A.M. ATL: School work

Morning, y’all. Less than 40 days until Christmas! Just a gentle reminder. OK, more like a curse, and now everyone’s stressed. I’m sorry we had to start the week like this. It can only go up from here.

Let’s get to it.

ICYMI: NEW PROSECUTOR IN, CASE ON

As the new prosecutor, Pete Skandalakis has the power to continue the Georgia Trump election interference case or slim it down.

If you can’t find someone to do the work, do it yourself. That’s the Pete Skandalakis way.

Skandalakis, the head of the state agency tasked with naming a replacement prosecutor for District Attorney Fani Willis in the sprawling Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump, says he couldn’t find anyone to take on the job.

So, he appointed himself.

• After Willis was officially dropped from the racketeering case in September, the judge overseeing the case gave a hard deadline of Nov. 14 to select a new prosecutor. If the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia didn’t find one, the case would be dismissed.
• Explaining his decision to appoint himself, Skandalakis said he could have let the judge’s deadline pass, but “did not believe that to be the right course of action.”
• What happens next? First, Skandalakis said he needs to have all the facts. That means combing through 101 boxes of documents and an eight-terabyte hard drive with the full investigative file. He could move forward, pare down the case or dismiss it entirely.

🔎 READ MORE: What to know about the new prosecutor

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ATLANTA EYES PLAN TO OVERHAUL SCHOOLS

Superintendent Bryan Johnson listens to a speaker during an Atlanta School Board meeting Nov. 5.

Atlanta Public Schools has developed a plan to tackle declining enrollment and rising costs in the district’s schools. As you can imagine, it’s highly divisive.

• The plan, called “APS Forward 2040,” would “repurpose” 16 school buildings.
• That means some schools would close, including Cleveland Avenue, Dunbar and Stanton elementary schools. Students would be rezoned to other schools.
• Some buildings, like the Frederick Douglass 9th Grade STEAM Academy, would close, and students would join the main Douglass High campus.
• Closures would begin in about two years.
• A board meeting about the plan earlier this month was packed, and many residents voiced concern the closures would disproportionately affect disadvantaged students.

The AJC has a series of essays from education experts on the pros and cons of APS Forward 2040. One thing is clear: Even those who support it say it would involve painful decisions.

🔎 READ MORE: Atlantans speak out about major school proposal

TRUMP LASHES OUT AT MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has been marching to the beat of her own drum lately, voicing support for victims of sexual assault, calling for the release of the Epstein files and criticizing fellow Republicans for lack of attention to affordable health care during the government shutdown.

It was only a matter of time until Trump said something. Now up is down, down is up and things have hit another level.

Trump goes on a familiar offensive

• On Friday, Trump cut ties with Greene, calling her “wacky” and saying he would potentially back a primary challenger in her northwest Georgia district. He said Greene got angry when he didn’t support her political ambitions in Georgia.
• Trump also coined a new nickname for her: Marjorie Taylor Brown, because “green grass turns Brown when it begins to Rot!”

Greene doesn’t budge

• Greene claimed her push for an Epstein vote “sent him over the edge.”
• “I have supported President Trump with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money … ,” she wrote in a response. “But I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump.”
• Greene also told CNN she regrets her history of divisive politics, hateful rhetoric and outlandish conspiracy theories.
• “I really just want to see people be kind to one another,” she said.

🔎 READ MORE: What Greene says she stands for now

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

📄 A “deluge of Republicans” in the House will back a vote to release files related to the Epstein sex trafficking investigations, say lawmakers leading the charge. That vote could come this week, bringing to the floor a growing divide among the GOP.

🗳️ Meet the first democratic socialist ever elected to Atlanta City Council, a 32-year-old progressive organizer who supports racial justice, workers’ rights and reproductive choice. They won by a landslide, btw.

⚡ Future data centers, like those rising all over Georgia, are driving up predicted energy demands. States want proof they’ll actually get built first.

NOTES FROM THE FIRST VOICES FESTIVAL

Muscogee (Creek) elder William Harjo tells stories at the Art of Activism at 7 Stages Theatre in Atlanta.

Now in its fourth year, Atlanta’s First Voices Festival celebrates Indigenous people of the South while taking an honest look at the tragedies and tribulations past and present.

• The event, which runs through Nov. 28, kicked off this weekend with an “Art of Activism” storytelling event, showcasing spoken and musical traditions that expand the understanding of memory, story and history itself.
• A Muscogee (Creek) elder played handmade flutes, continuing the practice of an ancestor who lost the ability to speak but still communicated through music.
• Oh, there was fry bread, too. The tasty fried dough is a common Native American snack.

🔎 READ MORE: Upcoming events in the First Voices Festival

History happened here: The Muscogee Nation originated in Georgia before they were expelled and marched on the Creek Trail of Tears to Oklahoma in the 1830s and 1840s under the Indian Removal Act. Thousands of Muscogee people died from disease, violence and starvation during the forced exodus.

NEWS BITES

Takeaways from the Falcons’ 30-27 loss to the Panthers

There’s a famous painting by Chinese artist Xue Jiye called “Face Off” that depicts a guy sitting on the floor peeling off his own face. It’s pretty NSFW, if you look it up. Anyway, that’s what it feels like to be a Falcons fan sometimes.

Elsewhere in football: Georgia wins big over Texas, Georgia Tech wins ugly over Boston College

As usual, Georgia Tech coach Brent Key had some measured gems of wisdom. “I’m always happy to get a win, regardless of how the win occurs or who it’s against,” Key said. “But I’m also not going to blow smoke up people’s butts, either. I was disappointed in some things in the game.” A poet.

$980M Mega Millions winning ticket sold in Newnan

It was the largest in Georgia history. Someone in Newnan’s about to be very popular.

Cities and states are turning to AI to improve road safety

What AI can do: Detect a pothole (maybe). What AI can’t do: Fix the pothole.

ON THIS DATE

Nov. 17, 1947