atlanta news first

How could a safety requirement end up killing more children than it would save?

The answer to that question has allowed parents to carry babies and toddlers on their laps at 35,000 feet and more than 500 miles per hour for decades. There is also no airfare cost for a lap baby.

Since 1995, the Federal Aviation Administration has relied on multiple studies showing a safety-restraint requirement for children under two on commercial aircraft would lead to many more highway deaths if parents choose to drive instead of fly.

In the meantime, the FAA strongly recommends parents buy a ticket for their babies. “The safest place for your child under the age of two on a U.S. airplane is in approved child restraint system…not in your lap,” it said.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/02/12/lap-babies-still-allowed-planes-after-door-plug-blowout/

New details have surfaced involving a case about a Georgia woman accused of marrying a man after he was found mentally incompetent.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/02/21/starved-man-returned-family-wake-marriage-fraud-claims/

A metro Atlanta mother is now seeking full custody after Atlanta News First Investigates tells her of an attempt to have her arrested a year earlier. But where did the anonymous tip come from?

Here is the full audio of a police major interviewing his lieutenant about the anonymous tip's source.

A nationwide shortage of ADHD medication has been limiting the supply of Adderall for almost a year and a half.

While the shortage’s primary culprit was believed to be supply chain issues, a new study is revealing another cause: an increase in diagnoses among adult women; in fact, the number of women being diagnosed with ADHD has nearly doubled in the last few years.

That’s according to a new study from JAMA Psychiatry, which revealed prescriptions for ADHD medication have jumped by more than 14% since the start of the pandemic.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/02/19/adhd-diagnoses-increase-adderall-shortage-continues/

Water beads are often sold as toys, in craft kits, or as sensory tools for children with developmental disabilities.

But the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission said children who have swallowed water beads can suffer suffer severe consequences, including internal injuries, lifelong health impacts and death.

Some of the cases of children ingesting water beads in metro Atlanta have required medical attention at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA).

Water beads are small, water-absorbing, often colorful balls of super absorbent polymer and can grow 100X their original size when exposed to water.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/01/29/choa-doctor-water-beads-can-expand-inside-stomach-causing-harm-children/

Thousands of electric vehicle drivers and their passengers may not be protected if involved in a crash with barriers meant to keep them alive.

Newly released crash tests reveal guardrails failed involving two popular models on the road today: the Tesla Model 3 sedan and the Rivian R1T pickup.

The video, obtained exclusively by Atlanta News First Investigates, shows when the Tesla hit a guardrail at 62 miles per hour, the vehicle goes through the barrier.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/01/10/crash-tests-reveal-guardrails-failed-protect-tesla-rivian-vehicles/

Keeping kindergarteners focused in the classroom is never easy, but Larkin Davidson struggles more than most.

The seven-year-old suffers from multiple learning disabilities and mental health challenges.

“He says, ‘I’m not smart. I wish I could talk right. My mouth doesn’t work right,’” said Melanie Starrett, his mother. “It breaks my heart that he’s been made to feel that way.”

Starrett said Larkin can’t identify all the letters in the alphabet and has outbursts in class. “He’s a handful,” she said, “and I can’t imagine what his teacher has gone through the last two years.”

To get help, the Newton County mother sent her son to doctors and specialists for psychological evaluations and speech screenings over the past few months. That means missing school to make the appointments.

All but one of the absences in Larkin’s attendance records show the days were excused, which is why Starrett was shocked when his school, West Newton Elementary, withdrew him for chronic absenteeism in November.

In December, the Newton County School Board also recommended “educational neglect” charges be filed against Starrett for failing to keep Larkin in class. The crime carries fines and up to 30 days in jail.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/02/05/school-marks-unexcused-absences-childs-record-after-hes-kicked-out/https://youtu.be/6VKttQtTQP0

Senators have approved cash bail for 30 more crimes, including 18 that are sometimes misdemeanors.

Erin Georgia, national policy director of the Bail Project, talks with digital content producer Tim Darnell, in this edition of Political Update.

Last week, a Marietta couple discovered their complex’s mandated policy did not cover their contents when a pipe in the above unit burst and flooded their apartment.

The renter’s liability-only policy they purchased did not cover damage to their contents and additional expenses for hotel, food, and boarding for their dog.

“Our throw pillows, our throw blankets, were completely damaged,” said Madison Kelley. “We have a large area rug that sits under the couch. It was literally flowing in the water.”

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/01/19/heres-why-couples-renters-insurance-wont-cover-their-flooded-apartment/

 Last October, Dr. Lynne Damali, a Forest Park, Georgia, chiropractor, traded in two cars for a new Jeep Grand Wagoneer.

The Wagoneer gave her family everything the other cars didn’t: space, luxury, and power, but Damali didn’t anticipate what happened over the next two months.

“They have bounced eight checks,” Damali said, referring to the dealership’s payoffs on her two trade-ins that were sent to her credit unions.

Damali made the deal at a Union City Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM; the dealership’s new general manager confirmed the checks bounced because of a corporate processing error.

Many consumers don’t know that if there is a problem with their car trade’s loan payoff, the owner must continue making monthly payments and insurance premiums until the payoff is complete.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/01/23/woman-trades-two-cars-one-ends-up-with-three-payments/

State legislative leaders held a news conference on Jan.  24 to deliver a series of tax announcements aimed at bringing tax relief to Georgia families.

The first would increase the child tax credit from $3,000 to $4,000 per child. State Representative Lauren Daniel (R-Locust Grove) will sponsor legislation. With rising childcare costs, this legislation would allow for an extra $1,000 deduction per child, which could help alleviate some of those costs for parents.

State Representative Matt Reeves (R-Duluth) also introduced legislation that would bring home cost and interest rate relief to Georgia homeowners by doubling the homestead tax exemption from $2,000 to $4,000.

State Representative Lauren McDonald (R-Cumming) will sponsor legislation that would cut the state income tax from 5.75 percent to 5.39 percent. This measure would return another $1 billion to Georgia taxpayers.

Officials also announced they will remove the cap on the revenue shortfall reserve and offer taxpayers an additional $1 billion in relief on their income tax.

The legendary Nick Saban has retired from the University of Alabama. Atlanta News First's Sports Tonight talks about what's next in Tuscaloosa and all of the latest news, notes and nuggets from the Atlanta sports scene. 

Gov. Brian Kemp’s office said Monday the state would not be participating in a summer federal food assistance program for children.

The Summer Food Service Program and Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer for Children is a federally funded, state-administered program. It reimburses program operators who serve no-cost meals and snacks to children and teens.

Meals are served at summer sites in low-income communities.

Kelcie Silvio, senior policy analyst at Voices for Georgia's Children, talks with digital producer Tim Darnell about why her organization is disappointed in the governor's decision, and why summer food assistance programs are so important.

Robert Linnehan, sports betting reporter and editor for Sports Betting Dime, talks with Atlanta News First's Political Update on current efforts by Georgia lawmakers to regulate online, sports betting in Georgia.

Full political coverage from Atlanta News First: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/politics/

Atlanta’s very first Super Bowl remains arguably the most exciting in NFL history.

The crime that happened only hours later remains the Super Bowl's most infamous.

Hours after the St. Louis Rams withstood a furious, late-game and last-second surge from the Tennessee Titans to win their first-ever NFL championship, two men were stabbed to death outside a Buckhead nightclub.

Ray Lewis - a Baltimore Ravens linebacker already well on his way to an NFL Hall of Fame career - was leaving Buckhead’s Cobalt Lounge when the fight broke out at the nightclub. Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar were stabbed to death

Eleven days later, Lewis and two friends - Joseph Sweeting and Reginald Oakley - were arrested and charged with double murder. Lewis later pleaded guilty to obstruction, received one year’s probation, and was fined by the NFL for $250,000. Less than a year later, he would be named MVP of Super Bowl 36, which was won by the Baltimore Ravens.

Tim Livingston recently finished a three-year investigation into the murders, which remain unsolved. He is the host of 'The Raven,' and his podcast can be heard wherever you receive your podcasts.

Listen to all of Atlanta News First’s podcasts, now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Deed theft, wrongful foreclosures, fraudulent loans are all ingredients for real estate fraud.

Metro Atlanta families are coming home to notices saying their homes are no longer theirs, and arguing their properties were wrongfully sold without their knowledge.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/01/16/is-it-hard-steal-your-home-georgia-experts-say-no/

In November 2023, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter was laid to rest. 

Mrs. Carter changed the role of first lady by forging her own path. She left a legacy of devotion to mental health and human rights around the world.

Rosalynn Carter was 96 years old and died at the Carter's home in Plains, Georgia, where she and her husband have lived for decades. She grew up there and people told us about her impact in so many ways. It's the stories from her family and close friends who gave us a look at who Rosalynn Carter really was. 

In the two services held to honor Mrs. Carter, there were tributes, funny stories, and a lot of love. This podcast is a compilation of those stories from those who loved her most: her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and her beloved pastor.

Black men jailed, wrongfully accused, and arrested. One technology at the center of it all. 

Police use facial recognition to link people to crimes they did not commit. Atlanta News First exposes cases from Atlanta, Balitmore, New York, to Louisiana. 

A common denominator is that law enforcement agencies are not following policy because the policy does not exist. 

Randall Reid was arrested in Atlanta for a robbery which occurred in a city he never visited. Before his case, it happened to two other fathers on the East Coast. 

Today, the list grows. As it turns out, bias can be embedded in facial recognition software. Which means in the search for suspects, there's a list of new victims. 

While more police agencies are beginning to use the technology, other non-law enforcement state entities are following their lead.

*******

RACIAL PROFILING AT THE GATE

Plainclothes drug agents search innocent passengers at airport gates across the United States, looking for cash.

The drug agents seize anything over $5,000 if the passenger can’t prove — on the spot — that their own money didn’t come from drug trafficking. The government seizes the cash when no drugs are found, without arresting the traveler or charging them with a crime. The DEA gets to keep the money it seizes.

Our ongoing investigation revealed that passengers selected for what the government calls “random, consensual encounters” are actually profiled by the drug agents who search Black men far more often than any other group of passengers.

We analyzed data showing that, for drug agents to find just one passenger with money, they have to publicly search 10 departing passengers. Some of those profiled passengers are left deeply scarred by the process, even when nothing is seized.

*******

Poisoned without permission

Three scientists are calling for more testing of a dangerous toxin impacting residents who live in the Rome, Georgia, area. It’s in response to an Atlanta News First investigation that uncovered elevated levels of the chemical compound in some residents’ blood.

For decades, the Oostanaula River that supplied Rome’s drinking water was contaminated with perfluoroalkyl (PFAS). The chemical group is linked to serious illness, including cancer.

City officials switched to a different water source in 2017, but many residents have always wondered how the contaminated water impacted them prior to the disclosure.

When the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) said it didn’t have plans to investigate, Atlanta News First Investigates purchased testing kits that can measure the total values of some of the most common PFAS and asked Rome-area residents to test their blood.

The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to an attorney if you’re accused of a crime and a speedy trial. But Georgia and the nation are experiencing a shortage of public defenders and a backlog of cases creating a crisis. Atlanta News First Investigates’ Emmy award-winning series, The Sixth, sheds light on its impact on the criminal justice system, people accused of crimes and victims waiting for justice.

2023 was an amazing year for news. Here are the most clicked-on stories from Atlanta News First and AtlantaNewsFirst.com.