These were the body postures, not of a prize fight, but of a particularly edgy divorce negotiation. It seemed fitting in a way that the contestants couldn’t bring themselves to shake hands with each other until after the 90-plus minutes were over.
Tag: politics
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta’s impact fees: Not much money for upgrades to police, parks, fire/EMS
The prospect of Atlanta spending some $2 billion on transit and transportation improvements, pending voter approval of two sales tax referendums on the Nov. 8 ballot, raises the issue of how these projects might overlap with those funded by impact fees paid when property is developed.
Posted inColumns
Throwing money at crumbling infrastructure won’t be enough
The presidential candidates’ positions on fixing the nation’s crumbling infrastructure can be characterized as spend, and spend more. But spend on what, exactly?
Posted inLatest News
Fallout over lack of affordable housing along BeltLine includes Gravel’s testy tweet to Tech prof
Knowledge of the lack of affordable housing along the Atlanta BeltLine, which was cited in the resignation Monday of two board members from the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, Inc., is not a new phenomenon. However, it has received renewed national attention of late.
Posted inTom Baxter
The debate that didn’t go there
We’ve now had the first debate between the Democratic and Republican candidates for president on the serious issues facing our country. So first, let’s talk about Gennifer Flowers.
She matters, because throughout his campaign for president, Donald Trump has in various ways tantalized audiences with the expectation that when he finally got on a debate stage with the woman some of his younger supporters have hated all their lives, he would “go there.” He didn’t.
Posted inColumns
Protecting affordable housing: Two strategies emerge near Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Two strategies seem to be emerging around the issue of affordable housing near the Falcons stadium – 1) Give up the neighborhoods and work to keep the name and statue of a Confederate officer out of a planned park; or, 2) Quickly impose public policies to protect current and future residents who have lower incomes.
Posted inColumns
Support grows for Medicaid expansion to close Georgia’s health coverage gap
By Guest Columnist LAURA HARKER, who joined the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute in 2016 as a health policy analyst. She is responsible for researching and reporting on Georgia’s health policies and related spending
A ranking Republican Georgia senator who long panned the idea of expanding Medicaid is working on legislation to make it happen. The conservative Georgia Chamber of Commerce just made an economic case for Medicaid expansion as the best way for the state to get a handle on its health care costs and boost struggling rural hospitals.
Posted inLatest News
Shirley Franklin says Atlanta could fund affordable housing if political will existed
Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin received an award Wednesday named for Maynard Jackson, another former mayor, and used her acceptance speech to outline a way for Atlanta to increase the number of affordable homes in the city.
Posted inColumns
Want to rent a home near Falcons stadium? Prices up 27 percent on annualized basis, report shows
A new study confirms the fears residents of the Washington Park neighborhood voiced a decade ago, when they told city planners that the Atlanta BeltLine would drive up housing prices and drive them from their homes.
Posted inTom Baxter
Are we better off? It’s complicated
As Donald Trump observed a dozen years ago, “It just seems the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.” There was fresh evidence last week, that this was not the Republican presidential nominee’s most outlandish statement on record.
Posted inLatest News
Race, politics arise in proposed regulation of airport cabs, ride-hailing companies
Proposed legislation to regulate taxies and ride-hailing companies at Atlanta’s airport is so racially charged, and politically laden, that a committee of the Atlanta City Council punted the measure to the full council for it to consider Monday.
Posted inTom Baxter
Not just man vs. woman, but this man vs. this woman
It was inevitable that at some point in the nation’s history, there would be a presidential battle between a man and a woman. That it would turn out to be this particular man and this particular woman is something no one could have predicted.
Posted inLatest News
Two insurers discriminate against HIV/AIDS patients in Georgia, federal complaints contend
Two insurance companies in Georgia are among a national group that imposes hardships on consumers who are prescribed costly medicines to extend their life as they live with HIV/AIDS, according to civil rights complaints filed Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Posted inColumns
Everybody talks about the weather, but not as passionately anymore
It’s been hot, and lately, stormy as well. Truth is, though, we just don’t talk about the weather quite as much as we used to. It has become an embarrassingly touchy subject.
Posted inColumns
Georgia, the firewall state, goes it alone on election security
Russki hackers or no Russki hackers, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp isn’t about to give federal snoopers access to the state’s electronic voting system in an election year.
Posted inTom Baxter
When dynasties collide on the presidential stage
The Mercers are important people, but most Americans hadn’t heard of them before Rebekah Mercer pulled off what amounts to a fire-sale takeover of the Trump presidential campaign. The Mercers highlight one of the dominant features of this campaign: the rise importance of non-traditional family dynasties.
Posted inLatest News
Turner Field coalition calls on GSU to create an office to work with residents during redevelopment
A group of residents in the Turner Field area is calling on Georgia State University to form a community relations office devoted to nourishing a relationship now that a deal is underway for GSU to partner in the redevelopment of Turner Field.
Posted inTom Baxter
Still your grandpa’s Democratic Party — and Joe Biden’s
There was recently blockbuster news which could set aside many assumptions about the outcome of the election. The story hasn’t received the attention it deserves, however, because the news was about the last election.
Posted inTom Baxter
Expect Congress to get a pass on Zika scandal
It’s not often President Obama and Florida Gov. Rick Scott agree about anything, but both condemned Congress last week for its failure to provide funding to combat the spreading Zika virus before adjourning for the August recess.
Posted inColumns
Campaign tampering: Much more serious than a spy thriller
When Richard Condon published “The Manchurian Candidate” in 1959, brainwashing was a popular but poorly understood subject of fascination and Communist China was more closed to the West than North Korea is today. The plot he spun, of devious foreign powers plotting to hijack a U.S. presidential election by programming a war hero to assassinate a candidate, seemed both chilling and distant in its plausibility. But now we’re in a different place.
