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In Fulton County, bus drivers are in short supply on the first day of the new school year. Officials are hoping to fill two hundred school bus driver positions. Vickie Cross, Director of Transportation for the Fulton County Schools says, “This has been the worst driver shortage I’ve ever experienced.” The shortages have caused delays in pick-up and drop-offs of students causing concern for many parents. The driver's issue in Fulton County is critical, therefore, many incentives are being offered to attract new drivers and keep existing ones.

Chantaye McLaughlin, Community ActivistPhoto provided by Chantaye McLaughlin. Atlanta, GA - Community Activist and Child Advocate Chantaye McLaughlin launches campaign to find Georgia's Missing Children. The campaign focuses on child trafficking, spotlighting Atlanta (Hartsfield- Jackson International Airport in particular) as a major hub for trafficking activity. In partnership with Donna Green of the Raymond Green Foundation and other community organizations, Ms. McLaughlin is taking her message mainstream. Ms. McLaughlin has been telling her own story of having her children, Malcom and Maleena, taken away from her immediately after birth, while she was incarcerated in the Fulton County Women's Detention Center in 2016. For more than 5 years since her release, she has doggedly searched for her children, even employing the help of a Change.org petition to spread the word. It is her hope, that in searching for Georgia's missing children, she will one day find her own.

Durham County N.C. Election Director Derek Bowens, left, talks to Donald Palmer of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.Screen grab by Tammy Joyner. Derek Bowens is no stranger to election problems, public attacks and federal investigations. The veteran elections administrator set in motion a turnaround plan to rescue Durham County, N.C.’s elections operation soon after becoming its election director in 2017.

Fulton County elections director Rick BarronAtlanta Civic Circle. Rick Barron is leaving the building – but not before he gets a few things off of his chest. After nine years heading Georgia’s largest elections operation, Barron has weathered enough criticism, controversy, and procedural changes to give him a full, unvarnished understanding of the political landscape.

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has released $80.6 million in federal rental assistance funds to five metro Atlanta counties — Fulton, DeKalb, Henry, Clayton, and Hall — that have already spent their own federal funds to help tenants facing eviction, with thousands more seeking aid.