Government on WACN 21 News

Fulton County offers $56.5M for Atlanta City Detention Center as lease deadline nears

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 01:05:00 -0400

ATLANTA — The multiyear fight over who owns and pays for the Atlanta City Detention Center has a new sticker price — and a hard calendar.

In a Monday letter to Mayor Andre Dickens, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners offered to buy the Atlanta City Detention Center (ACDC) for $56.5 million, according to reporting by Atlanta News First and WSB-TV. County leaders say that figure already nets out roughly $75 million in renovations the facility needs. The offer is far below the $80 million package Dickens had previously put forward, which Commissioner Dana Barrett told Atlanta News First had been tied to tax allocation district (TAD) extensions and a joint hospital concept.

DeKalb DA draws statewide prosecutors and ex-chief justice into judge fight

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 01:05:00 -0400

DECATUR — DeKalb County’s top prosecutor is no longer fighting a Superior Court judge alone.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that District Attorney Sherry Boston is bringing Georgia’s former chief justice and a bipartisan group of district attorneys and solicitors into her effort to pull Judge Yolanda Parker-Smith off every criminal case involving the DA’s office while a Judicial Qualifications Commission misconduct case against the judge remains pending. Boston argues the judge is biased against her office. The judge’s counsel frames the fight as a personal vendetta.

Data shows proposed APS school closures fall hardest on Black neighborhoods

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 01:05:00 -0400

ATLANTA — A district plan to shrink Atlanta Public Schools’ physical footprint is colliding with a hard equity question: who loses a neighborhood school when enrollment falls and budgets tighten.

Atlanta News First Investigates reported Wednesday that APS is proposing to close 16 campuses, citing lower enrollment and higher operating costs. The station’s analysis found the shutdowns would fall disproportionately on Black and lower-income communities, especially in southeast Atlanta — a pattern neighborhood leaders say is not accidental.

City Council directs Dickens office to craft extreme heat safety plan

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 01:05:00 -0400

ATLANTA — City Hall is putting a formal heat-safety homework assignment on the mayor’s desk after a summer stretch that left advocates unconvinced Atlanta was ready for prolonged triple-digit feels-like weather.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that City Council unanimously passed a resolution Monday directing Mayor Andre Dickens’ office and partner departments to craft an extreme heat safety plan. Council member Kelsea Bond proposed the measure after a brutal late-June into early-July heat and humidity stretch that pushed feels-like temperatures into the high 90s and low triple digits for more than a week, with little overnight relief.