Fresh Loaf

Construction of the new international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson might have to stop soon because nobody’s buying municipal bonds.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports:

The problem isn’t with the airport or the City of Atlanta, which have a solid A+ bond rating, Kennedy said.

Investors are fleeing the market and keeping their money on the sidelines out of fear, analysts say. Municipal bonds, typically, are low interest earning, but safe investments. Even in the current economic crisis, investors aren’t buying up municipal debt.

No bonds. No money. No terminal.

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Thanks to the efficient and helpful staff employed by the Mexican airline Aeroméxico, I had an 18 hour layover in Mexico City over the weekend. (more…)

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HYPERCAMPAIGNING: The late conventions combined with unprecedented early voting in various states has drastically changed the formula for how to campaign on the home stretch.

SMASHING SUCCESS: The Large Hadron Collider — the $9 billion, 17-mile atom smasher that will replicate the moments following the Big Bang and which some skeptics worry will create Earth-swallowing black holes — was successfully started outside Geneva this morning.

IKE: Leaves Cuba reeling as it hits the Gulf, where it may strengthen to a Category 3 before hitting Texas.

FIREFIGHTERS: Atlanta Fire Union president warns of a mass exodus of firefighters to the suburbs.

KNOWSHON MORENO: UGA’s star tailback has become a hit on YouTube for his hurdle over a Central Michigan defender Saturday, but ESPN and FOX are in Mark Richt’s doghouse for not including the highlight in their top-10 reels.

CROC HUNTER: The parents of a boy whose Croc-clad foot was mangled by a Hartsfield-Jackson escalator are suing the Colorado-based shoe company for not including warning labels.

BALD IS BEAUTIFUL: Conservationists in North Carolina are experimenting with using desert goats to reclaim the natural mountain balds, which have become overgrown due to human overhunting of the natural grazers like elk and bison.

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GOLD RUSH: American swimmer Michael Phelps wins his third gold medal of the 2008 Olympics, his ninth overall, which ties the world record for most career gold medals in Olympic history. He has a chance for two more golds Wednesday morning.

RUSSIA VS. GEORGIA: Russia announced today that it will stop attacking Georgia, but Georgian leaders say they’re still being attacked. An Atlantan and native of the country Georgia is hosting governmental websites from here during the siege, and says those sites are still being cyber-attacked by botnets on the U.S.-based servers. The Times of London lays out the historical context of the war.

WATER USE: In metro Atlanta and North Georgia drops 20 percent, which Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch says is a sign that conservation efforts and watering restrictions are working.

GUNS AT AIRPORT: Won’t fly, says a federal judge.

ESCALATING TENSION: In response to frequent “shoe entrapment,” Hartsfield-Jackson begins announcing, at five-minute intervals, the dangers of wearing soft shoes such as flip-flops or Crocs on escalators.

NBAF: Federal officials seem to be favoring a Mississippi site over Athens for the National Agro- and Bio-defense Facility, which will study foot-and-mouth disease and other highly infectious diseases, even though the Mississippi site scored the lowest numerical evaluation among all contenders.

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DAMMED IF HE DOESN’T: Jimmy Carter revives an old gubernatorial quest of his to prevent three dams from being built on the Flint River.

CARRYING CAPACITY: The Chicago Tribune examines recent revolutions against gun control, from Disney World to Hartsfield-Jackson to the Windy City.

WHAT BROWN CAN DO FOR YOU: Medical College of Georgia researchers identify brown rice’s health benefits.

FALCONS: New running backs Michael Turner and Thomas Brown prepare for the first day of training camp.

SMOG: Bad enough weekday afternoons that experts say exercising then does more harm than good.

ADVANCE VOTING: For runoff elections begins today.

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“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.

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WITHDRAWAL METHOD: Third of three candidates for president of Georgia State withdraws his name from consideration, leaving no active candidates.

STORK LIFT: South Georgia’s endangered wood stork is making a comeback, having doubled the number of nests found last year, according to the DNR’s Wildlife Resources Division.

DOT: Settles sexual harassment charges against two former board members for nearly $150,000.

PACK LIGHT, PACK HEAT: State Rep. Tim Bearden thinks better of bringing a gun to pick up his family, but Georgia Carry continues his crusade, suing the city, Mayor Shirley Franklin and Hartsfield-Jackson GM Ben DeCosta for the right to bear arms at the airport. Also, giddy gun carriers congregated Tuesday at a Cobb County restaurant to mark the first day they could do so.

STUDY: Finds Georgia needs to raise college graduation rates.

T.I.: Andrew Young is working to mold the rapper into a different kind of King.

VOTER REGISTRATION: Continues to grow in Georgia. But don’t take my word for it — this AccessNorthGa news graphic answers all your questions.

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The pro-gun group GeorgiaCarry.org filed suit in federal court yesterday claiming the city of Atlanta cannot ban state firearms license holders from carrying weapons in the Hartsfield-Jackson terminal.

Last night I spoke to the group’s president, attorney Edward Stone, who revealed one of the group’s possible legal strategies against the city.

As you might (not) have read, yesterday Mayor Shirley Franklin and Hartsfield-Jackson General Manager Ben DeCosta said Atlanta is entitled to ban guns from the airport terminal, despite a new state law allowing firearms license holders to carry weapons while on public transportation.

Franklin and DeCosta say the new law does not apply to the airport because the airport is covered by state code 16-11-127 which restricts possession of weapons in public buildings and at public gatherings. (more…)

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Mayor Shirley Franklin and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport General Manger Ben DeCosta held a press conference at the airport’s atrium this morning to say that Georgia’s new gun law, which as of today allows state firearms license holders to carry weapons on public transit, in restaurants that serve alcohol, and in city and state parks, does not apply to the airport.

“There is no change at this airport,” said DeCosta, who explained that the airport is a city building and thus covered by state law 16-11-127 prohibiting people from carrying weapons in public buildings. “Hartsfield-Jackson is a gun-free zone” said DeCosta.

DeCosta’s statements were reiterated by City of Atlanta attorney Elizabeth Chandler and by Mayor Franklin, who added that no one needs to bring a gun to the airport for protection.

“You can come to the airport and be safe because there is law enforcement here,” said Franklin.

As for the rest of Atlanta, with its soaring crime rate and chronic police shortage, it’s every man for himself!

She didn’t actually say that last sentence. I’m inferring.

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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.

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‘WITHIN REACH’: Obama gives a quasi-victory speech in Iowa without actually declaring victory, after Clinton runs away with Kentucky and he wins Oregon, leaving him about 70 delegates shy of securing the nomination.

HAMILTON JORDAN: The right-hand man of President Jimmy Carter, and part of the “Georgia Mafia,” dies at his home in Atlanta at the age of 63.

TED KENNEDY: Massachusetts senator’s malignant brain tumor is likely life-threatening, although no treatment plan has yet been announced. Reuters examines the prospects of the Kennedy legacy after his tenure.

TESLER GUILTY: Rookie cop involved in Kathryn Johnston shooting is found guilty of lying to investigators, but is cleared of two more serious charges.

BEYOND THE SHADOW OF A DROUGHT: Some Georgia pols seem unaware that being in a drought doesn’t mean it never rains.

MATT RYAN: Signs with the Falcons for $72 million over six years.

SMOLTZ: Shuts us out of his life.

AUTISM AND VACCINES: Georgia Supreme Court considers whether suits alleging vaccines caused autism are pre-empted by a federal law.

HARTSFIELD SATISFACTION DOWN: Canceled flights, lost luggage and waiting in lines while holding their shoes doesn’t satisfy airline passengers as much as it used to.

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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…)

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WHEEL IN THE SKY: Stops turning, crashes through roof in Monroe.

ZONED OUT: Cobb zoning board votes against third request in two months to allow more than two unrelated people (i.e., students) to rent a house in neighborhoods near Kennesaw State.

WATCHED POT: Two hundred pounds seized from parked truck in Gwinnett County after six-hour stakeout; two men spotted nearby still at large.

GA. FARMERS: Struggling with fuel costs, low rainfall, and still awaiting U.S. farm bill.

TRUCKERS: Protest high fuel prices by wasting fuel in slow-moving convoy around Atlanta.

CLAYTON: Grand jury investigates school board; could result in criminal charges.

NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS: Veteran concession companies allege unfair awarding of Hartsfield-Jackson vending contracts.

PUSHING BOUNDARIES: Tennessee Senate committee votes unanimously against participating in a boundary commission with Georgia.