First Slice 2-6-14: Atlanta proceeds with bike-sharing program

• Courtesy Mayor’s Office of Communications

Go ahead and start stocking up on the Gold Bond Powder, all your chafing wishes are about to come true. The city is moving forward with the proposed bike-sharing program that has garnered so much attention as of late. Mayor Kasim Reed announced Wednesday that Atlanta is beginning contract negotiations with CycleHop, its preferred bike-share vendor. The program is expected to launch in spring of next year.

11Alive’s Brenda Wood has come out swinging against the #speakamerican reaction to Coca-Cola’s multi-lingual rendition of “America The Beautiful” in a Super Bowl commercial. Wood channels some other famous sentiments about having a Coke and a smile in the process.

First they came for our tomatoes and I did not speak out - because I was not a tomato. Then they came for our lettuce and I did not speak out - because I was not a lettuce. Then they came for the peanuts . . . Ga Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black is very much opposed to new safeguards enacted by Congress to combat food-borne illnesses caused by raw fruits and vegetables that are marginally regulated and barely inspected but are often cited as the source of tens millions of cases of food poisoning every year. “If we have to lead from our industry here and our congressional delegation here, then by gum, that’s what we’ll do,” Black said. He said “by gum,” so you know he’s seriously pissed.

Chief Justice Hugh Thompson of of Georgia’s Supreme Court says low-income people have inadequate access to legal representation in both criminal and civil cases. He noted a dramatic uptick in people representing themselves in recent years and, Thompson said, “The reality is that poor people who represent themselves often lose.”