By Maria Saporta
Gov. Nathan Deal confirmed Friday morning that the Atlanta Falcons and the state are exploring options that would not require approval from the state legislature.
But Deal said it is too early to know whether that would be possible.
“We are sort of in a waiting period right now,” Deal said after a press conference announcing a major expansion of AirWatch’s operations in the Atlanta region.
By Maria Saporta
The 2013 recipient of the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage will be U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia), a civil rights leader and public servant.
Lewis, who has become known as the conscience of the U.S. Congress, will be awarded $100,000 prize by Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at a luncheon on April 4.
“John Lewis put his life on the line for many years during the 1960s to bring about equality under the law for all Americans,” said Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson in a release. “His unflinching civil rights leadership and ongoing advocacy for social change throughout his career have elevated the causes of human rights around the world. It is our privilege to honor the life and work of Congressman Lewis through the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage.”
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, January 18, 2013
The East Lake community is close to realizing its dream of offering top-quality education from cradle to college.
On Jan. 15, Gov. Nathan Deal joined other dignitaries to break ground on the new Drew Charter School Senior Academy at the Charlie Yates Campus in East Lake. The academy will permit Drew to teach students through high school. Currently, the Drew Charter School serves nearly 1,000 students from pre-K through 8th grade.
By Maria Saporta
A revised deal for a new stadium currently is being negotiated whereby the Georgia Legislature would not have to vote on increasing the bonding capacity of Georgia World Congress Center to $300 million.
Currently negotiations are underway at the Governor’s mansion between Gov. Nathan Deal, the Atlanta Falcons and the City of Atlanta where the bonding capacity would shift from the state to the city.
No matter which governmental entity would end up issuing the bonds for the $1 billion project, the deal would not change substantially. The $300 million bond package would continue to be backed by the existing hotel-motel taxes that are collected in the City of Atlanta. The Falcons and the National Football League would cover two-thirds of the stadium’s cost.
By Maria Saporta
The energy — and the tension — in the Georgia Dome on Sunday captures a feeling that has been lost in recent years — a feeling of being in the game.
The last five years have been tough for Atlanta, a city used to being an economic star in the country. The Great Recession hit Atlanta harder than most other cities because it targeted the real estate and banking — two industries that had helped build Atlanta.
And yet, during Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers, the city’s troubles are put aside as people rallied behind a team that is only one win away from the Super Bowl.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, January 18, 2013
Longtime Atlanta builder Hardin Construction Co. is being acquired by DPR Construction, a national technical builder based in California.
The two companies will focus on expanding their operations in the Southeast and Texas, where both firms already have a local presence. The two companies have signed a letter of intent, and the acquisition is expected to close in March.
By Maria Saporta
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus would like to set up a Grameen Bank (which means village bank) in Atlanta.
All he needs is for someone to champion the effort to provide $6 million over four years to help create a self-sustaining bank that will offer micro-loans to the poor and give them an opportunity to go into business for themselves.
Yunus was in Atlanta Friday morning speaking to an influential group of business and civic leaders as part of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation speaker series.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, January 11, 2013
The Arby’s Foundation is driving a stake in the ground to end childhood hunger in Georgia.
The company announced at a Jan. 10 press conference at the state Capitol it is making its largest grant ever — $3 million over three years — to the Georgia Food Bank Association to work with other state partners on the “Feeding for a Promising Future — No Kid Hungry” campaign.
The Arby’s Foundation hopes Georgia will develop a model to combat childhood hunger that can be replicated across the country.
By Maria Saporta
Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin will be splitting her loyalties between Atlanta and Austin.
The University of Texas in Austin announced that Franklin has joined the LBJ School of Public Affairs as the Barbara Jordan Visiting Professor in Ethics and Political Values.
In a Facebook posting Tuesday, Franklin wrote: “I am proud to be joining the University of Texas-Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs as the Barbara Jordan Visiting Professor……..Atlanta will be my home most of the time but it is an honor I simply could not pass up.”
By Maria Saporta
The Eleventh Circuit U.S. District Court has upheld a lower court ruling giving the City of Atlanta a major victory in the federal case involving the Metropolitan Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless.
The ruling was released today — Jan. 15 — nearly 16 months after U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash had ruled in favor of the city in every element of the lawsuit. Click here for earlier SaportaReport story on Judge Thrash’s ruling on Sept. 22, 2011.
It is yet one more legal decision that has been handed down against the Task Force, which continues to occupy the Peachtree-Pine building in downtown Atlanta.
By Maria Saporta
Gov. Nathan Deal said the Atlanta Falcons’ win on Sunday might help the team win support at the Georgia General Assembly.
“Anytime people good about something, it is good,” said Deal, adding that a win Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers would be even more significant. “I certainly think winning the game will be positive.”
That said, the governor said it is highly unlikely he will be able to attend Sunday’s game. A brother-in-law passed away this past weekend, and the memorial service will be this Sunday out of town. And Deal is on the program.
By KATE SWEENEY & DANA GOLDMAN >> Original Story Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have celebrated his 84th birthday today. Lifelong Atlanta resident Maria Saporta is known as a local journalist. At StoryCorps Atlanta, she discussed a childhood connection with the King family that changed her life forever. Her friend Bill Bolling began the conversation. Play Audio
By Maria Saporta
Metro Atlanta in 2023 will be older, more diverse and more compact.
Those were some of the conclusions that several local leaders shared at the Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable on Friday, Jan. 11.
Their task was to describe how Atlanta might evolve in the next decade.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, January 11, 2013
Several new initiatives will be part of the 2013 work plan for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, which will hold its annual meeting on Jan. 15 at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Those initiatives will help continue the recent success that the Georgia Chamber has enjoyed in getting its legislative agenda passed.
In 2012, the Georgia Chamber had the “best legislative session we’ve had in 20 years,” said Chris Clark, president of the organization.
By Maria Saporta
Economic growth in 2013 will be much like economic growth in 2012 — slow, according to Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Lockhart gave his annual economic forecast to the Rotary Club of Atlanta Monday — stating that the views he shared were his own rather than official policy from the Fed.
“So we begin the year in a mode of slow overall growth, tolerable inflation and gradual progress on unemployment,” Lockhart said. “Over the last months, our narrative has not changed much.
The continuing theme is slow growth hovering around 2 percent. This rate of growth is below potential and compares unfavorably with past recoveries. We remain in a long slog.”
By Maria Saporta
Looking into a crystal ball, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed predicted Thursday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee for president.
And in 2016, she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, will invest time and money in Georgia. Because the Clintons have had such a strong relationship and history with Georgia, the state will go to the Democrats in the general presidential election.
Reed spoke Thursday at the Atlanta Press Club’s Newsmaker luncheon held at the Commerce Club.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, January 4, 2013
Skyland Trail, a nonprofit treatment facility for adults with mental illness, is starting a new chapter in its development.
After 25 years leading the board, Mark West has stepped down as chairman. He will be succeeded by John Gordon, president of Gordon Document Products and managing partner of its sister company — Perfect Circle Renewable Energy.
By Maria Saporta
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed did not mention to members of the Kiwanis Club of Atlanta on Tuesday that he is running for re-election this year.
But he did make sure to honor a decades-long tradition Tuesday of being the first speaker each year to address the Atlanta Kiwanis.
On Jan. 5, 2010, Reed continued the tradition set by his predecessors, speaking to the group only one day after being inaugurated. And he has followed suit this year.
By Maria Saporta
The Walton Family Foundation is announcing that in 2012, it invested nearly $29 million to help start up 111 new charter schools across the country.
In Atlanta, the Walton Foundation has invested in more than 20 charter schools through its Public Charter Grant program since 1997. In the last two years, the foundation has invested nearly $1.5 million to support the launch of seven charters schools in Atlanta.
The Walton Foundation also announced that it has invested a total $312.9 million in charter schools since 1997, supporting the creation of 1,437 schools during that same period, according to a press release.
By Maria Saporta
It’s no accident that Atlanta is the largest base of operations for the Interfaith Youth Core and its leadership institutes.
Eboo Patel, founder and president of the Interfaith Youth Core, told members of the Rotary Club of Atlanta on Monday that “Atlanta’s golden son” — Martin Luther King Jr. was a “great interfaith hero.” Yes, he was a Baptist minister, but he based much of the Civil Rights movement on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu who believed in non-violence, justice and harmony.
