Morning, y’all! Repeat after me: We will not get excited about the nice weather. It is only February. The cold will soon return.
Let’s get to it.
FBI RAID PROMPTS ELECTION ACTIVISM
Democratic lawmakers are urging Fulton County voters to turn out in numbers to rebuke the Trump administration-led FBI raid on the county’s election offices.
- At a “Social Justice Sunday” service, Sen. Jon Ossoff said the FBI raid is an attempt to suppress Black votes in Georgia.
- District Attorney Fani Willis and other community leaders drew a direct line from the Civil Rights movement to the Trump administration’s present actions.
- Several attendees told the AJC the incident will mobilize Black Fulton voters.
🔎 READ MORE: Some see public response to the raid as a ‘generational test’
The raid also moved a Norcross attorney to run for a state Senate seat.
Rahul Garabadu is a voting rights lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.
“The FBI raid was the exact type of intimidation I’ve spent years challenging in court: a blatant attempt to suppress the right to vote,” he said.
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PSC MOVES FORWARD WITH GEORGIA POWER PLAN
The Public Service Commission won’t reconsider its approval of a Georgia Power project to make a slew of new power plants to juice up Georgia’s data centers.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing several other environmental groups, filed a formal request for the PSC to reconsider.
The motion warns the data centers may never come, and could leave residents with billions in extra costs.
🔎 READ MORE: PSC dismisses request as ‘second bite at the apple’
WHEN IN ROME
President Donald Trump visits Rome (our Rome, that is) today. He’s supposed to be showcasing his economic agenda, but the visit will also serve as a test of his influence in the area. These key issues will be hanging in the air:
- The January FBI raid. Trump hasn’t been shy about reopening 2020 grievances that even many sympathetic GOP leaders see as a done deal.
- Marjorie Taylor Greene. Rome is the former U.S. Representative’s home base, and Greene’s parting with Trump wasn’t friendly. Trump has endorsed former prosecutor Clay Fuller in the March race to replace her.
- The future Georgia governor: Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is Trump’s guy in the Georgia governor’s race, but the surprise entry of billionaire Rick Jackson could change the dynamic, especially since Jackson promises he’d be “Trump’s favorite governor.”
- The current Georgia governor: Gov. Brian Kemp won’t be in town for Trump’s visit, but there’s an uneasy aura to their relationship. They seem cordial, but now that the 2020 voting issue is back on the table, old wounds could surface.
🔎 READ MORE: Where Trump fits into current Georgia politics
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
⚕️ The director of the National Institutes of Health will also lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for now, in a decision insiders called a “disaster.” The arrangement could last until Trump appoints a new CDC director.
✂️ The Georgia Senate unveiled a 2026 spending plan that features both income tax cuts and property tax cuts. Both have been legislative priorities for the GOP.
FOR LOVE OF PARKS
Public parks across the city of Atlanta and DeKalb County are set to receive a major boost through $3.5 million in grants from the nonprofit Park Pride.
The funding will support enhancements at 19 parks, with over 60% of the funding going to projects in historically disinvested areas of the city. Upgrades range from new playgrounds and outdoor gathering spaces to revamped entrances and parking lots.
- Park Pride has invested over $10 million in underserved communities since 2021, said Andrew White, the nonprofit’s director of grantmaking and implementation.
- The grant announcement comes as the city and the nonprofit roll out their “Love Your Park” initiative, a monthlong community service effort aiming to activate 1,000 volunteers in parks across Atlanta.
- Volunteers are spreading out to tackle “low-cost, high-impact” projects such as litter cleanups, mulching and weeding garden beds, removing invasive plants and restoring natural habitats.
🌳 READ MORE: See which park upgrades are getting the green light
NEWS BITES
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Grandpa would be proud.
Loose dog makes Olympic cameo on the ski course at Winter Games
The dog was probably chuffed to see so many people cheering.
Olympic curling has turned into a betting magnet
First, intense player drama and now gambling? Curling is the new edgy sport.
What they’re not plotting: sensible parking lots.
ON THIS DATE
Feb. 19, 2001
Tragedy marks passing of an era. Dale Earnhardt is gone, having been cast into a wall during a last-stretch battle in the biggest race he and his kind know. One day, this will be appended to his legend as a somehow fated and heroic end. One day, they’ll speak of Earnhardt in the almost romantic terms of the great Fireball Roberts, killed in a flaming wreck in Charlotte 37 years ago. How else could racing continue, if it did not treasure its martyrs? Today, though, there is nothing but bowel-twisting shock.
Wow, this is grim. It’s certainly a choice, too, to describe the tragically departed as “gone, having been cast into a wall.”
ONE MORE THING
Kind of surprised we haven’t gotten a data center horror/thriller movie. It has some creepy potential, right?
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.
