Voters in west metro Atlanta are heading to the polls again Tuesday to decide which state Senate District 35 runoff election candidate they want to represent them in the Georgia General Assembly next year. Jaha Howard — a local dentist and former Cobb County School Board member — and retired state House Rep. Roger Bruce […]
Politics & Policy
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Public Services, State Politics
Georgia Power’s $16 Billion Data Center Push Could Mean Higher Costs for Residents
A Georgia Power proposal that would allow one of the largest energy infrastructure projects in state history crossed a major regulatory hurdle on Wednesday. The Public Service Commission’s Public Interest Advocacy Staff division approved a Georgia Power stipulation agreement that would greenlight construction of enough new power plant facilities to generate an additional 10,000 megawatts […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Fani Willis to Testify at Senate Committee Hearing Next Week
Fulton County’s case against Donald Trump and his 2020 fake elector co-conspirators may be over, but the Georgia Republican Party’s examination of how District Attorney Fani Willis handled the case against the president appears to be ramping up. Willis’ attorney, former Gov. Roy Barnes, told members of the Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday that she […]
Posted inEducation, Politics & Policy
Black Parents Scramble as Atlanta Plans to Close or Repurpose 16 Schools
The walk to and from school for Mechanicsville resident Shatoya Kent and her 6-year-old daughter, Zyvanna, usually takes about four minutes. Last week, they learned that won’t be the case much longer. Kent’s daughter is a first-grader at Dunbar Elementary, one of 16 city schools scheduled to permanently close or be repurposed at the start […]
Posted inHBCUs, Politics & Policy, Reproductive Health
Students at Clark Atlanta Are Organizing to Save Black Mothers’ Lives
Georgia has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the country, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics: Black women are twice as likely to die from pregnancy than a white woman. Systemic barriers to health care access and social marginalization are just some of the reasons public health experts cite […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Politics & Policy
Runoff Elections: South Fulton Elects Its First Female Mayor
The Blackest city in America elected its first female mayor on Tuesday. South Fulton City Council member Carmalitha Gumbs will become the city’s latest mayor in January after defeating her runoff election opponent, Mark Baker, by a sizable margin, according to unofficial vote totals. More than 13,400 people cast ballots in the contest, according to […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Culture, Politics & Policy
WCLK Radio Cuts Puts Atlanta’s Jazz Culture and HBCU Media Training at Risk
Atlanta’s iconic jazz station, Jazz 91.9 WCLK, is fighting to survive. For more than 50 years, the Clark Atlanta University–owned station has been more than a place to hear jazz: it has been a cultural anchor for Black Atlanta and a training ground for generations of AUC students to break into the media industry. But […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Politics & Policy
South DeKalb Residents Protest Data Center Plan, Delay Vote
A vote on new data center regulations in DeKalb County has been postponed to Dec.16 after a heated zoning meeting Thursday where residents shouted grievances, demanded answers, and some were removed from the chamber. The deferral underscores the growing frustration of South DeKalb communities — particularly Black neighborhoods like Ellenwood, where a large-scale data center […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Georgia Senate District 35 Race Advances To Runoff
The special election to decide the next state lawmaker from Georgia Senate district 35 is headed to a runoff. Democrats Jaha Howard — a dentist from Smyrna — and former state Rep. Roger Bruce, who retired from the state House earlier this year, were the top two vote recipients on election night in a field […]
Posted inGentrification, Housing, Politics & Policy
Mayor’s TAD Plan Sparks Gentrification Fears for Southwest Atlanta Activists
Atlanta community activists advocating on behalf of low-income Black families are raising gentrification concerns about Mayor Andre Dickens’ $5 billion neighborhood reinvestment initiative. The program calls for the extension of existing tax allocation districts (TADs) to help pay for revamping majority-Black neighborhoods on the city’s southwest side. TADs — also referred to as tax incremental […]
