(APN) ATLANTA — A number of high-profile campaign contributors to Mayor Kasim Reed have received airport contracts, raising concerns about possible pay-to-play, even while Reed’s Administration guards all aspects of the bidding process with great secrecy. At stake is who will benefit from tens of millions of dollars in revenue from one of the nation’s busiest airports. Over 250,000 […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Two years into the four-year Council term which began in 2010 and will end in 2013, Council President Ceasar Mitchell has announced a few significant changes to the membership and leadership of Atlanta’s seven Council committees. By contrast, last year at this time, Mitchell only made slight changes to the Committee’s memberships; none to their chairmanships. […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City Council of Atlanta appears likely to approve a funding measure to extend the life of People TV, an Atlanta public access channel, for one year. The Finance/Executive Committee unanimously approved the funding last week, at the November 30, 2011, meeting. The proposed ordinance would transfer 180,000 dollars from the non-departmental budget for public access […]
Read more41 Days to Black for People TV; Council Slow to Act By Matthew Cardinale (APN) ATLANTA — People TV will end its programming on December 31, 2011, if the City Council and Mayor of Atlanta do not take action. As previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News, after the Georgia legislature passed franchising legislation that allowed AT&T to compete with […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Following two votes at the Full Council meeting on Monday, October 17, 2011, Atlanta Progressive News has revised its scorecard of Atlanta City Council Members, which now includes eighteen votes on legislation or other matters. APN first issued a scorecard in 2009, and has re-issued the scorecard with additional items twice previously. Of note in the […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City Council of Atlanta took an extraordinary vote Monday, October 17, 2011, on whether to grant an additional two minutes of public speaking time to NAME President, an advocate for People TV, the endangered public access station. Ms. President ran out of time while making her remarks at the Full Council meeting, where two minutes […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Attorney General Sam Olens and the Georgia First Amendment Foundation have filed amicus briefs in the case, S11G1047, currently before the Supreme Court of Georgia, and brought by the News Editor of Atlanta Progressive News–the present writer–against the City of Atlanta, regarding the City Council’s secret vote of February 2010. Oral arguments will be held in the […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — US District Judge Thomas Thrash ruled against the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless in a Motion for Summary Judgement in its claims against the City of Atlanta, and ruled in favor of the City in its counterclaim for unpaid water bills, according to a copy of Thrash’s ruling, dated Friday, September 21, 2011, posted on […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Senior Assistant City Attorney Kristen Denius defended two closed-door meetings involving the Atlanta Police Department LGBT Advisory Board, Mayor Reed and his staff, and APD, in a memo prepared for Glen Paul Freedman, Chair of the Board, dated Monday, August 22, 2011. In this memo, Denius advised Freedman, in the opinion of the City of Atlanta […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta’s City Council Office called security on Atlanta Progressive News’s News Editor–the present writer–while the Monday, August 15, 2011, Full Council Meeting was going on, and only minutes before a court hearing in which APN defeated the City in court. Officer W. Williams (BADGE #2999) was clearly called as part of an effort […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — In a victory against the City of Atlanta’s ongoing, multifaceted attack upon the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, the News Editor of Atlanta Progressive News–the present writer–prevailed in court against the City’s attempt to suppress APN’s publication of the City’s secret memos. APN wrote about four internal City of Atlanta memos prepared […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta Law Department has requested that Atlanta Progressive News return four memoranda to their offices, after APN obtained the controversial memos and published their contents earlier this week. One memo, dated April 04, 2011, authored by Kristen Denius, Assistant City Attorney, and sent to all Council Members and Council staff, admits that Council Members […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Senior Assistant Attorney General Stefan Ritter advised the City of Atlanta and Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter’s office that Attorney General Sam Olens’s Office believes the City Council violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act by holding closed-door Committee Briefings, at a status and scheduling conference held today,Monday, August 08, 2011, in Judge Baxter’s conference room. City […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — On Monday, August 08, 2011, there will be a hearing before Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter in the case concerning the City Council of Atlanta’s practice of holding seven closed-door Committee Briefings every two weeks and not allowing in the public. The hearing will begin at 10am, and at Fulton County Superior Court, Courtroom 4D, Justice Center Tower, […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City Council of Atlanta is considering a written reprimand for Municipal Clerk Rhonda Dauphin Johnson for misuse of City property; however, the reprimand inexplicably fails to address a number of findings involving Johnson, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. Because there were only eight Council Members at Monday’s Full Council meeting, on July 18, 2011, making […]
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