First Slice 8/19/14: Investigation demanded over controversial ‘hardship’ payouts to police chief, Reed staffers
Plus Carter jabs at Deal over unemployment figures
- Joeff Davis/CL File
- Atlanta Police Department Chief George Turner
Members of Atlanta City Council, city employees, and public safety unions are all demanding an investigation into controversial payouts to Atlanta Police Department Chief George Turner and members of Mayor Kasim Reed’s office. “You’re seeing big lump sum payouts of vacation and sick time for a supposed hardship policy, when we have people who lost their houses in foreclosure because their spouses lost their jobs in the economic downfall,” said Ken Allen, Atlanta’s police union chief.
In a conference call yesterday, Jason Carter went on the offensive against Gov. Nathan Deal by criticizing economic policies that had resulted in Georgia having the second-highest unemployment rate in the country. “Georgia has every ingredient to be a powerhouse but we’re not putting them together in a way that makes sense. The governor doesn’t get it,” he said. “He’s still declaring victory. That’s unacceptable.”
Remember the Fort McPherson lawsuit Mayor Kasim Reed called “garbage?” The studio taking legal action says it had been working with the base’s redevelopment authority on a land deal as far back as 2011.
The shooting death of a woman in Helen, Ga., has sparked further debate about Georgia’s gun law: “Maybe the shooting was accidental. But what was the guy doing drawing a gun in the middle of a crowd?”
As the Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial gets underway, NPR looks at why the city’s massive testing scandal matters.
ICYMI: The Atlanta City Council calls for increased police surveillance after Michael Brown shooting.