Over little more than two years, the wrong contestant has been announced as the winner of the Miss Universe Pageant, the Oscar for best picture has been awarded to the wrong movie, and a missed call so egregious it has prompted a lawsuit has played a key role in deciding who’s in Atlanta for the Super Bowl this week. Things like this just didn’t happen back in the good old days, but that isn’t because there haven’t always been foul-ups of similar magnitude.
Category: Columns
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Breaking through the Perimeter: PATH400 to link BeltLine, areas north of I-285
A huge hurdle has been cleared that is to enable PATH400 to connect Atlanta’s BeltLine with Sandy Springs and, possibly if not eventually, the growing trails system north of I-285. As PATH Foundation noted of this first step: “Federal dollars are involved so it won’t happen overnight, but it’s coming.”
Posted inATL Events
41st Annual Groundhog Day Jugglers Fest @ Yaarab Temple on Ponce by Kelly Jordan
Click to enlarge each photo:
Posted inMaggie Lee
Georgia’s new governor pitches budget: here’s a look at what is — and isn’t — in it
Georgia will have about $27.5 billion to spend in the year that begins in July. The new governor is making proposed teacher raises a centerpiece. Democrats are pressing to spend on a Medicaid expansion.
Posted inColumns
‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ – a quietly poetic, yet courageous, movie
“If Beale Street Could Talk” is the sort of nice movie you’d like to take home and introduce to your parents.
That doesn’t mean it’s a movie about nice things. Racism, poverty, rape, teen pregnancy, bigoted cops – all are part of the mix. No wonder. The movie is based on a 1974 novel by James Baldwin.
Posted inLatest News
Retiring state property chief had immense influence over metro Atlanta for 15 years
Steve Stancil may not have a household name. But when he steps down Feb. 1 as State Property Officer, he will have affected metro Atlanta since 2003 on issues ranging from mass transit, to development policies, to future development along the Atlanta BeltLine and the future film studio/mixed use development that’s to be built in Atlanta at the old Pullman Yard.
Posted inColumns
Why save it? Just pave it – a conservation easement at risk in Morgan County
By Christine McCauley Watts, executive director of Madison-Morgan Conservancy
It sits on a little rise, Davis Crossroads does, and gives you a long view of one of Morgan County’s more bucolic landscapes. Davis descendants have farmed and cared for the land surrounding this crossroads for generations and in the last two decades have donated three conservation easements to permanently protect the scenic and agricultural conservation values found here.
Posted inLatest News
Tax credits for private schools: the new lieutenant governor is a fan, but they remain controversial
Georgia’s new lieutenant governor says private schools are an important part of education, and he wants to expand a program that provides them indirect public support. But Georgia has little idea which students benefit from this program or how private schools serve those students.
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Yayoi Kusama barred in 1966 from performing with ‘Narcissus Garden,’ now at Atlanta Botanical Garden
Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama made her Narcissus Garden exhibit so controversial in 1966 at the Venice Biennale that organizers barred her from performing alongside the display. The Atlanta Botanical Garden intends to display the exhibit through Spring.
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Metro Atlanta ranks 10th of 15 big U.S. metros for future commercial investments, Trepp reports
Metro Atlanta ranks 10th out of the nation’s top 15 metro regions for investment potential in commercial loans, according to a new report by the industry watcher Trepp. In a small way, the bankruptcy of a popular bicycle business with four shops in the region shows why metro Atlanta isn’t ranked higher.
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Fulton agency approves nearly $100 million in property tax abatements
Fulton County’s development agency on Tuesday approved tax abatements worth nearly $100 million over 10 years in Atlanta, more than half of that for MetLife Inc.’s mega Midtown development.
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Environmental impact of future inland port cited as state plans review of freight network
The environmental review is underway for a planned inland port to be built northeast of Gainesville. Presuming it opens, the facility that’s billed as a way to ease traffic congestion in metro Atlanta is likely to be heralded as a success as the state House prepares to update Georgia’s decade-old rail improvement plans.
Posted inColumns
Viewed from the far side of the moon, shutdown doesn’t seem so important
The shutdown, which entered its 31st day Monday, overshadows every other news story in the United States right now. As the decades roll on, however, this month will be much more likely to be remembered for a spectacular scientific and technical milestone: the landing, on the far side of the moon, of a lunar lander and rover named after a Chinese moon goddess and her pet rabbit.
Posted inMaggie Lee
Women, people of color in Georgia Senate call out crummy committee assignments
“The eyes of Georgia are watching, especially the women of Georgia, who are now engaged in voting in record numbers. Thank goodness they’re voting and they’re engaged … ”
Posted inColumns
Atlanta police to use body cameras properly or face fines, penalties, chief says
Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields says she knows officers aren’t using their department-issued body cameras properly. That’s why she called for a city audit of camera usage and is implementing what she called a “straight forward” set of policies about how cameras are to be used and videos to be stored – to be followed by stiff penalties for rule-breakers.
Posted inColumns
‘Destroyer’ – Nicole Kidman acts beautifully in unpredictable movie
“Destroyer” sounds like an old Steven Seagal movie or a new Marvel villain.
It’s neither. Rather, this is a totally unexpected picture, a kind of sunbaked film noir, starring a remarkable Nicole Kidman as an LAPD cop at the very end of her tether.
Posted inColumns
King holiday – ‘celebration is fine; action is better’
I love Atlanta most during the annual King holiday week.
It gives us a moment reflect and recalibrate how well we’re doing in light of the lofty vision and ideals that Martin Luther King Jr. shared with us in his sermons, speeches and letters.
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The Super Bowl is here
In the last 25 years Atlanta has hosted the big game two times, and we are on the eve of hosting our third. Each of our Super Bowl eras has marked a different phase of Atlanta.
