First Slice 12-27-12: Friendly Alpharetta
Plus, more APD officers move intown, Ga. abortion law postponed, and more
1. Alpharetta is the 7th friendliest town in America, according to a Forbes survey, and the title apparently has something to do with kids playing hopscotch.
2. About 30 percent more Atlanta Police officers now live within the city’s limits, bringing the total to about 365, according to a recent estimate by the Atlanta Police Foundation. That’s a jump of about 125 officers since 2010, but still represents less than 20 percent of the roughly 2,000 total cops on the force.
3. A Fulton County judge has temporarily halted a state law outlawing abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU. The new law was set to go into effect January 1, 2013.
4. The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office is offering worrisome parents a free copy of ComputerCOP, a software program developed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to help parents track their kid’s online activity. The program, put together with federal grant money, scans for images and keywords related to crime, pornography, and drug use, and also allows parents to track browser history and record images accessed online.
5. Atlanta’s jobless rate has dropped, hitting eight percent in November, but so have metro area home prices after posting a few monthly gains.