Morning, y’all. It’s getting cold already. I can feel it getting cold. Am I being dramatic? Freezing temperatures are heading our way as soon as tonight — we’re talking mid-20s and possible record lows. Then, because it’s Georgia, it’ll probably creep back into the 70s later in the week. Coat? Shorts? Both? Wear whatever. Nothing makes sense anyway.
Let’s get to it.
HOME DEPOT AT CENTER OF IMMIGRATION CRISIS
Since the Trump Administration ramped up the apprehension and removal of immigrants, Home Depot parking lots have been a common site for ICE arrests. It makes sense: Day laborers often gather near Home Depot parking lots looking for work, near scores of contractors, local company owners and trade professionals who come and go about their daily business.
- However, critics say by allowing ICE raids to continue unchallenged, the Atlanta-based home improvement giant is complicit in the administration’s controversial immigration actions.
- Activists have protested outside of Home Depot locations, held “ICE out of Home Depot” vigils and circulated an online petition to boycott the company.
- Home Depot’s top brass have a history of supporting President Donald Trump and other Republicans.
- The company says it isn’t notified of ICE operations beforehand.
Can Home Depot prevent raids on its property?
- That’s a sticking point in the conversation. ICE agents need a warrant to enter private property, but parking lots are a sticky in-between situation.
- One legal expert said Home Depot could treat the parking lot like private property, but that would also mean disallowing anyone who isn’t a customer.
🔎 READ MORE: Why ICE’s actions in Home Depot parking lots may be legally questionable
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THE AIRPORT IS NO FUN RIGHT NOW
It’s no surprise airports are a nightmare right now after the Federal Aviation Administration cut back flights at 40 major airports. That includes Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.
- Delta Air Lines canceled more than 380 flights across the country Saturday and more than 470 Sunday.
- Hartsfield-Jackson canceled more than 170 departing flights and delayed more than 230 on Sunday.
- Also affected by the flight cuts: Air cargo. Not good, with the holiday season slouching toward us. We won’t even think about what will happen to travel plans if the shutdown takes us close to Thanksgiving. At least not right now.
🔎 READ MORE: Supply chains are stretched to breaking with flight reductions
REPORT: RENTS RISE FASTER FOR POOR ATLANTANS
Think the housing crisis affects everyone equally? It doesn’t. Think rent, while rising across the board, is rising at the same rate for everyone? It’s not.
Rent for low-wage Atlantans rose nine times faster than for their richer neighbors over the past four years, according to a new report.
Let’s put that into perspective:
- Rents for suburban workforce housing (the lowest-rent sector of unsubsidized housing) in the metro Atlanta region increased by almost 20% from 2021 to 2025.
- Rents for luxury apartment units increased only 2% in that same time frame.
- Nationwide, the workforce housing rent rise is about the same: 20%. Luxury apartment rents rose an average of 10%.
- That means Atlanta has one of the highest rent inflation gaps between low-income residents and higher-income residents.
According to the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, the nonprofit watchdog that put together the report, weak tenant protections make the Atlanta area appealing to investors and private equity landlords. That, in turn, contributes to ballooning rent prices.
🔎 READ MORE: Possible solutions to the rent rise
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
⚖️ A Georgia judge struck down the Catoosa County GOP’s plan to make possible Republican candidates for local office take mysterious “loyalty tests” to prove their ideological alignment with Trump. The idea was cribbed from the hard-line Georgia Republican Assembly, which wants to root out Republicans they say aren’t loyal enough to the administration. The judge said that violates state law.
✍🏼 The Senate took the first step toward ending the government shutdown on Sunday after a group of moderate Democrats agreed to move forward without a guaranteed extension of health care subsidies. In a test vote that is the first in a series of required procedural maneuvers, the Senate voted 60-40 to proceed in passing compromise legislation to fund the government.
🍎 The Trump administration is demanding states “undo” full SNAP benefits paid out under a judge’s orders last week. States warn that’s not really a thing they can do, and if they aren’t reimbursed by federal funds, the results could be catastrophic. The Supreme Court eventually stayed the rulings, but not before states authorized benefits to help hungry families in immediate need.
OUTKAST CLINCHES THE HALL OF FAME
Outkast is officially Rock & Roll Hall of Fame royalty.
André “André 3000″ Benjamin (yes, he did show up) and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton (wearing a fur coat) brought Atlanta flavor to Los Angeles during the weekend’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
They were welcomed by Grammy and Emmy-winning artist Donald Glover, also known as Childish Gambino and creator of the “Atlanta” FX series, and celebrated the win with another Atlanta legend, Killer Mike. Glover said the duo “didn’t just represent the South, they redefined it.”
🎵 READ MORE: Deets from the ceremony
Georgia got a lot of love: André 3000 shouted out his alma mater, Tri-Cities High School in Atlanta. Big Boi gave love to his hometown of Savannah.
🎤 READ MORE: Students at André 3000s high school talk about Outkast’s legacy
NEWS BITES
Falcons lose to the Colts in Berlin overtime thriller
More like overtime disappointment.
Can ‘psycho’ Georgia football team keep up the dramatic wins?
At least someone’s clinching late wins.
Yes, you do need to clean your water bottles. Here’s how and why
Which one of you feral animals isn’t cleaning your water bottles?
How squirrels build their fall leaf nests
🙂 Squirrel facts 🙂
ON THIS DATE
Nov. 10, 1989
It’s official! Wall will stay open. The Berlin Wall was the symbol of an era: a 103-mile stretch of fortified concrete and steel. The astonishing events of the past 24 hours have rendered it obsolete. What we saw today was unthinkable only a day ago: an all-night party in the streets of Berlin, East and West; vast crowds of people flowing freely back and forth, for the first time in 28 years. By the Brandenburg Gate, young men and women clambered up on the wall itself, to shake hands and cheer — imagining, together, a formerly unimaginable future.
“(I)magining, together, a formerly unimaginable future.” Chills! What lovely writing. Thirty-six years and a day ago the Berlin Wall fell, changing the fabric of Europe.
ONE MORE THING
I want to know why squirrels sound like entire people when they’re rustling around in the underbrush. How does something so small make that much noise? Are they made of lead?
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.
