By Ty Tagami

If the real estate market crashed in metro Atlanta last year, it crashed and burned in south DeKalb County.

Neighborhoods around Lithonia and Stone Mountain lost hundreds of millions of dollars in value. DeKalb tax assessors, trying to follow the market as it fell, cut valuations by 20 percent and more in 2009. But an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of tax appraisals vs. actual sales shows that, for tens of thousands of south DeKalb residents, even those reductions may not have been enough.

ZIP code 30032 near Columbia Drive and Glenwood Road, for example, was reappraised downward by a total of $287 million. The median decline in tax appraisals was 21 percent, but sales data show that the median price fell by nearly half. This suggests that tax valuations could have been cut even more, and that some homeowners are paying tax on values their property no longer holds.

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By Keisha N. Hines

Atlanta, GA - On June 17, 2009, Zoo officials launched Give So They Stay, a major fundraising effort to keep giant pandas in Atlanta.

First, the good: The three states involved in the longstanding regional rivers dispute will try again to negotiate some kind of agreement. The governors of Alabama, Florida and Georgia are scheduled to meet next Tuesday in Montgomery to restart water talks that have dried up so many times before.

By Kristina Torres / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta elementary and middle school students have made double-digit math gains since 2003, but they still trail their peers from the nation’s big cities.

A report released Tuesday analyzing certain math scores in 18 urban school systems showed that Atlanta’s students this year scored in the middle of the pack but below public school students in big cities overall.

On the National Assessment of Educational Progress -- also known as NAEP and the Nation's Report Card -- 45 percent of Atlanta's eighth-graders scored at basic proficiency or better, compared with 59 percent of big-city students nationally.

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ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - At the request of Mary Norwood, the Fulton County Elections office Wednesday begins recounting ballots cast in last week's mayoral runoff.

Kasim Reed leads Norwood by 715 votes.

»Comcast Settles Georgia Overcharging Suit

Front page news by karl

By Shelia M. Poole and Craig Schneider
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

With only a month to go before the first swine flu vaccine is scheduled to arrive, Georgia health officials are still devising plans to get the new vaccine to hospitals, doctors, schools, clinics and - ultimately - to your arm.

»Comcast Wireless Broadband Hits Atlanta

Front page news by Karl Bode

The results are in; Atlanta is one of the leading cities for road rage. That may not come as a surprise to many local motorists, but 2009 marks the first time since reporting began in 2006 that the city has jumped into the top 5.

Hello, fellow intrepid bar-goers! Next week is a very special week for us, and here's why: there's at least TWO significant beer-related events transpiring in a couple of Intown Atlanta's better establishments. I'm personally torn as to which thing I'm going to do, so I'll probably do what I usually do and get someone to designatedly drive me to both!

First, on June 23rd (that's THIS Tuesday), the Porter Beer Bar will host yet another Beer Dinner, this one featuring a selection of brews from Baltimore-based Heavy Seas Brewery, paired with a seafood-centric menu.

ATLANTA, June 20 (UPI) -- Atlanta, the city that built the first public housing project in the United States, plans to tear down its last one within a year.

The demolition is part of a 15-year effort to get rid of big projects, The New York Times reported Saturday. By the 1990s, the city had the highest percentage in the country of residents living in projects, many of them crime-ridden ghettos.

About 15,000 project apartments in 32 complexes are now gone.

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Associated Press - May 4, 2009 4:04 AM ET

ATLANTA (AP) - Atlanta officials hope to issue $500 million to $700 million in new bonds to help finance the city's $4 billion water and sewer system overhaul.

Much of the money would go to refund old debt.

Q & A: What You Need To Know About Swine Flu

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A never-before-seen strain of swine flu has turned killer in Mexico and is causing milder illness in the United States and elsewhere. While authorities say it's not time to panic, they are taking steps to stem the spread and also urging people to pay close attention to the latest health warnings and take their own precautions.

Schedule for Presidents Day:

•Banks: Many, but not all, banks are closed.
•Federal, state and local offices: Closed.
•Financial markets: Closed.
•Post offices: Closed.
•Schools: Closed.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

With 83.3 percent of flights arriving on time in November, U.S. airlines’ performance improved compared with a year earlier, according to a U.S.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Temperatures in the low teens — and wind chills as low as 0 — greeted metro Atlanta school children and morning commuters Friday, with afternoon highs expected to barely make it above freezing.

At least two west Georgia schools systems, in Carroll and Haralson counties, canceled classes because of the biting cold.

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-- Federal offices and courts will be closed Monday for Columbus Day, one of 10 federal holidays.

-- There will be no home mail delivered Monday, except Express Mail.

Bill Torpey - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

When U.S. law enforcement officials last month busted a Mexican drug cartel moving tons of dope and millions of dollars, they announced it in Atlanta.