In this legacy year of Georgia politics, we have a Carter, a Nunn and a Perdue on the ballot. But the voice from the past we’ll remember from this election — if only because we’ve heard it so often — is likely to be that of Zell Miller.
Is there another politician in the country who would be asked to cut a spot for a Republican candidate for governor and a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, and is there another politician with the gall to accept both offers?
By Maria Saporta
After 15 years as director of the High Museum of Atlanta, Michael Shapiro, will be stepping down from that position at the end of July.
Shapiro has been a major force in the growth of the Museum’s collections, endowment, membership and international collaborations over the past two decades that he has served in leadership positions at the High. He also oversaw the the expansion of the campus by architect Renzo Piano.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Oct. 24, 2014
Sitting in his expansive living room in southwest Atlanta, a subdued Henry “Hank” Aaron reflected about the day 50 years ago when he heard the news the Milwaukee Braves would be moving to Atlanta.
The basin of the Chattahoochee River is threatened by stormwater runoff that carries hazardous materials from industrial sites into the water system, a new report shows.
This situation prompted the Georgia Water Coalition to include the Chattahoochee River in its 2014 edition of Georgia’s Dirty Dozen, a list of water pollution problems across the state that was released Wednesday. The Chattahoochee has made the list since the first edition, in 2011.
The release of Georgia’s Dirty Dozen also served as a changing of the guard for the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. Sally Bethea, founding executive director, monitored a conference call to discuss the report. But it was Jason Ulseth, the incoming riverkeeper, who fielded questions from reporters.
Love, honor, beauty, betrayal, duty. We know these as essences of life. They are also at the heart of the stories told in the poetry and plays of the great, late August Wilson (1945-2005).
He won two Pulitzer Prizes for drama, and among his best-known works are Fences, The Piano Lesson, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Set largely in the black working-class community of his native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, his plays commemorate the individuality of his characters, and in so doing bridge the differences among races to create a mutual recognition.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on October 10, 2014
As continued evidence of Atlanta’s role as a center for human rights, the 2014 International Women’s Forum will bring more than 700 of the world’s top women leaders to Atlanta from Oct. 29 to 31.
The theme of this year’s conference will be “Human Rights/Human Responsibility: Toward a Better Future,” and there will be multi-day discussions focused on the critical issues around global human rights.
By Maria Saporta
Cool Girls has named a new executive director – Tanya Egins, succeeding Sandy Welfare, who is stepping down after five years of leading the organization. Welfare volunteered for Cool Girls for more than 20 years, and she will continue to serve as a mentor to a “cool girl.”
Egins has served as deputy director of Cool Girls since 2010.
Early childhood education advocates in Georgia showed their political chops Monday when they invited candidates for Governor, U.S. Senate and State School Superintendent to a forum at Georgia Public Broadcasting.
It was a strategic way to get exposure, and even commitments, from the elected leaders in Georgia three weeks before the General Election on Nov. 4. The three candidates for governor showed up in person — Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, Democrat Jason Carter and Libertarian Andrew Hunt.
First the math.
If we assume a reasonable increase in turnout over the 2.6 million Georgians who voted in the election four years ago, as most observers do, then the 40,000 voter applications (some say the number is as high as 55,000) which the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights says have not been properly processed would amount to between 1 and 2 percent of the total vote in next month’s election.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on October 10, 2014
As continued evidence of Atlanta’s role as a center for human rights, the 2014 International Women’s Forum will bring more than 700 of the world’s top women leaders to Atlanta from Oct. 29 to 31.
As part of his doctoral dissertation, Sunder has developed a formula to measure the customer lifetime value (CLV) of carbonated beverage consumers.
Corporate environmentalist Andrew Winston, the speaker at Southface’s Visionary Dinner on Oct. 1, quoted from Georgia’s own legend — the late Ray Anderson.
“What’s the business case for ending life on earth?” Winston asked, quoting Anderson.
Winston is the author of “The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World;” as well as the best-selling “Green to Gold” books.
Though he didn’t say it explicitly, Winston would probably rephrase Anderson’s question and ask: “What is the business case for saving life on earth?”
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on September 26, 2014
For the first time in its 24-year history, the Georgia Research Alliance has expanded the number of universities that are part of its member institutions.
The Morehouse School of Medicine and Mercer University now have joined the ranks of Emory University, Georgia Tech, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta University and Georgia Regents University (formerly the Medical College of Georgia).
Amy Wenk and Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on September 19, 2014
As Atlanta vies to be among the world’s most sophisticated wireless cities, Midtown is emerging as the city’s hub for mobile innovation.
It’s already home to Georgia Tech and its incubator Atlanta Technology Development Center, a vibrant startup community and AT&T Inc.’s Mobile and Business Solutions unit.
Three downtown Atlanta parking spaces gave way to a beach-themed urban oasis on a hot Friday as part of the globally celebrated PARK(ing) Day.
Even Beethoven and Jay-Z may be impressed by a Georgia Tech program that just won another federal grant to expand a program that teaches computer science through music.
The idea is to intrigue high school students who haven’t shown much interest in computer science by showing its application in music and the recording industry. Minorities and women are a primary focus.
Tech announced Thursday it had won a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to further the work of EarSketch. The award extends a $2 million grant NSF awarded EarSketch in 2011.
In March of this year, about 100 people came together in Tifton, Georgia, from all parts of the state and the country to commemorate the memory of a lost, invisible past that was now found. Not long before, most had no idea of their connection to it.
The occasion was a special event convened by the Georgia Museum of Agriculture. The centerpiece was an exhibition on child labor in Georgia in the early 20th century, the mills who employed children, and the story of a single family: that of Catherine Young. To understand why this story is so remarkable to all who attended the event, we need go a back a century in time.
What do you most ardently believe in, and what discoveries might change your mind? Reza Aslan’s strong clear voice at the intersection of belief and facts came to metro Atlanta last week, drawing more than 470 people to the First Baptist Church in Decatur.
The author of the bestseller “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth,” Aslan drew my attention after his July 2013 viral Fox News interview. You may have seen how the interviewer repeatedly questioned why Aslan, a Muslim who serves as a scholar of religions and professor of creative writing at the University of California Riverside, would write a book about Jesus.
By Maria Saporta
What a week it has been for Valerie Montgomery Rice.
She was inaugurated as the sixth president of the Morehouse School of Medicine (and its first woman president) during a multi-day series of events that would be exhausting for an ordinary person.
After the investiture ceremony on Thursday, President Rice participated in six community service projects Friday morning to highlight the six different president of the Morehouse School of Medicine.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on September 5, 2014
In November 2015, Atlanta will have at least 21 of the 30 living recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize in the city for the annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.
It is expected to be the largest gathering of Nobel Peace Prize laureates at any Summit ever – greatly surpassing the most successful Summit to date – the one held in Chicago in 2012, which attracted nine living recipients.
