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 […]
Chauncey Alcorn
Chauncey Alcorn is Capital B Atlanta's state and local politics reporter.
Posted inVoting
Georgia’s Electoral Map Unfairly Dilutes Black Voting Power, Judge Rules
A federal judge on Thursday ordered members of the Georgia General Assembly to redraw the state’s electoral maps ahead of the 2024 election after determining the current maps unfairly dilute the political power of Black voters. The landmark ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones is expected to increase the number of majority-Black districts […]
Posted inVoting
Group Accused of Targeting Minorities with Voter Eligibility Challenges Stands Trial
The federal trial against a conservative activist group accused of using mass voter eligibility challenges to discourage Black and brown Georgians from participating in elections began today. Fair Fight, the voting rights advocacy group founded by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, filed a lawsuit that seeks to bar True the Vote from pursuing mass […]
Posted inCity Politics, Politics & Policy
City Council Calls for I-20 Noise Barrier in Mozley Park
Atlanta lawmakers are amplifying Mozley Park residents’ demands for a noise barrier to be built along Interstate 20 to silence noise pollution from traffic in majority-Black parts of the city. The Atlanta City Council unanimously supported a resolution on Monday that urges state and federal regulators to build a noise barrier along the stretch of I-20 that […]
Posted inCity Politics, Politics & Policy
‘Maynard for Mayor’ 50 Years Later
It was 50 years ago today when Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. shook up the South. At the ripe old age of 35, the Democratic candidate defeated incumbent Sam Massell in a runoff election to become Atlanta’s first Black mayor, receiving 60% of the vote to Massell’s 40%. Jackson’s landmark election ushered in an era of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
‘Release the Tape!’ Johnny Hollman’s Relatives Bring Emotional Pleas to City Council
The Atlanta City Council on Monday called for police to release body camera video of Johnny Hollman’s fatal encounter with an officer, responding to nearly two months of passionate pleas from the 62-year-old church deacon’s relatives. The council members unanimously approved a resolution urging Mayor Andre Dickens and the Atlanta Police Department to release the […]
Posted inMoney, Wealth Gap
How Guaranteed Income Is Helping Black Women Battle Gentrification
Cepia Harper was already fighting a losing battle to move up Atlanta’s socioeconomic ladder when the manager of her Midtown apartment complex gave her a month to find a new place to live. The property owners had decided not to renew the single mother’s lease without telling her why, Harper said. “She just said she […]
Posted inUncategorized
‘People Are Losing Faith’: AUC Students Reflect on Democratic Leadership After VP Visit
Hundreds of Atlanta University Center students cheered with excitement when Vice President Kamala Harris stepped on stage inside the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College on Tuesday. Seeing the Howard University graduate and first Black woman to serve as the nation’s second-in-command, live and in-person, was an inspiration to fellow HBCU attendees […]
Posted inUncategorized
Black Atlantans Support Public’s Right To Vote on ‘Cop City’ project
Adamsville resident Crystal Brown is concerned about crime in her west Atlanta neighborhood and believes building the public safety training center, commonly referred to as “Cop City,” will help solve the problem. “We need the cops,” Brown told Capital B Atlanta in June after the Atlanta City Council approved funding for the 85-acre facility in […]
Posted inCop City
Lawmaker Nixes Plan to Introduce ‘Cop City’ Measure After City Attorney Input
The latest effort to let Atlanta voters weigh in on the public safety training center, dubbed “Cop City” by critics, via a ballot referendum was upended by municipal attorneys Monday afternoon, according to a lawmaker. Post 3 At-Large Atlanta City Council member Keisha Sean Waites said she and fellow lawmaker Liliana Bakhtiari had planned to […]
