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Community Corner

🌱 Home Depot Is Hiring + COVID Vaccine for Kids Under 5 + Antico

The quickest way to get caught up on the most important things happening today in Atlanta.

Kathy Cioffi, Community Contributor
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(Patch)

Happy Wednesday, Atlanta! Let's get you all caught up to start today off on an informed note.

First, today's weather:

An afternoon shower in spots. High: 59 Low: 52.

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Here are the top five stories today in Atlanta:

  1. Home Depot will hire more than 100,000 workers nationally over the next three months, including more than 6,400 people in metro Atlanta, company officials said Tuesday. To fill the slots, a virtual hiring event will be held Feb. 16. Home Depot said job seekers are encouraged, but not required, to apply for jobs ahead of the event on careers.homedepot.com. (Free: CareersHomeDepot.com; Subscription: The Atlanta Journal Constitution)
  2. Children in Georgia younger than 5 could start getting their coronavirus vaccinations within weeks if the Food and Drug Administration approves an emergency authorization request filed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech. Tuesday, Pfizer asked the U.S. to authorize extra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5, potentially opening the way for the very youngest Americans to start receiving shots as early as March. Pfizer aims to give children as young as 6 months shots that contain one-tenth of the dose given to adults. The FDA's ultimate decision could come within the month, but that isn't the only challenge. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has to sign off. (Free: Atlanta Patch; Subscription: The Atlanta Journal Constitution)
  3. The highly contagious omicron variant has increased the daily average U.S. COVID-19 death toll higher than last fall's delta wave and now the nation is approaching the sobering milestone of 900,000 coronavirus deaths, with the 1 million deaths mark likely on the horizon. In Georgia, the average number of deaths reported each day has been growing, as well. As of Monday afternoon, 884,368 people in the U.S. had died of COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University data, and 74.3 million have been infected. Dr. Felipe Lobelo, an epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente of Georgia, said official death counts are generally considered to be an undercount of the true toll, and the U.S. likely already surpassed 900,000. (24/7 Wall St. - Atlanta; Subscription: The Atlanta Journal Constitution)
  4. DeKalb County Police said a person died at a hospital after they were shot near I-285 Tuesday morning. Officers were called to the 1400 block of Montreal Road around 10:10 a.m., DeKalb police spokeswoman Michaela Vincent said in a statement. Investigators believe the victim, who has only been identified as a man in his late 30s, pulled over on the access road and stopped, at which point a suspect approached the man's car on foot and shot into it, Vincent said. The victim then drove a short distance before wrecking his vehicle and going down an embankment just south of I-285 South. The man was taken to a hospital, where he died.
    Police have not identified a suspect. Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 770-724-7850 or submit a tip to Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477, by texting information to 274637 or visiting the Crime Stoppers website. 78. (Free: 11Alive.com WXIA; Subscription: The Atlanta Journal Constitution)
  5. Antico pizza owner Giovanni Di Palma and his son Johnny are opening Pala, an Italian bakery and gelateria serving paninis, pane alla Romana, and desserts on West Paces Ferry in Buckhead. With an opening date of Feb. 14, Pala is Di Palma's first food endeavor with his son Johnny, a college student who will now have a place to operate and learn the restaurant business. Since opening Antico over a decade ago, the Antico brand has been expanded along Hemphill Avenue in Home Park to include Gio's Chicken Amalfitano, gelato shop Caffe Antico, and Bar Amalfi. Additionally, Antico locations are now open in Alpharetta at Avalon and at Battery Atlanta in Cobb County. (Eater Atlanta)

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Today in Atlanta:

  • Celebrate National Pancake Month at Flying Biscuit Cafe Toco Hills (7:00 AM)
  • Saltbox Is Offering a Live Webinar: Less is More: How Small Businesses Can Slow Down to Speed Up Business in 2022 (3:00 PM)
  • African-American Authors Book Discussion at DeKalb County Public Library (5:00 PM)
  • Stem Wine Bar's February Wine Events: Romance Wines - France, Italy, Spain (6:00 PM)
  • Sound Journey to the Center of the Heart at the Trinity Center for Spiritual Living (7:00 PM)

From my notebook:

  • Won't you come mingle with Pringle at the Atlanta Humane Society? Pringle's a smart, sweet, lively young guy who would love an active family! Though he'll love his people, he may love play time even more. Tennis balls, frisbees, you name it! Pringle can entertain himself for hours. We think Pringle will be happiest in a home where he can be the only animal and have all of the attention. He'd enjoy training exercises to exercise his mind and manners, too! Pringle qualifies for the Foster First Program, meaning you can foster him for 14 days prior to adoption to ensure he's a perfect fit for your family. To learn more about Pringle, visit: atlantahumane.org/pringle (Facebook)
  • Do you make under $55.5K a year? Would an extra $500 a month help you and your family? If so, you still have time to register for the City of Atlanta's first Guaranteed Income program. Visit ulgacoaimpact.org to apply before registration closes at 11:59 p.m. today, February 2nd. (Facebook)
  • James Patrick, known to his radio and television audience as "Ally Pat," was a radio disc jockey who began his career in 1951 at WERD, according to the Atlanta History Center. The station was the first Black-owned and Black-operated radio station in America. An inductee in the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame, Patrick was also a bail bondsman who released Martin Luther King Jr., Hosea Williams, and others during the Civil Rights Movement. WERD was a fixture in Atlanta's Black community. It offered a public venue for Black jazz and blues performers during the Jim Crow era and amplified the voices of King and other African-American leaders as they encouraged Black citizens to vote. Dr. King also used the station to broadcast his Sunday sermons and his civil rights marches. (Facebook)
  • In honor of Black History Month, the City of Atlanta Fire Rescue Department honors the first African-American women to join AFRD in 1977. Louvenia Jenkins, Emma C. Morris, Janice Jones, Liz R. Summers, Lisa Bradley, Sheila Callaway, and Sheila Kirkland are trailblazers that helped propel AFR to the inclusive and innovative department we are today. #AFRD(Facebook)
  • Atlanta Habitat for Humanity & ReStore offers a big thank you to Norfolk Southern for donating 5 high quality, gently used refrigerators to Alanta Habitat's ReStores. We appreciate your support! (Facebook)

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You're all caught up for today! I'll see you around.

— Kathy Cioffi

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

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