A.M. ATL: Coast-to-coast trains

Morning, y’all! It’s hotter than a ... well, everyone has their favorite idiom. Hotter than blue blazes. Hotter than Hades. Hotter than the Georgia asphalt. Hotter than a pepper sprout. Hotter than two rats enjoying each other’s intimate company in a wool sock. You get the idea.

Let’s get to it.

A VERY IMPORTANT MERGER

With their powers combined, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern want to create a transcontinental railroad. Unfortunately, that could have consequences for Atlanta.

• Union Pacific wants to acquire Norfolk Southern in a potential $85 billion merger that could set off other railroad mergers around the country.
• The merger would marry Norfolk’s rails in the east with Union Pacific’s in the west, creating a 50,000-mile-long network reaching 43 states coast-to-coast.
• Despite excitement in the rail industry, the merger could cost Atlanta a huge company headquarters spot. It took a lot to woo Norfolk Southern to Midtown in 2021, including billions in redevelopment promises.
• The deal still has to be approved by federal regulators, and it could trigger antitrust concerns.

🚂 READ MORE: The merger could transform shipping and logistics sectors

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JUDGES PONDER RESTRICTIVE GA BAIL LAW

In 2024, Georgia passed a law limiting how charitable organizations can pay bail for defendants in need. A federal judge blocked part of the law, and now it looks like a trio of appellate judges will agree with that decision.

• The law requires groups to obtain a license if they want to pay someone’s bail, and they can only pay bail up to three times a year.
• Churches and nonprofits, as well as individuals, commonly make a practice of paying bail for defendants who otherwise would be stuck in jail indefinitely. One church said, in many of their charitable cases, the bail needed to free a person was less than $100.
• About 59% of people in Georgia jails have not committed a crime, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
• This week, Georgia Solicitor General Stephen Petrany tried to convince an appellate court to overturn the federal judge’s ruling and let the law be put into place.

Based on questioning from the judges, it appears the state will lose the case. Those arguing against the law say it unfairly punishes poor people and violates First Amendment rights.

🔎 READ MORE: Judges questioned the logic of the law, as laid out by the state

KRATOM CRACKDOWN

At the urging of dietary supplement companies, U.S. health officials recommended a nationwide ban on dangerous, addictive opioid-like substances related to kratom.

• Kratom is derived from a plant and is often used as an unregulated, off-label treatment for pain, anxiety and recreational use.
• The FDA’s warnings, however, are related to 7-OH, a component of kratom often sold in gummies, energy shots and supplements at gas stations or convenience stores.
• Federal regulators have long had an eye on the drug, which can be highly addictive. It’s extra dangerous because it’s convenient to find, buy and use among young people.

Worth a note: While the FDA makes a distinction between kratom and 7-OH, products containing the substances often do not.

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

Marjorie Taylor Greene will not run for Georgia governor in 2026. The top contenders are still Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Attorney General Chris Carr.

Lyft’s policy of offering discounted rides for voters violates state law because it unfairly benefits people in urban areas, Georgia’s State Election Board has decided.

Financial education conference Invest Fest returns to Atlanta this August. The event is organized by Earn Your Leisure, a popular financial education platform.

THAT IS AN ALARMING AMOUNT OF BABIES

This photo from the Wellstar baby boom has impeccable vibes.

Oh man, I bet these nurses have heard it all. Between May 2024 and July of this year, 18 of the 80 nurses in the labor and delivery unit at Wellstar Cobb Medical Center in Austell gave birth to their own bundles of joy.

That’s, what, nearly two years of overlapping pregnancies and births and infants and new mom woes, shared among some of the most qualified women for the job.

The nurses-slash-new moms say it was nice to lean on each other for support, comparing milestones and discussing challenges.

“It’s such a special full circle moment and a testament to the trust and connection this team has built together,” Victoria “Tori” McGinnis, the unit’s nurse manager, said.

🍼 READ MORE: Baby booms like this aren’t uncommon in hospitals. But why?

NEWS BITES

Watch zookeepers feed the animals at Zoo Atlanta

Seeds, celery, knuckle bones ... it’s like a fancy farmer’s market every day.

What you need to know to stay safe in Atlanta’s heat

Save your hubristic displays of endurance. The sun will beat you every time. It’s the sun.

Meet Atlanta’s skateboarding chefs

They skateboard for fun in their free time, to be clear. Not in the kitchen. Feels like a big health code violation.

How thinking about flirting like Ikea furniture can boost your dating life

Then, later in your relationship, you can have a world-shattering fight over the assembly of a Billy bookcase.

ON THIS DATE

July 30, 1991

From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: Live Civil War shell unearthed in DeKalb. A bulldozer at a construction site has unearthed a still-dangerous fragment of Atlanta’s past — a live 25-pound artillery shell that officials said today had been buried since the Civil War. The crew was clearing land Monday afternoon at 1788 North Druid Hills Road when the big earthmover dug up the 12-inch shell, said DeKalb police Lt. C.H. Walker. The crew called the bomb squad, which after a quick X-ray determined that the shell was live.

Unearthing live munitions is practically a Georgia pastime because it happened again in 2022, once again earlier this year and heaven knows how many other times.

ONE MORE THING

Some things that a really good marriage or partnership can survive: deaths in the family, money troubles, assembling Ikea furniture, navigating a small kitchen at the same time, putting the duvet back in the duvet cover without bloodshed.

Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.