Morning, y’all! It’s hard to say how many species of roses there are. About 350 is a generally accepted figure. Thirty is the low end, but some taxonomies allow for more than 4,000 types. Coincidentally, that’s about the number currently displayed at my local Publix, along with such a multitude of “I Love U” balloons I fear the whole place may fly away like the house in “Up.”
Let’s get to it.
VICTIMS OF FIRST LIBERTY SPEAK OUT
About a dozen people who lost money in the First Liberty Building & Loan collapse talked to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger this week at a victim’s roundtable. Some lost their life savings — sometimes millions of dollars — in the Georgia lender’s alleged $140 million Ponzi scheme.
- Raffensperger is leading a probe into First Liberty and the firm’s father-and-son leaders, Brant Frost IV and Brant Frost V.
- First Liberty used conservative-coded language of patriotism and religion to woo and allegedly defraud investors.
- The Frost family has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican political candidates in Georgia.
🔎 READ MORE: Victims share how they came to trust First Liberty
I pray for them every day — every morning. They need those prayers. But they also need to pay for what they did.
A new player surfaces
The state investigation into First Liberty has also triggered an investigation of a second Georgia firm.
Investigators are now looking at Global Onboard Partners, based in Cobb County. The firm, which says it specializes in in-flight advertising products, borrowed money from First Liberty and the Secretary of State’s office said it may be a “fraudulent investment scheme.”
🔎 READ MORE: What connections investigators made
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TRUMP FEES FOR FULTON COULD BE RUINOUS
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis says the $17 million in legal fees President Donald Trump wants the county to pay would wipe out the entire DA’s office budget.
- Trump is using a newly minted Georgia law that allows criminal defendants to recover costs from prosecutors who have been disqualified, if the prosecution is dismissed.
- In a new filing, Willis says the repayments Trump’s team is demanding include things like $1,000-a-night luxury hotels and expensive restaurant meals.
- She says some fees appear to be requested twice, other costs are given with no explanation and one defendant’s invoice was completely redacted.
- Willis has been trying to prove the Georgia law, which was backed by state Republicans, is unconstitutional.
🔎 READ MORE: More details from the filing, expense lists
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🪙 An in-state nickel refinery could strengthen Georgia’s robust electric vehicle supply chain. Residents in coastal Bryan County made it clear they don’t want it in their backyards. They’re concerned about the toxic nickel refining process, and say plans for a facility have been cloaked in secrecy and misinformation.
✍🏻 Georgia Republicans are considering a state law that would make it a felony to use a vehicle to obstruct police operations. Critics see it as a reaction to the ICE shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis last month.
🧊 The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners will withdraw an anti-ICE resolution that would have ordered agents to “cease all tactical enforcement operations” in residential areas of the county. One commissioner warned the resolution could attract unwanted federal attention and make “the target bigger.”
⚕️ One year ago, hundreds of CDC workers in Atlanta were fired and the rest thrust into a fight over the future of public health. Former employees speaking to the AJC reveal the scope of the damage.
We recognize that the system that we had wasn't perfect. There's a reason why it was so easy to break and why so many people didn't think that it works for them.
OKEFENOKEE HOPES ARE STILL STRONG
The 40-plus year effort to get UNESCO recognition for Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is in the final stretch.
- The site’s bid for a place on the UNESCO World Heritage list will be considered by the World Heritage Committee at its convention this July in South Korea.
- One of the leaders of the nomination said they received a “favorable” preliminary report from scientists who visited the Okefenokee last fall.
- The UNESCO distinction would help preserve the swamp and could give a boost to the economy of rural southeast Georgia.
🌱 READ MORE: Reminders of why the Okefenokee is so great
A FLY GUY
Former Delta pilot John Bailey had a dream, and oh, how he made it soar.
Bailey is the mind behind Delta Air Lines’ annual Dream Flight, an aviation program that inspires Black teens to become pilots and features a free flight and trip to an aviation-themed destination.
After his Air Force career, Bailey became one of Delta’s first Black pilots. He never thought his idea of a program for future Black pilots would get the green light, but nevertheless, he convinced Delta executives to lend him a plane for the day and see how it went.
The Dream Flight has helped kids to fly, literally, for more than 25 years.
✈️ READ MORE: His colleagues said it would never happen. Here’s how it did
NEWS BITES
Instagram head says he doesn’t believe people get clinically addicted to social media
Feels like something the head of a social media company would say.
The Roots and two other Grammy-winning acts top this year’s Atlanta Jazz Festival
Memorial Day can’t come soon enough.
Did you know that people’s eyeballs change shape in space? They go all flat. Hopefully the VR experience isn’t that immersive.
Midday naps are actually good for your brain
Except for the ones when you wake up having forgotten your own name and the light outside is different and you don’t know whether you’ve slept for 20 minutes or 20 hours. Those are bad.
ON THIS DATE
Feb. 12, 1950
Celebrity breakfast honors Ga. writers … the Atlanta Branch, National League of American Pen Women Feb. 20 at the Piedmont Driving club. … Others to be honored will be Edna Maxwell, for her book of monologues, “She Says”; Byron Herbert Reece, for his novel, “Better a Dinner of Herbs” …
People sent in the most wonderful poems after I asked for your favorites yesterday. Someone mentioned Byron Herbert Reece, a poet, novelist and native son in the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. Producer Nicole was fascinated by this and wouldn’t you know it, she found a little write-up on him from this exact date. What are the odds? Thanks for the rec, Joseph.
ONE MORE THING
It’s that time again: What’s one thing you accomplished recently and one thing you’re grateful for? C’mon, give it a think. Positivity’s good for you!
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.
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