Morning, y’all! I’m going to say it. Teenagers, as a group, are not cool. That’s one thing I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older. I do not care what meme or infernal refrain is trendy to the 11-to-16 year-olds at the margins of my life, and the less I know about it the better. If you do require some translation (ahem, parents), here are some popular Gen Alpha-coded phrases and how to interpret them. What is 6-7? I don’t know, and for that I feel free.
Let’s get to it.
911 IMPROVEMENTS
Metro Atlanta’s 911 systems are spending millions on technological upgrades like video feeds, precision GPS and digitized lines. They’re some of the ways dispatch centers are trying to improve service.
- Last year, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found higher-than-normal wait times for 911 callers. In response, area centers pledged change.
- In addition to new tech, some centers have staffing, training and expansion goals in place.
- Cobb County is planning a new $48 million 911 dispatch center in Powder Springs. Over the next five years, Gwinnett County will spend nearly $12 million to upgrade communications and network services. DeKalb County has a similar project, which will give them the capability to automatically switch nonemergency calls to appropriate lines.
- Overall, 911 wait times in metro Atlanta have gotten better since the AJC’s investigation. The Gwinnett Police Department says it’s because of better staffing and training, plus big investments like these.
🔎 READ MORE: How 911 systems are working to improve
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.
OH NO, WHAT TO DO WITH ALL OF THIS MONEY?
The state of Georgia has a cool $14.6 billion in reserves in the bank.
- About $9 billion is in undesignated budget reserves, which can be used many ways.
- About $5.6 billion is set aside in a “rainy day” fund for economic hardship.
Georgia lawmakers are mulling ways to invest some of that money in the state’s welfare. Some ideas:
- Tax cuts or tax refunds: Gov. Brian Kemp and state leadership have already doled out $2 billion in tax cuts and refunds to residents this year. More is always nice, though.
- Anticipating federal cuts: A big concern is how present and future federal cuts may eat into the state’s bottom line. A lot of those reserves could be, well, reserved for making up the difference.
🔎 READ MORE: Other budget priorities for Georgia
NO KINGS PROTESTS
Another nationwide round of “No Kings” protests are scheduled for this weekend to demonstrate against the Trump administration’s policies.
- A protest and march in downtown Atlanta is on after some confusion over proper permits (everything got sorted).
- Organizers say EMS services, volunteer medics and trained marshals will be on hand for crowd safety.
- If your day is taking you downtown, be sure to read into the traffic situation.
- About 10,000 people attended the first “No Kings” protest in Atlanta in June, as well as other events in Georgia and across the country.
🔎 READ MORE: What’s planned for the protest
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🐘 President Donald Trump is keeping Georgia GOP Senate hopefuls on their toes. Trump has yet to endorse one of the three major contenders: U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, and former football coach Derek Dooley.
💸 Federal food assistance is safe from the shutdown through the end of October, but could face shortages after if things continue apace.
WEEKEND PLANS
What a weekend to get out of the city! I’ll be enjoying the charms of Milledgeville myself. Plenty of things to do close to home, too.
🧛 Little Five Points Halloween Festival and Parade: Join two days of Halloween fun featuring 100-plus vendors, music, street buskers, wrestling, skate ramps and an eye-popping parade at noon Sunday.
🎃 Mableton Pumpkin Chase: Costume up if you’d like and enjoy a frightfully fun 5K, while keeping an eye out for an orange pumpkin runner along the course. Spot them and ask for a Halloween candy bag to fill at the finish line. All proceeds benefit the It Starts With Me 2 Foundation.
👻 Boo at the Zoo: Let the kids dress in costume and collect treats along Trick or Treat Lane, play carnival games for prizes, make Halloween crafts, snap photos with strolling characters and more.
🦇 15 more ideas for a spooky weekend: An ‘amphibian hike,’ barbecue, pie-eating contests and more.
Weekend spotlight: The Peach Pop-Up
“Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Marlo Hampton is hosting a one-of-a-kind estate sale this weekend with help from Big Peach Movers.
The Peach Pop-Up features items from Hampton’s personal collections and Peach Movers’ massive unclaimed storage finds. The proceeds will benefit Glam It Up, Hampton’s nonprofit organization that helps girls in foster care.
NEWS BITES
Gotta know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.
Chick-fil-A tests vending machine at Augusta hospital
Is there such a thing as Chick-fil-A that’s too convenient?
Microsoft pushes AI updates in Windows 11 as it ends support for Windows 10
If you must insist on adding stuff we don’t want, Microsoft, just bring back Clippy.
Yeah, Clippy’s starting to look really good right now.
ON THIS DATE
Oct. 17, 1973
90 percent of Black vote puts Jackson in historic role here. Shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday, a beaming Maynard Jackson trod to the rostrum set up in a local hotel ballroom and asked his jubilant partisans: “Did we send Sam a message?” With cheers, hoarse whoops and clanging cowbells, the biracial coalition that elected Atlanta’s first Black mayor allowed that they did send Mayor Sam Massell and the nation, a message. A message that voters in a large Southern city can and do vote across racial lines, that the politics of polarization didn’t work — at least this time — in Atlanta.
It’s funny seeing “historic” used from the other side of the timeline. Yes, at the time it was historic because Jackson was a Black political first. Now he’s historic because of all he did and all that was done to build Atlanta once that barrier was broken.
ONE MORE THING
The teens don’t know about Clippy, do they? We have let them lose sight of the old ways. Do something by hand this weekend to reconnect to the OG computer, your brain.
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.
