Jim Burress

Author Mark Pendergrast just released the third edition of "For God, Country & Coca-Cola."  

He talked to WABE's Jim Burress about the mystique that still surrounds the brand more than a century after John Pemberton mixed the first versions of the soft drink. 

The top airline industry trade group is criticizing the federal government’s slowness to implement part an updated air traffic control system known as NextGen.

NextGen, the FAA says, will revamp air traffic control as we know it, making   the nation's air system more efficient, improve on-time performance, and all while reducing emissions.

In a webcast Thursday, Airlines For America’s Dan Elwell said carriers have invested a lot of money to accommodate NextGen, but that the FAA is failing to deliver on needed policies, procedures and training.

After years of cutbacks, bankruptcies, and mergers, there's further evidence the nation’s airlines are rebounding.

The industry trade group Airlines For America Thursday reported the major carriers saw a resoectable 1st Quarter, with an even stronger summer on the horizon.

A4A expects 209-million US passengers will fly somewhere this summer, making it the best outlook in years, and just 4% below the all-time best record set in 2007. 

A national conference kicked off Wednesday here in Atlanta, bringing together stakeholders from all over interested in redeveloping so-called “brownfields.” [A brownfield is land once occupied by industry, but is now undeveloped or underdeveloped because of either real or perceived contamination.]

In what Delta Air Lines is calling a “milestone,” the Atlanta-based carrier has announced a $5-billion plan to boost its stock value which includes returning a billion dollars to shareholders over the next three years.

Delta will pay a six-cents per share quarterly dividend. That accounts for half.

The carrier is also buying back $500-million in stock.

Brian Sharp’s day job as a local police officer involves a gun and a badge. 

But his other gig involves a microphone, a country song, and a dream of Nashville.

To get there, Sharp’s started a Kickstarter campaign. 

In the 1990s, Penny Hardaway was nearly as big a name as Michael Jordan. 

But an injury took him off the court and, almost by accident, back to his hometown of Memphis. 

CNN journalist and Atlanta author Wayne Drash has just published a book about Hardaway's unlikely and inspiring story called "On These Courts."

[To hear the interview between Drash and  WABE's Jim Burress, click the 'play' icon below.]

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the Atlanta BeltLine $600,000 to clean up so-called “brownfields.” (A brownfield could be a former industrial or commercial site that is potentially contaminated.)

The grant will help the BeltLine develop its northeast corridor between Monroe Drive and Buford Highway.

Developers often shy away from redeveloping brownfields because of cost or liability concerns.

One report says fewer than five-percent of those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender give to related non-profits.

Here the percentage is even lower, says Georgia Equality Executive Director Jeff Graham.

“Of the estimated 300,000 people who identify as LGBT here in Georgia, less than one-half of one percent are actually giving to LGBT organizations,"

For the first time, there’s a comprehensive, nation-wide report on what hospitals charge for services.

The federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services just released a massive compilation of cost data for more than 3,000 facilities.

And variations between facilities can be eye-opening. 

Take pneumonia.