Morning, y’all! We all know what FOMO is — fear of missing out. I propose a subcategory of FOMO: FOMOD, or fear of missing outdoors. That’s when the day is so beautiful you feel guilty for not being outside. I see a lot of FOMOD (and hopefully plenty of actual outdoors activity) in our future.
Let’s get to it.
A LOOK AT POSSIBLE NEW PUBLIC SAFETY MEASURES ON KEMP’S DESK
Gov. Brian Kemp will have a pile of new bills on his desk after this year’s legislative session, and several of them could impact how you, fellow Georgian, interact in public places.
- Protests: Under current Georgia law, it’s a misdemeanor to “purposefully or recklessly” obstruct “any highway, street, sidewalk, or other public passage.” Senate Bill 443 would increase the penalties for this. If someone doesn’t clear a roadway after being asked, they could be “guilty of a high and aggravated misdemeanor.”
- Religious services: Georgia law currently protects funerals and memorial services from disruption, but Senate Bill 591 expands it to “any public assembly of persons for worship, religious observance, or other religious purpose.” This bill was created in response to the disruption of a church service in Minnesota during citywide protests this January, not the ICE arrest of a man attending a church service in Tucker last year.
Other public safety bills to watch:
- Senate Bill 433 provides for new police training on how to interact with people with autism and developmental disabilities.
- House Bill 535 would impose harsher minimum sentences for anyone convicted of trafficking fentanyl.
Kemp has 40 days to veto any bills. After that, they automatically get passed into law.
🔎 READ MORE: Other public safety measures that almost made the cut
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A DATA CENTER WHERE?!
A Texas-based real estate company called Digital Realty wants to build a data center in the middle of Atlanta proper, in the neighborhood of Adair Park.
Yes, Atlanta all but banned data centers within city limits two years ago, but the company still wants to anyway. They say it’s really important, but community members aren’t buying it.
- Digital Realty proposed a $500 million plan to plop a data center on a vacant film production park two miles southwest of downtown. The plot is near a MARTA station and the Beltline roughly. The Atlanta City Council outlawed data centers near MARTA and the Beltline two years ago.
- Digital Realty says it needs the data center to be downtown so it’s close to a company facility that acts like an information transmission hub.
- Adair Park residents say the plan doesn’t serve their needs and would eat up a valuable spot of land in a rapidly developing area.
Could it happen?
The proposal is working its way through neighborhood groups, and the City Council would have to grant an exemption from its recent bans. Some locals wonder what sort of message it would send to bow to the first data center plan challenging the city’s restrictions.
🔎 READ MORE: Digital Realty wants the facility to be “invisible”
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🧳 Delta will raise its checked bag fees for all domestic and short-haul international tickets purchased on or after today. Blame the price of jet fuel, which has skyrocketed since the war in Iran.
✈️ TSA workers will receive paychecks this Friday, but a longer- term solution is still pending. Congress will revisit a funding proposal when they return from recess next week.
💰 Insurance Commissioner John King has endorsed GOP gubernatorial hopeful Rick Jackson. He’s the most prominent statewide elected official to back Jackson as the billionaire attempts to overthrow early front-runner Lt. Gov. Burt Jones for the Republican nomination.
🌍 The president of the United States threatened mass murder against the people of Iran yesterday. His statement, which horrified Americans and those watching abroad, followed days of similar exclamations, including multiple threats to destroy power plants and bridges in Iran. That is a war crime under the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will.
CLOSE MARGIN
Republican Clay Fuller is headed to Congress after winning Tuesday’s runoff to serve the remainder of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s term. He will immediately relaunch his campaign, asking voters to elect him to a full two-year term in November.
Fuller’s victory was expected given the heavy Republican lean in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. Still, initial returns show a tighter race than when Greene was on the ballot in 2024 against Democrat Shawn Harris. Harris lost to Greene by 28 percentage points then. Fuller was beating Harris by just 12 points with 99% of the vote counted.
Fuller likely will be sworn in next week when members of the U.S. House return to Washington from a two-week recess.
🔎 READ MORE: What lawmakers, voters had to say about the results in this closely watched contest
THE GLAMOUR OF A BLACK COTILLION
Cotillions are a bit of a bygone thing but still serve strong symbolic purpose in some communities. Also known as debutante balls, they’re a chance for young women and men to ceremonially enter society.
- In Black Atlanta communities, debutante balls like last weekend’s Pink Cultured Pearls Cotillion showcase excellence and elegance.
- We don’t have nobility in the U.S., but these fetes attract the closest thing: Debutante Yolanda Renee King, the only grandchild of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, was one of the debutantes in attendance this weekend.
- “It felt like a way to step into this next chapter with intention,” she said.
👑 TODAY’S MUST-READ includes a lot of great history about how the rise of wealthy Black families led to a resurgence of cotillion culture and why it’s been seen as a form of defiance in the face of oppression.
NEWS BITES
Artemis II astronauts make long-distance call to the space station as they head home from the moon
“Dude, you’ll never guess where I am ...”
Another Buc-ees is coming to Georgia. It will be the fourth location in the state
The Reign of the Beaver knows no bounds.
The scene at the 2026 USA Jigsaw Nationals in Atlanta, where teams solve 2,000 pieces in 90 minutes
This is supposed to be a relaxing hobby! (Honestly, though, very impressive.)
Want to live longer? Research points to these 5 daily habits
1: Do your jigsaw puzzles as fast as possible.
ON THIS DATE
April 8, 1940
Army ‘shoots’ eclipse of sun in daring 35,000-foot flight. An experimental United States bomber went so high into the substratosphere after eclipse pictures Sunday that its four motors left a wake of frozen exhaust in the sky. ... the fliers had a few bad moments when their oxygen supply froze. Maj. George W. Goddard ... said he saw “six suns” when he looked back through his camera after an emergency tank of oxygen had been hooked up.
[Almost dies midair while taking pictures of an eclipse] “Yeah, we had a few bad moments.” At least the pictures were cool!
ONE MORE THING
“Cotillion” can also refer to a program of etiquette and deportment lessons for young people (which attendees of debutante balls certainly go through, as well). My husband narrowly escaped cotillion, which was somewhat of a tradition in his family. He still organizes the good silver in a disturbingly precise manner and knows more about formalwear than any other middle-aged dude I know.
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.
