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Welcome to the first edition of The Rising Report.
I'm thrilled to finally launch this project! Your early subscription means a lot to us at the Atlanta Community Press Collective and is crucial to our success. Thank you!
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- Atlanta Inspector General Shannon Manigault discusses the state of emergency for government oversight in Atlanta
- Georgia launches a new voter registration cancellation tool online
- Six University of Georgia students face a disciplinary hearing for Gaza protests on campus
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National Whistleblower Day with Shannon Manigault
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Atlanta Inspector General Shannon Manigault (left) speaking with Center for Civic Innovation Executive Director Rohit Malhotra (right). July 30, 2024.
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You may remember that Manigault spoke before the City Council during a public comment session in May, saying that high-level city officials had been interfering in Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigations.
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At the leadership breakfast on Tuesday, Manigault spoke about her personal history from her
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childhood listening to Malcolm X's speeches on vinyl and her experiences being the only Black student in her small-town classroom to the continuing problems her office faces as she investigates fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption in the City of Atlanta.
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One of the OIG's most significant issues is structural. The City's Charter doesn't allow the office to have separate legal counsel.
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Manigault recently requested that the mayor's office grant the OIG access to a human resources department system. She said she received a response that the OIG would be provided with only the information that the mayor's office believes it should have. That sort of fettered or controlled access is far from the oversight capability Atlantans should expect. Without outside legal counsel, the OIG has little recourse to argue against that policy.
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The Department of Law in Atlanta represents every part of the city government. Manigault explained that means the mayor's office can say, "Talk to our attorneys," but when those same attorneys are supposed to represent the OIG, it creates a conflict of interest. On paper, the attorneys in the Department of Law have an equal duty to every government office, including the OIG. Still, when those offices come into conflict, it is difficult to carry out that duty impartially.
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Throughout the morning, Manigault repeatedly stressed that the OIG needs the public's support to keep the office strong and do good government oversight work. That concept of vital public support and engagement is exactly why I created this newsletter—not just for oversight but for every part of Atlanta.
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If you want to hear more about Manigault and the OIG, she will be on Closer Look with Rose Scott on Friday, Aug. 2. Tune in to WABE 90.1 at 12:35 p.m.
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Where to plug in: A growing concern among OIG supporters is the potential for the City Council to introduce legislation to muzzle the office.
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New online voter registration cancellation tool sparks alarm in Georgia
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The Georgia Secretary of State launched a new website that allows for online cancellation of Georgia voter registration, drawing concerns from election technologists and state Democrats.
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UGA students face grueling, 13-hour disciplinary hearing
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ACPC's Nolan Huber-Rhoades was at UGA on Tuesday to attend the disciplinary hearing for six students who were expelled in May as part of the university's crackdown on a Gaza protest encampment.
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The students called many witnesses who testified to the overreach of the university in expelling the four students, the brutality of the police response to the encampment, and the continuing horrors of the genocide in Gaza.
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One of the students, Austin Kral, spoke about the university's characterizing him as a clear and imminent danger to fellow students, saying, "I say this with as much respect as possible: the [univerity's] characterization of me has never made me question my own character."
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The panel of student judges will decide the case. An attorney familiar with the process told ACPC it typically takes a week before a decision is announced.
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As always, I welcome your tips and suggestions! You can reply to this email with any leads or stories you think ACPC should cover.
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This work isn't possible without the support of our readers and every monthly recurring donation helps ACPC expand its coverage. Become a monthly donor today!
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P.S. If you see something in this week’s newsletter that you think someone else should see, you can forward this email to them directly!
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Stories from our friends
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In 2023, the Georgia News Collaborative commissioned an analysis of the statewide media landscape. Results weren’t encouraging: 17 of Georgia’s 159 counties don’t have any local newspaper, and 112 have only one covering the entire county. But social media, the analysis found, is one of the ‘bright spots,’ where people who don’t necessarily have reporting experience—but possess deep local knowledge—conduct their own kind of journalism, even if it doesn’t resemble the broadsheets and network news of the past.
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Where to plug in: Want to start doing journalism? Atlanta Documenters trains and pays Metro Atlantans to attend and report on public meetings across the five-county area.
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In the 2023 fiscal year, the document showed, Miami and Boston — major metropolises with populations comparable to Atlanta’s — claimed $16,000 and $17,000, respectively, in federal CoC funds for each unhoused person they counted during the annual, HUD-mandated Point-in-Time study.
But Atlanta received less than $5,000 for each of the 2,679 people it determined were living on the streets or in shelters, totaling just over $13.2 million.
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Fulton County Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams said the Georgia Attorney General’s Office committed “gross negligence” by allowing privileged attorney-client emails to be included among a giant cache of evidence that was distributed months ago to investigators and dozens of other defense lawyers who are representing 61 defendants charged last year in a sweeping racketeering indictment against the “Stop Cop City” movement.
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Did you know ACPC operates as a non-profit organization? Click the donate button to support independent journalism in Atlanta.
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