Category: Atlanta, Georgia Local News

A car is necessity when you’re living in Atlanta. Whether you’re navigating inside or outside of the perimeter, transportation is an essential part of daily life. Unfortunately, owning a car has become more expensive. The car buying process has never been more difficult with rising prices and limited availability. Increased insurance rates combined with costly and time-consuming maintenance make car ownership less and less appealing. So, how can you have the freedom of your own car without the burden that goes along with it? A company called Flexcar has figured it out and wants to change the way you view owning a car.

The creators of Flexcar believed that there had to be a more cost effective and hassle-free way to solve the dilemma of traditional car ownership. Flexcar COO, Ryan Quinlan explains, “What sparked the creation of the company was really the constant horror stories we heard of people going through the buying or leasing process. Friends, family, and colleagues would tell us about how they felt “trapped” with their car and wanted an easier way to access a car without having to own it.”

Flexcar members agree. Elizabeth, Atlanta resident and member, tells Atlanta magazine that her membership has given her more freedom, “I think the one of the greatest benefits is not being tied down. I love our Pacifica (her name is Sparkles) but when I get tired of her, I won’t have to do anything but go swap for something else. I also love that I was able to try out a few vehicles before I realized that I have high standards. I need ventilated seats and a panoramic roof. Once I swapped into Sparkles I knew it was meant to be! Flexcar gives me the ability to drive a minivan without having to swallow my pride and buy a minivan!”

How Does Flexcar Work? 

We’ve all become accustomed to subscription services, so why not have the same ability when it comes to a car? Flexcar offers a monthly membership model that gives members full access to a car of their choice. Members drive with insurance, maintenance, 24/7 roadside assistance, and the mileage package of their choosing. “One of the biggest things I tell people is how nice it is not maintaining another vehicle. I feel like this is staying true to my commitment of a zero-maintenance lifestyle,” Elizabeth says. Keep your car for as long as you like, swap it when you feel like driving something different, or return it when your needs change.

Change Your Mind? Change Your Membership 

Everything about a Flexcar membership is flexible. You decide what kind of car you’d like. Choose from an SUV, an eco-conscious car, sedan, or a luxury car. Pick your vehicle up or have it delivered—it couldn’t be easier to have access to a car without any of the hassle. Whether you work from home and only use a car on the weekends, or you’re commuting and need something reliable, there’s a Flexcar membership that makes sense for you. And, unlike traditional car ownership, you’re not tied to your decision for years—change your mind, your car, or your mileage at any time.

Quite Simply, You Save  

While the flexibility and ease of Flexcar are great benefits, Quinlan says the most powerful aspect of membership is simple—savings, “When you buy a car, you encounter sky high costs at every turn. The dealer is incentivized to get the highest possible price for the vehicle, the financing company only offers high interest rates, and insurance companies’ premiums are only going up. Put this all together, and you have a situation where buying a car is an extraordinary financial burden.” Flexcar gives you control of your vehicle costs and situation—so you no longer have to worry about figuring out how to buy, sell or trade your current vehicle in when life changes happen. The idea is that a car subscription would be cheaper for most people than ownership. And data shows members can save upwards of $5,000 during their first year compared to traditional ownership or leasing.

Navigating Atlanta can be difficult but finding a car doesn’t have to be. An option like Flexcar, saves busy Atlantans time and money while alleviating the worry of long-term car ownership. Quinlan makes it clear, “Our company lets people enjoy all the benefits of having a car, without needing to sign long-term contracts, spend time and money on maintenance, and figure out what to do with your car if you’re traveling or simply don’t need a car for a few months of the year.” And it’s working, members have driven over 100 million miles in Flexcars since the company launched in 2021. Elizabeth is happy to be one of those members and encourages others, “I recommend Flexcar all the time! I think it is perfect for people who are city drivers, people who can’t commit to a vehicle and one car households!”

Flexcar is offering 100 free miles for new members. Use code ATLMAG at checkout today — this offer expires April 2024!

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This story originally ran in Qureshi’s Substack newsletter, 285 South, and was updated for Atlanta magazine’s February 2024 issue.

On any given day, Serene Hawasli Kashlan is responding to the legal needs of some 88 clients. They represent more than 36 different countries, she says, but they all share a common goal, to make the United States their permanent home. As managing asylum attorney at the Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network (GAIN), she’s among a relatively small group of metro Atlanta professionals providing a service that’s in high demand: pro bono representation for those who are seeking asylum.

Kashlan’s clients are escaping everything from war to persecution to gang violence to domestic abuse. Some of them arrived here by walking across the southern U.S. border. Some arrived here on visitor visas. Many have been stuck in the legal process for years.

“We have clients from 2015, and they’re like, What’s going on?,” says Kashlan. “We try to get them expedited if their case is ready, but sometimes [the courts] don’t answer us, or they say, ‘We can’t.’ It’s a waiting game.”

Her clients are among more than 70,000 people in Georgia waiting for a final decision from the immigration courts on their applications. For most, their chances aren’t good. Georgia’s immigration courts have among the highest denial rates in the country. Anywhere from 72 to 98 percent of people passing through the state’s courts were denied asylum by a judge in the last five years. Denial rates have dropped in the last two years, but they are still well above the national average.

Immigrant advocates are unable to pinpoint a definitive reason for the denials, but attribute them to a multitude of factors, ranging from political influences and the diverse nature of cases presented in the courts to the subjective opinions held by individual judges.

“It shouldn’t be different based on the state, but politics comes into hand,” says Kashlan. “And depending on who is making these discretionary decisions, because asylum is a discretionary form of relief, it affects how many people are approved.”

While GAIN is cautious not to cast blame entirely on the judges, issues have been documented. A group of Emory University law students partnered with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and observed proceedings at the Atlanta Immigration Court in 2016. Among the findings: Judges “made prejudicial statements and expressed significant disinterest or even hostility towards respondents” and “routinely canceled hearings at the last minute . . . creating a culture that denies respondents’ access to court.”

The students also found issues with interpretation, writing in a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice that “court interpreters regularly failed to interpret all English language conversations during hearings for respondents.” Peter Isbister, who represents clients who are currently detained and is senior lead attorney with the SPLC’s Southeastern Immigrant Freedom Initiative, says these problems have not significantly improved since 2016. The DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review did not respond to requests for comments on the findings.

One thing that does help increase the chances of asylum—regardless of the judge or the state—is legal representation. Nationally, denial rates for those without representation are between 80 and 90 percent. For those with representation, it’s between 60 and 70 percent. GAIN didn’t start tracking its success rate until recently, but Kashlan says she knows it makes a significant difference. “So far, we are seeing what we expected—that our grant rate is much higher than the national average of 41 percent, or the average here in the Atlanta court of 11 percent.”

But finding representation that’s affordable isn’t easy. In metro Atlanta, there just aren’t enough pro bono or “low bono” immigration lawyers to meet the demand.

“The average cost for an asylum case is $3,000 to $5,000. Someone coming [to the U.S.] with just their suitcase may not have the resources to pay,” says Kashlan. “There are a handful of people who do low bono in the Atlanta legal community. But it’s not enough. There’s always a high demand.”

That handful includes legal professionals at organizations like GAIN, Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Atlanta, the Latin American Association, the SPLC, the Georgia State Immigration Law Clinic, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), and the Tahirih Justice Center. The number of lawyers providing those services has been growing steadily over the last 10 years, but Isbister estimates it is still no more than 50.

Those lawyers have been stretched even more recently, as the number of new arrivals in Georgia has increased. Last May, Title 42, a Trump-era public health rule invoked to stop people from crossing the border, expired, technically opening paths to asylum again. But stringent rules put in place by the Biden administration have raised new challenges.

“We are slammed right now,” says

Santiago Marquez, CEO of the Latin American Association, a nonprofit headquartered on Buford Highway. In just one week, the organization supported 25 families with everything from housing to food to clothing. GAIN has been holding Saturday legal clinics, says its legal director, Adriana Heffley, to “help dozens of new arrivals apply for immigration benefits like work permits and Temporary Protected Status.”

In October, the Atlanta City Council approved $7 million for half a dozen organizations working to support newly arrived migrants, including GAIN and the Latin American Association. But the money, and the legal support, can’t come fast enough.

Underpinning the whole issue, says Mich González, former director of advocacy for the Southeastern Immigrant Freedom Initiative, is the fact that there are limited paths to status for most people outside of asylum. “There are so few paths to status. The reality is . . . there are genuinely meritorious asylum seekers. And then there are also people who migrate for very valid reasons that don’t fall into categories of asylum.”

Kashlan, whose parents are immigrants from Syria, says the high demand for legal representation is something that’s not likely to change. “It’s unfortunate. There’s so much going on in the world and so many people suffering and so many corrupt governments. People are fleeing because they have to.”

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During his explosive Super Bowl Halftime Show, Usher yelled, “I turned the world (in)to the A.” On Valentine’s Day, the Atlanta native returned to his hometown to receive several honors for his performance. 

He appeared at a ceremony in South West, Atlanta where he received the city of Atlanta’s highest honor Phoenix Award and a star on the Black Music & Entertainment Walk Of Fame. Mayor Andre Dickens, L.A. Reid, and several notable political figures were present. 

With his acceptance speech, Usher shared why it was important for him to represent Atlanta. 

“We had a vision in Las Vegas,” Usher said. “Let’s just sit right here, let’s not give Jay [Z] no other options. And we set there until that moment happened. That wasn’t just for the celebration of what was happening in Las Vegas. That was celebrating the Atlanta culture if you saw my show. Every time I’m on stage, I represent the A. It was a very deliberate decision to stay there. Because I felt like the keys to that city, led to the recognition of this city for the rest of the world.”

Usher made sure that Atlanta culture was well-represented as over 200 million people watched the Super Bowl. He highlighted several aspects of the city’s culture that included skating, crunk music, HBCU culture, and Atlanta dances. 

After receiving the Phoenix Award and star on BME Walk Of Fame, Usher made a visit to Clark Atlanta University where he received more honors. The city of Atlanta named Feb. 14 “Usher Raymond Appreciation Day” and 

Usher was presented at Clark Atlanta with a plethora of awards and honors from the state of Georgia and local organizations including the city of Atlanta naming Feb. 14 as “Usher Raymond Appreciation Day” in Fulton County. And Amazon presented a $25,000 donation to Usher’s New Look Foundation. 

He wrapped the day with a private listening party for his new album, “Coming Home.” The event included guests such as Mayor Dickens, L.A. Reid, Killer Mike, T.I., Ludacris, Nelly, and Ashanti. 

“A-town forever down,” Usher said at the listening event. “The measure of success is not how much money you get or the accolades, it’s if you can celebrate with the people you started with. That’s true success. We’re going to make Atlanta everything that it is, that it was intended to be, and that it will continue to be throughout history. That’s when I was on the Super Bowl stage I said, ‘I turned the world to the A.” 

About Post Author

A.R. Shaw, Executive Editor

A.R. Shaw serves as Executive Editor of Atlanta Daily World. His work has been featured in The Guardian, ABC News, NBC, BBC, CBC. He’s also the author of the book “Trap History: Atlanta Culture and the Global Impact of Trap Music.”

Fulton County District Attorney is facing a hearing today where she will have to answer accusations involving a reationship with Nathan Wade. The judge’s ruling could impact the election interference case where Willis indicted Donald Trump and others over their alleged involvement with attempting to overturn the 2020 Election. 

Judge Scott McAfee will determine if Willis benefitted from a relationship with special prosecutor Wade. Earlier this week, McAfee dismissed a request by Willis to have the hearing canceled. McAfee said that it’s possible that the facts could lead to a disqualification.

As a result, Willis, her father John C. Floyd III, and Wade could be called to testify in the hearing.  

Last week, Willis revealed that she had a personal relationship with Nathan Wade, but there’s no conflict of interest when it comes to the Trump RICO case. 

The 176-page filing provides insight into the relationship with Willis and Wade. The two reveal that they did not engage in a personal relationship until 2022. They claim that at no point were funds misused to enhance their lifestyle. 

There are no joint or shared finances or financial accounts; there is not now and has never been any shared household; there is no financial dependency or merging of daily expenses; financial responsibility for personal travel taken is divided roughly evenly between the two, with neither being primarily responsible for expenses of the other, and all expenses paid for with individual personal funds,” the statement reads.  

In conclusion, Willis says that she, nor  Wade, “have done nothing to establish an actual conflict of interest, nor have they shown that, in the handling of the case, have acted out of any personal or financial motivation.”

Willis and Wade’s relationship came to light after Wade’s divorce proceedings caught the attention of the attorney for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official. Roman asked that his charges be dismissed because Willis’ alleged personal relationship with Wade should disqualify her from continuing to prosecute the case. There was also claims that Willis signed off to pay Wade $654,000 since 2022 to serve as a special prosecutor. 

Filings from the divorce has also been used by Republican lawmakers in Georgia to develop an oversight committee that will investigate Willis. The committee could choose that have Willis removed as District Attorney. 

But while an alleged affair between Willis and Wade could create poor optics, there’s no basis under Georgia Law to disqualify Willis or Wade from continuing to prosecuting the Trump RICO case. 

Under Georgia Law, a prosecutor is disqualified from a case due to a “conflict of interest” when the prosecutor’s conflicting loyalties could prejudice the defendant leading to an improper conviction. Georgia law states, “[t]here are two generally recognized grounds for disqualification of a prosecuting attorney. The first such ground is based on a conflict of interest, and the second ground has been described as ‘forensic misconduct.’” 

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A Black woman running the world’s largest Black-owned and operated airline is looking to change up the aviation industry. A Travel Noire profile details the meteoric rise of 35-year-old Sherrexcia “Rexy” Rolle, Esq. and her family’s Bahamas-based airline Western Air.

Rolle, who’s now the company’s first female President and CEO, said her parents conceived the idea for an airline business during a family trip to Florida. Pilot Rex Rolle and Shandrice Woodside-Rolle, an international businesswoman, launched Western Air in 2000. Rexy’s father served as the President and CEO of their airline through the end of 2023, while her mother was the Vice President and COO.

Their daughter attended college with a focus on aviation and business law to prepare herself for the family business. Rexy served as Western Air’s vice president of operations and general counsel for nine years before she succeeded her father, who remains with the company for guidance.

Her 15 years of experience fueled the rapid expansion of the airline, including launching the first routes into the United States and rebuilding the brand after COVID-19 and Hurricane Dorian. She was instrumental in Western Air hitting massive milestones, employing over 230 people, and growing into the largest privately-owned airline in the Bahamas, according to the article.

“I thank God and I thank our hard working, talented team for their commitment to the service we provide,” Rolle said in a news release announcing her new role as CEO. “Each person plays a part. And as a family business, it’s truly an honor to step into the role that my Dad served for so long.”

Another motivation for Rolle is to diversify the aviation industry and open more doors for both racial minorities and women. In a 2018 interview with Essence, she detailed the various challenges and “apprehension” she faced from industry executives — concerns she echoed while speaking with Travel Noire.

“I immediately understood that there was some curiosity about me being there. It wasn’t until you [I] start speaking to people that they understand, ‘she’s not just somebody’s assistant, she’s actually involved in the industry,’” Rexy recounted. “I definitely find there are some preconceived notions to what an airline executive should be [because] I think they’ve always looked a certain way… So it’s about combatting that, and understanding that your work must speak for itself.”

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Clark Atlanta University (CAU) students got a Valentine’s Day surprise as R&B superstar Usher entered the Bishop Cornelis Henderson Student Center Wednesday afternoon. 

“I knew there was a surprise, but I didn’t know that Usher was the surprise,” said Asia, a Biology major and native of Houston, Texas. 

Fresh off his Super Bowl halftime performance, Usher visited CAU, where he received accolades and proclamations from state and local politicians and celebrated his Usher’s New Look Foundation’s 25th anniversary during a “Coming Home” rally. 

Fake dating, enemies-to-lovers, second chance—these are just some of the romance tropes authors must defend in Battle of the Tropes. It’s part of the first-ever Love Y’all Book Fest, where hundreds of readers descend upon Decatur’s Courtyard Marriott for romance author panels, signings, keynotes, and even exclusive meet-and-greets from February 16-18.

Atlanta has always had a bookish community with a strong book festival culture. Despite how romance-only book festivals are popping up across the country, like California’s Steamy Lit Con, Atlanta didn’t have its own. “We saw a lack of opportunities for romance writers in Atlanta,” says organizer Vania Stoyanova. “Our desire is to have more space for romance in the Atlanta book scene.” The festival is a collaboration between Stoyanova, the event coordinator at Brave + Kind; Hannah Teachout, a bookseller at Brave and Bookish Atlanta; and bookseller Chanpreet Singh of Eagle Eye Book Shop.

The Atlanta community was ready for it. What started off as an event with 10 local authors blossomed into the weekend-long festival with 60-plus authors from all over the U.S and more than 600 ticketed attendees. “The romance community is so passionate,” Stoyanova says. “The dedication they have for their favorite authors and discovering new authors, they really come out and support the community.”

Despite stereotypes of who reads romance, every reader should feel welcome at the festival. Panels highlight stories with neurodiverse, queer, and body diverse characters. But it should be noted though many young adult authors are on panels, the festival is mostly for those 17 and up.

Courtesy of Love Y’all Book Fest

Two keynotes with bestselling authors anchor the event: Susan Elizabeth Phillips, dubbed the “creator of the sports romance,” and Mariana Zapata are in conversation Saturday. Sunday’s closing keynote is from Tia Williams, whose book Seven Days in June is being adapted as a series for Prime by Atlanta producer Will Packer. Attendees have their pick of panels the rest of the weekend on everything from monster and paranormal romance to how-tos on the publishing process. Saturday night ends with Stoyanova’s signature games, like truth or dare, which readers should remember from her YATL events. And some lucky readers can meet their favorite authors for cocktails or karaoke as part of exclusive experiences. Throughout, books are for sale from local shops and industry partners.

They hope this is just the first of many Love Y’all festivals. Plans are already in the works or smaller events throughout the year.

“I just want people to have fun, and we’re hoping people find authors and books they love and discover new books and authors to fall in love with,” Stoyanova says. “There’s something romantic about doing this festival during the month of love. We’re here to escape for a weekend.”

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