Morning, y’all! Who’s ready for some Memorial Day weekend travel?! [the crowd goes wild] Who’s fixing to take a really long road trip with family?!! [the crowd is ecstatic, people are sobbing with joy] That’s what I thought. Well, on the bright side, gas prices are lower this season than they were a year ago. That should sustain your sanity for a little bit.
Let’s get to it.
TECH HAS A BLUEPRINT FOR SCHOOL SAFETY
Georgia’s public schools are due for a security upgrade after Gov. Brian Kemp recently signed House Bill 268. The law requires public schools to identify and assess potential threats made by students and was created as a response to last year’s deadly school shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder.
However, parents and educators are unsure how new safety plans could pan out. Georgia Tech could offer a blueprint.
- The Georgia Tech Police Department operates a sophisticated safety program in Midtown.
- It includes a network of about 5,000 cameras in the area.
- Students have an app on their phone through which they can take photos or report an issue. The content goes to a 24/7 team for review.
- To minimize the likelihood a non-threat will be taken out of context, Tech’s security teams are trained on sussing out details that could make a threat more or less credible.
- A police officer who works with the program says it’s important to focus on prevention, which also means getting at-risk students help rather than focusing on punishment. A data intelligence expert with the program says privacy is a priority because trust on campus is needed to make the program work.
Some Georgia schools are already looking to model new safety programs after what Georgia Tech has built.
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MORE HEALTH CARE FEARS
Health care advocates gathered outside the Georgia Capitol yesterday to impart a warning: If congressional Republicans succeed in passing their budget proposal, Georgia would face a massive health care crisis.
The federal bill passed the U.S. House Budget Committee late this weekend. It calls for cuts to Medicaid programs and would end a federal tax credit that subsidizes the cost of insurance through the health care exchange created through the Affordable Care Act.
The consequences, advocates said, could be dire.
- Nearly 800,000 Georgians receive private insurance through the ACA. If the bill passes, they could be left uninsured or with skyrocketing rates.
- One advocate said that would lead to other problems, like businesses paying more to ensure their employees and a less productive workforce throughout the state.
- The bill would also institute work requirements for Medicaid coverage by 2029. Georgia already has those requirements. If it went into effect nationwide, federal budget estimators say 7.7 million Americans would lose health insurance.
🔎 READ MORE: Why a cancer patient says Medicaid shouldn’t be political
GA POWER WON’T INCREASE POWER RATES
Good news: Your power bills won’t be getting heftier. Well, maybe. Georgia Power Co. announced it has agreed to a plan with regulatory staff to hold base power rates steady through the end of 2028.
However, customer bills could still rise in 2026 because of $800 million in reconstruction costs from Hurricane Helene.
Customers have already seen steeper prices because of higher natural gas costs and energy construction projects.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT PROSTATE CANCER
Former President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis has brought the disease into the national spotlight. Here are some things to know:
- Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death for men behind lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
- An estimated 310,000 people will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year alone.
- The numbers are on the rise: Prostate cancer diagnoses have increased about 3% each year.
- About 60% of prostate cancers are diagnosed in men 65 or older.
- Prevention can start early. Men 40 or older with a high incidence of prostate cancer in their family should start talking to their doctors. Men 50 or older should look into getting checked regardless of their hereditary cancer risk.
🔎 READ MORE: Common questions about prostate cancer, answered
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
✍🏻 President Donald Trump’s anti-union executive order to end collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees can move forward after an appeals court gave the go-ahead.
⚖️ The Trump administration has agreed to pay $5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot on Jan. 6, 2021, trying to climb through the window of a barricaded door in the U.S. Capitol.
📦 Atlanta-based logistics startup Stord has acquired Ware2Go, a subsidiary of UPS, in a move the company hopes will level the playing field for small businesses competing against Amazon Prime.
THE YOUNG ADULTS AREN’T ALL RIGHT
A new Global Flourishing Study surveyed about 200,000 people from around the globe to get a comprehensive understanding of people’s well-being.
Surprise, surprise! The beings are not well. Especially young adults. They’re pretty bad, actually. Thanks for asking.
Researchers found most young adults (18 to 24 years old) were not flourishing, global or otherwise. About 83% of young adults in the U.S. said they were recently depressed.
This reminds me of a few years ago, when Sesame Street’s Elmo went on social media to ask how people were doing and we trauma dumped so profoundly he was forced to post mental health resources.
🪷 In all seriousness, “flourishing” can mean so many things. The AJC talked to a Harvard expert on what the study’s results may indicate and what it takes to flourish.
NEWS BITES
And she talked to the AJC exclusively about it. We must be pretty cool.
Phew, a matchup. I bet you’ll be able to hear the crowd all the way in Buckhead.
AI so dodgy it makes Darth Vader the victim.
Man who tried to sell $6.4 million gold toilet stolen from English manor will avoid jail
Yeah, the golden toilet market can get pretty ... clogged. (I’m sorry.)
ON THIS DATE
May 20, 1996
From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: There was no fanfare, but it was an important Olympic moment nonetheless as the first steel sections of the Olympic caldron were lifted off flatbeds by enormous cranes today … Intended as a permanent work of public art—if Atlanta Olympic organizers can get either the Braves or the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium Authority to assume responsibility for its upkeep—it will certainly look like no previous caldron.
Of course, it is still standing proud. The land around it has changed hands, though, and is currently owned by Georgia State University.
Trivia question! What extremely famous athlete lit the torch to signal the beginning of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta?
ONE MORE THING
Scroll down for the answer to the trivia question!
Keep scrolling.
A little more!
Muhammad Ali. Have a great Tuesday!
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
About the Author
AJ Willingham is an National Emmy, NABJ and Webby award-winning journalist who loves talking culture, religion, sports, social justice, infrastructure and the arts. She lives in beautiful Smyrna-Mableton and went to Syracuse University.
