Moderna is set to ask federal regulators in June for approval to use its vaccine with adolescents, and pediatric infectious disease experts at Emory University are excited about recent news of the vaccine’s effectiveness in kids between 12 and 17 years old.
“This adds a second tool to the toolbox,” said Emory University’s Dr. Andi Shane. “So this really provides us hope for the summer season, for summer camp, for getting back to school in the fall.”
In clinical trials, there were no cases of COVID-19 in kids who completed the two-dose regimen, according to Moderna.
Get more on COVID-19 and vaccines with “Did You Wash Your Hands?” Health reporter Sam Whitehead has one-on-one interviews with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Got a chance last week to sit down with @CDCDirector last week during a visit to a north Georgia health clinic.
— "Hand-Washin'" Sam Whitehead (@sclaudwhitehead) May 26, 2021
Money for nothing?
What’s the forecast for the local economy? (Pixabay Images)
Gov. Brian Kemp is opting out of the federal unemployment benefits that give an extra $300 a week to unemployed Georgians because he says it makes it more lucrative to stay at home and not work. This comes as Kemp and others say many employers need employees.
The people behind the Buckhead City campaign have raised at least $550,000. (Al Such/WABE)
A group of residents in the Buckhead neighborhood wants to break away from Atlanta and form their own city.
As WABE’s Johnny Kauffman reported, new cities are common in metro Atlanta, but this proposal is different and could have big consequences for the region.
“The city of Atlanta, we believe, has exploited the beautiful people of Buckhead for way too long,” said Bill White, chair of the Buckhead Exploratory Committee.
The people behind the Buckhead City campaign have raised at least $550,000.
“We have pretty much one major issue that we’re focused on. And it’s crime, crime and crime,” said White, who wants Buckhead to have more control of local police.
Crime rates have recently spiked throughout Atlanta and in other major cities.
“We can’t build a checkpoint at Buckhead’s borders and keep people out,” said Linda Klein, who also lives in the neighborhood and is co-chair of the Committee for a United Atlanta — a campaign against Buckhead City.
“Given that the Buckhead community is overwhelmingly white and nearly three times wealthier than the rest of the city, the racial implication will be obvious,” said Klein, who also worries about the damage a breakaway will do to Atlanta’s finances.
The new cities created in metro Atlanta since the trend began in 2005 were formed in places that were unincorporated. Buckhead City would cut out a chunk of the already existing city of Atlanta.
“This would be monumental,” said Michael Leo Owens, a political scientist at Emory University.
Those left behind likely won’t get to vote on whether Buckhead should break away.
“The Black voters in this city, the majority of them, will be left without the shining commercial spot. They’ll be left without a vote, and they’ll be left holding the debt bag.”
Before Buckhead City ends up on a ballot in the neighborhood, it needs approval from state lawmakers. Owens says, given Buckhead’s influence in Republican politics, that is at least plausible.
Not in our neighborhood …
South DeKalb residents hadn't realized a construction waste recycling facility was being built right next to their subdivision.
Then they started coming out of their homes after the initial sheltering in place days of the pandemic last year. https://t.co/NdNvv7bWeT
The fire department of Union County pleaded on Facebook for residents not to call 911 anymore with alarm notices. The noise was actually male cicadas trying to attract females — after all, they have been dormant for 17 years.
The noise/singing/courting will go on for about a month. Once the deal is done, the females will lay up to 500 eggs in tree bark. Then once they hatch, the cicadas will descend into the ground and come back as adults in 17 years.
Dead cicadas will give a big nutrient boost to the soil as well as all the animals feasting on them, according to North Georgia University entomologist Evan Lampert.
