First Slice 5-17-13: Whistleblower sues mayor for alleged conflict of interest

1. Former city manager Joe Reynolds has filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit against mayor Kasim Reed and Reed’s ex-girlfriend after, he says, he was fired for exposing a possible conflict of interest. Before being let go, Reynolds pointed out that the person that formerly held his position with the city had left to work for a company contracted with that department.

2. The City of Atlanta is considering hooking up some ultra-fast ‘gigabit Internet’ to run the 22-mile loop of the Beltline. I’m no math magician, but that’s, like, a kabillion times faster than the speeds you get from cable or DSL connections. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but its fast.

3. Parts of the small northwest Georgia town of Rome will be shut down over the next few days as Dreamworks films “Need For Speed.”

4. A Washington Post travel writer ditches the apps and scours Atlanta for odd attractions using only printed guidebooks. The Cyclorama is more than wall paper, you can brace for the heat but not for the traffic, and “may your fridge be stocked with Coke for all eternity.”

5. “Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker,” a 24-year-old drifter who became Internet famous earlier this year after intervening during an attack in California, has been arrested for the murder of a 73-year-old lawyer in New Jersey.

6. A group of ‘ordinary people’ has started a fundraising campaign to raise the incredibly large sum of $660 million needed to purchase the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate that owns big name newspapers like the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and others. They hope to ‘free the press’ and keep the massive company out of the hands of billionaires Rupert Murdoch and/or the Koch brothers. “It’s not so much. It’s just $22 a piece if ... 30 million Americans step up to the plate.” The group has raised more than $50,000 since launching yesterday.