(APN) ATLANTA — With Municipal Elections in the City of Atlanta scheduled to take place next year, Atlanta Progressive News has added six more recent votes to the APN Atlanta City Council Scorecard. To APN’s knowledge, the Scorecard is the most comprehensive, data-driven, and transparent source of information available about the current incumbents on the City Council of Atlanta. The […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — On Monday, March 05, 2012, the City Council of Atlanta unanimously approved a resolution to amend the minutes of the February 2010 Council Retreat, to reflect the names of those Council Members voting for or against a proposal related to limiting public comment. Atlanta Progressive News has fought for two years and one month for the Council […]
Read moreOpen Letter to Council: Disclose Your Secret Vote, The Time Has Come Dear Council Members, It has been nearly one month since the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled in my favor in the case of Cardinale v. City of Atlanta (2010CV185775 in Fulton County Superior Court; S11G1047 in Supreme Court). The case is currently on remittur back to the […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Making good on a campaign promise to strengthen Georgia’s Sunshine Laws, including the Open Records Act and Open Meetings Act, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, a Republican, has proposed a series of significant changes to both laws. According to a review of the current version of the proposal, HB 397, which was marked up by the […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The Supreme Court of Georgia heard oral arguments in Cardinale v. City of Atlanta, S11G1047, on Tuesday, October 04, 2011, at 240pm. Atlanta Progressive News’s Editor–the present writer–appeared to argue that the City of Atlanta, and agencies across the State of Georgia, are not permitted to take secret votes. Amber Robinson, a City Attorney, appeared on […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The Supreme Court of Georgia has requested the opinion of Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens in a letter dated September 01, 2011, regarding the lawsuit currently before the Court, Matthew Cardinale v. City of Atlanta et al., which was brought by APN’s News Editor–the present writer–challenging the City Council of Atlanta’s secret vote of February 2010. “Dear […]
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 — 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 — City attorneys for the City of Atlanta advised Council Members in a series of internal memos that the Council had violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act, and advised Council Members to change their practices, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. APN obtained four members prepared for Council Members by City attorneys from a source who was granted […]
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 moreGeorgia Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Secret Vote Case By Matthew Cardinale (APN) ATLANTA — The Supreme Court of Georgia agreed on Monday, July 11, 2011, to hear a case brought by the News Editor of Atlanta Progressive News–the present writer–challenging the decision by the City Council of Atlanta to take a secret vote in February 2010. The present […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — When the City of Atlanta passed a compromise pension reform proposal it was hailed as a shining new example of the City Council coming together in a unanimous vote. But the unanimous vote covers up a non-unanimous count of a vote that never occurred: the nine Council Members who were in favor of the pension reform […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta and seven Council Members have responded to a lawsuit filed by the News Editor of Atlanta Progressive News–the present writer–challenging their practice of holding seven closed-door Committee Briefings every two weeks. The City’s Answer was filed in Fulton County Superior Court on June 17, 2011, and APN’s News Editor received a copy Tuesday, […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — At the Saturday, May 21, 2011, meeting of the Atlanta Planning and Advisory Board (APAB), the citizens’ advisory group to the City of Atlanta, APAB voted to request information related to one of the City Council of Atlanta’s seven regularly scheduled closed-door Committee Briefings, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. APAB President Cathy Richards and senior advocate Ben […]
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