As more layoffs hit the CDC, Atlanta braces for the effects

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is ground zero in a battle over the size and scope of the federal government—and Atlanta is poised to feel the collateral damage.

First came the April Fool’s Massacre—the April 1 firing of about 2,400 employees (about 800 of the “reductions in force” were later rescinded). Then, on October 10, a little more than a week after the federal government shut down, some 1,300 CDC employees received layoff notices by email. About 700 were rescinded the next day, a jolting misstep blamed on “ data discrepancies and processing errors .” And in between, on August 8, a shooter fired hundreds of shots into the CDC building, piercing the “bullet-resistant” windows, and killed a DeKalb County police officer. The man reportedly believed he had ill effect