Morning, y’all! I’ve been really into muesli lately. It’s essentially cold, underdone oatmeal with stuff in it and boy does it hit the spot. Muesli was originally created for hospital patients and means “little mush” in Swiss. Appetizing!
Let’s get to it.
THEY’RE NOT LAUGHING
The high-profile lawsuit filed by two actor-comedians over their treatment on a Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport jet bridge has been partially revived by an appeals judge.
- Eric André and Clayton English claimed Clayton County police officers unlawfully stopped and searched them while they were boarding a flight in Atlanta.
- The case was thrown out by a federal judge in 2023, but another judge says the pair sufficiently alleged their rights were violated by the search. However, the judge said they didn’t show they were discriminated against because of their race.
- The decision allows the entertainers to proceed with part of the case.
- Lawyers for André and English said 56% of passengers stopped by Clayton officers inside jet bridges between September 2020 and April 2021 were Black, even though the proportion of Black travelers is far lower.
🔎 READ MORE: What happens next with the case
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RURAL GA HOSPITALS PREPARE FOR MORE PAIN
Small hospitals in Georgia’s less-populated areas are bracing for upcoming changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. The Trump Administration’s program cuts will translate into millions less for rural care facilities, and less options for treating low-income patients.
- Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton, an award-winning small facility, says it will face a $3.3 million budget shortfall under current federal funding plans.
- Nearly 70 hospitals across Georgia rely on revenue from Medicaid payments to treat low-income patients. President Donald Trump’s spending bill cuts Medicaid by 15%.
- The Kaiser Family Foundation projects 93,000 Georgians will lose Medicaid coverage and 1.2 million state residents will be bound to higher ACA premiums under the bill.
🔎 READ MORE: Now, hospitals have to choose what to cut
RELIEF FOR CASCADE BUSINESSES
A portion of southwest Atlanta’s Cascade Road has been closed for years because of construction, and businesses along the corridor say it’s hurt their bottom line. Last month, they organized to demand the city finish the construction posthaste.
Now, new legislation proposed at Atlanta City Council would set aside money in a recovery fund for businesses impacted by the closures.
🔎 READ MORE: How the city’s sped up construction
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
📚 Oklahoma will require an ‘ideology test’ for any incoming teachers from California or New York to weed out ‘radical leftist ideology.’ The test is created by PragerU, a White House-approved conservative media creator.
🔨 Home Depot prices are up and more people are deferring big house projects, the company says. However, they’ve seen an uptick in smaller DIY-related buys.
💬 The University of Georgia and Georgia Southern removed LGBTQ language from their nondiscrimination policies.
📺 Atlanta’s 11Alive and dozens of other television stations will be acquired by broadcasting giant Nexstar Media. The White House’s media deregulation push has opened the door for such blockbuster consolidations.
NEW PODCAST IS ABOUT TO DROP
Hear ye, hear ye! UATL, the AJC’s Black culture brand, is expanding its empire with a brand-new podcast.
“It’s UATL” is a weekly conversation about the voices, trends and stories shaping Black life in Atlanta and across the South. If it’s anything like the AJC’s newsroom chatter, it’s bound to be peppered with encyclopedia-level info downloads and sparkling insight.
New episodes come out every Wednesday, and the first one drops Aug. 27. Listen to the trailer here.
NEWS BITES
Vacation. The word you’re looking for is vacation.
Las Vegas tourism is down. Some people blame tariffs and immigration sweeps
I think they mean Las Vegas “micro-retirements.”
Chessboxing enters the ring of eccentric sports
If someone beat me in chess AND knocked me out, I’d never show my face again.
Walmart recalls frozen shrimp over potential radioactive contamination
Meet Spider-Man’s less accomplished cousin, Shrimp-Guy.
ON THIS DATE
Aug. 20, 1999
From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: Success story: Falcon off endangered list. The peregrine falcon, the world’s fastest bird once pushed to the brink of extinction in the United States, has recovered enough to be taken off the endangered species list. … The real savior (Falcon experts) say, was the 1972 ban on the pesticide DDT.
Rise up, indeed!
ONE MORE THING
Did you know there are about 40 species of falcon? (Not including the giant one outside Mercedes-Benz.) Also, I didn’t realize Claxton, Georgia was home of THE Claxton fruitcake! Almost as good as little mush.
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.
