Former Georgia governor Roy Barnes greets former first lady Barbara Bush at the opening of UGA's biomedical research facility, The Paul P. Coverdale Center in Athens.

Former Gov. Roy Barnes spent part of Wednesday morning showing us around his new Marietta home (it will be featured in an upcoming edition of ”Private Quarters,” natch). But talk soon got around to the chatter that he might just run for the state’s highest office again.

“I’m enjoying life,” Barnes said, noting that the past six years mark the longest period of his adult life that he’s been out of public service. “It’s been very pleasant.”

At the same time, he said, he gets riled up at some of the goings on in the General Assembly. The ongoing stem cell debate, for example. Banning stem cell research sends the wrong signal to biotech companies interested in doing business here and to Georgia research universities, rendering the state a “laughing stock in the nation,” he said.
“Lobbyists can’t be setting the agenda,” Barnes said.

“I keep hoping that there will be some knight in shining armor” to run for governor, Barnes said, so that he won’t feel the need to. “I don’t want to shirk a duty,” he said. But he added he feels “torn” about running for governor again. He served was in public service for 26 years, a duty he describes as an honorable sacrifice. But right now, he said, “I’m enjoying life more than I have in a long time.” Barnes said he’ll make a decision about running “in the next few weeks.”

When actor Hector Elizondo’s mother died of Alzheimer’s disease in 1974, no one really understood much about the illness.
“It was a time when we were in the dark about what was occurring,” said Elizondo, the kindly hotel manager in “Pretty Woman” and more recently starring in the show “Monk.”
Chatting to Buzz by phone from his suite at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, Elizondo told the story of his father insisting on becoming the sole caretaker.
“It was devastating, and he was taking care of her around the clock,” said Elizondo. “And he ended up dying one month before my mom.”
But a lot has changed since then, and Elizondo was in Atlanta Wednesday doing a series of press interviews to encourage people to reach out for help and to take advantage of services provided by senior services, non-profit organizations as well as online resources.
“I just think about how much my dad could have benefited from a respite service,” he said. “A few hours a day.”
Elizondo also said families dealing with Alzheimer’s should also research emerging medications that can slow the progression of the disease.
In Atlanta for just the day, Elizondo said he plans to return to visit the High Museum.
“I am one of those people who brake for museums.’”

Q100's Melissa Carter with Olivia Newton John.

Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam

Singer-songwriter Ne-Yo eating and playing games at ESPN Zone in Buckhead.

Valerie Jackson, former First Lady of Atlanta and widow of Maynard Jackson, enjoying brunch at Straits in Midtown. The host of WABE-FM’s “Behind the Lines” was there to see daughter and aspiring singer Alexandra Jackson, who performs there. Among Jackson’s brunch companions: “Madea Goes to Jail” actress Keshia Knight Pulliam.