Author: On Common Ground News

ATLANTA – Saturday’s Powerball jackpot has reached $414 million. In addition, three winning tickets worth a total $200,000 were sold in the March 6 Powerball drawing. One winning ticket worth $100,000 was sold in Ringgold, and two tickets worth $50,000 each were sold in Lilburn and Norcross. Winning numbers for the March 6 drawing were: 6-10-21-35-46 and the Powerball was 23. The winning tickets were purchased at: Pit Stop Food Store, located at 10960 Highway 41 S. in Ringgold; Kroger, located at 3050 Five Forks Trickum Road SW in Lilburn; and BP, located at 6281 Jimmy Carter Blvd. in Norcross.…

WorkSource DeKalb (WSD) and Georgia Piedmont Technical College have partnered to host Dislocated Worker Information Sessions for DeKalb County individuals who have been laid off. These sessions will take place on the following Wednesdays:  Mar. 13, Apr. 10, May 29, June 12, and June 26, from 10 a.m. to noon, at Georgia Piedmont Technical College’s Conference Center, 495 North Indian Creek Drive, Clarkston. During the Dislocated Worker Information Sessions residents can learn about training programs, funding assistance, and other services that are available to help individuals get back to work. Through successful completion of WIOA training programs, individuals have opportunities…

Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant will be installed as the new pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church on Sunday, March 10, 6400 Woodrow Road, Stonecrest. The church will commemorate this occasion with two services—9:30 a.m. and 6:45 p.m.—featuring a host of esteemed faith leaders, as well as noted political and business and civic luminaries. Dr. Bryant comes to New Birth in the midst of a distinguished career as a pastor, author, civic activist and social entrepreneur. He is a graduate of Morehouse College, Duke University and the University of Oxford in England. He began his career as an activist and organizer,…

Delay angers veterans’ group, community activists By Valerie J. Morgan A veterans group and community activists in DeKalb County are demanding answers in the Anthony Hill murder case as Hill’s fatal shooting by former DeKalb police officer Robert Olsen approaches its four-year anniversary. The case hit another delay with the news that the trial, scheduled for Feb. 25, is now set for Sept. 23. Hill, a 27-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran who served in Afghanistan, was shot and killed on March 9, 2015 by former Olsen. Hill was naked and unarmed when he was roaming outside of…

  By Mackenzie N. Morgan The Hodge family is still basking in its excitement after welcoming home daughter and sister SPC Amneiah Hodge at a military homecoming celebration held on March 6 at Heritage High School in Rockdale County.  SPC Hodge, who graduated from DeKalb County’s Arabia Mountain High School in 2014, recently returned to the U.S. after spending nine months overseas in Zagan, Poland and Grafenwöhr, Germany. The Conyers servicewoman and her mother, Candice Hodge, orchestrated the surprise homecoming for Amneiah’s father, Henry Hodge, Jr., who works as an intel specialist at Heritage High, and two younger…

Pictured from left to right are Erica Owens, Georgia Lottery Vice President of Sales Operations; Charles E. “Chilly” Ewing Sr., Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Director of Concessions; Deborah Gatlin, Georgia Lottery Sales Operations Manager; Gretchen Corbin, Georgia Lottery President and CEO; Michael L. Smith, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Senior Deputy General Manager. ATLANTA – The Georgia Lottery Corp. celebrated the grand opening of its new store at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 7. Located on Concourse T, this is the Georgia Lottery’s first retail location at the airport beyond security checkpoints. “We want…

Left to right: Stonecrest Councilmember Jimmy Clanton, District 1, and Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary strike a pose where new landscaping has been installed on Turner Hill Road near the Mall at Stonecrest. Stonecrest residents can now see the beginning of the city’s beautification efforts on Tuner Hill Road and Stonecrest Parkway.  As a result of a collaborative effort between the city of Stonecrest and the East Metro Community Improvement District (CID), the median landscaping on Turner Hill now has hundreds of yellow pansies, decorative shrubs and several crape myrtle trees. Similar streetscapes have begun on Mall Parkway.  Ongoing…

Left to right: City Engineer Ken Hildebrandt and Mayor Jason Lary Stonecrest city officials will soon receive the results of a digital road analysis that will provide them with information on the condition of the city’s streets and a plan outlining the most efficient way to repair them. During the last few weeks, Stantec Consulting Services Inc. conducted the paving analysis using two vans equipped with the latest mobile laser, GPS, and crack recognition technology. City Engineer Ken Hildebrandt said the vehicle analyzed the city’s 269 miles of roads and will give the staff a report that identifies,…

Rockdale County Board of Commissioners Chairman Oz Nesbitt, Sr. will host the first Shop Talk forum of 2019 on Saturday, March 16, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., at Madd Skillz Barbershop, 2445 Salem Road, Suite 215, Conyers. The first event in this year’s series will feature the following speakers to answer questions and concerns: S. Census Bureau Representative Phinia Aten, Chief Magistrate Judge Troy Smith, Rockdale Code Enforcement Manager Dawn Stewart, Rockdale Code Enforcement Analyst Shop Talk is a grassroots series that provides opportunities for community residents to get to know their government officials and to address their concerns. For more…

E.R. Shipp Black Heritage of Rockdale County will host its 2019 celebration and induct 10 people into its inaugural Black Heritage Hall of Fame on March 16, 2 p.m., at the J.P. Carr Community Center, 961 Taylor St., Conyers. The community is invited to a fascinating program that will not only celebrate black trailblazer but one that will feature a symposium about four notable black historic sites in Rockdale, Newton, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. Rockdale native daughter E.R. Shipp, who received the Pulitzer Prize as a journalist for the New York Daily News in 1996, will moderate the symposium, “Embracing…