BIO Conference Focuses on Diversity

The Biotechnology Industry Organization, or BIO, is holding it's annual conference at the Georgia World Congress Center. And much of Monday mornings focus was on creating diversity in the bio workplace, and also, using bio sciences to help close heath gaps among different ethnic groups. About two hundred people came to the
meeting to see Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, among other speakers.

Lisa Gibson attended the workshop, she's the President of the Hawaii Technology and Science Council, and she says the lack of diversity means an absence of viewpoints as new medicines and other bio-applications are made.

"We need all people. It's a crisis for the country, and people need to be paying attention."

The national Science Foundation estimates only eight percent of science and engineering degrees are earned by Blacks and Latinos. And only 28 percent of these science graduates are women, according to that same study.

Atlanta mayor hopes for truce in 3-state water war

West Point Lake. (Dave Bender/file)

Mayor Shirley Franklin is hopeful President-elect Barack Obama will make good on a promise to unite Georgia, Florida and Alabama over the issue of water.

In October, Obama said he would call for the states' governors to begin negotiating again on water sharing.

Speaking to the Atlanta Press Club Tuesday, Franklin said she considers overhauling the city's troubled sewer system one of hermost challenging accomplishments, but that the new president must bring regional governors to the table on water issues.

Franklin, who leaves office at the end of the year, says her successor will need to focus on what can be done to ensure a stronger future for Atlanta.

(AP)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of water issues and here for previous reports about the drought.

Franklin pitches cities bailout plan

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin says a bailout plan for cities that she pitched -- along with mayors of Philadelphia and Phoenix -- was not just a plea for those cities.

Franklin says it's also a request for help for local governments across the country struggling in the strained economy.

Franklin, Philadelphia's Michael Nutter and Phil Gordon of Phoenix lobbied Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in a joint letter sent Friday. They asked for a share of the proposed $700 billion bailout.

In it, they made the case that dwindling revenues have led to layoffs and cuts in services, and dried-up sources of credit have made it hard for cities to get bonds for infrastructure projects that could provide jobs.

Franklin said in an interview this week at City Hall that lending to cities could help the country climb out of economic crisis -- or contribute to its continuing decline.

(AP)

Atlanta requests federal aid

The City of Atlanta wants a piece of Congress's $700 billion-dollar bailout. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin has sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. She requests help with their pension costs, infrastructure investment and cash-flow problems stemming from the global financial crisis. The mayors of Philadelphia and Phoenix have made similar requests. They say cities are facing an economic crisis not seen since the Depression and need help just like financial institutions.

(Associated Press)

Courtroom duel over guns in airport

Is it legal to carry a gun in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport… a judge will hear that argument today in a courtroom duel between gun rights advocates and the city of Atlanta. Georgiacarry.org sued the city after a new state law went into effect July first that permits guns in state parks, restaurants that serve alcohol and on mass transit.

The gun group says that means concealed gun carry is legal in so-called non-secure areas of the airport. Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin and airport manager Ben DeCosta disagree. Both parties contend gun carry is prohibited beyond security checkpoints. The hearing is slated for this afternoon in Fulton County Superior Court.

Storm rips through downtown Atlanta causing major damage

A storm in Atlanta last night injured at least 20 people in its path. It came down hard on the area around Centennial Olympic park. Forty-foot billboards and trees toppled, cutting power lines and destroying cars. Glass and debris littered the streets throughout downtown. It interrupted an SEC championship game at the Georgia Dome. Outside Anne Stith of Lexington, Kentucky was selling t-shirts.

"I was trying to get the t-shirts off of the counter into the trailer and I felt the trailer lift up," she said. " You could see it clearly. It was a twister."

The path of destruction continued through neighborhoods. It moved into Cabbage Town. Debra Spitzer was visiting her brother there when a huge oak tree crashed through the roof.

"And all he could holler was, 'Sis, where are you," she said. "Bricks and stuff was just falling on me and I just said God help me, please God."

Spitzer's brother was taken to the hospital for minor injuries. The city has canceled a St. Patricks Day parade. The remaining SEC championship games have been moved to Georgia Tech because of damage to the Georgia Dome. There was no tornado warning and Mayor Franklin promised a thorough investigation. Thousands of people are still without power.

Ga. lags in scoring water infrastructure earmarks

Rocky shoals signal low water on the Chattahoochee River at the Eagle-Phenix Dam, Columbus. (File photo: Dave Bender)

Atlanta and other drought-stricken Georgia cities miss out on millions of federal dollars to repair leaky water infrastructure because the state's congressional delegation lacks clout on key funding committees in Washington.

In the $555 billion spending bill that President Bush signed last month, Georgia received just $1.6 million in federal "earmarks" from a fund that helps local governments improve sewer systems and replace aging water pipes.

An Associated Press analysis shows that 33 states received more funding, including far smaller ones such as West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky.

The picture was about the same in 2006, when Georgia received $1.9 million from the Environmental Protection Agency fund while North Carolina and Mississippi took in about $9 million each. At least six municipalities in Mississippi alone - including Pontotoc, Biloxi and Pascagoula - received more EPA earmark dollars than Atlanta, which got just $500,000.

The disparities show how "earmarking" - lawmakers steering money toward pet projects - can skew spending priorities toward politically influential districts. They also highlight the Georgia delegation's weakness in the process: The state for years has ranked poorly in drawing earmarks, according to spending watchdog groups.

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said state leaders simply did not make water infrastructure a priority until the recent drought. Atlanta and other local water systems estimate that they lose 10 to 20 percent of treated water due to leaky infrastructure.

"What the entire delegation has said to us is that there is not enough money to go around," Franklin said. "We are basically financing our water system on sales taxes and high (water) rates."

Congress for decades has supported local infrastructure projects through an EPA program that helps systems meet federal clean water standards. Most of the money goes to states based on a complex funding formula, to be distributed to municipalities through a loan fund.

But earmarks aimed at specific projects have eaten up a steady chunk of the funding since 1989, accounting for about $7 billion out of the total $42 billion, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report.

Because earmarks are often tucked inside massive bills with little notice, it's difficult to say exactly how much of those earmarks Georgia has received. What is clear is that the state is not faring well.

Neither of Georgia's U.S. senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, sits on the appropriations committees that write spending bills. Just two of the state's 13 U.S. representatives are members - Jack Kingston, R-Savannah, and Sanford Bishop, D-Albany.

"We're nowhere near where we should be" with earmarks, said Kit Dunlap, chair of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, which represents a 16-county metro Atlanta region.

"But that's what earmarks are all about. They're not necessarily fair, particularly when we looked at our neighboring states, knowing the longevity of some of their folks in Congress."

Dunlap's organization received a $300,000 EPA earmark this year, which she called "a pittance" compared with dozens of small cities elsewhere that got $1 million or more. Her group projects it will need almost $10 billion over the next three decades to upgrade supply, treatment and distribution infrastructure.

Isakson, a Marietta Republican, and Rep. David Scott, an Atlanta Democrat, both pointed out that Georgia gets infrastructure funding in other areas of the budget. In the most recent round of bills, for example, the delegation secured a $1.5 million earmark for Atlanta sewer improvements from an Army Corps of Engineers account.

Click here for more GPB coverage of the drought.

(The Associated Press)

Atlanta mayor backs Obama

Today Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin threw her support behind Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Franklin made the endorsement on an Atlanta radio show. Franklin’s endorsement is a break with some other black leaders in the state, including U.S. Rep. John Lewis and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young who are backing U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Georgia's primary is February 5th.

Daughter of Atlanta mayor pleads guilty

The daughter of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin pleaded guilty today to helping launder money for her ex-husband. 35-year-old Kai Franklin entered the plea in federal court in Greenville, South Carolina. Her ex-husband Tremayne Graham is serving life in prison for his involvement in a drug dealing operation. Graham ran from authorities for three years, during which time Franklin admits paying their mortgage with postal money order to hide from the IRS.

Georgia EPD dismisses outsourcing Atlanta water

A persistent drought has Atlanta's Mayor eyeing water across the border, but Georgia officials say they have no plans to try to tap the Tennessee River. The drought in the Southeast has sapped federal reservoirs in northern Georgia, including 38,000-acre Lake Lanier, which supplies Atlanta. With less than three months before the lake is depleted, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin suggested recently the region explore piping in water from the Tennessee or Savannah Rivers. The director of Georgia's Environmental Protection Division, Carol Couch, said, "The state of Georgia has no plans to pursue such an idea."

Atlanta Mayor declines Macon water offer

Atlanta officials say they have no immediate plans to take up Macon on its offer to sell water to Atlanta’s airport. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin had told Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis ‘thanks but no thanks,’ after Ellis suggested Macon could truck in water with the help of volunteer drivers, if needed. Atlanta says buying water from Macon could be considered as an option at some point, but that the city isn’t there yet.

Drought: Macon offers water to ATL airport

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

The city of Macon has offered to sell water to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Mayor Jack Ellis says he discussed the idea with Atlanta officials yesterday and is waiting to hear what their needs are and what storage capacity is available.

Ellis says he was inspired by televised statements from Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin asking residents to conserve water because the lingering drought is threatening the water supply.

The Macon Water Authority says the middle Georgia city has a 6.5 billion gallon reservoir with enough water to supply the area for nearly 500 days.

Click here for comprehensive GPB News coverage of the drought.

(The Associated Press)

Crackdown on child prostitution continues, slowly

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin says she is still working to keep the sometimes-taboo problem of child prostitution in the public's eye, but progress has been slow.

"There is no question in my mind that we're just beginning this campaign," Franklin told city officials and child advocates at a breakfast meeting Tuesday. "People of good will are still completely in the dark about what they can do to protect a 14-year-old girl who lives in the city of Atlanta."

Franklin announced last year the "Dear John" campaign to crack down on the men who solicit underage sex. Since then, she has starred in public awareness campaigns and convinced private donors to fund police initiatives and treatment centers. She has talked about starting a special court for johns.

But Investigator Kelleita Thurmond of the Atlanta Police Department's vice squad told Franklin and the rest of the audience that arrests have been hard to come by. Thurmond says the unit has been hampered by staffing shortages and security worries. Furthermore, she says, much of the crime happens on the Internet and out of public view.

Franklin halts vote on proposed "Free Speech Zone"

The City of Atlanta has backed down from a measure that would have required prior written permission before a public demonstration.

The ordinance by Atlanta Councilman Jim Maddox would have set up "Free Speech Zones" for any public demonstration where counter-protesters may be expected. The measure was to go before the city council this week for a vote. However, over the weekend Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin asked the city's Law Department to review the idea. The ACLU had warned the city that the ordinance would be unconstitutional.

In his proposed resolution, Maddox says if a group of vegetarians are gathered and someone hands out flyers touting the benefits of chicken, such interference threatens public safety.

The proposed law would require event organizers to submit the names of authorized participants to the police in advance of the event. And, anyone who attempts to protest outside the free speech zone could have been arrested.

Feds probe mayor's daughter

Federal investigators are targeting the daughter of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

Authorities say Kai Franklin may have helped her ex-husband launder money while he was shipping cocaine across the country.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Franklin handled tens of thousands of dollars from cocaine sales in 2004 and 2005.

So far no charges have been filed against her.