All Things Considered

DeKalb County officials are working to address two major sewage spills in the county during the past couple of weeks. Like us on Facebook County spokesman Andrew Cauthen said permanent repairs are being developed to address last week's spill of 6.4 million gallons of raw sewage at Snapfinger Creek in Lithonia. “We've stopped the spill, and mitigated the situation, but we've got to basically design a new system for that location,” Cauthen said. Two weeks ago, nearly 4 million gallons of raw sewage polluted Nancy Creek in Brookhaven. "In DeKalb County, they have aging sewer infrastructure, which needs to be upgraded and capacity increased in order to keep up with growing populations and sewer demands,” Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Jason Ulseth said. DeKalb officials say they'll need to design a whole new system for the site of the Lithonia spill, just north of the Snapfinger Wastewater Treatment Plant. DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond directed the county's Wastewater Management Department to

New leadership is coming to the agency that oversees development of the Atlanta BeltLine. The city announced today that Atlanta Beltline, Inc. President and CEO Paul Morris will step down. Like us on Facebook Morris joined the Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. in 2013. In that time, the agency began expanding the trail by four miles on the east and west sides of the loop. It also started on new projects like an urban farm. But the organization has also faced criticism for not making affordable housing more of a priority. Critics included architect Ryan Gravel, who came up with the vision for the trail. He resigned as a board member at Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. last year. Gravel gives the Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. credit for its affordable housing efforts, but said he's looking forward to the city's new pick for president, Brian McGowan. "He's the kind of guy that is going to come in and reassess the whole organization -- and not just the BeltLine itself, but the agency that's building it,” Gravel said.

Police believe a new wave of overdoses in central Georgia is connected to poisonous tablets being sold on the streets. Like us on Facebook At least eight people were taken to hospitals in Warner Robins and Macon. Warner Robins Police spokeswoman Jennifer Parson said the pills are a counterfeit version of the prescription painkiller "Percocet." "This is a white pill. I know a couple of months ago we had a strand of overdoses as well, but that was a yellow pill, so this is different," Parson said. A public alert has been issued. "Our community is very close to I-75. So if it's happening here, there is a good possibility that it could happen in your area as well," Parson said. No one has died, but several victims were placed on ventilators. "We started seeing overdoses start, I would say, around late Saturday night, and it just continued. All of the patients that would come in had the same symptoms," Parson said. The white pills are being sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's

Atlantans will find out soon how big the field of candidates is in the cities mayoral race. Nine major candidates and several other hopefuls must take the step of paying a $5,500 qualifying fee this week. Like us on Facebook Dr. Harvey Newman, professor emeritus at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, said a candidate must have the ability to survive in such a large field. "Well it's going to take a combination of hard work, a great ground game and some serious resources,” Newman said. Money and resources are important, but Newman believes it's going to take a real grassroots effort for anyone to win in such a large field. "It's going to take a lot of dedicated volunteers who are going to have to knock on doors and have one-on-one conversations,” Newman said. Clark Atlanta University political science professor Dr. William Boone pointed out the mayoral candidates also face a changing electorate. "They're a bit younger," Boone said. "They are not as

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has announced plans to put together a panel of leaders to consider the future of the city's Confederate symbols and street names. They'll have two months, but they may not have all that many items to discuss. Like us on Facebook There just aren't that many Confederate-related memorials in this particular southern city. "Atlanta was more of a forward looking city, and that doesn't mean we were necessarily better or less racist,” said Sheffield Hale, president of the Atlanta History Center. He said after the Civil War, city leaders were far more interested in bringing in Northern money than memorializing the lost cause. Atlanta’s Confederate-related monuments are much more likely than other southern capitals to have been installed immediately after the war, specifically to mourn the dead, according to Hale. The obelisk in Oakland Cemetery is a pronounced example. “Those monuments are a different character than most of the monuments we’re talking about today,

Georgia's workforce could face a talent gap unless it expands its career education programs and finds a way to keep college graduates in the state. That was the message at a critical issues forum held by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education this week. Like us on Facebook Georgia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chris Clark said 53 percent of the state’s counties are economically distressed, compared with 20 percent nationwide . Clark said some regions, especially in Georgia’s rural areas, fell behind during the economic downturn. “It’s really all about talent now, and many of our communities didn’t keep up,” he said. “They didn’t make sure they had great schools. They didn’t make sure their colleges continued to do well. And one thing they did is they let all of their kids move away and never come back home.” Clark said colleges could keep students in the state after graduation by making them aware of job opportunities. Michael Kenig, vice chairman of Holder

Two metro-Atlanta health systems are hoping to merge by early next year. Like us on Facebook Northside Hospital and Gwinnett Health System have finally reached an agreement after announcing plans to merge almost two years ago. Andy Miller, CEO and editor of Georgia Health News, said it makes sense for the two systems to combine. "They're complimentary in the sense that Northside does a lot of baby deliveries and surgery and Gwinnett does some of that too but they also offer cardiac care services that Northside doesn't," Miller said. Hospital mergers are on the rise, Miller said. He said the size of the facility can help cut costs on supplies and give hospitals more clout with insurance companies. “If the hospital has more facilities, it can drive a better bargain for themselves when they have contract talks with health insurers,” he said. Miller said patients probably won't see much of a difference in their care, except maybe more access to services. But since Northside has more money,

Some Georgia State University students are starting the school year off in a hotel. The university overbooked students to live in on-campus housing. Four hundred students will be temporarily placed in the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Atlanta. GSU’s website said students will be moved into university housing no later than Aug. 31. Like us on Facebook The other 100 students will share small dorm rooms originally designated for one person. GSU is replacing twin beds with bunk beds and is offering $1,400 off the semester’s housing cost. The university is asking students to volunteer to share their rooms, but not everyone has a choice. “I originally paid for and got a room for a four bedroom, two bathroom private room suite in the university lofts,” said Kelsey Wisniewski, an incoming junior. “They told me my bed would be converted into a bunk bed. So I lost storage space under my bed, and I now have to share my closet, desk and dresser in an already small room. We were told this the day

As we get ready to experience Monday's solar eclipse, electricity providers are gearing up for the challenge of solar power quickly falling off the grid, and then returning. Like us on Facebook Georgia Power spokesman Jacob Hawkins says the company's operators regularly deal with power fluctuations and are ready for the eclipse. "We have very reliable baseload generation, which is what we call it from nuclear, and from coal and natural gas plants that are available for us all the time,” Hawkins said. Georgia Power’s eclipse preparations are no big deal compared to a regular Georgia summer evening. "So when it is 90 degrees at night, and the sun is going down and we're not getting energy from solar generation, we have to be prepared to meet that demand when people are home and enjoying their air conditioning,” Hawkins said. Cobb EMC's Leslie Thompson says eclipse preps are easy, because you know exactly when it's coming. “It’s a little easier to predict the eclipse than to predict the

The city of Atlanta says it's weighing whether to restore a monument that was defaced in Piedmont Park Sunday or remove it. Like us on Facebook "The Peace Monument is owned by the City of Atlanta, and is managed by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and the Department of Parks and Recreation,” a spokesperson for the city of Atlanta said. “As such, the City is responsible for restoring the public art and we are currently reviewing our options.” The Peace Monument in Piedmont Park depicts a Confederate soldier looking up at an angel figure holding an olive branch. Some protesters spraypainted the statue, had placed a chain around it and broke a piece off. Richard Straut, commandant of the Old Guard of the Gate City Guard, which holds a rededication each year for the statue, said he’s like to see it restored. “It’s very disheartening,” Straut said. “That monument was dedicated to usher in peace between North and the South following the end of the Civil War.” “To deface that monument