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Despite the current drought of hard facts on the matter, it is likely that the most important addition to the city of Atlanta's boundaries in three generations will be approved around Labor Day, as planned.

City attorneys will then shift to the courthouse to defend it. And the “hybrid Atlantans” that it might create.

With the annexation of Emory University, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several other entities, Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration is attempting something unprecedented.

As planned, Atlanta’s city limits would wrap themselves around 744 new acres to the east. But city officials intend to block the Atlanta Public School system from expanding in the same fashion. The limited number of students involved in the annexation – and we’re told that number is nine – will continue to attend DeKalb County schools.

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A native of Columbus and a fine arts graduate of Clark Atlanta, Amy Sherald was chosen as the official portrait artist of former first lady Michelle Obama. On the same week that the portrait was unveiled at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, it was also announced that Sherald was awarded the High Museum's 2018 David C. Driskell Prize. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Credit: Andrew Harnik