All Things Considered

Legal advocates say the University System of Georgia's new sexual misconduct policy is not up to federal standards. Like us on Facebook The Board of Regents voted to approve an update to the policy yesterday. Lisa Anderson, with Atlanta Women for Equality, said she wishes she could have reviewed the final language. "There is absolutely no doubt that this policy is illegal," Anderson said. One major concern is that the policy doesn't spell out the actual federal laws and agencies that protect student and employee rights. "They're more likely to exercise those rights if they actually know what they are. And under the law that's required. They need to know what their legal rights are," she said. Asked yesterday by a board of regents member if the new policy complies with federal law, the university system's Kimberly Ballard-Washington responded with a resounding “yes.” The University System of Georgia did not respond for comment by deadline. Anderson said she hopes to be in touch with the

Georgia’s University System voted today to update its sexual misconduct policy. The goal is to make policy consistent across the state’s colleges and universities. Like us on Facebook Each campus will now notify the university system about any case that may involve suspension or expulsion. Overseeing those complaints will be Assistant Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs Kimberly Ballard-Washington. She said each school will now handle its own adjudication hearings, leaving Title IX coordinators to focus on sexual assault prevention and education. "On a lot of campuses, we have one person in the Title IX coordinating role – we don't have an office – and so this is going to free them up," Ballard-Washington said. But legal advocate Lisa Anderson with Atlanta Women for Equality has concerns about the hiring and training that needs to happen by the fall semester, which starts this month. "I'm really not sure, based on the laws of physics, how that would work," Anderson said. The changes are

The group, Americans for the Arts, just released its fifth Arts & Economic Prosperity study, or AEP5. It looks at the financial impact of arts and culture groups across the U.S., and it has specific numbers for metro Atlanta . WABE's Amy Kiley stopped by the Atlanta Regional Commission to learn more. She spoke with ARC Executive Director Doug Hooker and ARC Principal Program Specialist for Arts and Culture Josh Phillipson. You can click on the audio above to hear their conversation. Her first question was for Phillipson. Interview Highlights The Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 survey is a national study, but four Atlanta-area bodies came together to contribute numbers for the 10-county metro area. Hooker says, to him, the most important numbers from the survey are the big-picture ones. They show nonprofit arts and culture groups contribute about $720 million a year to the regional economy. They also supply more than 23,000 full-time equivalent jobs. Those numbers do not include

Immigrant and refugee groups are raising concerns about a proposal put forth by Sen. David Perdue of Georgia, along with Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, to reduce legal immigration. The proposal got the backing of President Trump Wednesday in a joint press conference with the senators. Like us on Facebook “Our current system does not work. It keeps America from being competitive and it does not meet the needs of our economy today,” Perdue said. The bill would slash the number of green cards the U.S. issues in half by the next 10 years and create a merit-based system that the senators said would prioritize “high-skilled” immigrants. Supporters, including the president, say the bill would spur the U.S. economy and help American workers, but critics argue the bill would make the U.S. less competitive. “People are going to immigrate. People are always going to go to places where there are more opportunities and options. And if America isn’t that place, someplace else will be,” said ​Charles

Starting this fall, Delta Air Lines will suspend direct weekly flights from Atlanta to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. According to the International Air Transport Association, the Venezuelan government owes airlines $3.8 billion . These airlines have been prevented from converting their earnings from bolivars, the currency in Venezuela, into dollars, because of a hold by the government. Like us on Facebook Georgia State University international business professor Pedro Carillo moved to Atlanta in 1982 and worked for the Venezuela Foreign Service for more than 20 years. "The situation at the airports are terrible, the equipment old and not well maintained and on top of that, the government is incredibly irresponsible with its foreign debts and monetary obligations," Carillo said. Carillo said he believes the documented corruption and violence of President Nicolás Maduro's government led to Delta Air Lines' action, and he said he’s surprised Delta Air Lines didn’t suspend flights

As Atlanta's technology sector continues to grow, some schools are stepping up their efforts to prepare students for those jobs. The Georgia Department of Education offers STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) certification for schools. Like us on Facebook The process is rigorous. Schools have to meet with business leaders and implement a STEM curriculum. Students have to demonstrate competence in subjects ranging from agriculture to computer science. Dr. Margul Woolfolk is the principal at M. Agnes Jones, the first Atlanta public school to receive STEM certification from the state. She says the certification process was student-focused. "It was all about what the children could do: What they saw from the children, what the children could articulate,” Woolfolk said. “So, that was exciting because that was genuine and it was authentic." Jones has three different STEM labs, its own chickens and vegetable gardens. There’s a farm across the street from the school where the

The city of Sandy Springs is considering regulating vacation rentals like Airbnb and HomeAway. Right now, Sandy Springs has no rules or regulations in place for vacation renting, but the city has been working on a summer development code that could potentially change that. Sandy Springs spokesperson Sharon Kraun says proposed legislation is still being drafted, and she can't comment on what it might include. Vacation renting on websites such as HomeAway and Airbnb is popular in the Sandy Springs area. Currently, there are more than 350 homes listed on Airbnb in the city and more than 600 on HomeAway. Dixie Schantz is retired and owns two houses in Sandy Springs. She rents one of them out on both, Airbnb and HomeAway's, websites. Schantz says she decided to start vacation renting after having served as a host for students completing international exchange programs. Welcoming people to her home was natural for Schantz, vacation renting now allows her to make money from the experiences.

Most students in the Atlanta Public Schools head back to class next week. On Wednesday, APS Superintendent Meria Carstarphen said the district is ready. That's a different tune than the one she sang three years ago. Like us on Facebook At that time, Carstarphen was new to APS. She said she was surprised by the district's lack of basic systems. There were no structures in place for planning student schedules, master schedules or establishing bus routes, she said. This year, she has a different worry. "I'm nervous because I can't find a major problem,” Carstarphen said. “We've got transportation routes done. Master schedules are done. Parents can find their stuff. Kids can find their stuff." Carstarphen says it took time — and a lot of work — to get to this point. "We feel ready, and it's the week before, not the day before,” she said. “And for APS, that's a huge step forward. Most of the time, we've been running to the wall." A bigger challenge hit the school district last month when

Jimmy Lewis wanted a group of rural Georgia lawmakers to feel for themselves how he said rural hospital CEOs feel every day. Like us on Facebook “I’m talking fast and I’m giving you a lot of information for a specific reason,” he told lawmakers at a recent meeting of the Ga. House Rural Development Council in Bainbridge. “When it’s over with, I want you to say ‘that was overwhelming.’” Lewis, the CEO of a network of rural hospitals named Hometown Health, flew through slides with complicated payment formulas and national headlines about the tens of millions of people who could lose insurance under federal policy proposals. "While you look at how to fix rural hospitals you need to see how overwhelming and just completely devastating the current situation is for a rural hospital simply to survive,” he said. "Sitting in on a hospital closure is worse than going to a community funeral,” Eighty percent of rural hospital income comes from the government, Lewis said, and they’re still barely

Atlanta has a new tool to help preserve its tree canopy. A change in law late last year allowed the city to start using fees from developers to buy and protect private green space. But the question now is, which forests deserve the money? Like us on Facebook The Value In A Forest To get a view of the Ormewood Forest in East Atlanta, a small group of neighbors head through a backyard to a chain link fence. There, at the forest’s border, a cloud of mosquitos rises up. Alex Levy points to the English Ivy on the ground. “Every one of those leaves is like a beach umbrella for a sun-stroked mosquito,” Levy says. “They’re loving it.” Beyond the fence are 6 acres of private property, much of it undeveloped forest. It’s filled with invasive species, like ivy, making the space dense and overgrown. But the neighbors here want to protect it. Grant Dollar says these woods, while not the healthiest, are still special. “My back deck looks right over a lot of the old oak trees that take up Ormewood