Three months after George Floyd died in police custody, Atlanta is seeking two young adults to serve on the city’s board that adjudicates citizen complaints against Atlanta police and corrections officers.
Author Archives: David Pendered
David Pendered, Managing Editor, is an Atlanta journalist with more than 30 years experience reporting on the region’s urban affairs, from Atlanta City Hall to the state Capitol. Since 2008, he has written for print and digital publications, and advised on media and governmental affairs. Previously, he spent more than 26 years with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and won awards for his coverage of schools and urban development. David graduated from North Carolina State University and was a Western Knight Center Fellow.
Posted inLatest News
Fernbank Museum offers end-of-summer, start-of-school programs; famed forest
Fernbank Museum is to offer its Summer Science Fest for two more weekends, offering an educational respite at the close of a season that – for some – has been anything but a Summer O’ Fun.
Posted inLatest News
MARTA views expansion with ample cash reserves, positive credit review
MARTA’s planned service expansion in Downtown Atlanta and, possibly, into Gwinnett County comes as MARTA’s finances have received positive credit reviews and a budget that could afford to stretch federal pandemic-related funds into future years.
Posted inLatest News
Census undercount: Atlanta, state poised to risk federal money, influence
Atlanta residents appear intent to walk away from federal funding and congressional representation for the upcoming decade, based on response rates to the Census. The deadline is Sept. 30.
Posted inColumns
Atlanta tweaks tree protection, floats idea of forming urban forestry division
Atlanta continues to tinker with its ordinances to protect trees and the vaunted tree canopy. The city this month has partially protected the Tree Trust Fund and started discussing the formation of a forestry division to manage wooded land.
Posted inLatest News
Patient access to MRIs, CT scans to be eased by new state law, nurses say
Patients may find wait times are shorter to get orders for an MRI and similar procedures following Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to back nurses over doctors and allow nurses with certain credentials to order radiologic tests.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia’s hotels call for federal relief to stay open, protect remaining jobs
Metro Atlanta is in the Top 10 regions in the nation in the number of hotels that are delinquent in paying their mortgages, a new report shows. The massive layoffs in the hotel sector at the start of the pandemic evidently did not prevent the financial stress.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia’s toll collections down by 70 percent as pandemic cuts commuter travel
Georgia’s toll road system is the only one of eight systems nationwide in which traffic on toll roads has not recovered to levels approaching pre-pandemic levels, and toll collections are off by up to 70 percent, a new report shows.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta’s latest affordable housing plan calls for borrowing $100 million
Atlanta’s new affordable housing proposal envisions borrowing up to $100 million to establish “nearly 3,500” affordable residences. Terms calls for annual payments of about $2.5 million for up to 40 years, to be funded with property taxes.
Posted inColumns
UGA law grad: Prosecuted mob, led in 9/11 inquiries, protected birds from Trump
The pedigree of the federal judge who cited ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ when she rejected President Trump’s effort to reduce protections of migratory birds includes a UGA law degree, prosecution of mobsters in New York, and leadership at the FBI after 9/11.
Posted inLatest News
Proposed quarry hits teeth of citizen protest over site near Chattahoochee River
A proposed rock quarry along the Chattahoochee River in Carroll County has run into the teeth of a fast-moving grassroots opposition that has gained the support of county governments in Carroll and Coweta counties.
Posted inLatest News
Hikes for Health Challenge grew from synergy of region’s parks, greenspaces
The new Hike for Health Challenge, with its $250 incentive from REI, is the latest example of the growing synergy among the leaders of 10 parks and greenspaces in metro Atlanta.
Posted inLatest News
Gwinnett County voters to face two sales tax proposals Nov. 3: Transit, education
Gwinnett County voters are to face two sales tax proposals on the Nov. 3 ballot. One would extend the 1 percent sales tax for education to 2027. One would establish a 1 percent sales tax to expand transit to extend for 30 years – and possibly extend heavy rail from MARTA’s Doraville Station to Gwinnett Place Mall.
Posted inLatest News
Former Turner Field now named Center Parc Credit Union Stadium
The former Turner Field now is named Center Parc Credit Union Stadium, or the short version – Center Parc Stadium. Georgia State University announced the naming rights on Tuesday.
Posted inColumns
Toxic masculinity: New programs calm tensions, promote healing in era of upheaval
As men struggle to manage their emotions in this era of COVID-19 upheaval and social justice demonstrations, an organization whose first chairman was John Lewis is offering new programs to help.
Posted inLatest News
Facing sewer discharge limit, Columbus seeks to change statewide water quality rule
The City of Columbus’ water utility on Monday intends to ask the state to change statewide water quality rules in way that would delay, if not eliminate, a pending limit on the amount of sewage Columbus discharges into the Chattahoochee River.
Posted inLatest News
Dad’s Garage Theatre’s BIPOC vow coincides with theater artists’ statement
Dad’s Garage Theatre has recommitted itself to expanding opportunities for Black, indigenous and people of color as part of a forward looking statement on the future of the popular intown stage.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia now has state funding for transit, though Legislature to revisit the measure
Georgia now has its first statewide funding for transit. The money – as much as $50 million a year – is to be distributed among the state’s transit agencies under provisions that are to be developed.
Posted inLatest News
Census a social justice that Blacks ignore at own peril: Democratic leaders
The Census is a matter of social justice and Black communities will suffer if the historic undercount of Blacks continues in the 2020 Census, according to comments during a virtual town hall Tuesday that featured Georgians Stacy Abrams and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson.
Posted inColumns
A cleaner Chattahoochee River to result from expanded sewer plant
The era of raw sewage rolling down the Chattahoochee River from spills in North Fulton County is to be coming to an end. The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper campaigned for, and supports, the expanded sewage treatment plant being built in Roswell.
