A.M. ATL: Land of milk and bread

Morning, y’all! My mom works at a Publix in South Carolina, and I like to ask her what folks are buying lately. (Apparently, the good people of her town were really into squeezable apple sauce for a while.) Anyway, spare a thought for her and all grocery staff as consumers participate in the classic Southern tradition of losing their minds before winter storms.

Let’s get to it.

BEAT THE FREEZE

It takes a lot to get those roads clear.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is locked and loaded for all icy, snowy possibilities this weekend. The AJC’s Sarah Gregory has a great story on how GDOT stepped up its game since The Bad Time (Snowpocalypse 2014). By the numbers:

• 2,781 miles of road in metro Atlanta and ...
• 43,000 miles of road statewide are maintained by GDOT.
• 57 locations along these roads have weather sensors, which GDOT uses to measure air, surface and subsurface temperatures. This helps them decide where brine (the anti-snow salt mixture) is needed most.
• 1.3 million gallons of brine are kept on hand by the state.
• 113,000 gallons of brine are required to coat the metro area.

It takes a lot of time to pretreat and re-treat roads, so if you see a slow-moving brine truck, it’s doing its best.

🔎 READ MORE: The brine boss, ‘snow school’ and more ways GA preps for winter’s worst

❄️ It’s not just the roads: Delta and other airlines are urging people to rethink their weekend travel plans and waiving fees for those who do.

❄️ Don’t get caught unprepared: Some tips on how to protect your house from freezing weather, including a National Weather Service-approved list of emergency supplies.

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.

ANOTHER VICTORY FOR THE GULLAH GEECHEE

The special election was a hard-won effort from Gullah Geechee descendants.

The Gullah Geechee people, part of a historically significant community on Georgia’s Sapelo Island, have been fighting for years to protect their homelands from the encroachment of tourist spots and luxury beach houses.

• On Wednesday, McIntosh County voters voiced their support and repealed a 2023 zoning ordinance that opened the island to the development of large houses.
• Several Gullah Geechee residents initiated the vote in 2023 under an obscure clause in the Georgia constitution that allows citizens to challenge local government decisions.
• About 85% of voters elected to repeal the ordinance, signaling widespread support for the historic community made up of the descendants of Black people freed from slavery.
• The fight isn’t over. Some members of the local County Commission say the referendum now calls into question all zoning laws in the area.

🔎 READ MORE: Why commissioners are still pressing despite the vote

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

🐘 U.S. Rep. Mike Collins has an edge with Georgia GOP voters in the upcoming Senate primary race, according to a new poll.

📵 “Bell to bell, no cell.” That’s how state Rep. Scott Hilton describes Georgia’s cellphone ban in schools. He and other influential GA lawmakers are in favor of expanding the ban to high schools this legislative session — a move backed by many educators and parents.

💸 State Rep. Karen Bennett pleaded guilty to pandemic unemployment fraud in federal court. Prosecutors say the Stone Mountain Democrat improperly took pandemic relief money. She resigned earlier this month before the charges came out.

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES COULD BE A PRESTIGE GET FOR NETFLIX

Turner Classic Movies could soon find a new home with the world’s biggest streaming service: Netflix.

TCM, an Atlanta-based cable network — and Ted Turner’s brainchild — that airs original classic films without commercials, quickly became an iconic brand after its debut more than 30 years ago.

“I am more excited about TCM becoming part of Netflix than going anywhere else,” said Brad Siegel, who helped launch TCM in 1994 as president and handpicked film historian Robert Osborne as the network’s original host. “As a channel that doesn’t depend on advertising revenue, it can be integrated into Netflix painlessly.”

Netflix is looking to buy coveted parts of Warner Bros. Discovery for $83 billion, including the Warner Bros. film and TV studios, HBO Max and a huge content library featuring the Harry Potter franchise, “Game of Thrones” and the DC Universe. Cable networks including CNN, TBS, HGTV and Discovery would be spun off into a new company called Discovery Global.

If the deal goes through, Netflix will for the first time own two cable networks: HBO and TCM, both ad-free but very different. Ultimately, the AJC’s Rodney Ho writes, Netflix isn’t after the shrinking cable operations but the prestige attached to both brands.

🎞️ READ MORE: TCM history and how Netflix could leverage the brand

MORE TOP STORIES

• Atlanta will pay a cyclist $1 million after he crashed into a pothole, causing catastrophic injuries. Residents had been calling the city for years, reporting unsafe road conditions in the area.
• The Atlanta Dream’s season starts May 10. Here’s the full schedule.
• Ten Georgia restaurants, chefs, bars and beverage professionals are among this year’s James Beard Award Finalists.

NEWS BITES

Historic love letters go on display at Britain’s National Archives

Wonder if they have any from James Joyce to his wife, Nora. (Research at your own peril.)

Atlanta United has $4.6 million in general allocation money, but there’s a catch

Hear me out: city-wide pizza party.

Scratch-off lottery ticket leads to $4M prize in Griffin

Don’t spend it all at the Sock Shoppe. (Griffinites get it.)

WATCH: Go inside a 101-year-old church a man turned into a Trump shrine

Everybody’s so creative!

ON THIS DATE

Jan. 22, 1914

Man runs four miles to warn friend not to drink poisoned coffee. Stanley Ferra … ran four miles from Lodi to the mill of the National Silk Dyeing company, Dundee Lake, yesterday to save the life of Fred Godolen, an employee of the silk company. He succeeded. Mrs. Godolen, in preparing her husband’s luncheon, poured his coffee in a bottle that contained poison. When she discovered her mistake, she ran to the house of Ferra, next door, and asked him to go to the mill and warn her husband. Ferra would not rely on the telephone, so he ran all the way. There was enough poison in the bottle, Mrs. Godolen said, to kill ten people.

Who amongst us hasn’t accidentally served coffee in a bottle with enough poison to kill 10 people? Happens all the time. No, none for me, thanks.

ONE MORE THING

“Talking about the weather” is the ultimate small talk fallback. News outlets love it. I’ll tell you why: Severe weather is apolitical, or as apolitical as you can get. If nothing else, everyone agrees ice bad, storm bad, safety good. Oh, and be nice to the cashiers.