Winter is not quite done with us yet, as cold temperatures and strong winds hit the metro last night toppling trees and knocking out electricity. At the height of the wind storm, Georgia Power reported more than 1,400 customers without electricity around metro Atlanta. A tree fell onto a house in Kirkwood, while another temporarily blocked Deering Road in west Midtown.
Invest Atlanta CEO Brian McGowan is leaving the city economic development agency to join the Metro Atlanta Chamber, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. McGowan, who joined Invest Atlanta in January 2012, has been named the chamber’s chief operating officer and will report directly to the chamber of commerce’s recently appointed president Hala Moddelmog. In addition to leading administrative functions, McGowan will be closely involved in economic development activities.
Medical marijuana is one step closer to becoming legal in Georgia after a State Senate committee approved a newly revised bill on Wednesday. According to our media affiliate CBS46, the bill would legalize the drug only in pill or oil-based form for kids who suffer from seizures. The proposal also includes a measure that would let parents bring the oil-based form into Georgia without facing state penalties.
Atlanta has the largest cash-based underground sex economy in the country at $290 million per year, according to a report from the Atlanta Business Chronicle. The Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center interviewed pimps, prostitutes, pornographers and as all as officials with Homeland Security, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Atlanta Police Department and other police departments and agencies in the metro area.