(APN) ATLANTA — Major 2008 Democratic candidates for President of the United States–including Clinton, Edwards, Kucinich, and Obama–have already begun addressing health care in their campaigns. However, US Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is the only major declared candidate who advocates for a single-payer health care system so far in this race. Only Kucinich and former US Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) […]

(APN) ATLANTA — “I think there is a very high chance of [the bill] going through. We think Congress will make the right decision,” Joao De Silva, Communications Coordinator for SOA Watch (SOAW), told Atlanta Progressive News, after the recent SOAW Annual Strategy Meeting and Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. From February 18 to February 20, 2007, hundreds of SOAW […]

(APN) ATLANTA — An Atlanta activist received a sentence of 100 days in a federal prison on January 29, 2007, after being arrested and charged with a Class B misdemeanor November 19, 2006, at a protest at the School of the Americas (SOA). The notorious SOA–recently renamed WHINSEC, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation–is located on the Fort Benning […]

(APN) ATLANTA — The Bush Administration announced yesterday it will abandon the warrantless surveillance program operated by the National Security Agency (NSA), Atlanta Progressive News has learned. The reversal comes just one day before US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was to begin testifying before the new Democratic-majority Congress on the illegal program. A new plan calls for the secret court […]

(APN) ATLANTA — The US Department of Justice’s (USDOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) opened a review of the USDOJ’s role in the National Security Agency’s (NSA) warrantless wiretapping program on November 27, 2006, according to a letter from the OIG to US Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) obtained by Atlanta Progressive News. APN first reported on the apparent game […]

(APN) ATLANTA — Iraq Veterans for Progress (IVFP) is supporting the campaigns of four candidates running for the US House and Senate, and creating jobs for veterans at the same time: by sending veterans of the US Invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan to help the campaigns in any way they can. Air Force Veteran Tim Goodrich, who also co-founded Iraq […]

(APN) ATLANTA – Radio Free Georgia (WRFG, 89.3 FM) is nearing its fundraising goal in its two year Tower of Power capital campaign to move to a new tower. WRFG has already raised $175,000 and needs to raise another $50,000, Heather Gray, President of WRFG’s Board of Directors, told Atlanta Progressive News. WRFG has had plenty of help along the […]

This article contained additional reporting by Matthew Cardinale. (APN) ATLANTA — “You get depressed. Sometimes you don’t know why you wake up in the morning. You don’t know if you can make it another day,” Kimberly Saulsbury-Zetreene, 36, a homeless woman in Atlanta, told Atlanta Progressive News. Each night, there are thousands of women like Kimberly and her friend Regina […]

(APN) ATLANTA — Homeless advocates are planning a fabulous redesign of the Peachtree and Pine Homeless Shelter into a major community hub, where the homeless will eventually run a coffee shop, restaurant, market, art studio, and rooftop garden, to enhance downtown culture and provide themselves a way out of poverty. Everyone at the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, […]

(APN) ATLANTA — It’s difficult to talk about the leftist scene in Atlanta in the 1960’s and 70’s without someone bringing up The Great Speckled Bird, the leftist alternative newspaper which influenced so many minds of the time. But what was The Bird? Who ran it and how did it operate? Atlanta Progressive News has conducted extensive interviews and uncovered […]

(APN) ATLANTA – 20,000 participants are expected to attend Atlanta’s upcoming, first-ever United States Social Forum (USSF) in late June 2007. Atlanta activists are busily planning away for the massive descent of progressive Americans upon their iconic city which is so rich in historical ties to the US Civil Rights Movement. The US Social Forum is a national incarnation of […]

(APN) ATLANTA – MARTA will be implementing a new Breeze Smart Card system at a cost of $190 million throughout 2006 to replace the current token and magnetic strip card system. Shiny metal tokens will go the way of the dinosaur here in Atlanta, as aesthetics and nostalgia make way for efficiency and the enhancement of data collection. MARTA passengers […]