Week in review for April 27

The legislation expands where Georgians may legally carry firearms, including into public schools, bars, churches and government buildings. The new law also repeals state law requiring firearm dealers to obtain state licenses and maintain records of firearm sales and purchases, and it revokes the governor’s authority to suspend or limit the carrying or sale of guns even in emergencies.

12,000 use new voter registration system

Nearly 12,000 voters used Georgia’s new online registration system by Monday’s deadline, causing state officials to declare it a success as they prepare for the May 20 primary election.

The final tally — officially at 11,970 — more than doubled the goal of Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s office. The system registered 6,884 new voters, and 5,086 voters who were already registered used it to update their residency information.

Although registration is now closed, voters can still use the apps and the secretary of state’s “My Voter Page” website (www.mvp.sos.ga.gov) to find information about their local elections.

Suit filed to overturn state gay marriage ban

Three couples and a widow challenged the state’s 10-year-old ban against same-sex marriage on Tuesday. Their suit says the ban denies them the respect, dignity and legitimacy that marriage gives to different-sex couples and their children and denies them equal protection under the law.

The plaintiffs are two Atlanta police officers; the owners of a Snellville pet daycare center; an attorney and a Realtor; and a woman whose longtime partner died in March.

Some state school grades show modest gains

Georgia’s elementary, middle and high schools all earned modest grades on the College and Career-Ready Performance Index, which uses test scores and other factors to give schools and districts a grade. Those grades are supposed to be roughly equivalent to the score a student gets on a test, with a grade in the 70s being average, 80s good and 90s exceptional.

Elementary schools got an overall grade of 78.5 based on the 2012-2013 school year. Middle schools got a 75, and high schools got a 72. The elementary and middle school grades were slight improvements from the year before while the high school score was down.

Metro Atlanta

Cities prep for ultrafast Internet

Atlanta and eight surrounding cities face a fast-approaching deadline to stay in the running for ultrafast Google home Internet and TV connections.

Just this week, rival AT&T announced it, too, may bring such super-fast service to parts of metro Atlanta.

Google’s project would require installing thousands of miles of overhead and underground fiber. That could mean torn-up yards, streets and sidewalks, more construction-snarled traffic and municipal staffs facing loads of rushed permits.

Google also wants to know what city property might be available to host Google equipment.

The cities face a May 1 deadline, midnight Pacific Time.

Atlanta

City prepares to sell Civic Center

Atlanta officials could sell the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center as early as this summer if City Council approves, interim Chief Operating Officer Michael Geisler said Tuesday.

Councilman Kwanza Hall introduced legislation that paves the way for the city to sell the aging performing arts center to a developer. The council could vote on that legislation in coming weeks.

Under the proposal, Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm, would request proposals from developers and oversee bids to revitalize the site.

City officials are asking potential buyers to incorporate enhancements to Renaissance Park, a city property adjacent to the Civic Center’s 16-acres, in their proposals.

Tribunal hears last APS cheating case

The final tribunal for a former Atlanta educator accused of cheating concluded Wednesday, bringing to a close nearly three years of efforts to fire school system employees allegedly involved in the scandal.

Three retired school employees acting as a jury didn’t make a decision after eight hours of testimony in the case of Juanessa Booker, a former testing coordinator at Scott Elementary in western Atlanta. They’ll soon return for deliberations.

Cobb County

Medical examiner under scrutiny

No one is looking over the shoulder of Cobb medical examiner Brian Frist, whose annual contract is worth $475,500 a year and allows him to use the county’s facilities and personnel to perform autopsies for his own private business, according to a critical internal audit.

The April 8 report, written by the county’s Internal Audit Department, makes 27 recommendations, including that the county solicit proposals from other doctors capable of doing the job.

Bus system faces funding hurdles

A $494 million bus rapid transit system in Cobb County is not only achievable, it could begin ferrying people from Kennesaw to Midtown as early as 2018, a new study states.

But proposed funding for such a system — a sort of bus/train hybrid that operates on roads in its own designated lane — is far from a sure thing.

Federal funding can cover up to half the cost: $242 million. But Cobb would have to beat out transit providers from around the country and locally, including MARTA and the Atlanta Streetcar system, to get one of the coveted grants from the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program.

DeKalb County

Twitter fed party ended in violence

Attendance at a mostly impromptu party near Stone Mountain ballooned after the word spread on social media using the hashtag “BigAssCookOut.” Ultimately, an argument broke out and a couple of men started shooting.

Two 19-year-old women were grazed in their heads by a bullet fired into a car. No one has been arrested.

Police and experts say the gathering shows the danger of what can happen when young folks advertise a bash in the digital era: A few tweets can cause a small party to mushroom into an out-of-control mass gathering.