A.M. ATL: Schools and screens

Morning, y’all! A special Veterans Day thank you to any readers who have served. You are a credit to our AM ATL family and we appreciate you! Of course, the best way to show appreciation is through food, so here are some metro Atlanta restaurants that have specials today.

Let’s get to it.

ATLANTA IS SITTING ON MILLIONS IN UNSPENT PROJECT MONEY

Unsafe stretches of streets and sidewalks are among the priorities in the Moving Atlanta Forward bond package, which has so far underdelivered.

Atlanta’s leaders allotted $660 million for capital projects across the city after voters overwhelmingly approved the package in 2022.

To date, only about $15 million of it has been spent.

• A recent audit of the Moving Atlanta Forward program revealed some projects slated to begin in 2024 haven’t been started yet, and the city is far behind on promised improvements like road safety upgrades.
• The list of 200-some projects includes improvements to public safety facilities, parks and recreation spaces and transportation works.
• Council members and residents are alarmed by the delays, and the audit warns the longer it takes to move some projects forward, the more likely it is they won’t be funded at all. (Because, of course, big initiatives like these never come in under budget.)

🔎 READ MORE: What Atlanta’s new City Council president wants to see

Also, there’s a new way to keep up with stories like this. AJC city reporter Riley Bunch has a new newsletter version of her column, Inside City Hall. It’s for the people who always know what’s going on with Atlanta’s top leaders and initiatives. In other words, the backbone of any friend group. Maybe it should be you. Sign up here.

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.

DEKALB CALLS OUT STUDENT SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION

An example of a special phone locking bag some schools use to keep students away from their devices. DeKalb schools say they've spent hundreds of thousands on similar solutions.

The DeKalb County School District took its fight against student social media addiction straight to the top, and new filings show the extent of the damage.

DeKalb is among hundreds of school districts to file lawsuits against major social media companies, alleging TikTok, Meta, Facebook and other platforms intentionally make their content addictive for young people. Their case, along with five others from across the country, were selected for trial in a condensed set of lawsuits.

Recent filings show just how deep DeKalb says the problem goes:

• Teachers spend 10-20% of their time in class dealing with social media distractions.
• A high proportion of the district’s 91,000 students are anxious and depressed because of content they consume on social media.
• DeKalb has spent over $4.3 million trying to remedy the issue, including $400,000 in the past school year for cellphone lockers and lockable pouches at some of its schools.
• Other resources, like mental health counseling, are increasingly needed to address student concerns.

🔎 READ MORE: The district wants funds from the suit to create a long-term plan

SHUTDOWN SWAN SONG?

The government might creak back to life soon after the Senate approved a bill yesterday to end the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

• A small group of Democrats broke ranks to reach a deal with Republicans.
• The measure doesn’t address Congressional Democrats’ biggest concern: expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits.
• If Congress doesn’t take action soon, the subsidies will expire and private health insurance costs will skyrocket for millions of Americans.
• How soon could the government reopen? House Speaker Mike Johnson wants lawmakers to return to Washington “right now.” They’ll have to get through the nightmare of shutdown-era air travel, first.

🔎 READ MORE: How Congress could still address health care subsidies

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

🏛️ The Supreme Court rejected an appeal to overturn its landmark 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

🪧 New U.S. Labor Department posters are giving 1950s whitewashed Stalinist propaganda, AJC columnist Bill Torpy says.

🚑 A DeKalb ambulance provider will receive $77 million for improvements to hopefully reduce response times.

💰 Here’s a conundrum: If Georgia drops income tax, like some Republican legislators want to do, will sales taxes increase? Either way, the state would have to find a replacement for its top source of revenue.

GEORGIA HONORS WOMEN IN UNIFORM

Georgia Military Women describes itself as the largest and most diverse social networking group for female veterans in the state.

Fifteen veterans were inducted into the Georgia Military Veterans Hall of Fame this month. One of them stands out for her work in uniting the state’s military sisterhood.

• Amy Stevens, a former U.S. Navy lieutenant and Marietta resident, started the social networking group Georgia Military Women in 2012. It now provides a social lifeline for more than 5,000 current and former military members.
• Georgia is honoring military women in other ways, too. A new traveling exhibit landed at the Atlanta History Center, called “Our War Too: Women in Service.”
• The exhibit showcases the numerous and often under-appreciated ways hundreds of thousands of women served the U.S. during World War II.

🔎 READ MORE: Why honoring military women is so important right now

NEWS BITES

Don’t let the cold weather catch you unprepared: Tips to stay safe

Why yes, the random snowfall near the city yesterday was alarming.

Black hat worn by the Wicked Witch of the West in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ goes up for auction

This sent me down a rabbit hole of witch lore — read more at the bottom.

FAA halts private jet flights at commercial airports because of shutdown woes

Sorry to all the very rich people out there, must be tough.

How to not spiral into a pit of bad mental health during the darkest, coldest time of the year

Think you don’t need this yet? Need I remind you it’s approximately 0.0001 degrees outside? It snowed yesterday, for heaven’s sake.

ON THIS DATE

Nov. 11, 1952

Armistice Day parade, ceremony scheduled today. Atlantans will observe an annual solemn break in their routines Tuesday. Armistice Day, 1952, will be marked here by the traditional Peachtree Street parade, ceremonies at Five Points, and a full or half-holiday for many workers.

Once Armistice Day, now Veterans Day. President Dwight D. Eisenhower officially changed the name in 1954.

ONE MORE THING

OK, so witch hats. Why so pointy? Why so iconic? Prevailing theories claim we got the essential piece of witch haberdashery from a combination of misogyny and antisemitism. A bummer, but that’s the way of the world.

Both 17th century Quaker women and some medieval Jewish men wore pointed caps that bear a loose resemblance to Ye Olde Brimmed Cone. Prejudice is disseminated through a robust visual language, thus these details were often incorporated in images of things Christian leaders considered a threat. (So, basically anything that wasn’t Christian. Like people of another faith or women who just wanted to be left alone.)

Maybe not the most fun fact, but an interesting one nonetheless.

Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.