Atlanta Business Chronicle reports Delta is shutting down its routes from Atlanta to India and China.
That sucks.
How are Americans supposed to schmooze our future Asian overlords if we can’t fly there directly?
(Hat-twip to the always Biz Chronic @Urvaksh)
VOTE: No one else is going to, so your vote will count that much more. Click here for CL’s voter guide.
DON’T DRINK THE WATER: A toxin found in Mars’ water dims scientists’ hopes of finding life there.
DOCK BLOCK: More than 2,300 private docks were built in coastal Georgia between 1996 and 2006, and each one can reduce biomass production by 30 percent below it due to blocked sunlight. Researchers are thus studying four types of docks that allow sunlight through.
NEW GRADY CEO: Says changing “the aura” will be the difference at Grady; plans to buy upgraded medical equipment, identify the top 10 financial issues and streamline processes in an effort to attract more insured patients to the beleaguered hospital.
WI-FI IN THE SKY: Delta plans to start offering Wi-Fi on all its domestic flights by next summer, but it’ll cost $10 for three hours or less and $13 for longer flights.
FIELD TRIPS: Georgia schools considering canceling them to save fuel.
TAILS WAGGING DAWGS: Mark Richt discusses the slew of arrested and penalized players this offseason; he and top players echo the line that they won’t be a distraction for long.
BRAVES: Trade Mark Teixeira to the Angels for 1B Casey Kotchman and a minor league relief pitcher. The move comes the same day that Murphy’s Law became a constitutional amendment for the Braves, as they learned ace Tim Hudson may be out for the year and Chipper Jones went back on the DL.
DELTA: A dead woman was found in an airplane bathroom this morning on a flight from L.A. to Atlanta.
CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO: A private consultant briefs the Chattanooga City Council on the progress of planning a high-speed rail line from that city to Atlanta. The finished report, expected by early 2010, will whittle down 24 possible alignments to six: three maglev and three VHS (very high speed).
BEER: More popular than wine by double digits again.
“MONKEY FROM MARS”: The GBI museum in Decatur has the remains of a monkey that three men tried to pass off as an alien in 1953.
SUPER GRAND REOPENING: Super Grand Buffet, the Duluth restaurant that recently made news for getting a health score of 15, has been reinspected and this time got a 100.
VACANCY: Atlanta police have a new burglary unit dedicated to monitoring houses that have been foreclosed or abandoned, as copper thieves grow in numbers and audacity.
CITY COUNCIL: Wants to keep Fire Station No. 7 open.
SOUTH BY NORTHWEST: Northwest Airlines tells its employees that it may move up to 400 jobs to Atlanta.
JACKSON COUNTY: Gets state approval to sell discounted gas to the county’s nine municipalities, the first county in Georgia to do so.
BLUE JEAN BANDITS: Five suspects are arrested.
WITHOUT A PADDLE: Fifty thousand tons of sewage spill into the ground in Gainesville, entering a tributary of Balus Creek.
EVERGLADE PLUG-IN: United States Sugar agrees to sell 187,000 acres in the Everglades, and all of the company’s other assets, to the state of Florida for $1.75 billion, which will allow natural water flow from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay for the first time since the 1890s.
OBAMA: Leads McCain in two polls by more than 10 points, although June poll results rarely hold steady through November. Hillary Clinton begins campaigning for Obama today. Obama asks his supporters to help alleviate some of her campaign debt.
UNIONS’ UNION: Delta and Northwest pilot unions agree on a joint contract.
CYBER RATTLING: Atlanta is the 10th-largest cybercity and largest in the Southeast.
COLLARED: Police pull over and arrest an Atlanta man in Macon driving a U-Haul loaded with $150,000 worth of Polo shirts that had been stolen in Valdosta.
GAS PRICE WAR: Two gas stations in Buford are in an arms race of affordability, with a gallon dropping as low as $3.45 over the weekend.
DOG BEAT DOG: Fresno State downs UGA to tie the series at 1-1; Game 3 to decide the national champion is tonight at 7.
JOHN THOMPSON: The Clayton County corrective superintendent says he was misheard in the video he posted online Monday, that he said Clayton schools “had a very slim chance” of maintaining accreditation, before he became superintendent, not “have a very slim chance.” Two Board of Education members back up the misheard version, saying Clayton will not maintain its accreditation.
NATIONAL HEALTH MUSEUM: Atlanta is picked as the location for the $230 million museum, Sonny Perdue announced Wednesday afternoon.
HEALTH UNSURANCE: Georgia gets failing grade, as do most other states, from a Families USA study on equality in health insurance coverage.
SHORTFALLIN’: The Georgia DOT will likely finish this fiscal year more than $1.2 billion in the red, Commissioner Gena Abraham says.
EASTERN EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS: Six new cases of the disease, which is spread by mosquitoes and swells horses’ brains, are reported in South Georgia. Humans are also susceptible.
IN FARM’S WAY: Carroll County woman plans to turn 66 acres into a sustainable, ecologically balanced agrarian community called Brokenfoot Ranch. At least its name isn’t as lame as Serenbe.
NANNY 911: A Forsyth County deputy, his wife and his part-time magistrate father are charged in a human-trafficking case in which they allegedly hired a woman from India to be their nanny, only to quit paying her and threaten her if she tried to escape.
MANHUNT: Lawrenceville police searched for a suspected car thief for three hours Wednesday. It looks really exciting in this exclusive AccessNorthGa shot of the manhunt.
FLYING HIGH: Two former TSA agents and a former Delta Air Lines employee plead guilty to intended drug-smuggling after being caught during a sting operation at Hartsfield-Jackson.
LEAVING ONLY FOOTPRINTS: Cityfolk have smaller carbon footprints than residents of more rural areas, according to a study released today by the Brookings Institution. But the lower carbon output is tied to density, meaning Atlanta is on the low end of the ecofriendliness.
UNCONVENTIONAL: Dems’ rules committee will meet Saturday to decide what to do with precocious Florida and Michigan and their convention-hungry delegates.
SUND RISES: The Hawks hire former SuperSonics GM Rick Sund, who faces an offseason with no draft picks, two players with expiring contracts and a head coach whose contract is up in a month. His hiring has flustered some fans, including this Bleacher Report writer who was driven to mix metaphors (”I don’t trust this guy with a ten foot pole”), not to mention write a headline I can’t bring myself to repeat here.
WALK IT OUT: Rookie cops begin foot patrols in two Atlanta police zones, per the recommendation of City Councilman Ceasar Mitchell.
UNION DON’TS: Not enough Delta flight attendants vote to unionize.
CHANGE WE CAN COMMUTE IN: DOT Director Gena Abraham promises innovation and change in metro Atlanta’s transportation quagmire while addressing the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce Wednesday.
DRUG MULE: Sentenced to 25 years in prison for driving with a kilo of cocaine and a gun, which she says she didn’t know were in the car. Her lawyer says the sentence, which is the mandatory minimum, is too high even if she had known.
MONKEY THINK, MONKEY DO: A new study advances the teaching-animals-to-control-robotic-arms-with-just-their-brains research, as two macaques have apparently adopted a robotic arm as their own, improvising and reacting to stimuli in real time.
JOHN EDWARDS: Endorses Obama.
TB LAND: Georgia’s reputation for rogue tuberculosis patients is bolstered by a Covington man arrested and quarantined for not obeying doctor’s orders to stay at home after TB diagnosis.
TAKE A MULLIGAN: Marietta racist Mike Norman has ordered 100 more of his blatantly race-baiting “Obama in ‘08″ T-shirts to sell at his bar, Mulligan’s, despite widespread protests, mockery and death threats. The worst part may be his rationalization.
REMINGTON STEAL: A northeast Georgia man’s Remington 16-gauge shotgun, stolen in 1986, is returned 22 years later after being discovered Monday in Maynard, Tenn. Good timing, too, because now he can take it into restaurants and on public transit.
TRUST NO ONE: Antitrust review is the last hurdle for the Delta-NWA merger, and experts doubt the Dept. of Justice will block the deal on antitrust grounds.
TAKING A SCRAP: Bad economy and rising global copper prices are increasingly driving thieves in Cartersville, and around the country, to steal copper wiring and cables.
C1AL1S BUST: Feds and local police raid a Roswell home where they say a couple was making up to $30,000 a day selling drugs such as copycat Cialis via mail order.
MYANMAR CYCLONE: Death toll exceeds 22,000.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: Georgia’s the first state to start killing prisoners again, with William Earl Lynd scheduled to be lethally injected at 7 tonight.
GEORGIA AQUARIUM: Adding dolphins, as well as 1.3 million gallons of water for them.
NORREESE HAYNES: Clayton judge says Haynes can’t have his school board seat back and he sued the wrong group, since the school board doesn’t administer elections. Haynes says he’ll appeal and now sue the right group, the board of elections.
MORE IN CLAYTON: New corrective superintendent is making all school administrators reapply for their jobs.
FALCONS: Linebacker Michael Boley arrested in Dacula on charges he beat his wife.
KEPT ON TRUCKING: Disgruntled truck driver drives truck cab into lake.
ARTHUR TESLER: Trial underway for the only cop involved in Kathryn Johnston shooting to plead not guilty; lawyers say he was manipulated by two senior officers.
MAN FROM PLANES: Delta prez explains to surly Minnesota lawmakers that he’s going to be taking their Northwest HQ back to Atlanta.
DOT FIRINGS: WSB-TV open-records request finds reasons why Gena Abraham has fired 43 employees since taking over in December, ranging from theft, pulling a machete on another employee, bringing a gun to work and e-mailing porn.
CAMPAIGN IN THE NECK: Clinton wins Pennsylvania by 10 points, likely meaning we get to delight in this campaign all summer.
SPECIAL K: Smoltz gets 3,000th strikeout, Braves lose.
CHAMBLEE SIX: Sextet of Chinese immigrants who subdued and hogtied an international fugitive in February are now giving away their $10,000 in reward money.
CIVIL UNIONS: Delta and Northwest pilots unions to resume negotiations about merging their workforces.
DAVID POLLACK: Retires from the NFL at age 25 due to the neck injury he suffered two years ago.
DOUBTING THOMAS: UGA President Michael Adams defends his choice of Clarence Thomas as the 2008 commencement speaker amid faculty complaints that the university’s sexual harassment problems this year make Thomas a bad choice.
If you’ve arrived in Atlanta on an international flight, you’re no doubt familiar with Hartsfield-Jackson’s annoying international luggage “re-check” requirement.
If you’re not, it goes like this:
1. Land.
2. Claim your luggage in Concourse E.
3. Clear U.S. Customs with your luggage.
4. Re-check your bag to have it shipped across the airport to one of the main baggage claim areas.
5. Mutter something to someone, anyone, about how stupid this system is.
6. Take the airport’s train to one of the main terminals and collect your luggage again.
Yesterday, I picked up my future missus at the airport. She was out of the country for work. (more…)
LOVE IS IN THE AIR: Delta and Northwest finally shack up. The AP offers this timeline of the two airlines’ histories. And while local congressmen seem keen on the idea, the merger still has more skeptical politicians, as well as unions and antitrust regulators, to clear before becoming final.
HERSCHEL WALKER: Appeared on “Nightline” last night to discuss his dissociative identity disorder.
IDLE HAYNES: Norreese wants back on board, but the school system’s attorney suggests the board wait until the courts rule on his residency. Meanwhile, the actual accreditation crisis continues.
JIMMY CARTER: Meets with Hamas, pisses off Israel.
HAWKS: Make the playoffs for the first time this century, earning the right to lose to the Celtics in the first round. I think this is a good time to revisit the video below (there’s an 18-second delay at the beginning of the clip). Look out for current Celtics coach and then-Hawk Doc Rivers near the end:
OH SNAP: Cold snap throughout Georgia today and tomorrow; might bring snow to the mountains.
DELTA-NORTHWEST MERGER: Could happen as early as tomorrow.
MASTERS: Won by someone other than Tiger Woods.
KEEP IT RAIL: Supporting the newly emphasized Marietta-Atlanta line now could help break the ice for the ambitious Athens-Atlanta line later, writes ABH ed board.
HAMSTRUNG: Glavine leaves game in first inning, hamstring injury will be re-evaluated today.
PAPAL PLEASER: Pontiff will be picked up at Andrews Air Force Base personally by President Bush, the first time any president has done that for anyone.
SMALL TOWNS: Bitter about being called bitter.
BOC vs. BOE: Clayton Board of Commissioners joins in the seemingly daily calls for all members of the school board to resign.
NAACP: Says Waycross third-graders’ alleged murder plot against their teacher has been overblown, calls for investigation of teacher’s prior behavior.
CONFUCIUS AT KSU: Cobb university to receive the state’s second Chinese-funded cultural and linguistic institute.
RESERVOIRATIONS: Some state legislators doubt the new water bill does enough.
HGH AS A KITE: Top Braves center field prospect Jordan Shafer is suspended 50 days for HGH use.
NEW NUKES: Georgia Power could build two new reactors at Vogtle, pending approval from the PSC.
AMERICAN AIRLINES: Wire so many flights being canceled?
A BONE TO PICKET: Delta pilots get permit to picket at Northwest hubs over the seniority disputes that have stalled the airlines’ merger negotiations. Actual picketing may be held up by difficulty in coming up with catchy rhyming protest chants about a seniority dispute.
TERMINAL ILLNESS: Delta cancels flights for safety inspections; hundreds sleep overnight at Hartsfield-Jackson terminals.
VOUCHERS: With Clayton County in mind, state House committee passes voucher bill that would use state funds to send kids in deaccredited school districts to other districts or private schools.
IF I ONLY HAD A CRANE: 2005 Buckhead crane sitter deemed competent to stand murder trial, which makes sense, since he was competent to stand on a crane 350 feet in the air for 56 hours.
RICHT IN MIDDLE EAST: Joins handful of other college football coaches in program to entertain soldiers abroad and coach them in flag football games.
GROWTH DISORDER: Metro Atlanta is No. 2 in the nation in population growth in the past year. Our drought is now only “extreme,” so there’s nothing to worry about.
T.I.: Expected to plead guilty today.
LA TIMES: Apologizes after being hoaxed by inmate on Diddy/Tupac story.
MASS TRANSIT: Advocates push legislators to include bus and rail provisions in transportation budget.
FROM HOSPITALITY TO HOSPITAL: Study finds the hospitality industry has the highest rate of alcohol abuse of all industries.
GOING INTO LABOR: Delta flight attendants to vote on unionization.
ROAD TO HELL: Will be repaved with good intentions every weekend for the next eight months.
HOLDS WATER? Carol Couch stumps for state water plan at Ga. Tech.
DROUGHT: Downgraded from “exceptional” to “extreme,” skipping over “badass.”
DOGFIGHTING: Austell ring broken up.
MICHAEL VICK: State dogfighting trial postponed until June 27.
WIND OUT OF OUR SALES: Legislators are predicting the bill that would allow communities to vote on whether they want to allow Sunday alcohol sales won’t make it to the House floor for a vote.
SINISTER MINISTER: Habersham County reverend busted for allegedly having nine sexually explicit online chats with undercover cop posing as 14-year-old girl. (And I swear I won’t harp on this anymore, but AccessNorthGa.com has yet another insightful news graphic.)
TORNADO: First Atlanta casualty unearthed from rubble.
CABBAGETOWN: CS Monitor reports on history, demographics and unity in tornado’s aftermath.
ROBO VS. HOBO: Owner of O’Terrill’s in Midtown uses remote-controlled, water-spraying robot to break up groups of ne’er-do-wells on the streets outside his bar. He blames nearby Peachtree and Pine homeless shelter for the problem.
CoCoRaHS: Worst acronym ever.
OBAMA, CLINTON: Exaggerate their political résumés.
MCCAIN: Exaggerates his conservative cred.
SENATE RACE: Rand Knight joins the scramble to run against Chambliss.
CLAYTON: Clayton News Daily profiles Santiago Wood and John W. Thompson, the two candidates for corrective superintendent. Also, Clayton school board meets tonight to discuss the nine SACS mandates.
“DELTALINA”: As they’re calling her. Or maybe “Norweltalina” if that Northwest merger ever happens.
DELTA BLUES: Airline offers voluntary buyouts to more than half its workforce to deal with rising fuel costs.
GOING GREEN(HOUSE): Power plant greenhouse gas emissions increased nationally by 3 percent last year, with Georgia as one of the worst offenders.
WESTIN P’TREE: Shifted “a few feet” when tornado hit it Friday; structural engineers to examine foundation.
WEATHER: High winds, thunderstorms to hit this afternoon, isolated tornadoes possible. Still won’t be enough rain for Lake Lanier, though.
SMITHSONIAN: Clough will have his hands full.
RUNAWAY BRIDE’S GROOM: Marries someone else.
DEANGELO HALL: Trade to Oakland will be finalized by Thursday; could send the Falcons three second-round draft picks.
TYLER PERRY: Will begin filming a new movie in downtown Covington next month. The release date is Sept. 12; Andisheh will be first in line.
RON SAILOR JR.: State rep. pleads guilty to federal money laundering charges, is expected to resign today.
FLORIDA: Abandons mail-in Democratic primary do-over, considers allowing residents to shuffleboard in their votes.
TROY DAVIS: Retrial denied by state Supreme Court, despite seven of nine witnesses recanting their testimony that helped convict him of murder.
CHAMBLEE SIX: Half-dozen Chinese immigrants trap and subdue international fugitive in their home.
AIRLINE FRACTURE: Seniority negotiations between Delta and Northwest pilots break down.
GRADY: New nonprofit board meets for the first time, picks leaders.
OUT THE WINDOW: Replacing tornado-shattered glass from downtown’s skyscrapers will cost millions and could take months due to pre-existing construction projects and scarce manpower.
CLAYTON: Residents pray for help following Saturday’s vote by the National Accreditation Commission board to revoke the school system’s accreditation.
UNORTHODOX CHURCH’S: Atlanta-based Church’s Chicken chain expanding in Russia, calls itself “Texas Chicken.”
MCCAIN/ROMNEY: BFF now.
MALINGER LONGER: State auditor, legislator and citizens’ group disagree with developer’s and island officials’ grim diagnosis of Jekyll Island’s economic condition.
CHORUS OF BOOZE: House committee unanimously votes to attach Sunday alcohol-sales rider to Gwinnett Braves bill; Gov. Perdue has said he’d veto any bill that would endanger Georgia’s world-renowned time-management skills.
WATER WARS: Ga., Ala. and Fla. Dems seize on chance to deride GOP govs for breakdown of water talks.
THE LAKE IS HALF FULL: Allatoona officials optimistic about water level this year.
DELTA: Will start flying daily between Atlanta and Shanghai March 30.
STOMP THE YARD: Fourth annual 212-mile “Peaches to Beaches” yard sale is this weekend.
“INTER-SPECIES REFLOATING TECHNIQUE”: Dolphin saves stranded whales.
WE PRAYED FOR RAIN: God sends wintry mixed signals.
ACCREDIT WHERE ACCREDIT IS DUE: One Clayton school board member quits, one is voted out.
DUNN DONE: Falcons release 10,000-yard rusher after signing former L.T. backup Turner.
JACK DAVIS: Gets respect.
DRUNK DELTA PASSENGER: Accused of threatening to blow up a plane from Atlanta to Dublin.
OBAMANIA, CLINTOMONIUM: It all comes down to tonight. Unless it doesn’t.
Delta says it has purchased two new 777s for the trip from ATL to Shanghai. No word on if they’ll be painted with lead paint or employ Christian slave labor from Chinese work camps.
— Erick at Peach Pundit abdicates his Crown Room Club privileges with this comment about the just-announced nonstop Delta flight from Atlanta to Shanghai.
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Is anyone else just completely embarrassed by our president? I mean, that speech yesterday was just a complete hypocritical slap in the face of the rest of the world; not to mention a complete “out of left field moment†at times (BURMA? REALLY? WTF?!).
— Duane Moody is embarrassed because, among other things, President Bush mentioned Burma during his speech to the United Nations.
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Join the MurrFurs as we take on the “USS Republic Klingons†in their second annual Bowling Challenge!
— atlanta_furs cordially invites you to the Furries vs. Klingons bowling tournament on Saturday.
Do yourself a favor and follow the link.
Shanghai will soon be assaulted by fanny packs and funny accents. Delta Air Lines officially announced today that our hometown airline, starting March 30, 2008, will provide nonstop flights between Atlanta and the Chinese city.
If all of the wishful thinking Gov. Perdue utters at press conferences comes true — much like how he did this Delta deal several weeks ago when he announced the arrival of our benevolent friends Sany Heavy Industry to Peachtree City — then look for Atlanta to get the next Chinese consulate. And after that a pretty pony. Followed by a Jet Ski. A Jet Ski that runs on wishes.
Why the nonstop flight to China? Because it takes too long to dig through the Earth! Ha! Ugh. Seriously, Georgia has been perfecting its mating dance for quite some time in hoping to attract foreign industry and establish good ties with the nation. It’s paid off, too. I pass the mic to MC Press Release:
In June 2006, Chinese food processing machinery manufacturer Ningbo Lehui Food Machinery Co., Ltd. announced that it had formed a joint venture with New Jersey-based W.Y. Industries, Inc. That joint venture, Kingwasong LLC, is now building a plant in Newnan, creating 200 jobs and attracting $12 million to $15 million in new investment to the area. In May 2007, China-based General Protecht Group purchased 211 acres of land in Barnesville, Lamar County, to build an assembly and distribution facility for electrical products, wired devices, and other related products.
“We are able to attract Chinese manufacturers half a world away because we’ve got everything they need: a home base located in the heart of the nation’s fastest-growing region, a low cost of doing business and access to the world through our international airport,†said Sam A. Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, which took an active role in encouraging the project. “Now we’re working on attracting a Chinese consulate to Atlanta and a direct air route to China.â€
There’s that consulate goal. Go team! I raise a glass to thee, China. May we somehow learn to stop sullying our environment together, reach higher ground as civilizations and find strength in our common goals.
Plus, we can commiserate together — their subway system looks like it might just be as bad as ours! Well, maybe not as bad.
After the jump, more press release facts about Georgia and China. So happy together …
