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Posted inDavid Pendered

Tech’s Gates award, student projects highlight pace of cyber technology

by David Pendered

Georgia Tech has won a $150,000 grant from the Gates Foundation that the school will use to help open the possibilities of a college degree to a brand new type of student.

Meanwhile, insights into the ways humans may come to interact with computers were on display at a campus-wide student competition. The contest explored the potential for combining uses of apps, immersive experiences and crowd-sourced information.

Taken together, the developments highlight the tremendous rate at which cyber technology is permeating everyday life. That subject, by itself, was the topic of a two-day seminar that concluded Tuesday at Tech.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: Woodruff Arts Center campaign is most ambitious ever

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, November 9, 2012

The Woodruff Arts Center has set its most ambitious corporate campaign goal in its history — $9.2 million — compared with the $9 million raised in the last campaign.

The campaign, which is being chaired by Paul Bowers, president and CEO of Georgia Power, will go until next spring.

Posted inLatest News

Mother Nature Network to merge with Discovery’s treehugger.com; new entity to be based in Atlanta

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By Maria Saporta

Atlanta-based Mother Nature Network and Discovery Communications have agreed to merge their environmental websites — www.mnn.com and www.treehugger.com to form a new entity that will be jointly owned by both.

Joel Babbit, co-founder and CEO of Mother Nature Network, sent out an email late Wednesday night saying: “Several months ago, Discovery Communications and MNN began discussing a plan which would dramatically change the landscape of our industry and provide a tremendous increased in the scope and potential of our business. It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the agreement to move forward with that plan was finalized earlier this week.”

“The new entity will be based in Atlanta and will stay under the MNN banner with Joel in charge,” according to MNN spokesman Dan Beeson.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Outer Perimeter’s west leg needed to handle port’s cargo, says ports chief

by David Pendered

The western segment of a highway proposal generally known as the Outer Perimeter is needed to handle freight traffic heading to and from the state port in Savannah, the executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority said Wednesday.

“I absolutely think it’s needed,” Curtis Foltz told the board that oversees the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. Foltz’ comment came in response to questions after he delivered a routine ports update to GRTA.

Two GRTA board members pondered, after Foltz’ presentation, whether metro Atlanta’s highway system is able to accommodate ports-related freight traffic if cargo increases at forecast rates.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Georgia Tech forum explains a few quirks of presidential campaign

by David Pendered

Leave it to Georgia Tech to help interpret the kind of pie-in-the-sky technological phenomena the Obama campaign used to outmaneuver the Romney campaign.

The two-day “People and Technology Forum” that concluded Tuesday explored the disruptive technology that is reshaping human behaviors and interactions. Campaign tactics weren’t on the agenda, but the panelists’ general comments shed light on the recently concluded contests.

Take data mining. Obama’s campaign culled TV viewing habits from set-top cable boxes to help determine which networks reached Obama’s potential supporters. The campaign bought ads on those networks, even in unlikely places such as TV Land, according to a report on nytimes.com.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Atlanta Falcons have options if new stadium deal with state falls through

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, November 9, 2012

As the Atlanta Falcons and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority continue negotiating toward an agreement on a new retractable-roof stadium, the question must be asked — what if the deal falls through.

Although it is not something team owners or city and state officials want to talk about, the Atlanta Falcons would have options.

Posted inLatest News

New GPB-GRA television program showcases research in Georgia

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By Maria Saporta

It’s the beginning of flu season — and Georgia researchers are on the cutting edge of advances on how to protect people from influenza.

The researchers are the stars of a half-hour pilot episode of a new partnership between the Georgia Research Alliance and Georgia Public Broadcasting.

“The Future Files” — with a tagline: “Inventing Tomorrow in Georgia Today” — will debut at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13 on GPB. The hope is that this will be the first of a 13-part series that will highlight Georgia’s scientists and researchers and how they are changing our world.

Posted inLive Healthy, Atlanta!, Thought Leader, Uncategorized

What’s next for health care in Georgia?

by SaportaReport

By David Martin, President and CEO of VeinInnovations The presidential campaign is (finally) over. President Obama will serve a second and final term, and the Senate remains in the hands of the Democrats. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), now widely known as Obamacare, will remain in place. ACA provisions will be implemented as planned. The […]

Posted inLatest News

CNN analysts: Romney fell short on economy; Clinton running in 2016

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By Maria Saporta

As CNN top political analysts shared their views of the 2012 presidential election and the decisive re-election of President Barack Obama, they also were looking ahead to 2016.

The consensus? That Hillary Clinton, currently the Secretary of State, will be running for the Democratic nomination.

CNN political team participated in the Rotary Club of Atlanta’s Monday luncheon — by being beamed in on a video screen to answer questions from Rotarians as well as CNN executive Rick Davis.

Posted inSaba Long

Transportation tax votes show mixed results in elections across the country

by Saba Long

While the country is consumed with conversations about the demographic divides of the Republican Party and the shellacking the Mitt Romney campaign experienced, a number of transportation referenda have gone seemingly unnoticed.

Transportation investment measures on the Nov. 6 ballot included seven sales tax, five property taxes, one bond and one gas tax, according the Center for Transportation Excellence (CFTE).

Michigan alone had five referenda across the state, all funded via property tax increases ranging from .1 to .6 mills.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta’s civil rights legacy in spotlight: Airport, Voting Rights Act

by David Pendered

Atlanta again is at the forefront of the nation’s deliberation of civil rights issues.

First it was the airport, and hearings ordered by the FAA to decertify four Atlanta-based businesses from a federal affirmative action program – including a firm that involves the widow and daughter of former Mayor Maynard Jackson.

Add last week’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The law was enacted soon after Atlantans – including Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis – participated in the Selma marches.

Posted inMichelle Hiskey

For veteran journalist, neighborhood trail leads to a new beat

by Michelle Hiskey

Note from Michelle: This week’s column is by guest writer Ben Smith, who happens to be my husband. Many of you know him from his days as an AJC political reporter.  

By Ben Smith

In my old life, hitting the trail meant following the money, traveling with a campaign or tracking down a criminal.

Today it simply means taking my dog for walks in the woods and keeping my eyes open.

Yet in the three years since I left the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and sought to reinvent myself in the digital age, I have discovered that my skills as a reporter easily translate to a “beat” that is much smaller, more isolated and surprisingly weird.

Posted inThought Leadership

Why Do Pro Bono Work in a Down Economy?

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This is the second in a four-part series by Chris Sciarrone, an associate in the Atlanta office of Perkins+Will, on pro bono work and  social responsibility in the architecture industry.  Design, of course, is also a business, and one that often suffers disproportionately when the economy lags because of its ties to real estate and construction. An obvious question then, […]

Posted inMoments, Moments Season 2

Tom Murphy’s Moment led to a sustainable funding mechanism for local nonprofit, Open Hand

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By Chris Schroder

Tom Murphy had been in the restaurant business for years serving nutritious and high quality meals at Murphy’s, his iconic Virginia-Highland restaurant, but it wasn’t until his mother passed away from ovarian cancer that he realized there was a segment of the market that wasn’t being served well.

He decided to fill that void and, in the process, created a sustainable funding mechanism that has earned millions of dollars for the Atlanta nonprofit Open Hand.

Posted inTom Baxter

Joe Biden’s excellent election

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

For all the ballyhoo leading up to it, the circus leaves town quickly after a presidential election. The Romney campaign staffers’ credit cards were cut off promptly after Ohio was called, and by the weekend the media had moved on to Gen. Petraeus and the fiscal cliff. But there’s one angle to this story which deserves more attention than it received in the wave of reaction to last week’s result, and one person who deserves a lot more recognition.

Joe Biden, ridiculed by the Republicans and dismissed even within his own party, owned this election. He did more to help his ticket than any vice presidential candidate in memory, and the manner in which he did it best illustrates the Democrats’ winning strategy this year.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta’s Better Building Challenge now includes 42 million square feet

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By Maria Saporta

The Atlanta business and government community have embraced the Better Buildings Challenge — an effort that was launched a year ago at the Downtown Development Day.

In that year, the city went from 2 million square feet being part of the effort to become more environmentally sustainable to now 42 million square feet. In a video presented at the 2012 Downtown Development Day on Nov. 7, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said: “Our competitors is paying attention.”

The goal is to reduce energy and water consumption by 20 percent by 2020.

Posted inMaria's Metro

Regionalism in Georgia still the best path for new transportation investment

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

After the regional transportation sales tax lost in nine of the state’s 12 regions on July 31, it was convenient to say that regionalism can’t work in a divided Georgia.

But actually the opposite is true. Regionalism is the only logical way for Georgia to address its future development and transportation plans.

Consider this. Because of its 159 counties and hundreds of cities, Georgia has found it nearly impossible to develop coherent plans for all those communities.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Women make significant gains on boards of Georgia companies in 2012

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, November 9, 2012

A glass ceiling has been broken by women serving on the boards of Georgia’s public companies.

For the first time ever, more than 10 percent of all the board seats at the companies are held by women. That translates to 106 of the 1,017 total board seats — or 10.4 percent. In 2011, it was 9.6 percent. By comparison, in 2001 that percentage was only 5.5 percent.

Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater

Denzel Washington’s acting reaches the stratosphere in ‘Flight’

Avatar photo by Eleanor Ringel Cater

Denzel Washington’s new film, “Flight” isn’t about the non-stop Atlanta-to-Denver sort of flight. It’s about the frenzied flight from reality that every addict takes with every snort and swallow.

Washington does play a pilot — cocky Capt. “Whip” Whitaker, who can fly anything with wings and a cockpit.

Even when he’s coked to the gills and coasting on some well-spiked orange juice.

Posted inGuest Column

Georgia businesses and quality of life would benefit from public arts funding

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist DAVE PETERSON, co-founder of Atlanta-based global consulting company North Highland

All people, particularly children, need art and cultural experiences. Children need arts and culture because it promotes brain development. Adults and families need them as a way to lift themselves from the weights and measures of today’s reality.

Cities and communities need arts and culture to promote quality of life and enhance economic development. Through those artistic and cultural experiences, we all connect ourselves to the world around us in different ways and are better off for it personally and financially.

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