The threat of hurricanes landing in Georgia this season is reduced by the persistence of an El Niño in the Pacific Ocean, according to a report released Friday by a climatologist at the University of Georgia – who also observed that the downpours this months have reduced the extent of drought in the state.
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.
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Planned charging stations for e-scooters, e-bikes could ease tension over their use
The free market has found a way to create a new revenue stream off electronic bikes and scooters, and this answer promises to resolve one thorny issue regarding the devices – where and how the devices are charged.
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Gwinnett County firm stiffs workers OT pay in case resolved by federal Labor Dept.
A Gwinnett County granite installation company that didn’t pay its workers overtime was among four firms cited Wednesday by the federal government – including one that stiffed its workers out of $1.5 million at a Marine military base, plus one cited Tuesday for shorting workers at an Air Force base in Panama City, Fl. wrecked by Hurricane Michael.
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Fulton County’s new sustainability plan sets climate change mitigation as No. 1 goal
Climate change mitigation is the No. 1 priority named in the sustainability program approved unanimously by Fulton County’s Board of Commissioners. The measure is strongly endorsed by environmentalists and members of a citizen panel that contributed to the document.
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Grooming change agents for tomorrow starts with engaging youth today
Jackie Ampofa is a teenager who represents the next generation of community leaders. She’s working to improve a blighted area near Six Flags Over Georgia and her mentor – whose work contributed to a new statewide law protecting tenants – brought her to an event that teaches folks from less-advantaged backgrounds how to build partnerships across generations.
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‘until I am’ wins 2019 Georgia Poet Laureate’s Prize for Marietta teen
This year’s teen winner of the Georgia Poet Laureate’s Prize explores questions of self that respond directly to Henri Cole, another award-winning poet who observed a poem is, “a little snapshot of the soul in a moment of being.”
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Tariff concerns rise in Georgia, Southeast as tight labor market draws headlines
A tight labor market continues to headline the Southeast’s economic conditions, though the transportation industry is bracing for job cuts related to trade tariffs, according to a federal report – and that was before President Trump announced potential tariffs on Mexico.
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Emory names first diversity officer to strengthen ‘diversity, equity, inclusion’
Emory University on Tuesday announced its selection to serve as the first vice provost for diversity and inclusion, chief diversity officer and advisor to the president. The position is to help Emory fulfill its ambitions to fulfill its four pillars of academic excellence.
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Georgia’s summer: Hot, dry, grazed by Republican feud over hurricane relief funding
The start of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season finds Georgia facing ever-increasing dry conditions, even as Republicans have gotten personal in the battle over federal relief for Hurricane Michael – a record delay of 34 weeks after the storm.
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Big thud: UN reports human society at risk as extinction threatens 1 million species
That thud heard across the country was response to a landmark report from the United Nations that shows human society is at risk as 1 million plant and animal species are on the brink of extinction.
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Atlanta’s tree ordinance: Final public forums slated before final draft written
Atlanta’s potential tree ordinance is nearing completion, as next week the city is to convene the second and final round of city-wide public forums before a final draft ordinance is to be presented to the public in July or August.
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Smuggling conviction shows nation’s machinery for handling illegal border crossers
The nation’s machinery for prosecuting those involved in smuggling individuals who enter the country illegally was highlighted in a federal conviction announced Tuesday in Atlanta – the case involves a traffic stop for weaving in a lane, a smuggler who was first stopped for smuggling in 1996, and 10 Latin Americans who said they’d paid to be transported to the homes of relatives on the East Coast.
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Apartment prices rise as much as 25 percent, as talks continue on housing affordability
Apartment rental prices have spiked by 25 percent in the past year in a neighborhood near Lenox Square and by 16 percent in and near Atlantic Station, according to a new report by rent.com. These figures provide context for this summer’s continuing conversation about affordable housing.
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As suicide rate spikes among Georgia vets, Shepherd Center raises money to help
As the suicide rate among young Georgia veterans rises to well over twice the rate of their peers who did not serve in the military, the sixth annual event to raise money to help vets with brain injury and/or post-traumatic stress disorder is to end Memorial Day in Buckhead, when runners conclude their run from New York City to the Shepherd Center.
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Seven months after Hurricane Michael, major federal relief funding nears approval
By the numbers, Georgians have waited two-and-a-half times as long for federal approval of disaster relief for Hurricane Michael as the Northeast did for Hurricane Sandy relief. In addition, Georgia’s two Republican senators endorsed the funding package that six Georgia House Republicans voted against two weeks ago. One Texas Republican House member delayed the package’s expected final approval on Friday.
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Transit funding bill could mean money for region; passage seems iffy, at best
The outlook is bright for transit funding in a spending bill that on Thursday cleared a U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee. However, chances that it has a prayer of becoming law have crumbled amid the latest round of discord over the Democrats’ calls for investigations into President Trump.
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Fulton Fresh Mobile Market to begin; reminds food deserts exist throughout Fulton
The Fulton Fresh Mobile Market begins delivering produce the Tuesday after Memorial Day, and its route reminds that food deserts existing in communities generally thought of as well served with neighborhood amenities – including neighborhoods in or near Alpharetta and Chattahoochee Hills.
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Kemp appoints five to state board that oversees film industry; board appears in transition
Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday appointed five members to what appears to be a board in a state of transition at a time the department it oversees has been thrust into the spotlight to manage the fallout the state’s anti-abortion law will have on the film, television and commercial production industries.
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Female business owners struggle for equality as success stories prove the rule
As the nation braces for the Supreme Court to revisit the Roe v. Wade abortion rights precedent, the precarious financial situation of female business owners is highlighted in a new report from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
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Atlanta changes street name in Buckhead, this one for public safety
This was one street renaming that engendered almost no conversation – replacing the name Wieuca with the name Chastain along a section of road that runs through Chastain Park, located in North Buckhead.
