The Atlanta Journal-Constitution may soon only be “Atlanta” in name only.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle is reporting that the AJC is seriously considering moving out of downtown due to the cost of operating the downtown building and settling OTP (gasp!) .

Where would it go?

One strong possibility is Gwinnett County, where the AJC decided to locate its new printing presses a couple of years ago. The production facility is at 6455 Best Friend Road in Norcross, about 17 miles from downtown Atlanta.

Other possibilities include the headquarters of Cox Enterprises on Peachtree-Dunwoody Road near Perimeter Center as well as a facility along Lake Hearn where Cox Communications, the cable company, is headquartered. Lake Hearn also is in the Perimeter Center area, but inside I-285.

The AJC’s April Hunt preempts the rest of Decatur’s know-it-alls with a great look into the city commission’s final vote this fall on the potential 5th Ave school renovation to accommodate a projected rise in school enrollment.

(Preachy aside: Why do I call it “great”?  Because all too often local pieces generated by the mainstream media seem geared toward entertaining readers in other communities rather than being an actual resource for affected residents.  April shows her prowess for Decatur inside-baseball with this one.)

Speaking of insiders, a couple city insiders have mentioned this unique feature about Decatur in past comment on DM: the city, not the school system owns school property.  Therefore, the city commission gets the final say about whether CSD can renovate vacant 5th Avenue to accommodate the city’s 4/5 academy.

And while my post title intentionally draws you in with a quality of looming uncertainty, the commission sounds unified in its support of the proposal in Ms Hunt’s article.  Not a huge surprise considering a 5th Ave renovation has always been “the city’s” preference.

The vote sounds like it could happen some time next month.

Laura and Judd write in with a link to Rob Pope’s newly launched campaign website for the at-large seat on the city’s school board.

On the site, not only will you find the truly great pic above, but also Rob’s bio and his stated goals.  Improving communication between the city commission and school board, along with wider implementation of surveys, top his list of specific action items.

This morning, the AJC reports the death of a young girl in Clarkston after she was hit by a driver passing the MARTA bus that she just exited.   In this case, the driver crossed the yellow line and attempted to pass the bus. But you don’t have to break the law to seriously harm or kill someone, from this

This tragic accident brought back memories of an incident from a couple months back when a Decatur resident’s dog was run over by a driver doing the exact same thing, except in that case the MARTA bus had stopped to let the pedestrian and his dog cross the street in a crosswalk.  The driver, who hit the dog and nearly missed the man, assumed the bus was dropping someone off and passed on the left.

Jonesing to pass a MARTA bus to shave a couple minutes off your commute is a real problem with real consequences.  Others might be O.K. with the 1 in 100,000 odds that nothing will happen, but I’m not doing it anymore.

If I end up behind a stopped MARTA bus in the future, I’m just going to wait.  No more passing, even if I have a lane available.  It’s just not worth it.

It’s pretty obvious that the H1N1 virus – more ominously known as the “swine flu” – has been on the minds of many Decatur parents for the last couple weeks as their kids have headed back into the classroom.

This may sound like a generic opening line to a story, but it’s true.

Never before have I received so many unsolicited emails asking me to find out what specific policies Decatur’s school system will implement to mitigate the threat of the H1N1 virus.

And within 12 hours of inquiring, I received a response.  Associate Thomas Van Soelen supplied this list of actions and policies that CSD has put in place to help lower the risk of a flu outbreak.

We are engaging in the following:

1. Staying in close contact with the DeKalb County Board of Health and following their guidelines

2. Will follow the guidelines put out by the CDC on Friday for school exclusion. CDC recommends that people with flu like symptoms remain at home until at least 24 hours after they are fever free (100 degrees) or signs of a fever without the use of fever-reducing medications.

3. We are offering information to parents about prevention methods such as thorough and frequent handwashing, covering mouth when coughing or sneezing, and staying home when sick in school newsletters. This will also be on the website.

4. We will be implementing additional routine cleaning for high touch areas like computer keyboards and auxiliary equipment, door handles, sink handles, etc.

5. We are putting up signage in schools reminding about prevention methods

6. We will be tracking influenza like illnesses and following up as necessary in each school

7. We (in conjunction with DeKalb Board of Health) will be offering seasonal flu vaccine at 2 school sites probably in October for students (with parental permission), and staff as we have done in the past. We have no definite information about the H1N1 vaccine as yet. We are watching just like everyone else.