The town of Holly Springs, GA (pop. 3195) will soon begin adding a fuel surcharge to speeding tickets issued by local police. Speeders caught in this north Atlanta suburb will have to pay an additional $12 on top of the cost of their fine, effective July 1st. According to Holly Springs Police Chief, Ken Ball, the surcharge is being implemented to offset out of control gasoline prices which have already eaten up 60% of the police department’s fuel budget for 2008.

Holly Springs big neighbor to the south, the City of Atlanta, could well be next, with its City Council having just passed, 13-0, a proposal to add a $10 - $15 fuel charge to speeding tickets and other moving violations. Police Chief Ball in Holly Springs says he has been inundated with calls from law enforcement colleagues around the country all looking for a way to shore up budgets which have been thrown for a loop by the record high price of gasoline. So look out for the fuel surcharges to make their way to your area in the near future.

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An EcoDaycare Center Pioneer has opened in Atlanta, Georgia. Fio 360, the self-described nation’s first eco-early care center is pulling out all the stops to make sure its children start living green from the git-go.

For starters there are no carpets whatsoever at the center, which could expose children to the harmful chemicals in synthetic fibers. All floor coverings are rugs made from organic wool. The center uses only organic, formaldehyde-free mattresses for the kid’s naps. No PVC plastic toys are allowed in the facility and all meals served are made from 100% organic food prepared by Fio’s Executive Chef. Yoga and recycling classes are the norm - as are massages before naptime. You can watch the video below for more about Atlanta’s new Fio 360:

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Storms continue to ravage the midwest as a tornado tore through a 20-block swath of Picher late Saturday afternoon, killing at least seven people. The same storm system then moved into southwest Missouri taking the lives of at least 12 others. Then today, those storms moved through Georgia, killing at least one person.

Georgia Power officials say at least 80,000 residents are without electricity across the state, mostly concentrated in the metro Atlanta area and the Macon area.

and visit http://www.redcross.org/ to see how you can help the Red Cross help tornado victims. Also check out their guide about how to prepare for a tornado.

Georgia’s Governor, Sonny Perdue, tried a faith-based approach to Atlanta’s water shortage last November, staging a public prayer session to ask God for rain. Perdue stood on the steps of the state capital and declared “We come together for simply one reason, for one reason only - to reverently and respectfully pray up a storm.”

Atlanta received just enough rainfall to prevent 2007 going down on record as the driest year ever, but Georgia’s water crisis continues.

Maybe Governor Perdue should consider something a little more proactive than praying—say, consulting with rainwater recapturing expert Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond. Lancaster was on NPR’s Morning Edition today explaining how easily and efficiently rainwater can be harvested and used for irrigation, instead of wasting precious drinking water.

With so many states facing record drought, why not capture whatever rainwater we do get, instead of letting it run, like money, down the drain? No doubt God would approve—after all, as Benjamin Franklin noted, “God helps those who help themselves.”