FALCONS STADIUM
Contract deal reached for new Falcons stadium
ATLANTA (AP) - The Atlanta Falcons, state and city officials have agreed on a deal to ensure that at least 31% of construction awards for the team's new stadium are awarded to minority or women-owned firms.
Including minority and women-owned firms in the design and construction of the $1 billion, retractable roof stadium was a stipulation of council members' decision to use bonds backed by $200 million in hotel/motel taxes to fund construction.
Councilman Ivory Lee Young Jr. tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he's encouraged by the franchise's commitment to diversity, saying the inclusion is a meaningful engagement of minority and female business owners.
As part of the deal, the dollar value of the contracts - not the number of contractors working - will count toward the 31% goal.
ATLANTA AIRPORT-SHUTTLE CRASH
18 hurt in shuttle bus crash near Atlanta airport
COLLEGE PARK, Ga. (AP) - Eighteen people were taken to the hospital, including at least two in serious condition, after a crash between a hotel shuttle bus and a tractor-trailer near Atlanta's airport.
Police said the accident happened Friday morning on a road that loops around the world's busiest airport.
The front of the bus was badly damaged. The windshield was cracked and the engine block was smashed in and seriously damaged.
Seventeen bus passengers and the driver were taken to area hospitals, Stanley said. The driver of the bus suffered bumps and bruises and had to be pulled from the wreckage by rescuers.
None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, and the driver had been released from the hospital by Friday evening.
SOUTHERN CO-RENEWABLE ENERGY
Southern Co. team weighing changes from renewables
ATLANTA (AP) - The Southern Co. is brainstorming ways it can more widely incorporate renewable energy such as solar power into its traditional business model.
CEO Thomas Fanning said this week that the utility has assembled a team to study how distributed generation, particularly solar power, might be used as it becomes cheaper and more efficient. Unlike large, centralized fossil fuel or nuclear plants, solar panels could generate electricity from many places spread around an electric system.
Fanning says a brainstorming team is expected to issue an initial report later this summer. No firm decisions have been made.
In one approach, Fanning says customers with solar panels could get a credit toward their electric bill or a payment for their power.
Another approach would have Southern Co. lease solar panel space on homes.
JESUP-CHILD DEATH
Ga. man sentenced in death of girlfriend's son
JESUP, Ga. (AP) - A southeast Georgia man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the death of his girlfriend's 3-year-old son.
Trevor Foster, of Jesup, was sentenced Wednesday in the May 2012 beating death of Elisha Jones. The Florida Times-Union (http://bit.ly/18cAvRF ) reports 24-year-old Foster was caring for his girlfriend's son while she was at work and left the boy at home when he went to pick her up.
District Attorney Jackie Johnson says when the couple returned, the child was unresponsive and later died. Authorities found the boy had suffered massive blunt force trauma to the front and back of his head.
AUGUSTA CONTRABAND-SENTENCING
Ex-Ga. prison guard guilty in contraband scheme
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - A former east Georgia prison guard has been sentenced to more than two years of probation for trying to smuggle contraband into the Augusta State Medical Prison.
The Augusta Chronicle reports 25-year-old Lance D. Driggers pleaded guilty Thursday in Richmond County Superior Court and was sentenced under the First Offender Act.
Assistant District Attorney Falin Syms says Driggers was caught in early February with four quart-sized and two gallon-sized bags of loose tobacco and 15 packages of cigarette rolling papers.
PTA PRESIDENT SENTENCED
Ex-Ga. PTA president sentenced in embezzlement
ATLANTA (AP) - The former president of an elementary school PTA and educational foundation has been sentenced to jail and probation for stealing at least $80,000 from the groups.
Fulton County District Attorney's spokeswoman Yvette Jones says 48-year-old Maryam Arjomand pleaded guilty Thursday to forgery and theft by taking.
Jones says Arjomand, of Atlanta, was the president of the E. Rivers Elementary School PTA and the E. Rivers Education foundation. Jones says the money was embezzled from both groups between 2010 and 2012.
Investigators found the money was diverted to an unauthorized account where Arjomand once worked.
Arjomand was sentenced to 10 years in prison and is ordered to serve 90 days in jail. Jones says Arjomand is ordered to serve the rest of her sentence on probation.
FORMER PSYCHIATRIST-SENTENCED
Ex-Ga. doctor sentenced in drugs-for-sex scheme
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - Department of Justice officials say a former Savannah psychiatrist has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for trading addictive prescription medications for sex.
William Ellien was sentenced Thursday in federal court and is also ordered to serve three years of supervised release after his prison sentence. The former psychiatrist is also ordered to surrender all of his medical licenses.
U.S. Attorney's spokesman James Durham, of the Southern District of Georgia, says Ellien traded hundreds of prescriptions for oxycontin, hydrocodone, Xanax and other addictive drugs for sex with multiple women.
Durham says Ellien exchanged drugs for sex between 2009 and 2012. None of the women were his patients and many became addicted to the drugs he gave them.
SHOPLIFTING-BOY INJURED
Ga. woman runs over son during attempted getaway
CENTERVILLE, Ga. (AP) - Police say an accused shoplifter ran over her 4-year-old son while running from a store security officer.
Authorities say 25-year-old Arkebia Albury is charged with child cruelty, reckless conduct and theft by shoplifting in the Thursday evening incident. Centerville police say the boy is hospitalized with critical injuries to his head and internal organs.
Police Chief Sidney Andrews tells The Telegraph of Macon (1 of Albury's children got into the passenger side of the car, but the 4-year-old boy was run over as the loss prevention officer approached.
Andrews says Albury put the boy in the back seat, ignoring the officer's plea to leave the child where he was and wait for an ambulance.
She was arrested soon after. It's unclear if she has an attorney.
DELTA TERMINAL
Delta ups the ante in battle for NY travel market
NEW YORK (AP) - Delta Air Lines is opening a $1.4 billion terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport, strengthening its hand in the battle for the lucrative New York travel market.
The expanded concourse offers sweeping views of the airport, upscale food and shopping options and increased seating.
It replaces a decrepit terminal built by Pan Am in 1960 that was an embarrassing way to welcome millions of visitors to the United States.
Delta CEO Richard Anderson said his customers "and the residents of New York now have the international hub facility that they expect and deserve."
Travelers will appreciate the little touches in the new facility. The concourse houses local restaurant favorites like Blue Smoke and Shake Shack and 75% of seats at the gates have access to electric outlets.
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