(APN) ATLANTA — Georgia Power’s 2016 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), released on Friday, January 29, 2016, continues to keep renewables on a slow track. The company files an IRP every three years to outline how it can best meet Georgia’s changing energy needs for the next twenty years. Georgia Power talks about the benefits of renewables, but the […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — HB 929, a bill co-sponsored by State Reps. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta), and others, would change Georgia’s allocation of Electoral College votes, in concert with several other U.S. states, to effect a national popular vote for the President of the United States. Currently, per the federal Constitution, U.S. Presidents are elected not by […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — This election cycle, at least two advocates for South Fulton cityhood–Debra Bazemore and Rafer Johnson–are putting their names on the ballot to run for State House. State House races in Districts 62 and 63, covering much of south Fulton County, will be top-heavy with City of South Fulton advocates. Atlanta Progressive News is beginning our […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — State Rep. Pedro “Pete” Marin (D-Duluth) held a press conference to introduced his resolution, HR 1033, asking the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners to work to ease the traffic congestion and listen to citizens’ demands to increase mass transit options. Marin said he wants to continue the conversation to make sure Gwinnett County is not left […]
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(APN) CHAMBLEE — About three hundred residents from Chamblee and the proposed annexed area attended a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, February 18, 2016, at Lakeside High School to discuss the Chamblee annexation. http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2016/02/11/city-of-chamblee-fixing-to-annex-much-of-the-lavista-hills-map/ State Sen. Elena Parent (D-Atlanta) updated the gathering on the Senate Study Committee recommendations on annexation. http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/12/20/state-senate-house-study-committees-on-cityhood-annexation-release-reports/ State Reps. Scott Holcomb (D-Atlanta), Mary […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — Transit funding just got a boon, as SB 330, sponsored by State Sen. Brandon Beach (R – Alpharetta) passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday, February 18, 2016, by a vote of eight to three. The committee had to move rooms twice in order to accommodate the large crowd, and heard testimony from various […]
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(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 — This installment of Capitol Journal covers Week Six of the 2016 year of the 2015-2016 Legislative Session of the Georgia General Assembly. Legislative Session Day 21 (Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016) The biggest news of the day is the new religious freedom “Franken-Bill” – which combines HB 757 (the relatively innocuous Pastor Protection Act) with SB […]
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(APN) ATLANTA — A packed room spilled out into the hallway during a hearing on several minimum wage bills Thursday, February 11, 2016. “We got an extensive list of folks signed up… If [the committee] drop[s] below six, we can’t do anything. So just keep that in mind,” Chairmen Charlie Bethel (R – Dalton) reiterated multiple times during the […]
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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) CHAMBLEE — Tonight, Thursday, February 11, 2016, during a public hearing called for 6:30 p.m., the City of Chamblee City Council will be hearing public testimony on a resolution to express their support for a referendum on whether to annex a northern section of DeKalb County that was formerly part of the proposed City of LaVista Hills (LVH). […]
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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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Photograph courtesy of Dr. Laura Emiko Soltis, Freedom University. (APN) ATLANTA — On Monday, February 01, 2016, fourteen students, including six undocumented students, were arrested in civil disobedience actions at two universities. Almost one hundred undocumented and documented students integrated classrooms at Georgia State University (GSU); the University of Georgia, Athens (UGA); and Georgia Tech. The purpose […]
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(APN) ATLANTA – On Monday, January 25, 2016, patients and parents testified to the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee asking for their support for HB 722, a follow-up bill to HB 1, Haleigh’s Hope Act. HB 1 allowed possession of medical cannabis oil for eight conditions, but no legal means to access it in-state. http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/Display/20152016/HB/722 The bill, if […]
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