School program aids 8th graders ► PAGE 7 N ov e m b e r 2 7 , 2 0 2 5 | A p p e n M e d i a . c o m | A n A p p e n M e d i a G r o u p P u b l i c a t i o n | 5 0 ¢ | Vo l u m e 2 9 , N o . 4 8
Reparations panel receives extension from county board By HAYDEN SUMLIN hayden@appenmedia.com
HAYDEN SUMLIN/APPEN MEDIA
Signs of cleared right-of-way are spreading as the Georgia Department of Transportation continues work on the Ga. 400 express lanes project. Clearing work has already ended south of McFarland Parkway in Forsyth County. The Mansell Road exit in Roswell shows evidence of the work in progress.
Work crews prepare path for Ga. 400 express lanes By HAYDEN SUMLIN hayden@appenmedia.com NORTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Tree clearing in advance of the construction of the Ga. 400 express lanes project, widening the state route four additional lanes, has caught the attention of commuters and residents this fall. Thousands of trees have been felled along the corridor, typically near exits that will be expanded and reconfig-
ured as a part of the project. In mid-November, most of the tree clearing has occurred at Mansell and Holcomb Bridge roads in Roswell, just before the Chattahoochee River in Sandy Springs and around Union Hill Road in Forsyth County. Next July, the Georgia Department of Transportation expects to begin heavy construction on 16 miles of optional, tolled express lanes between the North Springs MARTA station and Mc-
ATLANTA — The Fulton County Commission extended the Reparations Task Force for another two years at its Nov. 19 meeting after accepting a report from the advisory group, now in its fourth year. The Reparations Task Force presented a summary of its nearly 650-page Harm Report, a $250,000 study commissioned in 2021. Rodney Littles, representing Fulton County’s sixth district on the task force, said the framework of the study focuses on the county’s role, examining property taxes, courts, records, jails, voting, libraries, health and human services, parks and schools. The 21 chapters of the report fall under six themes: profiteers of slavery; convict labor, jails and chain gangs; property taxes; social, political and economic domination; racial terror; and segregated and inferior county services.
Farland Parkway in southern Forsyth County. The project will include two express lanes in each direction up to McGinnis Ferry Road at the Fulton County border and one in each direction from there to McFarland Parkway. Completion of the estimated $4.6 billion express lanes project is expected in 2031.
Property taxes and slavery When the state created ad valorem taxes in 1852, counties like Fulton were allowed to begin collecting property taxes from residents the next year, including those owning enslaved people. Using tax records from 1854-1864, Task Force Chair Karcheik Sims-Alvarado, Ph.D., found the county collected $75,000 in taxes on enslaved people.
See LANES, Page 21
See TASK, Page 20
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