Hometown Headlines Radio Edition: Local news without the static.

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Rome City Commissioner Wendy Davis, an advocate for the 2020 Census, talks about why the 10-year Census mandated in the Constitution is critical to our community. Each person missed, she says, means fewer of your tax dollars coming back to help your town. Not for one year but for the next decade.

Plus, the Census Bureau needs both full- and part-time workers to make it all work. Wendy has tips on how to apply.

Also, she looks at the Nov. 5 City Commission election and what it means to our future. Six commission seats are on the ballot (Wendy runs again in 2021).

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Plus two interviews today on our podcast edition:  

Changes are well under way with the Rome Area Council for the Arts, including a new chair and a new executive director in addition to an office back on Broad Street.

Likewise, one of RACA's main fundraisers -- the September beer festival -- is changing as well. 

Those are some of the highlights from our latest Hometown Headlines Podcast interview, this one with Ali Booker, the new executive director of the arts group, and its new chairman, Chris Kerr. They joined us at Brand Red Studios in downtown Rome on Tuesday to talk about plans for an even greater outreach to "all the artisans in town." That includes those beyond galleries, those on stage and the talent behind the music.

Booker and Kerr joined Hometown Headlines' John Druckenmiller with updates about the arts organization and how they hope to expand its support and impact on Rome's arts community.  That includes students learning computer-assisted design, the light and sound technicians off stage and those producing television and film in Rome/Floyd County.

Imagine the first home on your street being demolished, the surrounding tree lines flattened. Next, picture a 52-room hotel going up on part on that lot, with both the entrance and exit on a residential street, Charlton Street, even though the hotel features acres facing Martha Berry Highway.

The residents of Summerville Park call this encroachment into a neighborhood already dealing with crime and other spillovers from some of the run-down hotels nearby. They fear Sleep Inn will dump much more traffic onto a rustic two-lane street lined with older homes that make up the "Heritage Neighborhood" founded in 1913.

Penny Evans-Plants, a resident of Summerville Park, talks about the homeowners' fight, the planned hotel, a controversial rezoning decades ago a slow response from City Hall when it comes to seeking a better solution for the community, the developer and the city. 

All of our podcasts — interviews and weekday news blasts — are now available for free on nine podcast providers including  

The news you need on your commute to work this Wednesday morning:

Keith D. Mickler, Floyd County Extension Coordinator, shares some tips on helping your plants and trees survive in this scalding hot and mostly dry Northwest Georgia summer.  Watering is key - but not nearly as much as you might think His biggest concern isn't the drought but too much aqua. 

Keith has some key advice for area farmers as well when it comes to applying enough water as the sun evaporates much of what's in the soil.

Plus: How to chase those varmints from your home gardens, whether they're chipmunks or deer (please don't share with PETA).

Keith joined Hometown Headlines' John Druckenmiller for this podcast at Brand Red Studios, 4 Bale St. off Fifth Avenue in downtown Rome. We thank Todd LaBerge for another round of solid podcast production. 

All of our podcasts -- interviews and weekday news blasts -- are now available for free on nine podcast providers including  

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