U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu of the State of Louisiana said that her father influenced her decision to accept an invitation to speak Wednesday in Atlanta to the annual Buckhead Coalition Annual Meeting. She said that her father served as Mayor of New Orleans at the time that Sam Massell was Mayor of Atlanta and her Dad encouraged her acceptance. The Democratic Senator, who was first elected to the Louisiana state legislature at the age of 23, she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996.
Senator Landrieu has been the leading voice in Washington for the Gulf Coast recovery effort. She said that as chair of the Small Business Committee she is working to ensure that all small businesses have access to capital and contract, superior health insurance at a low cost, and the resources needed to help boost our economy and guarantee America’s competitiveness in the global marketplace.”

The State Board of Regents Tuesday morning took steps to merge eight Georgia colleges into four with an eye on savings and expanding degree offerings.
The mergers:
Augusta State College and Georgia Health Sciences University; Gainesville Stte College and North Georgia College & State University; Middle Georgia College with Macon State College; and Waycross College with South Georgia College in Douglas.
The proposed mergers brought an unusually large crowd to the Regents meeting but the Regents moved forward on the issue. A large number of Waycross residents protested the merger saying they were worried about job losses in the community. Senator Greg Goggans, who has both the Waycross and Douglas schools in his district, had sought more study of that particular merger, but the Board of Regents says the eight colleges will have committees to suggest solutions to different merger issues.