Two weeks ago News 3 joined the City of Savannah as inspectors checked out a suspected illegal rooming house. While it had some safety issues, it turned out to be legal.
The owner of the building agreed to make the needed changes, and he was issued a subpoena to make sure those changes were in fact made. But when the owner showed up in court on Monday, he says the city had changed their tune.
News Three’s Community Reporter Alice Massimi met with the owner and the City to find out what’s going on.

Saint Vincent’s Academy and Coastal Pet Rescue are teaming up.
All this year the students at the all girls Catholic School will be volunteering with the non profit animal rescue group.

Look in the Yellow Pages to call a cab…....you’ll, at least, have a lot of choices, two pages worth, in fact.
Does a city our size really need that many? A lot of the drivers will answer that with an emphatic “no” because there are so many now, the dollars are getting stretched way too thin.
Take a ride with News Three’s Community Reporter Alice Massimi and cabbie Shannon Liles. 

More than 700 volunteers spent the morning cleaning up trash on Tybee Island for the Tybee Beautification Association’s Beach Sweep.  Volunteers have a request for beach goers.

Today, hundreds flocked to the beach…not to bask in the sun and swim in the surf, but rather to clean up the trash other beach goers leave behind.  News 3’s Randi Hempel talks with volunteers about the importance of giving their time to make Tybee a cleaner, better place.

Today is National Public Lands Day and hundreds of thousands of volunteers are giving of their time to make our country’s national parks more beautiful places to be.  News 3’s Randi Hempel went to Fort Pulaski today, where volunteers helped landscape among other things.

The 2009 City of Savannah budget is balanced, for now.  It was all part of the fiscal update the city council received today.

He’s used to headlining shows as a member of the award winning duo, Outkast. But this week, Antwan “Big Boi” Patton isn’t coming back to his hometown of Savannah for a concert.  He’s coming back for the community.

How nice would it be to ride your bike up and down the coast of Georgia and not have to worry about traffic or car exhaust?
Well one group is working to make that dream a reality.
News Three’s Alice Massimi has more on this bicycle friendly initiative and how it could help boost the local economy.

It’s fair to say some of you have probably never heard of Sickle Cell or if you have you’re not really sure what it is.   
Well Sickle Cell Anemia is a genetic disease that affects the red blood cells. Those cells carry oxygen throughout our bodies. 
It can cause severe pain, strokes, skin ulcers, and organ damage.   
In the United States most people suffering with sickle cell are African American.
Here in Savannah it’s estimated there are at least two hundred cases of Sickle Cell.
News Three’s Alice Massimi has the story of one of those cases and how it’s empowered a family to work for a cure.

Members of the Cann Park Neighborhood, First African Baptist Church and Beating the Odds All Together held a community and family day today. 

West Savannah neighbors turned out Friday evening to take a stand against crime in their community.

Even as other businesses fold in the recession…others are still finding a way to make a difference.
For one Beaufort Business—it’s an act of generosity…that’s so important to the community.
News Three’s Alice Massimi was in the Low Country today…to find out just how many lives the store has touched. 

Earlier this week we told you about the City of Savannah’s stepped up efforts to crack down on illegal rooming houses.
The City’s created a joint task force comprised of police, zoning, and fire.
With a list of possible offenders, they’re tackling the issue one location at a time.
“3 On Your Side” Community Reporter Alice Massimi joined the task force today as they stopped in at a suspected illegal rooming house on Park Avenue.

All of a sudden, it seems the Hollywood Stars are out again over Savannah.
You had to be a hermit not to know about Disney’s “The Last Song” and Miley mania this past summer. 
Now, as one star makes her exit, the next steps on stage. 
Robert Redford starts shooting “The Conspirator” with James McAvoy and Robin Wright Penn this fall.
So why the sudden interest in the Coastal Empire?
News Three’s Alice Massimi talked with Savannah’s Movie Man for the answers.

Located in Savannah’s Midtown… the Metropolitan Savannah Neighborhood has some of the highest crime statistics in the city.
Over a five day span in August, police made arrests and issued 15 citations for prostitution, drug possession, and much more.
So what’s the root of all these problems?  Well, some point to illegal rooming houses.
News Three’s Community Reporter Alice Massimi was in the neighborhood today and talked with its president about the dangerous path this community is on.

Volunteers are needed to build a playground for the West Broad Street YMCA.  The project is being sponsored by the City of Savannah, KaBoom, and Home Depot Foundation.

What do basketball and books have in common?  This weekend, area churches and community organizations hope to connect the two by scoring points with kids as they hit the hardwood in an effort to increase literacy. The goal, to assist First Book-Savannah/Chatham County in providing brand new books to children in need all year long.

Normally, acting up isn’t considered a good thing.  But one local non-profit organization is encouraging kids to do it in front of a live audience.  AWOL’s theater program, known as Act Up, will celebrate its fifth year this fall with open auditions for its annual production.

SAVANNAH, GA: If you have a habit of running red lights listen up.
The City of Savannah is getting ready to add two more red light cameras to their arsenal.
They say they’ve helped cut down on serious accidents but some are not sold on what they call the big brother device. 
News Three’s Community Reporter Alice Massimi breaks it down.

It was a year ago when News Three’s Alice Massimi first told you about a serious shortage of firefighters in Port Wentworth.
With a population that’s almost tripled in the past five years the number of full time firefighters has held steady at three.
Yes, three.
It’s no surprise, the money wasn’t there to pay for more and volunteers were not coming forward.
So the city had to get creative and Alice is back tonight to tell you help is on the way.

After less than three years on the job, Savannah Chatham Metro Police Chief Michael Berkow submitted his resignation on Friday.

Today friends and family laid Gerald Boykin to rest.

Lions Park in north Port Wentworth is now open to the public.  It comes after neighbors contacted News 3’s Randi Hempel because the gates were always locked.  Those concerns were taken to the mayor and now he says the park will be open from 8 a.m. until dusk.

It’s a city park in Port Wentworth, paid for by taxpayer dollars, however, the gates are locked.  As News 3’s Randi Hempel explains, neighbors want to use the park and the mayor says they can, but that they have to call leisure services or the Lions Club to get in.

Some Savannah neighbors don’t have sidewalks because their neighborhood was a bread and butter military neighborhood decades ago.  But times have changed and streets have gotten busier.  News 3’s Randi Hempel shows us how two neighborhoods are getting a face lift.

Flooding is a hot button issue in Savannah this time of year with our afternoon thunderstorms that bring more water than our streets and drainage can handle in some areas.  News 3’s Randi Hempel spoke with neighbors in Baldwin Park and city officials about what they want to see done.

The Savannah City Council will have their first reading of the property tax millage rate for 2009.  For the first time in five years the millage rate would stay the same.

Homelessness, prisoners re-entering the community, and helping Savannah’s youth make the right choices: all of were topics of discussion at Wwednesday night’s City of Savannah town hall meeting.

We are happy to report Fred Williams Homebuilder Inc. has agreed to sit down with the Better Business Bureau to discuss a possible solution to slab leaks in some of the homes he built.