Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said that he does not want to take over Atlanta Public Schools, but would be pushed to do so if the system does not improve. In an event this week at the Atlanta History Center, Reed expressed confidence in the leadership of interim Superintendent Errol Davis, and predicted that the system would do well in an upcoming accreditation review.
"I don't want it," Reed said of control over the school system. But "we can't stand by and let it fail. I have plenty to do, but I love kids. If we don't see significant improvement...the mayor should take the system."
Reed was joined at the forum by former Atlanta mayors Sam Massell, Andrew Young and Bill Campbell. JEREMIAH MCWILLIAMS
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The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on Thursday was given petitions with more than 663,000 names of people asking for Troy Anthony Davis be spared from being executed next Wednesday, saying there is too much doubt he killed a Savannah police officer in 1989.
Davis' supporters appeared at the board's offices and handed over 15 boxes of the petitions, Amnesty International's Laura Moye said. The board also was given letters signed by more than 1,500 legal professionals, more than 3,300 religious leaders, 26 death-row exonerees and 110 relatives of murder victims asking it to halt Davis' execution, she said. BILL RANKIN
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Popular Science magazine named a biology professor at Emory University as one of this year's "Brilliant 10″ and declared him one of the top scientists under 40.
Jaap de Roode, an evolutionary biologist, will be featured in the magazine's October issue. His lab is one of the few in the world studying monarch butterflies and his research holds potential for medicine for humans, according to a news release from the university.
Learn more about his research here: http://bit.ly/de-roode LAURA DIAMOND
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