Morning, y’all!
It’s Wednesday, which is the lunch of weekdays: Pretty good. Often delightful. But probably not the meal you’re really looking forward to.
Let’s get to it.
LET THE KIDS PLAY
My kids go to a DeKalb County elementary school.
Like most kids, their sense of time isn’t exactly … fine-tuned. “We’re leaving in 10 minutes” often translates to “I have plenty of time to finish this episode and brush my teeth and eat 400 snacks and draw a picture of our dog.”
But they darn well knew when their recess got cut to just 15 minutes this year. And they were pretty stoked to learn this week that it’s going back to half an hour.
- My 9-year-old, who enjoys hearing himself talk: “Fifteen minutes is not enough. Apparently recess is supposed to, like, help you focus during school, and if you don’t get enough recess, you get stressed. Schools that don’t get enough recess, everybody is stressed about everything. And 30 minutes is just awesome.”
As education reporter Cassidy Alexander writes, the reasons for recent recess cutbacks across metro Atlanta and elsewhere vary. A lot of it has been a product of well-intentioned post-COVID catch-up efforts. In DeKalb, increased requirements for language arts instruction time left recess susceptible to slashing.
The county’s reversal is an aberration — and also makes it an outlier.
Few Georgia districts even set a minimum for recess, despite basically every study ever touting its benefits for both learning and social development.
“I just saw him wither,” one Cobb County mom said of her kid, post-recess reductions. “He started acting out at home. He was frustrated and aggressive. It was just such a change.”
After some success in DeKalb, parents and a handful of state legislators now plan a push to get a 30-minute mandate on the books.
But as you’ll read, it may not be easy.
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DUNKING BOOTH CLOWNS? DUNKING BOOTH CLOWNS
I love everybody at the AJC. They all do incredible work.
But it’s hard to find a story that jumps to the top of the reading list more quickly than “Joe Kovac Jr. writing about how insult-hurling dunking booth clowns approach their job in the year 2025.”
And while I won’t spoil too much of it, he doesn’t disappoint.
- Quoth one clown: “I’m not trying to hurt anybody personally, but still trying to take their money. … You have to be PG about it, obviously. I think people are loosening up now. I think people want comedy back in their lives. I think people are understanding that we’re not just insulting. It’s a comedy skit. … But, I mean, there’s always a Karen here and there.”
HUNGER PAINS
On a far more serious note: Georgia’s Hancock County is the most food-insecure county in the country — and the situation there (and other hungry communities) could soon get worse. Why?
- The USDA survey that helps quantify such things is discontinued, with Trump administration officials saying they “do nothing more than fear monger.”
- Government researchers are furloughed.
- And cuts to WIC and SNAP funding are expected in the near future.
“They haven’t looked closely at the communities,” the leader of a local food pantry said. “They haven’t driven around to look at the level of poverty. They haven’t walked through the school systems and looked at the kids and where they are.”
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
Brandon Beach’s plan to put Trump on $1 coin raises legal questions
Historically, we prefer dead people on our money. But it’s complicated.
Is this good or bad?
Sandy Springs council candidate withdraws after questions about tax liens
You can hold office if you’re in default, but you gotta have a payment plan in place.
Atlanta-based parent of NYSE investing up to $2B in prediction market
I didn’t know what this meant. Now I do!
UGA FRATS, BACK IN ACTION
An anonymous tipster accused members of UGA’s Pi Kappa Phi fraternity of depriving pledges of sleep, forcing them to drink excessively and burning their forearms with cigarettes. Separate allegations against Sigma Chi also involved forced consumption of alcohol.
- Authorities investigated but, as the AJC’s Jason Armesto reports, ultimately allowed the frats to return to business as normal — because no one admitted to participating in or experiencing hazing.
- Regardless of what did or didn’t happen, that’s not an unusual outcome, Elizabeth Allan of the Hazing Prevention Research Lab at the University of Maine told the AJC.
- Many students fear retribution if they speak up or don’t want to get their friends in trouble, she said.
“Something we hear a lot from campus professionals is how incredibly difficult it is to get the documentation they need, because no one wants to be the one reporting the organization they’re seeking to belong to,” Allan said.
NEWS BITES
Ex-Atlanta officer gets 29 years in shooting death of Lyft driver
A cousin of the victim: “I hope you feel agony for every second for the rest of your life.”
Woodstock teacher’s classroom heart attack changed his life
Stay positive, friends.
A fun behind-the-scenes video from one of Atlanta’s 50 best restaurants. (And it’s a lot higher than No. 50.)
ON THIS DATE
Oct. 8, 1923
Thousands greet great orchestra at first concert: “Atlanta’s great symphony orchestra gave its first concert yesterday afternoon at the Howard Theater. The occasion marked one of the greatest strides ever taken by the city in its steady march forward to fulfill its destiny of greatness — greatness as yet barely guessed by the most optimistic of its people. Before an audience which packed the house to its utmost capacity — with many hundreds turned away from the doors — that superb aggregation of over half a hundred musicians gave a program which will live forever, an historic event in the progress of the new south.”
Talk about a rave review. Here’s a photo of the Howard Theater on Peachtree Street, which later became the Paramount Theater and was (you guessed it!) demolished in 1960.
ONE MORE THING
The estate of Bob Ross is set to auction off some of his paintings, with the proceeds distributed to help small and rural public broadcasting stations survive after Congressional budget cuts.
We love Bob Ross (I once dressed up for him as Halloween, teased out “Afro” and all), and we love public TV and radio. Not suggesting anyone pony up a pretty penny for a painting, but it’s never a bad time to support your local station. Please and thank you.
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
Tyler Estep hosts the AJC Win Column, Atlanta's new weekly destination for all things sports. He also shepherds the Sports Daily and Braves Report newsletters to your inbox.
