A.M. ATL: What do you make?

Morning, y’all! You know those days when it just sounds cold outside? Yeah, it’s been like that. I wonder if there’s any science behind it, since cold air is denser than warm air. Any weather people wanna weigh in?

Let’s get to it.

HOW WEATHER CAN CHILL THE ECONOMY

Without factoring in the wind, metro Atlanta's high temps are projected to barely scrape 40 degrees Tuesday through Friday before crashing into the 20s each night.

Climatologists and economists think the winter storm that’s paralyzed life east of the Mississippi could be the country’s first billion-dollar weather disaster of 2026.

• It’s hard to quantify how much road-closing, business-shuttering storms cost, but their effects are shockingly wide: less commerce, fewer people visiting businesses, grounded flights, expensive power outages, property and infrastructure damage, the list goes on.
• As research economist Jacob Fooks explains, every failure affects elements around it.

• As the cold snap continues in Georgia, demand for power will likely skyrocket and test Georgia’s power providers.
• Georgia Power says it invested in significant resiliency upgrades over the past few years in response to past winter storms. So far, the state has avoided catastrophic electric failures like the deadly Texas outage of 2021.

🔎 READ MORE: How power companies are preparing for the surge

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A PREGNANT WOMAN IN MEDICAL DISTRESS WAS DEPORTED FROM ATLANTA, ATTORNEY CLAIMS

A DHS police officer stands guard outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in downtown Atlanta as demonstrators protest.

A Colombian woman who is eight months pregnant and in medical distress was deported from Atlanta last week despite pleas from advocates and a last-minute move from a federal judge.

• The 21-year-old had intense pain in her back and abdomen before the flight’s departure, but was denied medical care by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, according to the Kennedy Human Rights Center.
• The center’s lawyers filed a last-minute petition with the federal court in Atlanta. A U.S. district judge sided with the lawyers, but it was too late: The flight had already departed.

🔎 READ MORE: Attorney’s order said ICE had to provide woman with ‘constitutionally adequate’ health care

ICE payouts hurt Georgia’s police goals

The Georgia State Patrol says it’s lost members to the lure of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s $50,000 signing bonus for ICE agents.

The GSP is committed to putting 1,000 troopers on the road, but the average yearly pay for a trooper — $63,600 — is a tough sell against ICE money. The GSP has 860+ troopers now, with about 80 in training.

🔎 READ MORE: GSP says it won’t lower its standards for enrollment

FAMILY OF CORNELIUS TAYLOR SUES NONPROFIT

The family of Cornelius Taylor, the man killed by a plow during a city clearing of a homeless encampment in January 2025, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against two Atlanta nonprofits.

• Taylor’s family claims Partners for HOME and SafeHouse Outreach failed to confirm Taylor’s tent was empty before a front loader flattened it.
• The complaint also says the organizations didn’t check in on the encampment enough before clearing operations and were under pressure from the city to get it done quickly.
• Partners for HOME manages Atlanta’s homeless strategy. They’re already under scrutiny as the city of Atlanta tackles homelessness ahead of this summer’s World Cup.

🔎 READ MORE: What else the suit says

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

🪖 Sen. Jon Ossoff called on GOP colleagues to reject what he calls “police state tactics” as horror over the ICE slayings of two Minneapolis citizens grows. Some Republicans have joined Democrats in a push to investigate federal immigration operations.

🤖 AI is affecting Atlanta’s workforce, but so far, it hasn’t been a job killer. Instead, company leaders say human-led AI skills are becoming a more prevalent job requirement.

HOW MUCH DID GA STATE EMPLOYEES EARN IN 2025?

Let’s be nosy about what state employees make. Oh, you shouldn’t talk about salaries? That’s out of fashion. Pay parity and transparency are always stylish.

State employees who made > $1 million last year: 20

State employees who made > $500,000 last year: 141

That’s according to an AJC analysis of data from the Georgia Department of Accounts and Audits.

Who was the highest-paid person on Georgia’s payroll? Give it a think. I’ll take a quick nap.

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It’s Kirby Smart, head coach of the University of Georgia football team. Yes, if you look at the top-paid people in each state, it’s usually football coaches. Smart made $13.8 million in FY 2025. That could pay for the combined salaries of all 179 employees at the Georgia Department of Veterans Services several times over.

• Georgia Tech’s Brent Key is right behind him with $3.8 million.
• College presidents, specialized surgeons and state agency leaders are also on the list of high earners.
• However, the vast majority of state employees — more than 99% — earned less than $250,000.

🔎 READ MORE: What other Georgia big shots earned in 2025

NEWS BITES

10 former GA high school football stars are on rosters for the Super Bowl-bound Seahawks and Patriots

Would you expect anything less from our great state?

What travelers can expect as Southwest Airlines introduces assigned seats

Everyone will be polite and orderly and definitely not make airline workers’ lives a living nightmare over this.

Stir-crazy in the cold? Here are some indoor habits to support mental health

If you take 20 laps around the house to get some movement in, you’re not weird. You’re exercising your free will. Tickle the edges of the fabric of reality, champ! I’m proud of you.

These are the headliners for Atlanta’s 2026 SweetWater 420 Fest

Every year, when I read the 420 Fest lineup, I can feel time’s cold fingers clasp tighter on my soul. Who are these people? I am a stranger in a world that has passed me by.

ON THIS DATE

Jan. 27, 1959

Gold leaf is laid on capitol top. The long-awaited spectacle, seeing Georgia’s capitol dome turn to gold, began unfolding for upward-looking Atlantans Monday. Seven Massachusetts steeplejacks, swinging in bosun’s chairs, began applying to the statehouse dome the gold leaf made from Dahlonega gold dust. The job will cost $12,000, including the worth of gold dust brought down last summer by wagon train from the hills of Lumpkin County ...