A.M. ATL: Feeding frenzy

Morning, y’all! Did you know people who vote in their local and state primary elections are 80% more likely to be cool and attractive? It’s totally true. Today is the last day to register to vote before May’s primaries and April’s early voting dates. Double-check your voter status here and brush up on the main primary races here.

Let’s get to it.

THE GOOD KIND OF FOOD FIGHT

Legal professionals organize boxes for food donations at the Atlanta Community Food Bank in Atlanta. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Lawyers are a competitive lot. Starting today, they’ll be putting their famed tenacity toward a worthy cause during the 15th annual Georgia Legal Food Frenzy.

• The event is hosted by the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Over the next two weeks, firms and practitioners across the state will donate or solicit at least the equivalent of one billable hour with the goal of generating more than $1 million for food banks.
• People get really into it. They form teams, Georgia’s law schools get involved and many participants also volunteer their time to sort donated items.
• To date, the Legal Food Frenzy has raised more than $6.6 million for Georgia food banks, representing over 29 million meals.

I love this insight from Feeding Georgia Executive Director Julie Kuykendall:

“That’s not just a number. That’s a child who didn’t go to bed hungry. That’s a senior who didn’t have to choose between food and medicine. That’s a family who had one less burden to carry.”

🔎 READ MORE: The legal community’s contributions by the numbers

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ATLANTA WEIGHS IN ON NEW CDC HEAD NOM

Dr. Erica Schwartz is nominated to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Courtesy of US Department of Health and Human Services)

President Donald Trump’s nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz as the next head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has inspired cautious optimism among Atlanta health professionals.

Who is Dr. Schwartz?

• Erica Schwartz is a retired rear admiral who served as Deputy Surgeon General during Trump’s first term.
• She was also Chief Medical Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard from 2015 to 2019. She holds degrees in biomedical engineering, public health and law.
• Schwartz is also a proponent of vaccines, which used to be a given for one of the country’s highest public health leaders but isn’t anymore.

What are people saying?

There’s a lot to fix at the CDC: “You’re putting a director in place into an organization that is so deeply dismantled that it’s going to take much longer than a year or six months to get it up and functioning the way that it was just a year and a half ago,” said Abby Tighe, who was fired from the CDC last year and is now the executive director of the National Public Health Coalition.

Public trust and reliable info are critical: “As a clinician, I rely upon the CDC for so many things, for so much evidence that sort of translates into my clinical practice. And so, I think, this regrouping and, hopefully, new direction will help us have a more reliable partner in the CDC,” said Dr. Stephen Patrick, a newborn ICU doctor at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

🔎 READ MORE: What else Atlanta health professionals want to see

A MOMENT OF SILENCE

Tianah Robinson, the 16-year-old girl killed in a Piedmont Park shooting in early April, was mourned by family, friends and community members at a funeral service at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church this weekend.

The teen’s killer hasn’t been found, and the tragedy prompted calls for better safety measures in the area. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who attended the funeral, has pledged change.

🕊️ READ MORE: How family will remember their beloved ‘Princess Tianah’

We’re also thinking of our friends in Louisiana today. Eight children, including seven siblings, were killed in a domestic mass shooting in Shreveport this weekend. The suspect died after a police pursuit.

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

💰 Starting today, qualifying businesses can apply for refunds for Trump administration tariffs that were eventually deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

✈️ Airline flight costs are getting uglier by the day as the war in Iran drags on. Advice for summer travelers? Act quickly, because jet fuel stores are dwindling.

DON’T TREAD IN THE RED

Purple bus goes in red lane. Not purple bus? No red lane. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

MARTA’s long-delayed Rapid A-Line bus project debuted this weekend. The rapid bus system connects downtown, Summerhill and Peoplestown neighborhoods.

🟢 The system works by utilizing red bus-only lanes.

🔴 The system does not work if non-buses are in the bus-only lane.

Capisce? No go in red lane. Red for bus. Are you bus? No. You are 2006 Toyota Highlander. Red lane not for you.

🔎 READ MORE: Details on the project, routes, availability

ATLANTA’S ANGEL

Basketball superstar Angel Reese is finally in Atlanta, and she bigged up her new team and new city during a new player news conference.

What keeps Angel dreaming of a WNBA championship?

“Being able to push everybody every single day and also have a sisterhood that really pushes me,” she said.

NEWS BITES

Hey, look at that — the Atlanta Braves are in first place in the NL East

Keep up the momentum, boys! Only … five more months until the playoffs.

Ultra-fast humanoid robot wins half marathon race, beats human record

New mortal fear unlocked: being chased by an ultra-fast humanoid robot.

You can put beef tallow and salmon sperm on your face. But should you?

A question that’s plagued philosophers for centuries.

Life jacket worn by Titanic survivor auctioned off for over $900,000