Morning, y’all It’s me, Tyler. I wrote A.M. ATL for a couple years until our bosses decided we needed even more initials in the newsletter and hired A.J.
I now write The Win Column, a weekly sports funfest, which you should definitely check out. But in the meantime, I’m filling in here for a couple of days.
So let’s, uh … let’s get to it.
DEATH BEHIND BARS
Credit: Philip Robibero / AJC
Credit: Philip Robibero / AJC
Last year was one of the deadliest ever inside Georgia prisons.
It’s getting worse.
“We’re really just creating vast populations of people who are losing hope,” Atteeyah Hollie, deputy director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, told the AJC’s Chaya Tong. “They are being housed in unsafe places without people to protect them, and it just naturally breeds a level of death that we are seeing at this point.”
The basics from our latest report:
- The Georgia Department of Corrections is investigating 42 deaths in the first half of 2025 as possible homicides.
- It probed “only” 66 such cases in all of 2024.
- Prior AJC investigations found extreme understaffing, corruption and criminal enterprises like drug smuggling running rampant inside state prisons.
- In response, Gov. Brian Kemp pitched north of $600 million in new funding, mostly to address staffing vacancies. The Legislature approved it earlier this year.
“We have worked tirelessly to address correctional staffing challenges, eradicate weapons and contraband in our facilities, employ new technology and resources to help keep our staff and inmates safe and set offenders on paths to success upon their release,” a Department of Corrections spokesman said.
Why should any of this matter to you?
The homicide victims were real people who deserved a chance to serve their time and go home. Like Domonique Cole — who was killed just days after being transferred from a mental health facility to Wilcox State Prison.
And less than two months before he was scheduled for release.
Read the full article for more of his story.
Not signed up yet? What’re you waiting for? Get A.M. ATL in your inbox each weekday morning. And keep scrolling for more news.
THE WAFFLE HOUSE EXPERIENCE
I live about 2 miles from the original Waffle House in Avondale Estates. It is now a museum. I hadn’t visited until Saturday, when the South’s home for hash browns and hijinks held its version of a 70th birthday bash.
We ate free waffles, bought some merch and goofed around in a touched-up version of the first restaurant (my 6-year-old wishfully bit into the fake bacon).
A peep at a throwback menu showed waffles were 40 cents, or 75 if you want a couple of eggs, too. Coffee? A dime.
Then there was stuff like this:
- Chicken noodle soup (30 cents)
- Pear salad with cheese (35 cents)
- Filet mignon ($1.50)
- TAKE HOME A WHOLE PIE ($1.25)
That’s exactly how it was listed, so not sure what kind of pies were on offer. But at that price, do you really need to know more?
🤔 I was gonna ask y’all to tell me your usual order (I do a patty melt and hash browns, with a waffle on the side). But here’s what I really want to know: What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever witnessed at Waffle House?
Send answers to tyler.estep@ajc.com and maybe we’ll highlight the best tomorrow.
HYUNDAI UPDATES
Credit: Corey Bullard/AP
Credit: Corey Bullard/AP
The fallout from last week’s massive raid at the Hyundai Metaplant near Savannah took a few turns over the weekend.
- On Sunday, South Korean leaders said they had secured the eventual release of the hundreds of Korean nationals swept up in the raid.
- “However,” one official said, “some administrative procedures remain, and once they’re completed, a chartered plane will depart to bring back our citizens.”
About 300 South Koreans were among the 475 workers detained during the incident, which represented the largest single immigration raid in the history of Homeland Security Investigations.
Immigrants who crossed the border illegally or overstayed visas were among those swept up in the raid — as were workers who entered through the Visa Waiver Program.
- AJC immigration reporter Lautaro Grinspan explains more here, but that’s basically a program that lets folks from certain countries enter the U.S. without a visa.
South Korea is one of those countries, but there are restrictions on visitors’ activity while in the States — including a ban on employment.
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🐘 U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde is running for a fourth term representing Georgia’s 9th District (which runs from Athens to Gainesville and parts farther north). But the Republican suddenly finds himself facing questions about his fealty and several challengers from within.
🚜 Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” includes subsidies for Georgia farmers. Some are worried about tariffs offsetting any help, though.
📝 U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson and a couple of prominent Democrats from the state Senate joined the GOP push for hand-marked paper ballots.
🪖 In a less bipartisan development: Georgia leaders are split along R/D lines on Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to send 300 National Guard troops to Washington.
LOOKING FOR A BOOK?
Our friend Suzanne Van Atten offers up a look at seven books from Southern authors scheduled for release this fall. They include an account of friendship with folk singer John Prine, a revealing memoir from a leader on Southern food and a “new” work from Harper Lee of “To Kill a Mockingbird” fame.
I’ve got mixed feelings on the existence of that last one … but I’ll probably read it anyway.
📖 Also: I’d personally recommend “The Man No One Believed: The Untold Story of the Georgia Church Murders” by my pal and former AJCer Joshua Sharpe (more info here). He’s got a local event coming up Thursday, too.
HEARTBREAK AT THE BENZ
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC
I know A.J. doesn’t do a whole lot of sports here … but I can’t help myself. And a friend or co-worker’s probably gonna bring it up, so you might as well be in the loop, right?
🏈 Anyway: The new-look Falcons opened their season Sunday against the rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it was a wild one. Tampa penalties, successful challenges and diving plays by quarterback Michael Penix Jr. put the Falcons up three with about two minutes left.
They quickly surrendered a Tampa touchdown to go down 23-20, then marched all the way down the field again — only for kicker Younghoe Koo (already on thin ice after a shaky 2024) to miss what would’ve been a game-tying field goal.
Major bummer.
🏈 More football notes: Georgia and Georgia Tech both won over the weekend and have big matchups with Tennessee and Clemson, respectively, coming up next.
NEWS BITES
4 Georgia players earn $100K in Powerball drawing
Jackpots are nice, but this is all I’m really asking for.
Socks’ Love Barbecue changes ownership
Big news on the Forsyth County meat scene (and other updates from the dining world).
You can only control what you can control, the Gridlock Guy says.
ON THIS DATE
Sept. 8, 1996
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: PSC favors Georgia Power over ratepayers, suit claims. The staff of the state Public Service Commission concluded last fall that Georgia Power Co. was earning as much as $63 million a year more than it needed for a fair and reasonable profit. The staff recommended a full public rate review. Instead, the PSC decided last winter — after only token input from consumers — to increase Georgia Power’s profits. That decision went virtually unnoticed until a consumer advocacy group filed suit recently in Fulton Superior Court claiming the action illegally gives Georgia Power shareholders an $87 million-a-year windfall at consumers’ expense.
It’s fascinating to see how long certain tensions in the city have been going on. To this day, public trust in the PSC is shaky.
ONE MORE THING
See you again tomorrow, K?
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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