The Kennesaw State University Convocation Center, where Cobb County high school graduations take place, will take on additional branding soon.
The KSU Athletics Association and VyStar Credit Union announced a $4 million, 10-year partnership Tuesday to rename the interior of the facility after the financial institution.
“The new VyStar Arena will serve as a symbol of shared values and a space where school pride, progress and connection come together,” KSU said in a release Tuesday.
KSU basketball and volleyball teams compete there in NCAA Division I competitions and Conference USA.
The partnership includes ticket discounts for sporting events for military members and first responders, as well as additional game-day events and experiences for students and other participants.
The KSU Convocation Center, which opened in 2005, seats more than 3,800 people.
VyStar is based in Jacksonville, Fla., and has 78 locations Florida and Ge0rgia including Smyrna, Suwanee and Peachtree Corners.
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Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up and you’re good to go!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Kell Longhorns will be putting on their pads in the middle of the week for real on Wednesday, and not for practice, when they become the first Cobb County high school to play a regular season football game.
It’s the second game of a doubleheader in the Corky Kell Classic, the annual start-of-season slate of games involving some of metro Atlanta’s top teams.
Kell, No. 10 in the preseason in the Georgia High School Association’s Class 4A rankings, is a mainstay in the Corky Kell Classic, named after the former Wheeler football coach. The Longhorns are coming off a 7-5 playoff season.
Also returning to the Corky Kell Classic again is Walton, which is unranked in Class 6A going into the 2025 season. The Raiders will be playing Saturday at 4 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta against Cobb rival McEachern.
Walton was 7-4 last year but got knocked out in the first round of the state playoffs.
Everybody else kicks off their season on Friday, and the other four East Cobb high schools will be playing on the road.
That includes Sprayberry, No. 7 preseason in Class 5A. The Yellow Jackets will be playing at Alexander in Douglas County, looking to build off an historic 2024 season.
Sprayberry reached the state semifinals for the first time, and posted a school record 11 wins. But head coach Brett Vavra has left for Etowah, and his successor is Pete Fominaya, who comes from Hiram.
Lassiter, which as 2-8 last year, visits Midtown, while Pope, which was 4-6, will be at Cambridge, ranked No. 7 in Class 4A.
Wheeler, which was 2-9 but still reached the Class 6A playoffs, will play at North Forsyth on Friday.
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A right turn lane from northbound Canton Road to eastbound Piedmont Road will be added to improve traffic flow at the intersection.
Cobb commissioners on Tuesday approved a construction contract for traffic improvements at the intersection of Canton Road and Piedmont Road in Northeast Cobb.
The vote was 5-0 to award the contract to Glosson Enterprises for $861,297 in 2022 Cobb SPLOST (Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax) funding.
Glosson was one of five companies bidding on the project, according to an agenda item.
The project includes adding a right turn right turn lane from Canton Road northbound onto Piedmont Road eastbound. Other work will include traffic signal and pedestrian improvements.
“This has been on hold for a while, I’m so glad to see it, thank you,” Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb said to Cobb DOT director Drew Raessler. “It will help a lot on Canton Road, especially the turn lane.”
The agenda items states that the $688,400 of the funding is for the road construction work and another $172,895 is for Cobb Water System construction costs.
The project will take an estimated year to complete once work gets underway, according to the agenda item.
Commissioners also approved revisions to the 2022 SPLOST transportation budget. Cobb had budgeted $431 million in transportation projects, but as of July 21, the amount that’s been expended comes to $444 million.
The increases are due to rising costs for some projects, including improvements on the upcoming Bells Ferry Road improvements over Noonday Creek. The initial budgeted amount was $2.5 million, but the revised cost is $5.4 million, according to the list of revisions (you can read them here).
Cobb DOT indicated that the increase would be made up with $13.8 million in interest earnings and developer revenue.
Other East Cobb-area projects on the list include ongoing or upcoming work on the Holly Springs Road Corridor, the Shallowford Road-Gordy Parkway intersection, Trickum Road at Eula Drive and Johnson Ferry Road at Little Willeo Road.
Also on Tuesday, commissioners voted 5-0 to spend $1.5 million to purchase 12.47 acres of land at 5245 Macland Road in West Cobb for the future site of the Cobb 911 emergency call center
Specifically, “the current facility lacks the space needed tooperate effectively, system redundancy, and physical security necessary for a mission critical environment, which requires continuous functionality under all hazards and conditions, without degradation of service,” according to the agenda item.
The call center operates 24/7 365 days a year, and serves the entire county for police, fire and other law enforcement and first responders, except for Smyrna, Kennesaw and Acworth, which have their own 911 operations.
The budget for the new center, including the land purchase, is $14 million, with funding provided in the 2022 Cobb SPLOST. Separate contracts for design and construction must be approved by commissioners.
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Downed power lines on Sewell Mill Road following Hurricane Zeta in 2020.
Submitted information:
The Cobb County Emergency Management Agency is updating its Hazard Mitigation Plan for 2026, and your input matters. Updated every five years, this plan helps officials identify and address risks from natural, technological, and human-made hazards across unincorporated Cobb County and the seven city jurisdictions. View the plan here.
In this update, Cobb EMA considers factors like expected annual loss, community risk factors (including social vulnerability and community resilience), and the National Risk Index to evaluate hazards affecting the area. Once complete, the updated plan will be submitted to Georgia Emergency Management for review and then to FEMA for final approval. After approval, Cobb County and all city jurisdictions will adopt the plan to enhance our community’s safety and resilience. The public has until Aug. 22 to complete the survey.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb DOT project manager Karyn Matthews is the featured speaker at the East Cobb Civic Association meeting on Aug. 27, starting at 7 p.m. at the Wellstar East Cobb Health Park (3747 Roswell Road). Admission is free and open to the public.
The long-planned $7 million Lower Roswll project got underway earlier this year, stretching from Woodlawn Drive to Davidson Road, and with major changes at the Johnson Ferry Road intersection.
Funding comes from the Cobb 2011 SPLOST (Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax), and the anticipated timetable for completion is November 2026.
Approval came with plenty of controversy, as it was passed by Cobb commissioners on a 3-2 vote after former commissioner Jerica Richardson made the motion for the work to move ahead.
That was after a redesign in 2022 and a few delays early in 2024, and in spite of vigorous community protests, including some business owners in the corridor.
Opposing the project was commissioner JoAnn Birrell, whose district includes the Lower Roswell Road area that Richardson, whose office was declared vacant in January, represented at the time.
That approval came more than a decade after it was first proposed, and a couple of years after renewed concerns about the impact on local businesses in the area.
The most controversial part of the project is a raised median along Lower Roswell, between Johnson Ferry Road and Davidson Road, that business owners have protested would be “a bad idea.”
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The sale was completed in coordination with the initial purchase of the practice by Innovetive Pet Care, a Texas-based firm that operates veterinary clinics nationwide.
The business will continue to go by the Dogwood name.
The release said that Dogwood’s 12,726-square-foot facility has been the only 24/7 emergency hospital in the Marietta area, and that the practice includes 17 full-time doctors and more than 70 total employees.
Dogwood operates in a standalone building in an office park off Powers Ferry Road, near the Delk Road intersection, and behind the China Doll and Brazilian Bakery restaurants.
“Facilities like Dogwood play a critical role in their communities by providing the specialized expertise and round-the-clock availability that pet owners depend on during emergencies,” said Daniel Eisenstadt, CEO of Terravet Real Estate Solutions, said in the release.
“Expanding our partnership with Innovetive reinforces our commitment to supporting practices that deliver this level of essential care.”
Dogwood is the first Georgia location for Terravet, which recently purchased veterinary facilities in Fairburn and Peachtree City and owns more than 1.5 million square feet of real estate across more than 165 veterinary properties.
Innovetive provides business support for veterinary clinics in 15 states, including three others in Georgia.
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The Cobb Library System’s book sales at the Cobb Civic Center feature big inventories.
The Cobb County Public Library System said Monday that its fall book sale was being cancelled “due to limited storage.”
Library officials said in a release that they stopped collecting donated items for the sale earlier this year because of “storage challenges faced by all county departments.”
Instead, the library system will be having sales at various library branches.
Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt told East Cobb News that some of the county facilities used to store book sale items are no longer available.
They include the former Cobb Division of Family and Children Services building on Fairground Street in Marietta that has been converted into client interview space, as well as the Cobb Elections Office warehouse on Cobb Parkway, which he said is “filled up.
“Space is always an issue as Cobb departments try to provide service to a growing population with a limited capital budget, but I wouldn’t say there are significant issues right now,” Cavitt said.
The book sales are held twice a year, with proceeds supporting the library system operating budget. Citizens donate books, albums, CDs, videos and other materials that have been sold at the Cobb Civic Center, in the spring and the fall.
“While we’re disappointed we can’t hold the event this fall due to circumstances beyond our control, we’re committed to exploring solutions and hope to return stronger in the spring,” Teresa Tresp, the Cobb Library System’s Division Director of Branch Services, said in the release.
“In the meantime, we invite everyone to visit our branch book sales, where they can still find great reads and support the library in a more personal setting.”
The release said that the library system “is actively exploring storage solutions and hopes to move forward with the Spring 2026 Book Sale as scheduled.”
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As I was getting ready to go to church Sunday morning, I made the mistake of checking my work e-mail.
This is the day of the week I typically step away from my duties here at East Cobb News, at least for a while, but I do check e-mails on occasion.
One I received in particular was just ugly—I won’t describe it in detail except to say that it was from a reader who enjoys sending hateful messages to me, thinking he’s figured out what my politics are, and is certain my “rag” reflects those views.
He’s as wrong about that as he is careless with spelling, grammar and punctuation, but I’ve gotten used to that. It comes with the territory.
Another person of a different political persuasion blasted me in similar fashion on social media a couple weeks back, completely unhinged, accusing me of holding the opposite views alleged by my Sunday correspondent. It was hard to take seriously.
But as I listened to the sermon Sunday morning, I felt so much better. It was about connecting our hearts with what matters the most to us.
This message pertained to finding our hearts in regards to our religious faith. But a passage mentioned from Psalm 4—”speak to your heart in silence”—resonated with me for more worldly reasons too.
It reminded me of why I do what I do as the founder, editor and publisher of East Cobb News. Providing local news and fostering authentic community connection comes from the heart. It’s my abiding passion, and to borrow the words I heard in the pulpit, it comes from “the deepest, most true part” of who I am, at least professionally.
I ask for readers to support the work that we do here because we know how much it means to you to have this valuable community resource.
But East Cobb News is also a business, and like a number of local, independent online news publishers, we ask our readers to help with the bottom line.
We come to you each week to ask for your consideration in making a recurring monthly donation—we suggest as little as $6 a month—so East Cobb News can carry on giving you the local news that you love.
We know money is tight and these appeals may get annoying, but I am coming to you from the heart about this.
Local news matters to you, or you wouldn’t be reading this now, following us on our social media channels or subscribing to the newsletter.
Does it matter to you enough to provide a modest amount of financial support? We hope you’ll say yes today.
Your donation of $6, $12, or even $25 a month helps us to tell countless stories—keeping you informed about what’s happening in East Cobb. And your contribution delivers the news to readers—via e-mail, social media, and at eastcobbnews.com.
When you support East Cobb News, you ensure stories don’t slip through the cracks. Every story we tell matters, regardless of the subject, with an authentic local focus that is free and accessible to all.
We do it without ginning up stories to get you to click, or to stoke your outrage for no good reason.
Please don’t take that for granted!
Nobody else is doing this in our community, and our plans are to keep doing so for a long time to come.
Let us know what you think about all of this: e-mail me at wendy@eastcobbnews.com. I’d like to hear from you.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Georgia Milestone results at Kell High School for 2025 were mixed, as they were at a number of Cobb schools.
On Friday we detailed the 2025 Georgia Milestones test results as they applied to East Cobb elementary schools in certain categories, just a sampling of the broader comprehensive data released by the Georgia Department of Education.
In this post we’ll pull out a subject category at the 8th grade level that’s been the subject of some concern—English Language Arts—and the four subject areas in which high school students are evaluated for Milestones.
The Milestones measuring points are vast—there are 20 different assessments are measured at the end of each semester, as well as the end of the school year.
Students are tested in grades 3-8 in English Language Arts, reading and math, in grades 5-8 in those subjects plus science, and all those subjects plus social studies in grade 8. High school students are tested in American Literature, algebra, biology and U.S. history.
Students are categorized in one of four levels, based on those test scores: Level 1 is Beginning Learner, Level 2 is a Developing Learner, Level 3 is a Proficient Learner and Level 4 is Distinguished Learner.
The results for the five categories we’ve outlined in the tables at the bottom are mixed. In 8th grade English Language Arts, the mean scores as well as the percentage of students at a school deemed a proficient learner or above were down from 2024.
Among East Cobb middle schools, only Daniell’s percentage was higher than last year, and that was up slightly, to 48 percent. The drop at East Cobb Middle School was stark—from 42.6 at proficient and above last year, to only 30.8 percent in 2025. The decline at Hightower Trail and McCleskey were both at nine percent.
At the Cobb County School District level, there were more encouraging signs in 7th grade ELA, which was up 1.7 percent from last year across the district, and where reading at grade-level improved by 2.6 percentage points.
Eighth-grade social studies is where Cobb students stood out in metro Atlanta, topping students in other districts by eight percentage points.
At the high school level, Cobb students led metro Atlanta area school districts in American Literature, biology, algebra and U.S. History.
But results were mixed among East Cobb high schools. For example, Kell High School had dramatic rises in the percentage of proficient learners in biology in algebra—12- and nine-percent gains, respectively) but fell 12 percent in that category in U.S. History.
Conversely, at Pope High School, the percentage of proficient or above learners in algebra fell from 73.8 to 64.1, but students there did marginally better in biology from 2024 to 2025.
High schools in East Cobb continued to lead the Cobb school district in many of those metrics. But Wheeler was an exception, with a 12-percent drop in alegbra, and nearly eight percent lower in American Literature and Composition and U.S. History. In biology, Wheeler students raised their proficiency levels by two percent.
“For the 10th year in a row, Cobb’s return on the taxpayer’s investment can be seen in this year’s Milestones results,” Cobb school board chairman David Chastain said in a district release.
“Providing parents with some of the highest results, at one of the lowest costs, is something we are committed to. The staff is looking at other opportunities to grow and give parents even more options—I am very sure wewill.”
Here’s the link to the Georgia Milestones dashboard, but a warning: There is a massive amount of information and instructions on how to use it.
Broader state education data, including district- and school-level test results, can be found at this link.
That’s also where we referenced spreadsheets to list school-level results for schools in East Cobb (spring 2025 End of Grade and spring 2025 End of Course) that have been detailed in these two posts.
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Caring for an aging parent is an act of love—but it can also be physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting. ACAP Cobb & Cherokee will present a free educational program, “Knowing Your Limits and Creating Balance as a Caregiver,” on Thursday, August 21, 2025, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. ET at Covenant Presbyterian Church – Kapperman-Williams Hall, 2881 Canton Road, Marietta, GA.
Many adult children begin caregiving by helping with occasional tasks—visiting more often, paying bills, or arranging medical appointments. Over time, the responsibilities often grow to include meal preparation, home maintenance, transportation, and ongoing medical care. While most caregivers want to provide support, the increased demands can lead to feelings of resentment, frustration, and guilt.
This program will explore the emotional complexities of caregiving, including caregiver guilt, and offer practical strategies for setting boundaries, balancing the needs of parents with personal and family responsibilities, and ensuring the caregiver’s own health and well-being.
The featured presenter, Elizabeth Miller, is the Host of the Happy Healthy Caregiver podcast, a Certified Caregiving Consultant, and a Certified Senior Advisor. Drawing from both her professional expertise and personal caregiving journey, Miller will provide real-world tools and insights to help caregivers find a sustainable balance.
ACAP Cobb & Cherokee is a chapter of ACAPcommunity.org, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides free, monthly educational programs, resources, and community for adult children caring for aging parents.
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The Cobb County Sheriff’s Office invites community members to participate in the 4th Cobb County Sheriff’s Citizens Academy (CCSCA) — a hands-on, behind-the-scenes opportunity to learn about the structure, operations, and leadership of the Sheriff’s Office.
This six-week interactive program includes lectures, interdisciplinary workshops led by Sheriff’s Office personnel, tactical equipment displays, and discussions with specialized units. Participants will gain firsthand insight into the daily operations and responsibilities of the men and women who serve Cobb County.
Who: Cobb County Sheriff’s Office
What: Cobb County Sheriff’s Citizens Academy (CCSCA) — a six-week program focused on educating residents about the Sheriff’s Office through immersive learning and direct engagement with Sheriff’s Office leadership.
When: Every Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on the following dates:
August 14, 2025
August 21, 2025
August 28, 2025
September 4, 2025
September 11, 2025
September 18, 2025
Where: Cobb County Public Safety Training Center, Cobb County Adult Detention Center, and the Sheriff’s Office Headquarters in downtown Marietta
Why: This free academy strengthens community partnerships by empowering residents through transparency, education, and open dialogue. It offers a rare chance to go beyond the badge and engage with key personnel who protect and serve Cobb County.
Enrollment Requirements:
Must be 18 years or older
Possess a valid government identification
Complete an application and submit it to the Community Engagement Unit
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Students at Mt. Bethel ES in East Cobb tested well in 3rd-grade reading and 5th-grade math.
While students in the Cobb County School District surpassed state averages in a number of categories in the 2025 Georgia Milestones test results, some of those numbers are down from last year, including schools in East Cobb.
The Georgia Department of Education on Friday released its 2025 results, which show some gains in mathematics results after new standards were introduced in 2024.
Fifth-graders at elementary schools in East Cobb turned in some of the best math results in Cobb and across the state, according to data provided by the state (and summarized in the table below).
But third-grade reading scores were down at a number of schools over 2024 (see table below), in one of the key early benchmark educational indicators.
Here’s the link to the Georgia Milestones dashboard, but a warning: There is a massive amount of information and instructions on how to use it.
Broader state education data, including district- and school-level test results, can be found at this link.
Due to the amount of data and explanation involved, we will be breaking out these results in two stories.
In this post, we will detail the results of those two elementary school categories.
In a separate post, will look at middle school and high school results.
For the Georgia Milestones assessments, students are tested in grades 3-8 in English Language Arts, reading and math, in grades 5-8 in those subjects plus science, and all those subjects plus social studies in grade 8. High school students are tested in American Literature, algebra, biology and U.S. history.
A total of 20 different assessments are measured at the end of each semester, as well as the end of the school year.
Students are categorized in one of four levels, based on those test scores: Level 1 is Beginning Learner, Level 2 is a Developing Learner, Level 3 is a Proficient Learner and Level 4 is Distinguished Learner.
The state education department said Friday that the percentage of students achieving the Proficient Learner level or above increased in six of the seven mathematics assessments in 2025.
The Cobb school district’s release (you can read it here) was devoted more to middle- and high school test results that we’ll examine in more detail in a separate post.
While numerous East Cobb schools showed strong results in third-grade reading, only a few of them were improvements over 2024.
Among those schools with higher results this year include Blackwell (a gain of nearly 10 percentage points of students testing with a proficiency at grade level or above, to 74.2 percent).
Seven schools had 90 percent or more of its students reaching that benchmark.
One of them, Mt. Bethel Elementary School, also is one of four schools in East Cobb in which 80 percent or more of the students tested showing reading proficiency at grade level or above.
Mt. Bethel also is one of seven schools in East Cobb in which 40 percent or more of the students tested are considered “distinguished learners,” the highest level of proficiency.
Again, what follows is a sampling of just two of the state’s elementary school assessments. The downloadable spring 2025 End of Grade and spring 2025 End of Course spreadsheets contain all results by school name, grade and subject.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up and you’re good to go!
The third metro Atlanta location of L’Occitane en Provence, a luxury beauty and skincare retailer, opened this week at Avenue East Cobb.
It’s located behind Press Waffle Co. in one of the “jewel box” buildings recently added to the retail center at 4475 Roswell Road, Suite 1850.
Based in the Provence region of France, L’Occitane sells a variety of beauty and skincare products, including shea butter hand creams, aromatic essential oil blends and fragrances.
L’Occitane stores also are located in Alpharetta and Buckhead.
The Avenue East Cobb store hours are Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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Someone who purchased a Georgia Lottery Fantasy 5 ticket at an East Cobb gas station hit the jackpot in a drawing on Thursday.
Georgia Lottery said Friday that two winners statewide matched the 04-07-12-28-37 Fantasy 5 winning numbers that were drawn, with each winner receiving $189,714 each.
One of the tickets was purchased at the BN Food Mart at the BP station at 4267 Roswell Road, at the intersection of Johnson Ferry Road. The other was purchased on the Georgia Lottery website by a Sandy Springs resident.
Fantasy 5 jackpots start at $125,000 and are held every evening.
Proceeds from Georgia Lottery ticket purchases go to fund public education in the state.
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Scout troops from the East Cobb are a regular presence at the EAST COBBER parade. File photo.
The 27th annual EAST COBBER Magazine parade and community festival returns to its familiar slot in mid-September.
Publisher Laren Brown announced this week that vendor and participant registration for the 2025 edition is continuing.
The event is Saturday, Sept. 13, and starts at 10 a.m. with the parade. The route begins at the entrance of the Princeton Lakes subdivision and goes down Johnson Ferry Road, to Olde Towne Parkway.
The festival takes place in the north parking lot of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Local businesses and organizations will have booths, and there will be entertainment, games and food.
Admission to all portions of the event is free.
“This event has always been about more than just a parade or festival—it’s about celebrating the people and organizations that make such a desirable community,” Brown said in a publisher’s note in the August magazine that was distributed on Thursday.
“Year after year, it fills me with joy it fills me with joy to see families lining the streets, kids waving at floats and neighbors coming together to support one another.”
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The Dog Days Run steps off at the McCleskey-East Cobb Family YMCA on Saturday morning for the 20th time. File photo.
In an earlier post we mentioned the outdoor volleyball match between the highly rated Pope and Walton volleyball teams that’s taking place Saturday night.
It’s at 7:30 p.m. at the Greyhounds football stadium (3001 Hembree Road), and you can purchase tickets here, starting at $7 for general admission.
There’s a lot going on in East Cobb on Saturday, kicked off early in the morning by the 20th Dog Days Run. It’s the Rotary Club of East Cobb’s biggest fundraiser, with more than $100K collected at last year’s event that was distributed to numerous community and Rotary charities.
The 5K course starts and finishes at the McCleskey-East Cobb Family YMCA (1055 East Piedmont Road) starting at 7:30 a.m., and there will be prizes and recognitions for age-group winners. Registration continues through the event day, and for virtual runners, with a $35 fee.
More Pope-Walton activities, this time apart: Both of their marching band programs are having recycling fundraisers Saturday. Pope’s is from 9-2 at the Northeast Cobb YMCA (3010 Johnson Ferry Road), while Walton’s is from 9-3 at the school (1590 Murdock Road).
Visit the links to find out what you can’t and cannot drop off, and the charges for doing so.
This weekend is the last chance to see “Black Comedy” presented by CenterStage North at The Art Place (3330 Sandy Plains Road).
It’s the story of a struggling artist who holds a dinner party to impress a wealthy art collector and his fiancée’s father . . . . and then the lights go out.
The final shows are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, all starting at 8 p.m., and you can get your tickets here.
One more Pope vs. Walton event to mention, and it’s turned into something of an undercard for the volleyball match. The Greyhounds and Raiders football teams will be playing in a pre-season scrimmage at Pope Friday, as they tune up for their 2025 slates.
The tickets for that scrimmage start at $11 and you can get them here. Kickoff at the Hound Pound is 7:30 p.m.
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When the Pope and Walton volleyball teams have gotten together in recent years, it’s for East Cobb bragging rights.
The powerhouse programs have won multiple state championships, but are in different classifications.
They renewed their “Backyard Brawl” series in 2023, and have split those matches in each of the last two years.
But their early-season showdown this year will be generating attention far beyond the community.
The teams will meet Saturday night at Pope, the reigning Georgia Class 6A champion, but not in the gym.
What’s being dubbed “Saturday Night Lights” will be taking place at the Greyhounds’ football stadium, and forecast calls for clear skies.
Less than 24 hours after the Pope and Walton football teams will meet at Pope in a pre-season scrimmage, a special outdoor court will be prepared for the “Backyard Brawl.”
It’s believed to be the first such outdoor match for Georgia high school volleyball teams.
In 2023, the University of Nebraska drew more than 90,000 spectators to its football stadium for a Cornhuskers’ volleyball, and as spectator sports for girls and women is taking off.
Pope coaches cited the Nebraska event in proposing the event to school officials.
“Some of our parents were energized by the idea of a ‘Friday Night Lights’ type experience for our girls,” Pope Head Community Coach Erica Miller said in a release by the Cobb County School District.
“Since football has most of the Fridays locked up, we went with a Saturday Night Lights. We are hopeful that the newness of the experience will draw a big crowd and that this event will be looked at more like a football game night out for kids and families.”
Walton is a Georgia volleyball juggernaut, with 15 state titles since 1998, but none since 2021. Saturday’s match will be the second for new Raiders coach Ashley Jones, who was previously the head coach at Marietta.
She said in the Cobb school district release that “These are two of the most successful volleyball teams in the state and this is a great opportunity for the community to see high-level volleyball on such a large stage.”
Miller, who is in her fifth season at Pope, said she and Jones “have decided to put more energy into the rivalry and are getting a trophy cup to pass back and forth yearly to the winner. We are hoping to start a new tradition!”
If you wish to attend, you’re encouraged to purchase tickets online by clicking here. The general admission price is $7 with optional donations to benefit the NIAAA St Jude Children’s Hospital and the American Heart Association.
Pope High School is located at 3001 Hembree Road.
“We believe this will be one of those moments that these student-athletes will take with them for years to come. They will be able to reminisce on doing something that had never been done before!” Pope athletics director Josh Mathews said.
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The Cobb County Department of Emergency Communications (DEC) is proud to announce major technology upgrades that will make emergency responses faster, smarter, and more reliable.
With these upgrades, callers can now stream video directly to 911 professionals from the scene of an incident. And for some non-English speaking callers, real-time translation capabilities will provide additional support, allowing calltakers to process emergencies more effectively and communicate across language barriers.
These improvements mark the completion of the DEC’s transition to Next Generation 911 (NG911) with the implementation of AT&T’s Emergency Services Internet-Protocol Network (ESInet) digital infrastructure and the Carbyne APEX call-handling platform.
With the transition to NG911, Cobb’s 911 system has now been upgraded to a secure, IP-based infrastructure, replacing legacy analog systems. AT&T ESInet™ serves as the network that will provide the DEC with more accurate caller location, enhanced routing of emergency calls to the correct 911 center, faster call delivery, and advanced multimedia capabilities. ESInet also increases system resiliency, mitigating the risk that emergency communications could become non-operational during high call volumes, natural disasters, or other disruptions.
Alongside ESInet, the DEC has also implemented Carbyne APEX, a cloud-based NG911 call-handling platform. APEX incorporates artificial intelligence into its feature set to maximize responder efficiency. Key features include AI-powered translation and transcription, emergency call triage, and dispatcher-directed live video and messaging functions. During an active call, calltakers can send a text message to the caller containing a link that, when clicked, allows enhanced location sharing and the option for live video streaming from the caller’s phone, enabling public safety telecommunicators to see what’s happening on the scene before responders arrive.
Cobb County DEC is the largest emergency communications center in the United States to launch the Carbyne APEX platform.
“These upgrades represent a major step forward in how we serve our community,” said Melissa Alterio, Director of the Cobb County Department of Emergency Communications. “By embracing Next Generation 911 and the Carbyne APEX platform, we’re equipping our team with the tools they need to respond faster, smarter, and more effectively.”
The DEC’s tech upgrades have been a years-long collaborative project led by Deputy Director of Technical Services Kevin Gardner and the DEC’s Technical Services team, in partnership with the Cobb County Information Technology Services Department, Carbyne, and AT&T.
These upgrades were made with Cobb’s citizens, tourists, and responders in mind, and will enhance emergency response while supporting the DEC’s mission to provide professional and efficient service at the highest level possible.
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