Price hike for King memorial

Organizers are upping the cost estimate for a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They cite the addition of a bookstore and rising construction costs for tacking on $20-million dollars to the project. The group now needs to raise $120 million dollars in all for the memorial slated to go up in Washington, D.C. So far they have raised just under $100-million.

'08 Tour de Georgia gets 5 new stops

Next year’s Tour de Georgia includes some new cities on the race course, but comes at the expense of other major stops from previous years.

The cycling event will have five new cities in the week-long race next April. Tybee Island will host the start, and is followed by newcomers Statesboro, Washington, Braselton, and Suwanee. Returning host cities include Atlanta, Augusta, and Brasstown Bald.

Cities left out for 2008 include Macon and Rome. Event director Chris Aronhalt says crafting the new route only had to do with letting residents in other communities share the Tour experience .

"It has nothing at all to do with the support. In fact the race would have loved to go back to those communities like Macon and Rome".

Tour organizers also had to be mindful of the route’s mileage, and incorporating mountain and coastal stages.

Aronhalt says the race expects to be financially healthy, with new headline sponsors to be announced at the start of the year.

Survey ranks walking in Atlanta

Atlanta is the 14th most walkable urban places according to a new Brookings Institution survey. The rankings are based on walkability relative to the area’s population. Washington, D.C. tops the list with Boston and San Francisco rounding out the top three.