On March 13, 2018 Cambridge High School sophomores Leah Capamaccio and Lily Parzych were silenced while expressing their views on gun violence at an organized rally of students just weeks after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Administrators said the event was intended to memorialize the lives lost at Stoneman Douglas High School, but some students feel they were unjustly silenced. Here is their story. 

Alpharetta's newest member of its city council, Ben Burnett, covers a wide range of topics from transparency in government, citizen activism, and his active role on Twitter. We learn about what compels someone to become interested in running for office, the hurdles along the way, and the surprises once you get there. We also touch on his Twitter beef with Atlanta mega-developer Mark Toro and Senator John Albers' bill to cap tax assessment increases.

On March 14th 2018, thousands of students across America walked out of their schools for 17 minutes at 10 a.m. on the one-month anniversary of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The 17 minutes honor the 17 lives taken that day.

Some students held hands in the hallways and around the flag pole, sang songs or read the names of the victims. Locally, many schools participated in various ways.

At Cambridge High School in Milton, Georgia, two students were stopped from voicing their concerns when their microphone was turned off mid speech. The Milton Herald and Black Box investigations exclusively obtained a copy of what they would have said, had they been permitted to continue. 

In this show we interviewed our company's founder, Ray Appen, to find out exactly how Appen Media got its start. He details his introduction into the industry with the Miami Herald in the early 1980's to his eventual landing spot in the then sleepy town of Alpharetta in 1990.

We are often asked how, or why, we pick some of the Black Box projects we work on. Reporter Joe Parker joins the podcast to answer some of those questions by telling us more about a project he just started - involving discrepancies in the way marijuana is approached by local law enforcement agencies.

For tips Joe can be reached at [email protected] or 770-442-3278.

Black Box reporter Kathleen Sturgeon gives more information on her latest installment of the Black Box project - Invisible in the 'burbs. She details her experience on a cold night in January counting the homeless as part of an effort to secure grant money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development agency to combat homelessness nationwide.

Read the Black Box special reports for Invisible in the ‘burbs

Part I: https://www.northfulton.com/black_box/hurdles-inhibit-local-woman-to-seek-out-assistance/article_a462c28b-c524-53a7-9d32-8511b36f4075.html

Part II: https://www.northfulton.com/alpharetta_roswell/you-shouldn-t-be-fighting-this-hard-for-basic-needs/article_7c29c0cc-0b4b-11e8-9410-1b0c7e5b82c5.html

Homeless support organizations

North Fulton Community Charities: https://nfcchelp.org

HomeStretch: https://homestretch.org

Family Promise: http://www.familypromisenfd.org

The Drake House: https://www.thedrakehouse.org

Alpharetta City Councilman Jim Gilvin sits down with us to talk about how and why citizens become more involved in their government. We look back on his own experiences and what’s in store for his political future. 

Alpharetta Mayor Pro Tem Donald Mitchell talks about what motivated him to run for office, the surprises along the way, and what is in store for his temporary tenure as acting Mayor of Alpharetta.