Morning, y’all! What’s your favorite “It’s the weekend” song? They used to play “Finally Friday” on Fridays when I listened to the radio a lot back in the day, maybe it was on 94.9 The Bull. So I’ve developed a Pavlovian response to that. Got my motor runnin’ for a wILD weekend!
Let’s get to it.
RESIDENTS SUED GA OVER FACTORY PLANS. NOW THEY MAY BE ON THE HOOK FOR LEGAL COSTS
When zoning work began on Rivian’s electric vehicle plant east of Atlanta, a group of citizens filed lawsuits contesting the project. The suits were unsuccessful, and now government agencies want the group to cover what could amount to $540,000 in legal costs.
The decision could set a precedent for how cases between citizens and government entities are handled.
- Residents near the plant site in Morgan County filed lawsuits against the state and local development agency in 2022, saying the Rivian project’s zoning issues were not properly settled.
- Attorneys for the Georgia Department of Economic Development say the lawsuits were frivolous and intended only to stall the project.
- The group’s attorneys say their suits were protected by the First Amendment, and the request for legal fees is an intimidation tactic by the state.
🔎 READ MORE: The judge in the case weighs his important decision
As for the factory itself, things are almost a go. Rivian is holding two groundbreaking events next month for its bouncing baby $5 billion project.
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PROFESSORS FEAR HARASSMENT OVER NEW COURSE SYLLABUS RULES
The University System of Georgia, which oversees the state’s 26 public universities, will require all course syllabuses to be made public. The rule is partially in effect this semester and will be fully implemented next fall.
- The USG says the decision is based on transparency for parents and students and gives students a better idea of what they’ll be learning.
- Some experts and academic professionals, however, say the policy could lead to harassment of educators.
- “It can really implicate academic freedom because of the inevitable online outrage mobs and calls from politicians, legislatures, the general public, to fire professors and change their courses,” said Zach Greenberg, an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
- The new policies come as the Trump administration has put pressure on universities to decrease focus on certain subjects and do away with anything diversity-oriented.
Not to make light of it, but syllabuses are famously the world’s least-read documents. Maybe that will work in the teachers’ favor.
🔎 READ MORE: Professors say they already get death threats
WEEKEND PLANS
One of my recent mantras is “I create my own reality.” Surprisingly, that little refrain has led me to try more new experiences. If you’re lucky enough to have time and mobility and a little spare cash on the weekends, go make your reality a fun one!
🎨 Piedmont Park Arts Festival: Get yourself a lil objet d’art from among 250 painters, photographers, sculptors and glass blowers, or nosh and people watch.
🎤 K-pop Minicon: For all of those who’ve become a little obsessed with “KPop Demon Hunters.”
🍖 More ideas: BBQ festivals, Georgia Aquarium events and wilderness survival.
Weekend spotlight: Expand your palette
Caviar seems cool in theory, but getting started can make you feel like a pretender on the set of “Dynasty.” Solution? A new local caviar class that decodes the fancy dish for everyday people.
Mark your calendars for Saturday, Sept. 12. That’s the next Creative Caviar class from Eventful ATL. Learn more about how it works.
Ready to caviar in the wild? Here are some interesting ways to eat caviar around Atlanta.
Weekend spotlight: Race for Officer Rose
The Atlanta’s Finest 5K is this Saturday, Aug. 16. The annual race honors the city’s law enforcement and public safety officials, and this year, it will have a bigger purpose.
The Atlanta Track Club and the Atlanta Police Foundation announced 100% of registration proceeds from this year’s race will be donated to a fund for the family of DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, who lost his life in last week’s CDC shooting.
MARTA NAMES INTERIM CEO
MARTA named the agency’s attorney, Jonathan Hunt, as its interim chief executive and general manager after the departure of former CEO Collie Greenwood in July.
However, the announcement also revealed the committee in charge of the CEO search has met in secret four times since Greenwood’s abrupt early retirement. City watchdogs aren’t happy about that.
The agency is still conducting a national search for a permanent leader.
🔎 READ MORE: The unpublicized meetings have raised eyebrows
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
💰 Gubernatorial candidate and Democratic state Sen. Jason Esteves says he would create a $1 billion incentive fund to help Georgia’s small businesses.
🩺 The Department of Veterans Affairs is reassigning Atlanta-area nurses amid a major VA overhaul and reports of severe understaffing. Medical professionals are worried about what this means for patients who rely on the programs the nurses previously served.
💸 Georgia has widened its probe into the failed lending bank First Liberty. The Newnan-based business allegedly ran a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, and now more associates have been subpoenaed — including a GOP activist tied to an ultraconservative group.
NEWS BITES
Stock up on milk, bread and toilet paper, and don’t leave the house all weekend.
Spooky horn-like growths reported on rabbits in Colorado are due to a virus
Maybe this is how jackalope myths got started.
Digging into the ‘summertime sadness’ phenomenon
Love your sadness. Is it annual or perennial?
Beijing’s first World Humanoid Robot Games open with hip-hop and martial arts
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ON THIS DATE
Aug. 15, 1935
From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: President Roosevelt signs Social Security bill; new security act is just beginning, Roosevelt avers. President Roosevelt, embarking the government on the New Deal’s vast social security program, foresees further social and economic adjustments to come. When he signed the security bill into law Wednesday, amid formal ceremony, he said it was a “corner stone in a structure which is being built but is by no means complete.”
Happy 90th birthday (plus one day) to Social Security. May you live long and prosper, even though you’re more threatened now than ever.
ONE MORE THING
I’m afraid watching a robot do competitive karate would break something in my brain that could never be mended.
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.
