Christa at Pecanne Log points us to Ted Ullrich’s “Localize Your Life” project, a photographic examination of a city with little fuel. Ullrich is a member of local creative agency the Epidemik Coalition.
(Screenshot from Ullrich’s Flickr)
MELTDOWN: Bailout talks crumbled Thursday night when House Republicans announced they won’t back the plan because it offends free-market absolutism. McCain, who made a fuss this week about injecting himself into the negotiations, was largely silent as the Republican revolt ripped apart consensus. Talks resume today, and Bush promised this morning that a bailout package will be passed.
THE REELING IS MUTUAL: Washington Mutual becomes the largest bank to fail in U.S. history as it’s seized by the federal government and sold to J.P. Morgan Chase.
DEBATE AND SWITCH: Obama’s in Oxford, Miss., the site of tonight’s first presidential debate of the general election; McCain is still sending mixed messages about whether he’ll attend, although surrogate Lindsey Graham hinted this morning that McCain may be there after all. And despite McCain’s announced suspension of his campaign, ongoing TV commercials, a speech in New York and media interviews make it seem rather unsuspended. UPDATE: McCain now says he will show up for the debate.
NO. 1 STUNNER: Top-ranked USC falls to Oregon State, making No. 3 UGA’s matchup Saturday with No. 8 Alabama that much more momentous.
OIL FOR FEUD: Tex Pitfield, an oilman whose name wouldn’t allow him any other line of work, has asked Gov. Perdue to cancel the Georgia-Alabama game because of the gas shortage. Perdue’s office calls the suggestion “ridiculous,” and urges people to take common-sense measures, presumably such as stealing gas from Alabama fans. UGA officials have asked fans who can’t make it to Athens and back on one tank, however, not to come.
LONG SHORTAGE: The Washington Post breaks down the regionwide fuel crisis that’s hamstrung the Southeast.
ATLANTA’S AIR FORCE: Delta and Northwest shareholders have endorsed the airlines’ merger, leaving the ball in the Justice Department’s court.
WILD BLUE HITHER: GeorgiaSkies, a new airline launched by Pacific Wings, will offer intrastate flights among Atlanta, Athens and Macon starting Monday.
(SUNK) LIKE A ROCK: The abrupt closure of all Bill Heard Chevrolet dealerships on Wednesday, which the company blames on the economy and gas prices, has left many customers in limbo.
Is nothing sacred? We received a press release last month for the Atlanta Witch’s Ball, which was to be held Oct. 25 at The Atrium on Memorial Drive. But Joeff Davis saw this today on the ball’s website:
Due to the turn the economy has taken recently, the 2008 Atlanta Witch’s Ball will not be held. This year has been a rough year economically for many of our community. The recent hurricanes and resulting increase in prices on everything from food to gas to utilities has hurt our community tremendously.
The ball is described on the site as a night of “magick and enchantment” sponsored by the North Georgia Solitaries, a networking group for solitary practitioners of paganism and witchcraft (Hey, wait a second: Why do solitary practitioners have a networking group?)
An FAQ website also says: “As always, we will offer a midnight Samhain ritual for Pagans who wish to participate and non-Pagans are welcome to watch.”
Except “as always” doesn’t include 2008. Thanks a lot, Mr. Credit Crisis.
I’m not going to be able to finish the story I was supposed to write this week because I need to go to Washington to save the economy. This has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve fallen behind on my interviews. It’s because I love my country more than you do.
If you truly believe in putting your country first, my friends, you’ll join me in dropping all your previous commitments for this week so that you too can contribute to this bipartisan effort.
STAYING ALIVE: Troy Davis is alive this morning, thanks to a last-minute stay granted by the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices will reconvene Monday, and if they don’t decide to hear his case, he’s back in Georgia’s clutches.
CHECK IS IN THE BAIL: Congress is listening to growing outcries to limit Wall Street executives’ lavish salaries and perks as part of the bailout. Counters one trade lobbyist: “It is not appropriate for government to be setting the salaries of executives.” Not appropriate like, say, using taxpayer money to save a corporation from its own bad investments.
WARREN PEACE: Warren Buffet soothes the weary minds of investors by throwing in on Goldman Sachs.
FUELISH HUMANS: The 2008 Atlanta Gas Crisis! is still going strong, despite the EPA’s move to allow local stations to sell heavier-polluting fuel. The AJC interviews an Emory behavioral psychologist, who reminds us that we’re panicky nitwits.
GAS FIGHT! Society is always three meals, or one tank of gas, away from anarchy.
FLORIDA: Decides it will accept Clayton students to its colleges after all.
DEKALB PLANE CRASH: One person is killed when a plane headed from Jacksonville, Fla., to Michigan crashes in a residential neighborhood near PDK.
TYLER PERRY: The Atlanta movie mogul/maven, who was once homeless himself, donates enough food to feed 1,000 Atlanta families for two weeks, helping address the recent food-donation shortage in the city.
ZOONOTIC SUGGESTION: Advocates of relocating the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility to Athens contend it would foster increased scientific collaboration on treating diseases that start in animals and spread to humans, like avian flus.
BLACK MARKET: The announcement that UGA’s high-stakes showdown with No. 8 Alabama Saturday will be the blackout game has sparked the Athens economy with a black-clothes-buying frenzy.
Yes, Coolio will make a cameo!
Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Jim Martin unveiled a new ad this morning in which an invisible hand scribbles on a chalkboard and teaches us all a lesson about “Saxby Economics.” Martin says U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss has doled out tax breaks to oil-slurping and job-shipping companies, continued to OK $10 billion a month for the war in Iraq, and that somehow all these decisions led to Wall Street’s meltdown. Meanwhile, Martin fails to mention how the yacht makers are faring during this tumultuous time. Won’t anyone think about the yacht makers?!?!
At the end, we’re treated to a shot of Provost Martin saying we need to erase all that junk and start thinking about the little people again. I’ll be thinking about the yacht makers, thank you very much!
Here’s the ad in all its glory. Hat tip to Jim Galloway at the AJC’s Political Insider.
TROY DAVIS: Will be killed by Georgia tonight, barring a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.
BAILOUT: What at first seemed like a tourniquet is starting to look more like a feather pillow for Wall Street, and congressional leaders are pointing out that we’ve been notoriously fooled before by this administration under guise of looming disaster.
BLAME: More Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, blame Republicans over Democrats for the financial crisis.
STONEHENGE: British researchers determine it was a pilgrimage site for the sick.
BRIAN NICHOLS TRIAL: Is under way, with the defense portraying Nichols as lost in fantasy during his notorious 2005 killing spree, and the prosecution arguing he knew what he was doing.
GAS SHORTAGE: Ten percent of the country’s refining capacity is still down post-Ike, leading to major gasoline shortages, especially in the Southeast.
A BLEND IN NEED: The shortage here is compounded by environmental rules requiring the metro area to use a special type of gas known as “the Atlanta blend,” which includes oxygenates such as ethanol that help fuel burn more cleanly.
LARRY MUNSON: The inimitable voice of Georgia football, who has suffered from health problems in recent years, announced his immediate retirement Monday.
INVESTMENT BANKS: A thing of the past.
RED, WHITE AND SACRÉ BLEU: TIME magazine bears the sobering message that all this federal financial fiddling is making us kind of French.
BRIAN NICHOLS TRIAL: Scheduled to begin today.
PUMP SLUMP: Gas is hard to find in parts of the Southeast as pipelines are slow to rebound from Ike, but the current Georgia shortages should wane soon.
1400 PEACHTREE: You know what we need to solve this real-estate crisis? A new 70-story skyscraper.
HOT AND BOTHERED: A man and woman flee police in a van after being caught by police midcoitus, then crash the van and run.
HELL TO THE CHIEFS: The Falcons dismantled Kansas City Sunday for their second win of the season, while handing the Chiefs their 12th straight loss.
BLACKOUT: UGA holds onto No. 3 in both polls; coach Mark Richt announces the team will wear black jerseys for the third time against No. 8 Alabama this Saturday, when ESPN GameDay will be in Athens.
HAULING ASSET: U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson held a press conference this morning about the federal government’s plan to take all those pain-in-the-ass assets off the hands of struggling financial companies. It’s expected to be the biggest federal meddling in the free market since the 1930s, and markets around the world are digging it.
HADRON COLLIDER: A 30-ton transformer breaks in the world’s largest particle collider, halting the experiment. I can only assume it’s because of black holes.
FLORIDA: Thinks it’s too good for Clayton students.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: NFL commish Roger Goodell issues a warning about helmet-to-helmet collisions following Tampa Bay cornerback Elbert Mack’s skull-rattling hit on Matt Ryan.
DICK CHENEY: Can’t get enough war.
GA. MUSIC HALL OF FAME: Accepting seven new inductees Saturday, including Ludacris and Widespread Panic.
IT’S NOT THE HUMIDITY: UGA prepares to play in the Arizona desert for the first time in its 115-year history.
COKE: Named the No. 1 brand in the world for the eighth year in a row.
LANIER: Five feet away from last December’s all-time low.
THE VISIBLE HAND: Smugness is growing abroad over the global free-market champion — especially under such an anti-regulation Republican administration — essentially nationalizing private corporations to combat its sputtering economy.
PAIN IN THE BANK: Top central banks of the world unite to infuse $247 billion into money markets in an attempt to stave off a global financial meltdown.
GOUGING: The state has subpoenaed at least nine gas stations for price-gouging after Hurricane Ike shut down oil production on the Texas coast.
EUGLENA: A big swath of slimy plant/animal goo is floating down the Oostanaula River toward Rome.
ZONE DEFENSE: Metro Atlanta communities are more often having to deal with abandoned clear-cut lots and subdivisions that developers couldn’t afford to finish, often doing so by revisiting zoning conditions.
CLAYTON: Corrective Superintendent John Thompson meets with SACS president, says he’ll soon unveil the school system’s plan to regain accreditation in the next 12 months.
THE HOOKY CRUMBLES: Nine DeKalb parents have been arrested for educational neglect based on their children’s truancy; police have arrest warrants for 59 people in all, some of whose kids have missed 40-50 days of school.
DOT: Auditors discover the department’s financial situation is even worse than previously thought.
DENNIS QUAID: Visits Falcons practice to promote a movie.
AIG: U.S. taxpayers save the insurance giant from its own bad investments via the Fed’s historic $85 billion bailout, which, despite its unfairness, was needed to prevent the worldwide financial bedlam that would follow an AIG collapse.
STREET CRED: Wall Street’s free fall has given Obama an opening, but while he does poll better than McCain on the economy, he doesn’t poll as well as a generic Democrat against a generic Republican.
PALIN: Not ready to be Hewlett-Packard CEO, according to former HP chief and McCain economic adviser Carly Fiorina, who then dug herself an even deeper hole by adding that McCain couldn’t lead the company either.
ALDERMAN: The convicted murderer was executed Tuesday for the 1974 killing of his wife.
ERR LIKE A SAILOR: Disgraced former Georgia lawmaker Ron Sailor Jr. is sentenced to 63 months for fraud and money laundering.
FUEL AND FAR BETWEEN: Ike has left the city of Atlanta with just 15 days worth of fuel, prompting the closure of two fueling stations and a plea to city employees to conserve.
STANDOFFISH: A fugitive wanted in a 2006 Atlanta murder is arrested in Chicago after a standoff.
THE YOST IS CLEAR: After being unexpectedly fired by the Brewers, there’s some speculation that former Braves third base coach Ned Yost could end up back in Atlanta.
Under a cool breeze in a patch of green outside his Midtown campaign office today, Jim Martin showed his teeth and pinned some of the nation’s economic woes on U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
“We’re experiencing a lesson in Saxby Economics,” the Democratic nominee said.
The former state lawmaker branded the Republican incumbent as a big spender of taxpayer money who turned a blind eye toward attempts to regulate the financial sector, all the while accepting more than $475,000 in campaign contributions from the banking industry.
To help avoid another economic hand grenade like Sunday’s Lehman Brothers fiasco, Martin said, the government needed to enact “reasonable regulation” of the financial sector. “Regulation helps good businesses compete. We need adequate regulation by the SEC to make sure people don’t push too far in the economy.”
“We’ve got to have some sort of transparency in the market,” he said. “That can be fixed. There’s hope in this.”
When asked by a reporter if he thought it was fair to pin the entire U.S. Senate’s economic policies on one senator, Martin said, “I hold [Chambliss] accountable for the mess we’re in.”
The Democrat’s more pointed attacks on Chambliss follow four ads released by Libertarian Party candidate Allen Buckley in which he chided the incumbent for spending “like a drunken sailor” and taking the wrong approach to deal with a faltering economy.
Michelle Hitt Grasso, Chambliss’ campaign spokeswoman, responds in an e-mail:
“Our economy is in turmoil and Jim Martin uses that to call a press conference to get headlines at the expense of other people’s misery. And he just proved to everyone that he truly does not understand the economy. But that should not be a surprise coming from a man who supported the largest tax increase in Georgia’s history; who told the Macon Telegraph new light bulbs and not new domestic drilling will solve the energy crisis; and who told NPR that the middle class is just a ‘state of mind.’ If Martin truly had a concern about the economy he would denounce Barack Obama’s plan to pass the largest tax increase in US history if he becomes president – but Martin supports Obama’s tax increases proving yet again he just doesn’t get it.
Saxby has been fighting to cut taxes, to make the temporary tax cuts permanent, sponsoring the Fair Tax, supporting the housing market stabilization legislation, helping pass the economic stimulus package, and working on legislation to allow for domestic oil drilling so we can reduce gas prices.”
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
BACKS AGAINST THE WALL STREET: The Dow is suffering its worst loss since 2001 following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the buyout of Merrill Lynch, with AIG possibly next, despite recently borrowing $20 billion from its subsidiaries. The Fed today infused $50 billion into financial markets to stem the freefall.
MCCAIN: Reconfigures his recent statement that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”
PALIN: Won’t cooperate with the ongoing ethics probe because she says Obama’s campaign has infiltrated it. Actually, she didn’t say that. Despite the probe being into her conduct as governor, the announcement that Palin won’t be cooperating was made by the McCain campagin.
JUST THE TICKET: Atlanta scofflaws will have two months, starting Oct. 1, to pay old parking tickets and have all late fees waived, a measure approved by City Council in hopes of collecting at least some money they otherwise might never have seen.
GASOLINE: Prices in Georgia are the second-highest in the country, although analysts say they should settle somewhere around $4 soon.
NATURAL GAS: Prices in Georgia may rise 25 percent this winter.
BARR VS. BLOOMBERG: The Libertarian presidential candidate will appear in federal appeals court in Atlanta today to defend his defamation suit against the New York City mayor, which alleges Bloomberg libeled Barr’s client, Adventure Outdoors Sporting Goods, by calling the Smyrna store a rogue gun dealer in his famous 2006 lawsuit.
SARAH PALIN: The NY Times examines her governing style, which includes hiring several high school friends to high-paying state jobs for which they had no relevant experience.
BEAR MARKET TO FLEA MARKET: The Lehman Brothers investment bank announces it will file for bankruptcy, and despite the possibly market-soothing buyout of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, the Dow drops 300 points.
FALCONS: Can’t overcome early deficit to the Bucs despite a near-comeback in the fourth quarter.
LAWYER MILLOY: The Falcons’ star safety was arrested on charges of DUI and speeding early this morning. No word yet on whether he will represent himself.
GALVESTON: Rendered a wasteland by Ike, with packs of stray dogs and loose steer wandering the sewage-strewn streets. Hurricane hold-outs now want off the island after lack of power and water has made it almost uninhabitable.
CUTBACKS: State lawmakers, judiciary and the governor’s office say they’ll cut back on their budgets in addition to upcoming state budget cuts made necessary by the colossal statewide shortfall.
QUORUM: The revamped Clayton school board can now move forward with official business after reaching a quorum by recruiting two former candidates for board seats.
DOG CALLS 911: To report owner’s seizure.
LANIER: Not filling back up anytime soon.
LINGERING: Linger Longer Communities says it’s making progress on plans for its Jekyll Island redevelopment, but navigating the environmental laws and public input may be bogging down the process.
UGA: Drops to No. 3 despite staying undefeated, but still has four top-10 teams on its schedule, all SEC foes.
The state pulled in $94.2 million less in taxes compared to this time last year. Alcohol beverage taxes rose a healthy 5.2 percent, however. Chalk that one up to college football season starting and the always dependable alcoholic demographic!
For you number lovers out there, download the revenue collection statistics here.
WABE’s Odette Yousef reports the Atlanta Community Food Bank’s inventory is at an all-time low.
Food bank CEO Bill Bolling blames the flagging economy. Donations have dipped while demand has surged, he says.
Georgia’s unemployment rate hit a 15-year high of 6.2% in July.
Bad times down in Tyrone, a little town in Fayette County, as revenues have fallen way below the cost of keeping potholes filled and cops on the street.
But, are you serious?
The Police Department, hit with a July fuel bill of $9,000, nearly double the average bill, has changed shifts to reduce police vehicle use.
Officers also will use a golf cart recently bought with confiscated drug funds.
Were you anticipating a giant man-made hole near you sometime soon? Thanks to that pesky economy thing, you’re going to have to wait.
From the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority:
As you may be aware, due to the recent economic downturn affecting the U.S. economy, the state of Georgia is facing a sharp decline in revenue. In consultation with the leadership in the Georgia General Assembly, Governor Sonny Perdue is reallocating funding to safeguard essential government services and programs. Accordingly, in order to keep all options open as the state develops a funding plan for the budget shortfall, the Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) instructed the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) to suspend the Georgia Water Supply Competitive Grant Program funded through an Amended Fiscal Year 2008 appropriation of $40 million. OPB also notified GEFA to suspend distribution of the Fiscal Year 2009 allocation of $10 million in grant funding for the Georgia Land Conservation Program (GLCP).
The agency says it’ll work with current and future grant applicants to find alternate funding sources. It’ll also continue to offer its low-interest loan program for local water supply projects. Click here to download the full announcement or read it after the jump.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
“BOOMLET”: Demographers say the high number of U.S. births in 2007, the highest in 50 years, could signal a mini baby boom.
LONG TIME NO SEA: Dylan the sea turtle is finally in the open ocean.
RAIN CHECK: July downpours have barely made a dent in the drought after a hot, dry June. Lake Lanier levels have dropped so much that nighttime tournament fishing is no longer allowed.
A SHOT AT THE DARK: The Jekyll Island Authority is considering an ordinance to restrict outdoor lighting on the island.
HARTSFIELD-JACKSON: Named the most efficient U.S. airport for the third straight year.
DON’T BUILD IT; THEY WON’T COME: Home construction is the slowest it’s been in 17 years.
PETS AND DEBTS: The NYT reports on foreclosures and layoffs leading Georgians to part with their pets, which is overcrowding no-kill shelters.
CRESCENT BOON: In trying to draw more attention to Georgia’s life-sciences corridor between Atlanta and Athens, the state has dubbed the region the “Innovation Crescent.”
CLAYTON: Two candidates for the school board have prior arrest records — one was busted for selling cocaine when he was 22 and the other was charged with two misdemeanor counts of deposit-account fraud two years ago.
SURGE: U.S. Government Accountability Office reports that soldiers with injuries and medical conditions that should have prevented them from being sent to war were nonetheless deployed from forts Stewart, Benning and Drum to Iraq and Afghanistan as part of last year’s troop surge.
DYLAN: The Georgia Aquarium’s former celebrity sea turtle, who was rescued a decade ago on Jekyll Island as an infant, will be released back into the wild near Brunswick Monday.
COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: UGA loses to Fresno State in the rubber match.
TURNING OVER A NUDE LEAF: A Savannah man is released from jail, then rearrested less than a mile away walking naked down a busy road.
Yowsers.
ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that net revenue collections for the month of May 2008 (FY08) totaled $1,473,892,000 compared to $2,140,232,000 for May 2007 (FY07), a decrease of $666,340,000 or 31.1 percent.
The percentage decrease year-to-date for FY08 compared to FY07 is 0.1 percent.
Perdue says, however, this dip was to be expected.
“These figures are not surprising given April’s sharp rise in collections due to processing improvements made by the Department of Revenue,” said Governor Perdue. “We will continue to monitor revenue collections and responsibly manage the state’s fiscal affairs.”
Note the decrease — $666,340,000. Lucifer announces his arrival in the most mysterious of ways, people!
While I start filling up squirt guns with holy water and cold calling priests to bless my army of the righteous, pore over the numbers here. (It’s a PDF.)
Home foreclosures in United States in March: 234,685
Home foreclosures in Georgia in March: 11,047
Percent increase from February 2008: 44.8
Percent increase from March 2007: 63.2
Number of states with more home foreclosures than Georgia in March: 3
Percentage drop in home sales reported by Atlanta-based homebuilder Ashton Woods in early 2008: 32.1
Number of property liens filed against Atlanta home developer Hedgewood Properties in the first quarter of 2008: 75
Number of liens filed against Hedgewood in 2007: 86
Sources: Atlanta Business Chronicle, U.S. Census Bureau, RealtyTrac.com, 11Alive.com
The Georgia World Congress Center, one of downtown’s attractions hit hardest by this weekend’s tornado, will accommodate two scheduled conventions as planned, the center’s authorities say.
The International Window Coverings Expo, scheduled for March 26-29, and National Propane Gas Association, March 29-31, will not be canceled, and the facility will be in shape to host the events. That’s $14 million in economic impact the city’ll enjoy because of around-the-clock repairs by crews at the convention center.
“The collaboration of the hospitality community has saved economic impact that would have been lost,” Spurgeon Richardson, president and CEO of Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, said in a release. “Had it not been for the GWCC, the hotels and so many other stakeholders in Atlanta, we would have seen business go to other cities. Instead, we are ready to roll out the welcome mat for our visitors.â€
The bureau also says that only 700 of the city’s 92,000 hotel rooms are closed for repair and that reshuffling of other planned activities will bring 38,000 visitors to town and reap an estimated $18 million.
This one goes out to all the wonks in the audience.
The Atlanta Regional Commission released its 2008 Freight Mobility Report this afternoon, all 122 whopping pages of it. Lots of interesting aspects to it, including:
Check it out here. Really thorough report. The ARC board voted today to adopt the recommendations of the report, which include increasing driver education, double-track the rail corridors between Atlanta and Chattanooga and Savannah and Memphis, and eliminate or reduce at-grade crossings at bottlenecks, among others. Lots of suggested infrastructure fixes listed in there, too.
Lincoln Liang, you’re in for a helluva surprise. Really.
“We chose metro Atlanta and Georgia to build our U.S. headquarters and assembly center for several reasons,” said Sany America president Lincoln Liang. “North America has a large market for our products, and Georgia occupies an important geographical location with convenient transportation.”
— From a Sept. 12 Governor’s Office press release announcing the arrival of Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer that will build a 268-acre plant in Peachtree City. The company will invest $100 million and claims the plant will add 200 jobs in the first five years.
