A.M. ATL: Let’s be cryptic

Let’s get to it.

PROJECT SASQUATCH COULD BE QUITE A CATCH, LEADER SAYS

If I were trying to avoid lots of questions about my secret $250 million building project, I would simply not dub it “Project Sasquatch.”

Yet here we are, and according to head of the Development Authority of Fulton County, Project Sasquatch could spell big opportunity for the area.

• The $250 million manufacturing expansion in South Fulton County is shrouded in mystery. The name of the manufacturer involved is obscured under a temporary nondisclosure agreement. The AJC covered the secretive details, and Fulton residents have demanded more transparency from development authorities.
• In response, Develop Fulton Chairman Kwanza Hall writes the project is a “bold, job-creating, tax-paying, expansion-minded giant” that will bring new industry to the area.
• He also says, if the project is greenlit, “the company’s name, site location and additional information will be publicly announced.”
• Hall sites two other times such secretive methods have been used: Project Nexus, a $538 million redevelopment of a large property in Greenbriar, and Project Phoenix, a $56.5 million Midtown center revealed to be led by Duracell.

A CONVICTION IN THE SECORIEA TURNER TRIAL

Julian Conley was convicted of murder in the 2020 death of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner outside an Atlanta Wendy's.

A 25-year-old man was convicted of murder in the 2020 shooting death of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner, closing one more chapter in a tragedy that shook the city.

Details about the case:

• Secoriea was riding in her mother’s SUV on July 4, 2020, when eight bullets pierced the car at a makeshift roadblock in south Atlanta.
• The area was somewhat abandoned at the time as the city dealt with the summer’s racial justice unrest. Prosecutors said that created an opening for gang activity.

The verdict:

• After an emotional trial, Julian Conley was found guilty in Secoriea’s death and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
• Conley’s legal team blamed city officials and police for avoiding the area where the third grader was killed.

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

FORT GORDON’S NEW NAMESAKE

Fort Gordon, originally named after a Confederate general and renamed Fort Eisenhower in 2023, has gone back to its previous name. It now honors Master Sgt. Gary Gordon.

Gordon received the Medal of Honor and his heroics are portrayed in the bestselling book and Academy Award-winning film of the same name, “Black Hawk Down.”

NEWS BITES

Five takeaways from the Falcons’ big win over the Commanders

The Michael Penix Jr. hype train is back on the tracks, baby!

The G****** B******* fall in AP poll after l***** to A*****a this weekend

Censored to protect any still-raw feelings

How to keep your immune system strong this fall and winter

Don’t go anywhere. Don’t touch anything. Don’t get close to anyone. The outside isn’t that exciting, anyway.

58M pounds of corn dogs and sausage-on-a-stick products recalled because wood pieces may be in the batter

That’s a lot of sausage-on-a-stick products.

ON THIS DATE

Sept. 29, 1941

Mrs. Cates, you would have loved Carrie Underwood’s songs.

ONE MORE THING

The “I am going to kill/maim my unfaithful husband” genre of country music is rich and varied, what with “Before He Cheats,” “The Thunder Rolls,” “Goodbye Earl,” etc. But none quite reach the pure poetry of Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City”:

You’ve been making your brags around town that you’ve been loving my man

But the man I love, when he picks up trash he puts it in a garbage can

And that’s what you look like to me, and what I see is a pity