Morning, y’all! Temperatures should hover around 90 degrees today.
News wise, plan on discussing a violent Middle Georgia killing, a pair of discrimination complaints and the start of high school football season. Plus a very cool look at an isolated island known for good eats.
But first: A local government that’s approaching total meltdown.
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MEETING MAYHEM
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Before I became your newsletter host, I covered local government for several years.
I was in Gwinnett during the months of mayhem that followed a county commissioner calling civil rights hero John Lewis a “racist pig.” I wrote about Stonecrest’s mayor helping himself to some COVID-19 relief cash.
- But the current situation in College Park? That may just take the chaos cake.
As my colleague Adrianne Murchison reports, the City Council’s most recent meeting involved a resolution censuring Mayor Bianca Motley Broom for allegedly “displaying petulance, belligerence and immaturity.”
It also involved lots of shouting, two residents led out in handcuffs and the rest of the audience forced to leave while the meeting continued. The latter part is quite possibly against the law.
- Richard T. Griffiths of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation deemed it: “an outrageous abuse” that “likely exposes the city to substantial financial penalties in a civil action.”
Griffiths said the state Supreme Court struck down statutes prohibiting members of the public from speaking out or applauding during meetings in 2006. That didn’t stop College Park officials and police from threatening future arrests for doing so.
But back to the mayor: The whole dispute stems from council members’ distaste for Broom weighing in and asking questions during meetings (the city’s “weak mayor” arrangement doesn’t give her a vote).
Last year, the council passed an ordinance limiting her ability to speak. Which, naturally, led to Broom filing a federal lawsuit claiming her First Amendment rights are under attack.
- “It’s now gone from the council trying to silence the voice of the mayor to trying to silence the voice of the people of College Park,” one resident, Dom Kelly, said. “They made that clear.”
So, yeah. Stay tuned. Things are going great!
Not signed up yet? What’re you waiting for? Get A.M. ATL in your inbox each weekday morning. And keep scrolling for more news.
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TKTKTK
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
In an AJC exclusive, police in Macon released new surveillance footage and disturbing details about a violent May attack that left a homeless man dead. Authorities have not identified the suspect seen killing Albert Kenneth Knight Jr.
- “You’re almost at a loss for words … to describe what this guy did,” a Bibb County sheriff’s investigator said. “It is horrific.”
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EDUCATION ALLEGATIONS
» In a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education, three Jewish advocacy organizations say Fulton County Schools do little to stop bullying and harassment of Jewish and Israeli students.
» America’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, meanwhile, named Emory University one of its three “institutions of particular concern,” citing the school’s handling of protests over Israel’s war in Gaza.
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NOTHING TO SEE HERE!
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Officials at Georgia’s Plant Vogtle nuclear power station issued an emergency alert Tuesday, briefly scaring the bejeezus out of anyone who saw it.
- Thankfully, they later attributed the incident to a transformer fire outside the facility and said the public was never at risk.
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AN ARM AND A LEG
Great news, everybody: The consumer comparison service Bankrate says we Georgians pay more “hidden” car-related costs than anyone in the country. That covers things like insurance, taxes, fuel and maintenance.
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READY TO ROCK
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
High school football returns tonight, with Douglass-LaGrange and Kell-North Atlanta matchups kicking off the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic.
Get ready by reading up on our top storylines for the season, including a metro Atlanta juggernaut and a star quarterback’s last ride. Check out the full Week 1 schedule — and don’t miss this year’s Super 11 squad!
More sports highlights:
- Braves: For the second night in a row, catcher Travis d’Arnaud beat the Giants with a game-winning 10th-inning RBI. Final score: 4-3.
- Bulldogs: Kirby Smart’s favorite metric may be “explosive-play margin.” Columnist Ken Sugiura explains what that means — and why he thinks preseason polls have the Bulldogs pegged correctly.
- Jackets: Georgia Tech beat writer Chad Bishop starts his series on the upcoming football season by taking a look at the team’s most important game. (Hint: You’re gonna … hate it.)
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ISLAND EATS
Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
Sometimes our culinary cravings take us to unusual places. For folks in Savannah, that often means Daufuskie Island: a reemerging restaurant hot spot only reachable by a half-hour boat ride.
- Join bureau chief Adam Van Brimmer on his journey to the land of deviled crab, barbecue and the “Marshside Mama.” (Plus, more “dock-and-dine” spots on Georgia’s cost!)
» More restaurant news: Sushi coming to Peachtree Corners; Bocado bound for Sandy Springs
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MORE TO EXPLORE
» As DNC nears, Georgia Dems dream about what could have been
» Mechanicsville officials urge change after repeated shootings near park
» Cobb election board approves fees for voter eligibility challenges
» Lawsuit: Cobb deputies held mother at gunpoint, handcuffed children
» Two of Atlanta’s largest real estate developers to combine
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ON THIS DATE
Aug. 14, 1950
The Atlanta Journal used valuable front page space to solicit ideas — for helping an Atlanta woman get her pet alligator out of a bathroom pipe.
“I can hear him down there still, but I can’t reach him,” Mrs. Pat Burch of North Avenue told the paper.
“Allie,” a foot-long pet procured in New Orleans, purportedly slid down the drain while his aquarium was being cleaned.
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
Credit: John Spink/AJC
Credit: John Spink/AJC
AJC photographer John Spink caught construction crews braving new heights while working on the National Center for Civil and Human Rights’ ongoing expansion project.
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ONE MORE THING
Tom Cruise is a fraud! The AJC’s Kelly Yamanouchi delivers the scoop on how Atlanta’s Delta Air Lines really got that Olympic flag from Paris to L.A.
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Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at [email protected].
Until next time.
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