Morning, y’all! Are we just Florida now? You know the Palmetto Pounders they get in South Florida, where it deluges for 15 min at 3 p.m. every day? It’s starting to feel a little too familiar here in Georgia.
Let’s get to it.
WHAT’S GOING ON AT THE HYUNDAI EV PLANT?
A string of construction deaths and serious injuries at the Hyundai Metaplant near Savannah has raised alarm bells among workplace experts.
- Two workers have died in a two-month period at the construction site of the plant’s HL-GA Battery factory.
- Another worker died in a fall during construction of the Metaplant’s vehicle factory in 2023.
- The plant has seen more than 15 serious construction-related injuries since the beginning of 2023, including two so serious victims had to be airlifted to nearby trauma centers.
- Construction is a dangerous business, but Hyundai has experienced far more fatalities than other major auto and EV battery sites across Georgia and neighboring states.
Leaders of the South Korean automaker have initiated a site-wide audit and a full review of safety procedures.
🔎 READ MORE: The AJC asked six safety experts what they thought of the situation at the Metaplant. Here’s what they had to say
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MEDICAL EMERGENCIES
A weekly protest at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday took on new urgency after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed every member of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee with plans to replace the 17 positions with his own picks.
Several CDC workers, past and present, called for Kennedy’s resignation during the demonstration. Some only spoke out under the condition of anonymity.
“I want you guys to think about what that means,” Abby Tighe, a fired CDC employee and rally organizer, told the crowd. “People who work for the public are scared to speak to the public.”
🔎 READ MORE: Scenes from Tuesday’s CDC demonstration
Meanwhile, Georgia is giving the rest of the country a preview of how a Medicaid work requirement could affect the system.
Georgia is the only state that has such work requirements, though they’d take effect nationwide under the Trump administration’s Republican-backed budget bill.
- The two-year-old Georgia Medicaid program currently provides health coverage to about 7,500 low-income residents.
- That’s far fewer than the estimated 240,000 people who qualify for the program.
- It’s also far fewer than the state anticipated. Georgia predicted about 50,000 enrollees by the second year of the program.
🔎 READ MORE: Advocates say it’s simply too difficult for people to enroll and stay enrolled under current requirements
WHO’S RUNNING FOR WHAT?
Georgia Republicans and Democrats are jockeying for the 2026 midterms, and it can feel like an Abbott and Costello skit. Is governor running for Senate? No, but who’s running for governor? Mayor! Let’s cover the bases:
U.S. Senate
- D: U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (incumbent)
- R: U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, Insurance Commissioner John King
Governor
- D: Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former pastor Olu Brown, state Sen. Jason Esteves and state Rep. Derrick Jackson
- R: Attorney General Chris Carr
Lieutenant governor
- D: State Sen. Josh McLaurin
- R: Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, Senate Pro Tem John F. Kennedy, Takosha Swan and state Sen. Blake Tillery
Not running: Current Gov. Brian Kemp, who’s still working with other Republicans to find a consensus Senate candidate
Would make people really mad if he ran: Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Delegates at the Georgia GOP Convention wanted to bar him from running for higher office on a Republican ticket, but the Georgia GOP chair said he won’t stop it if it happens.
🔎 READ MORE: Who’s running for attorney general, school superintendent and more, from our friends at AJC Politics
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🧊 Protests over ICE immigration raids are spreading nationwide — including here on Buford Highway — following the lead of ongoing demonstrations in Los Angeles exacerbated by police and federal troop presence.
⚖️ The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously ruled the Republican-led State Election Board exceeded its authority when it tried to alter ballot-counting rules ahead of last year’s presidential election. The rules, already invalidated by a lower court, would have required hand counts of ballots and election inquiries.
TALK ABOUT A POWER COUPLE
Georgia’s rich film and TV industry means all of us could be living around the corner from showbiz badasses.
Take Mableton couple Justin Ortiz and Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz, husband-and-wife world champion martial artists who help other martial artists transition into film and TV stunt work.
The pair have worked on “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” and the Atlanta-shot series “Cobra Kai.”
But they found that all the martial arts skill in the world doesn’t immediately translate into a TV and film career. That’s why they help others with things like headshots, resumes and artistic blocking through their Action! Stunt workshops.
NEWS BITES
The team that does weird stuff together wins together (they are reigning Stanley Cup champs, after all).
How to protect your 23AndMe genetic data after the company’s bankruptcy
Spoiler Alert: They can share it with a lot of people, so double-check your consent preferences.
6 ways to make the airport a stress-free experience
Surprisingly, none of those ways come in little bottles.
An expert explains what ‘good stress’ is
Not the kind at the airport, that’s for sure.
GIVEAWAY TIME!
Love the WNBA? You’ve found your people. We’re giving away two tickets to watch the Atlanta Dream play the Washington Mystics on Friday, June 20, at the Gateway Center Arena in College Park. (Oh, and a parking pass! That’s very important.)
🏀 ENTER HERE. Side note: You must be an AJC subscriber to enter!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to GA residents, 18+, who are current, paying AJC subscribers as of 6 a.m. ET on 6/9/2025. Starts 6/9/2025, 6 a.m. ET; ends 6/13/2025, 11:59 p.m. ET. Prize ARV: $280. Limit 1 entry per person. Other restrictions apply. Travel not included. See full rules. Sponsor: Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Void where prohibited.
ON THIS DATE
June 11, 1987
From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: The internet’s feminine side. The internet is seeing women log on in droves. A Georgia Tech poll says 33 percent of U.S. users are women, and a newspaper poll shows that 38 percent of local users are women.
Also from the front page of The Atlanta Journal, because I couldn’t choose: The nation’s air traffic controllers, increasingly critical of working conditions, awaited word today on whether they will have union representation for the first time since President Reagan broke their 1981 strike.
Hats off to two pillars of our society: Air traffic controllers and ladies on the internet.
ONE MORE THING
WABE’s Classical Queen and iconic arts tastemaker Lois Reitzes retired, and this gorgeous retrospective by the AJC’s Rodney Ho is a must-read for any fan. I’m getting a little misty. Brava, diva. 🎵❤️ (That’s to Lois, not Rodney. It is a great piece though.)
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.
