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County cancels contract with ambulance company in response time investigation

DeKalb County canceled its contract with an ambulance company involved in an investigation into slow 911 response times, a county official said. The county canceled its contract last week with CARE Ambulance, a Montgomery, Ala., company that has prov...

GM plant redevelopment plan collapses in Doraville

An Orlando company’s plans to redevelop the shuttered General Motors plant in Doraville into a thriving retail park fell through Monday night, city officials said. New Broad Street, a well-known development company, contacted Doraville officials an...

Former schools chief, three others indicted in school construction racketeering scheme

Former DeKalb County schools chief Crawford Lewis and his top construction official were indicted last month on charges they profited off a racketeering scheme focused on school construction. In the largest school system scandal in recent memory, a g...

Decatur marketing company launches record label

Nathan Beaver performs a song from his second CD, Universal You, at a CD release party at Lenz marketing company in Decatur on May 28. Photo by Jonathan Cribbs
One night during a house party in his Decatur home several years ago, Richard Lenz said he passed an acoustic guitar to Nathan Beaver whom he’d never heard before and asked him to sing a song. By the time Beaver was done, the room was silent, and s...

CEO backs off tax increase

DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis backed off his recent quest for a tax increase after commissioners shot down the effort, county officials said. Now, as the county works to fill critical job positions that will be vacated in June due to more than 800 ...

Falcons players, cheerleaders visit military veterans

Falcons defensive end Jamaal Anderson speaks with a bedridden war veteran at the Atlanta VA Medical Center in Decatur. Photo by Jonathan Cribbs
The 300-pound offensive tackle Will Svitek loomed over John Galass, who sat in his bed, a little flustered. “You gotta keep an eye on us this season,” Svitek said, smiling before he and two other football players and a pair of cheerleaders trotte...

Lewis, three others indicted in school construction racketeering scheme

Former DeKalb County School System Superintendent Crawford Lewis and two school district workers were indicted Wednesday, May 26, in a racketeering scheme that involved school construction projects. Lewis, who was terminated last month after a 33-yea...

Examiner: Unclear whether Tasers played role in deaths

It may be several weeks before DeKalb County’s medical examiner knows whether a police Taser played a role in the deaths of two people this month. “I wouldn’t throw Taser under the bus just because the Taser was used,” said Chief Investigator...

New judge hopes to reform county recorders court

DeKalb County Recorders Court Chief Judge Nelly Withers took over the ailing court in January. She’s in the process of clearing roughly 500,000 backlogged traffic tickets and reforming the court’s antiquated and confusing processes. Photo by Jonathan Cribbs
To look at a recent report by Nelly Withers to the state bar is to see a recorders court in turmoil. The first half of the report, a Power Point presentation, is essentially slide after slide of alarming statistics – the growing backlog of outstand...

Board passes budget, spares residents tax hike

Teachers, parents, county employees and concerned DeKalb residents filled the room and spilled into the lobby while awaiting the decision on the 2010 school budget. Photo by Travis Hudgons
The DeKalb County Board of Education this month cut $104 million from next year’s budget while sparing residents a tax increase that had been pushed by several members. At the end of a contentious debate peppered with racial and partisan politics, ...