Morning, y’all! Does anyone even write with pencil anymore? I bet kids today don’t hear “pencils down” after their tests. It really is the ideal writing instrument — well, that and its futuristic cousin, the erasable pen.
Let’s get to it.
LEGISLATURE’S LAST DAY
Welcome to Sine Die, the last day of the annual Georgia General Assembly. Laws were penned. Budgets were budgeted. By the end of today, we’ll have a clearer look at what got done this year (and what didn’t).
Some bills that are already sailing to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk:
- House Speaker Jon Burns’ early learning and literacy measure, which would change teaching methods and add literacy coaches to every Georgia public school.
- A bill that would expand the elementary and middle school cellphone ban to all Georgia high schools as well.
- A set of AI guardrails that would protect patients from AI insurance decisions and remind chatbot users they were talking to a computer.
🔎 READ MORE: The good, the bad and the (very) ugly from the 2026 session
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NEW ICE REVIEW COOLS GA WAREHOUSE PLANS
ICE is hitting pause on its strategy of buying large warehouses to imprison tens of thousands of people. That could be an opportunity for cities like Social Circle, where local leaders have pushed back on the plans.
- The Department of Homeland Security is reviewing planned and existing warehouse purchases, leading to a “pencils down” situation in Social Circle, where one of the largest warehouse prisons would be built.
- New DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the department is “reviewing agency policies and proposals.” Mullin took the DHS job after President Donald Trump dismissed former head Kristi Noem.
- Oakwood’s city manager says he hopes that means the DHS will communicate more with local officials and listen to their concerns about the warehouse prison’s impact on the community.
🔎 READ MORE: There’s been “zero dialogue” with city, Oakwood manager says
JUDGE ENDS SUIT FROM SLAIN PROTESTER’S FAMILY
The Georgia State Patrol officers who shot and killed a “Stop Cop City” protester were ultimately “reasonable” in their actions, a judge has ruled.
- The judge noted 26-year-old Manuel Paez Teran shot at officers first, wounding one. Paez Teran’s parents contend officers exacerbated the encounter.
- The ruling ends a suit brought by the family against two GSP officers, claiming false arrest and excessive force.
- Paez Teran’s death was a tragic punctuation amid years of protest and pushback against Atlanta’s sprawling new police training center.
🔎 READ MORE: Parents say they’re not done fighting
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🏛️ Republican leaders announced a plan to end the partial government shutdown by agreeing to fund all of the Department of Homeland Security except U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol.
💸 A major financial services firm has agreed to repay nearly $6.7 million to more than 40 investors who lost money in the collapse of the politically connected First Liberty Building & Loan.
⚡️ Georgia Power says it will cost more than half a billion dollars above previous estimates to clean up its toxic coal ash ponds across the state. Those charges will eventually wind up in customers’ monthly utility bills.
GEORGIA SWARM IN CHICAGO
While I was in the Windy City I caught the Field Museum’s “Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories” exhibit, which features modern Indigenous creators talking about how their lives connect to their traditions.
And oh, hey, here’s the Georgia Swarm!
- You likely know lacrosse is a pre-colonial American sport. It’s cool to see modern athletes that have this cultural connection.
- The Georgia Swarm has several indigenous players.
- “It’s just as important for us to celebrate the triumphs of Native players in the sport today,” the exhibit read.
- That respect goes both ways — the Swarm just celebrated Native Heritage Night a few weeks ago.
NEWS BITES
Registration for the 2026 Peachtree Road Race is open
We’re only three months away from July!
... wait, how are we only three months away from July?!
Braves’ Chris Sale was ‘sick as a dog’ during strong outing against A’s
Yeah, he had that dawg in ‘em. And that dawg had a tummy ache.
Hershey will shift back to classic recipes for all Reese’s products after criticism
By “classic recipes” they mean “the ones that contain more actual chocolate.”
My spirit exited the room and took a walk around the block when I read this one. The message that was deemed potentially “intimidating” to men? “When HR called it harmless flirting … we called it exhibit A." Exponential levels of irony. Props to this legal queen.
ON THIS DATE
April 2, 1960
Satellite sending back weather photos by TV in U.S. breakthrough. The first artificial satellite able to provide detailed photographs of the earth’s weather was fired into orbit early Friday. Two television cameras looking down from an altitude of about 450 miles made initial pictures of earthly cloud patterns on the satellite’s second orbitable trip. … For weather experts, Friday’s successful launching held some of the promise the discovery of the telescope must have held for astronomers. … Essentially, launching of the new satellite is merely an experiment — a vital but early step on the way to practical advances.
More than half a century later, NASA’s high‑stakes journey around the moon carries that same spirit forward, a reminder that our biggest moments in space begin as tentative, hopeful steps.
ONE MORE THING
No, seriously, how are we only three months away from July?
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.
