First Slice 12-9-13: Lobbyists shower gifts on PSC

Plus, porn shutdown in effect

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Every day is Christmas for some of the elected officials who serve on the Public Service Commission, the state agency that decides how much you pay to heat your home and turn on your lights. Lobbyists representing utilities and other regulated companies have reportedly doled out more $55,000 on the commissioners, who earn more than $120,000 each year. And it’s not just dinners and trips; one PSC official asked a lobbyist to help pull some strings so his granddaughter could sing the national anthem at an Atlanta Braves game.

“A lot of Atlantans went to South Africa in 1994 as volunteers and election officials. I remember the Rev. James Orange, that lion, organizing on the mean streets of Durban as he had in Atlanta.”

The family of Kendrick Johnson, a Valdosta teenager who was found dead and wrapped up in a wrestling mat, will gather at the Gold Dome this Wednesday to call for a thorough investigation into his death.

California porn films are on hold after a male performer tested positive for HIV. According to the New York Daily News, it’s the third time a performer in the industry, which earlier this summer debated whether condoms should be mandatory on sets, has tested positive for the disease.

ATF agents have allegedly tricked mentally disabled people, set up operations involving guns and drugs in school safe zones, and, according to sources, stuck landlords with bills after damaging property during some stings, the Mllwaukee Journal Sentinel says in an investigative report that’s worth a read. The report looks at several operations in multiples cities, including one that took place in Atlanta.






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