Morning, y’all! Do you think the world will end in fire or ice? Maybe not the question to pose first thing on a Monday morning, but today’s subject line reminded me of Robert Frost’s famous poem. So simple, so compelling. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the world will end in a burst of flowers, or a single contented sigh.
Let’s get to it.
RAIN NO MATCH FOR GEORGIA WILDFIRES
We got a bit of rain, but it did little to quench the fires burning in southeastern Georgia.
- The Highway 82 Fire, one of two large wildfires in the region, has doubled in size in recent days and exceeded 31 square miles as of Sunday.
- Gov. Brian Kemp said the fires have destroyed more than 120 homes in South Georgia, and nearly 1,000 more homes are threatened.
The AJC’s Adam Van Brimmer talked to a family in Brantley County who lost two homes, but were spared further destruction by quick action and the merciful whims of the wind. Their story puts a human face on the disaster.
“You see wildfires out west, in California, and think that’ll never happen here,” Jecie Enke said. “This is southeast Georgia. We got too much humidity. It rains too often. But not right now.”
The dangerous equation of a wildfire
- We know Georgia has seen an especially hot and dry season, but there’s another factor to the wildfire equation: wind.
- Zachary Handlos, a meteorology professor at Georgia Tech, says persistent southeast winds continue to blow warm, relatively dry air through the region, encouraging deadly fires to spread.
🔎 READ MORE: What to understand about wildfires
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NEW DATA ON GEORGIA ICE ARRESTS
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement recorded more than 13,600 arrests in Georgia from the beginning of the year through mid-March, new federal data shows.
- That’s a large increase from the same time period in 2025.
- To put it in perspective, ICE made about 22 arrests per day in Georgia during February 2025. In February 2026, the average was 41.
- Georgia is now the fifth-most prolific state for ICE arrests nationwide, behind Texas, Florida, California and New York — all states with significantly larger foreign-born populations.
- Although Georgia hasn’t attracted a large ICE presence like other states, our system of mandatory cooperation between local and federal law enforcement makes it easy for local law enforcement to flag and hold people for immigration agents.
🔎 READ MORE: Other insights from ICE arrests, detainment numbers
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🎤 Georgia candidates are in the middle of an 18-debate gauntlet that began Sunday and runs through Tuesday. The Atlanta Press Club’s Loudermilk-Young debate series coincides with the final stretch of Georgia’s primary season, and is the only opportunity some candidates will get to speak to a statewide audience. We’ll check in later in the week.
🤝 President Donald Trump called for unity and bipartisan healing after a gunman tried to rush the security perimeter around this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
SANFORD STADIUM’S NEW ROLE
Country superstars (and Georgia natives) Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan teamed up for a concert at the University of Georgia’s Sanford Stadium this weekend.
Why is that such a big deal? It was only the second concert held between the hedges in the stadium’s nearly 100-year history.
Even top football schools need a side hustle, apparently
In the age of athlete revenue sharing rules, athletic departments across the country are looking for other ways to bring in money. Not even juggernauts like UGA are immune.
More concerts are probably on the way, but it’s not UGA’s only new money-making method.
- Last season, Delta Air Lines became the first corporate partner to have its logo displayed on Sanford’s playing surface.
- Earlier this year, the NCAA approved advertising logos for uniforms.
🔎 READ MORE: What other schools are doing
THE SWARM IS BUZZING
The Georgia Swarm, our local professional lacrosse team, is headed to the next round of the National Lacrosse League playoffs.
- The Swarm gave the Buffalo Bandits the business at Gas South Arena this Saturday, winning 17-10. (Shoutout to Buffalo, whose sports fans travel like no other city.)
- It was my first Georgia Swarm game, and I have to tell you it was so, so much fun. People really show up; there were bells, dancing, kids’ activities, a very scary mascot and, of course, it helps that the team turned in a barn burner.
- I also loved the team and league’s very visible appreciation for indigenous athletes and fans, as well as their ancestors who invented the game.
- The Swarm face the Halifax Thunderbirds in the semifinals. The first in the best-of-three series is Saturday at Gas South Arena. You should absolutely go.
NEWS BITES
Braves induct Brian Snitker into team Hall of Fame
He called it “the greatest honor I could have in my baseball career.” 🥹
Coco Gauff overcomes vomiting on court to win match in Madrid Open
Weird winning tactic, but it worked.
Inside the world’s largest art heist worth more than $500M
What do you do with stolen paintings, anyway? You know what? Don’t answer that. We’ll all end up on some sort of list.
Need some writing inspiration? Try these tips from Atlanta authors
I can’t resist; I’ll add a few of mine at the end of the newsletter.
ON THIS DATE
April 27, 1993
Unknown comic gets ‘Late Night’ gig. NBC has hired an unknown comedy writer, Conan O’Brien, 30, to replace David Letterman as the host of its “Late Night” comedy and talk show. Mr. O’Brien’s only previous appearances on television have been as an unbilled background player in some sketches on “Saturday Night Live.”
Prior to landing his “Late Night” hosting gig, O’Brien’s writing credits included stints on “Not Necessarily the News,” “SNL” and “The Simpsons.”
ONE MORE THING
I’ve been writing for a long time, and here are the habits that keep me in tune with the practice:
- Journal every day or as often as you can. Handwritten. Don’t write for an audience and write whatever comes to mind, even if it makes you seem clinically diagnosable. Writers often shape things in anticipation of a certain type of reader. Stripping away that impulse helps you reconnect with your natural voice and instincts. It’s OK for that to scare you a little.
- Read constantly. Some say you don’t necessarily need to read a lot to write well. Yes you do. Why are you writing if you’re not reading? The mind boggles.
- Read poetry or listen to lyrically complex music. What does language sound and feel like in different arrangements? Find pleasure in the rhythm, melody and percussion of words.
- Keep a record of “glimmers.” These are things you encounter in your life that strike you as fascinating. It could be a melodious phrase, a fun fact or a detail that pokes at your imagination. A recent glimmer for me was the mention of a man in the AJC’s podcast “Who Blew Up the Guidestones?” whose job was to carve death dates on existing granite headstones. What fertile creative ground.
Happy Monday, and happy writing.
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.
