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Posted inLatest News

Judge gives Morris Brown until Sept. 6 to present new reorganization plan

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By Maria Saporta

A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday afternoon gave Morris Brown College until Sept. 6 to file a new financial plan to restructure all of its debts.

That plan is expected to involve the property where the College has had operations along both sides of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard just a few short blocks west of Northside Drive.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barbara Ellis-Monro also gave Morris Brown the right to borrow $300,000 from the African Methodist Episcopal Church — a move that will keep the College open at least through Sept. 16.

The AME Church had offered Morris Brown a $1.5 million loan that would help the college pay some of its post-bankruptcy interest payments as well as administrative expenses through the end of the year. But Ellis-Monro on Monday only allowed the College to borrow $300,000 of that new loan.

Posted inMichelle Hiskey

DeKalb church helped anchor Antoinette Tuff through the pain

by Michelle Hiskey

Nine miles due east of the school where she became a worldwide hero for talking down a gunman who had fired at police, Antoinette Tuff  showed up Sunday at the church where she has said her pastor’s voice urged her to be “anchored.” It felt strangely reassuring to be in her presence. I was there because I wanted to find out more about how she pulled off such courage in the face of impending evil.

I live six miles north of Tuff’s school, and was horrified momentarily last week at the possibility that another Newtown shooting might be unfolding. Pretty much all the news out of our schools and government in DeKalb County, Georgia, has been terrible lately.

I could see from Sunday’s service how this community teaches members to expect the unexpected. I could see how Antoinette Tuff might get used to behavior that would unsettle the rest of us. It was also clear that this is a community that values deep preparation to counter life’s surprises.

Posted inMoments, Moments Season 2

Jay Smith was at his desk, absorbing bad news about his father, when a boss defined his Moment

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While Jay Smith, retired president of Cox Newspapers, Inc., was in his early twenties working as a reporter for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, he drove 50 miles south to his hometown of Cincinnati one weekend to visit his family. His trip home took a turn for the worse when he heard the devastating news that his father had been diagnosed with terminal malignant lung cancer.

Posted inGuest Column

Two Atlantans PR veterans — Bob Cohn and Norman Wolfe — built global brand while mentoring many of us

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist MITCH LEFF, owner of the Leff & Associates public relations agency who began his career with Cohn & Wolfe in 1988

In 1970, two ex-newspaper men – Bob Cohn and Norman Wolfe — started a public relations agency in Atlanta. That in itself perhaps wasn’t remarkable. There have been uncounted PR agencies launched here over the last 40 years.

What was remarkable is how that little agency, Cohn & Wolfe, grew from four account people and two secretaries into a national and global brand and in the process became an incubator that produced some of Atlanta’s top public relations professionals.

Earlier this year, 43 years after its founding, PR Week magazine selected Cohn & Wolfe as the No. 1 agency in the United States and in the world. What Bob and Norman started, and what hundreds of us contributed to over the years, became an agency with 62 offices around the globe; from London to Cairo to Abu Dhabi to Africa.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Clues of interest rate on Falcons stadium bonds may come from another Atlanta bond sale Tuesday

by David Pendered

Atlanta is scheduled to sell more than $550 million in revenue bonds Tuesday in order to refinance existing water and sewer bonds, according to bondbuyer.com.

The refund itself appears unexceptional, though the sale may have prompted credit rating agencies to review – and improve the rating on – Atlanta’s $3.1 billion in outstanding wastewater system revenue bonds.

However, the sale planned for Tuesday does offer a window into the current state of municipal debt at a time Atlanta prepares to sell $200 million in bonds for a new Falcons stadium. Atlanta will be selling into a volatile market in which buyers demand increasingly high interest rates for bonds maturing in more than 10 years, according to an Aug. 8 report by Morgan Stanley Wealth Management:

Posted inLatest News

Morris Brown returns to bankruptcy court with a new $1.5 million loan

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

The legal proceedings of Morris Brown College’s bankruptcy will resume Monday in the courtroom of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barbara Ellis-Monro.

According to legal filings submitted to the court last week, Morris Brown will be seeking to stay open for the foreseeable future thanks to a new $1.5 million loan that the African Methodist Episcopal Church is willing to provide.

Morris Brown College filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2012 to prevent going into foreclosure due to being an estimated $30 million in debt to multiple creditors.

Since then, Morris Brown has been trying to put together various financial plans to wipe away its debt and to be able to stay open.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Fraud alleged at rebuilt East Lake apartment community

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 23, 2013

The owner of the Villages of East Lake has filed a lawsuit against the former manager of the mixed-income apartment community alleging fraud and embezzlement.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Atlanta on Aug. 12 by East Lake Redevelopment L.P. and East Lake Redevelopment II L.P. against Mercy Housing Management Group Inc., a division of Mercy Services Corp., a nonprofit based in Nebraska with its headquarters in Denver.

The redevelopment of the East Lake community has received national, if not international, acclaim for transforming a poverty-stricken and crime-ridden neighborhood into a thriving residential community with strong schools and a low crime rate.

Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater

‘Jobs’ — a chronicle of Steve Jobs; not a deep look at his complexities

Avatar photo by Eleanor Ringel Cater

“Jobs” isn’t a chore.

Unfortunately, that’s hardly a recommendation. What’s lacking in this biography of the man who made Apple is that sense of having learned something about who he was or even a hint of why he did what he did.

“The Social Network,” which so adroitly picked through the entrails of the young Mark Zuckerberg, is the benchmark these days for this sort of movie.

“Jobs” feels more routine, less organic. We get an “and then this happened” chronicle instead of getting under the skin of an admittedly complex hero-bastard.

It’s possible I enjoyed “Jobs” more than others might because I knew so little of his story. I had heard of the fat guy (read: Steve Wozniak) who was the real genius behind Apple.

Posted inLatest News

Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker calls Atlanta a ‘vibrant ecosystem’

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By Maria Saporta

Newly-installed U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, after visiting with several local executives and entrepreneurs, said Atlanta had a “vibrant ecosystem” with a “great sense of optimism.”

Pritzer was in Atlanta as part of her first 100-day nationwide listening tour to engage with business, academic and thought leaders to hear concerns and ideas on how the public and private sectors can work together to strengthen the economy.

While in Atlanta, Pritzker had dinner Thursday night with Mayor Kasim Reed, when they discussed business opportunities in the city as well as plans to build a new stadium for the Atanta Falcons.

Posted inLatest News

WXIA previews its documentary ’50 Years of Change: Share the Journey’

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By Maria Saporta

It’s in the Atlanta air.

As the calendar nears Aug. 28, the anticipation is growing the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington — the day that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his powerful “I Have A Dream” speech on the National Mall.

On Thursday, WXIA-TV invited key Atlanta dignitaries to preview a special documentary “Share the Journey” to showcase the march, the speech and other world-changing events that occurred in 1963.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Gov. Deal’s trade trip to Asia: Chinese phosphate plant to open near Savannah; tourism pitch on agenda

by David Pendered

Gov. Nathan Deal announced Thursday, on the first day of his trade mission to Asia, that a leading Chinese phosphates producer will open its U.S. headquarters and a manufacturing plant in Effingham County.

The agreement continues Georgia’s traditional efforts to secure foreign direct investment. This trip also intends to foster China’s tourism to Georgia, and nurture the relationship with Georgia’s second-largest export market.

The trip represents Georgia’s attention to China, the world’s largest travel spender and soon-to-be top oil importer. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed led a trade mission to China in March 2012, aiming to focus the country’s importers on metro Atlanta’s offerings such as bio-tech products and engineering services.

Posted inTom Baxter

A Republican-Democratic tag team, on the road for immigration reform

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Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell make a great tag team for a nonpartisan effort to pass immigration reform because, as Barbour noted after a session hosted by the Essential Economy Council this week, neither is nonpartisan in the least.

Getting Barbour, the chairman of the Republican National Committee when the Contract with America was signed, to co-chair an initiative on this sensitive political issue with Rendell, who chaired the Democratic National Committee during the tangled 2000 presidential election, does show broad support for an agreement on immigration reform.

But it’s broad and thin, with very little chance Congress can pass a bill this year, and the certainty that moving it next year with congressional elections looming won’t be easy.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Metro Atlanta after Great Recession: Hanging in, way off 30-year averages

by David Pendered

Metro Atlanta continues to bob along in the debris left by the Great Recession, according to two recent reports.

The Atlanta Regional Commission used the word “muted” to describe the growth rate of 10-county metro Atlanta during the past year. In addition, the number of residential building permits issued was less than a third of their 30-year average.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank reports that growth rates and expectations are moderating in home construction, mortgage refinancing and consumer spending. Overall, the broader economy of the Deep South continues to expand modestly.

Posted inLatest News

Business leaders told to urge Congress to pass immigration reform

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By Maria Saporta

The business community will need to take a leadership role for true immigration reform to occur during the next six months.

That was the sentiment that former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour shared Monday with the Rotary Club of Atlanta.

Both statesmen are co-chairing the Immigration Task Force of the Bipartisan Policy Center — urging the U.S. Congress to take action on meaningful immigration reform for the good of domestic economy.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Georgia’s latticework of roads to benefit from GDOT’s new freight designation that unties funding rules

by David Pendered

With little fanfare, Georgia has entered a new era in which road construction is to be based less on geography and more on the need for congestion relief.

The step isn’t expected to be a panacea because Georgia doesn’t have any more money than before to spend on road improvements. However, the measure does provide the state with flexibility to target the resources it does have in areas where they’re in greatest demand, according to advocates including Gov. Nathan Deal.

The board of Georgia’s Department of Transportation voted last week to adopt a list of designated freight corridors. Now, these corridors can be upgraded without the legal constraint of balancing highway spending among congressional districts. The list was envisioned in House Bill 202, which Deal signed in April.

Posted inSaba Long

MacArthur Foundation: Georgia a ‘bellwether state’ for juvenile justice

by Saba Long

The MacArthur Foundation announced a new initiative aimed at furthering local and national juvenile justice reform at the National Council of State Legislators’ annual conference meeting in Atlanta last week.

Its Models for Change: Resource Center Partnership, funded in part by an additional $15 million investment from the foundation, will provide programmers and policy makers support for operation and policy matters involving indigent defense, mental health, welfare and diversion programs for lesser offenders.

The four resource center partners are the National Center for Mental Health and Justice, the National Juvenile Justice Defender Center, the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps and the Vera Institute of Justice.

Posted inMoments, Moments Season 2

Jennifer Johnson’s Moment prompted her to leave big law firm and open Westside cafe

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Had Jennifer Johnson not spotted an advertisement seeking restaurant franchisees while sitting in a café with her weekly book club in the early 2000s, Atlanta may be missing out on two delicious dining establishments: West Egg Café and The General Muir. A six-year associate at King & Spalding law firm at the time, Jennifer had always dreamed of working in the hospitality industry. Seeing the flyer in the window reignited that flame of passion and ultimately propelled her to make a dramatic career transition.

“I started to think back to the dreams I had and the things that really fueled me creatively when I was younger,” Jennifer recalled in our accompanying HD Moments video.

Posted inColumns, Michelle Hiskey, Michelle Hiskey & Ben Smith

Looking in plain sight for Atlanta’s random signs of optimism

by Ben Smith

A random shoe track on a downtown Atlanta sidewalk turned into a  “spontaneous smiley”—a feat akin to finding the face of Elvis in a piece of toast, but a whole lot easier.

People all over the world (like me) discover, photograph and post spontaneous smileys to social media as a creative challenge to others. It is tailor made for creative thinkers and distracted people in our crowded and gridlocked city. This fun scavenger hunt can be done anywhere, and a handy time-killer when you’re stuck waiting.

Looking for the most basic sign of happiness in ordinary circumstances will shift your mood and mindset. Looking for a smiling face can release positive brain chemicals like dopamine. The scientific term for this pursuit is pareidolia, when a vague and random stimulus is perceived as significant (after all, it was just a footprint…). It is an example of how mindfulness identifies the extraordinary in ordinary life.

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