Advocates pushing for Georgia lawmakers to lift a decades-old, statewide ban on rent control face an uphill battle in the current 40-day legislative session, which started last Monday. “I don’t see that happening,” state Sen. Gloria Butler, a Democrat representing Stone Mountain, told Capital B Atlanta in December. “I’m being realistic because these are real […]
Chauncey Alcorn
Chauncey Alcorn is Capital B Atlanta's state and local politics reporter.
Posted inState Politics
Georgia Republicans Once Hated Medicaid Expansion. Black Dems Now See a Chance For a Compromise.
Georgia Democrats see a window of opportunity to finally achieve full Medicaid expansion – a long-sought prospect that could benefit thousands of Black Georgians – now that Republicans, have expressed more openness to the idea. For the second consecutive year, Democratic leaders say full expansion of Medicaid is their top priority for this year’s legislative […]
Posted inHousing
Inside Atlanta’s ‘Highly Hazardous,’ HUD-Supported Fairburn & Gordon Complex
Trinae Ward dreams of moving her family out of their rundown West Atlanta apartment one day. But for now, she’s grateful her 11-year-old twin daughters no longer fear someone reaching up through the floor and grabbing them while they shower. Maintenance crews recently patched up several large holes in the walls and floor inside Ward’s […]
Posted inState Politics, Voting
Black Dems Cry Foul Over Redrawn GOP Electoral Maps
Georgia Democrats expect a federal judge to reject three new electoral maps designed by their Republican colleagues in a ruling that will determine whether Black voting power in the state is properly increased or inappropriately undermined by the plans. In party-line votes, both Georgia General Assembly chambers approved the state House and state Senate redistricting […]
Posted inState Politics
Why Black Senators Are Pushing Back on New Proposed GOP Map
Democratic Georgia lawmakers and voting rights advocates pushed back Wednesday on a new state Senate district map that they say dilutes the electoral power of Black voters and violates a federal judge’s order in the process. “What they’re doing is really criminal,” state Sen. Donzella James, a Democrat from Atlanta, said to Capital B Atlanta […]
Posted inVoting
Lawmakers Begin Redrawing Political Maps With More Majority Black Districts Today
Georgia lawmakers are set to start redrawing the state’s political maps today to create a number of new majority-Black voting districts in conjunction with an Oct. 26 federal district court ruling. But their efforts could eventually be undermined by a more-recent federal appeals court decision barring individual voters and other private parties — including groups […]
Posted inMoney
With Holidays Approaching, Charities Say Atlanta’s Food Insecurity Problem Is Getting Worse
Cleveland Brownlee estimates he’s lost 20 pounds over the last year or so—and not by choice. The 72-year-old retired security guard from Atlanta’s Pittsburgh neighborhood was one of many new faces at the Rosel Fann Recreation Center mobile food pantry on Oct. 27. Brownlee and many others at the giveaway said the cost of groceries […]
Posted inCop City, Criminal Justice
Environmental Impact Targeted in New Push Against ‘Cop City’
Opponents of the developing Atlanta Public Safety Training Center have adopted a new strategy to stop the so-called “Cop City” from being built. Activists filed a complaint with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of External Civil Rights Compliance last week, arguing that the 85-acre site in unincorporated southern DeKalb County is damaging the ecosystem in […]
Posted inElections
Why College Park Mayoral Candidates Say They Want to Create a More Equitable City
Five candidates are vying Tuesday to become the next mayor of College Park, where crime, lack of affordable housing, and the need for higher-paying jobs are key issues residents want addressed. It’s been four years since voters made Bianca Motley Broom the city’s first Black mayor. Some of her political challengers contend she’s done little […]
Posted inElections
Jason Lary Corruption Scandal Looms Large in Stonecrest Mayoral Race
Stonecrest’s founding mayor, Jason Lary, is still in federal prison, serving a 57-month sentence for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic relief money from taxpayers. The sentence was handed down less than five years after his 2017 election, following a guilty plea for wire fraud, conspiracy, and theft of government funds. Corruption among […]
