A.M. ATL: Here comes the vroom

Morning, y’all! Another partial I-285 closure was supposed to happen this weekend, but the stormy forecast has forced a rain check. Now that the World Cup is over, we’ll be seeing more fun weekend traffic disruptions as crews get back to rebuilding the famously bottlenecked I-285 westside corridor.

Let’s get to it.

AND NOW WE WAIT

An aerial image shows South Downtown, an area where numerous businesses are being revitalized across 16 acres and more than 50 buildings. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Over the last few years, millions of dollars have been poured into the rejuvenation of Atlanta’s South Downtown area. Now, developers are taking a pause.

• Property owners in the 10-block neighborhood say they invested $140 million into renovating their historic buildings.
• That’s resulted in a slew of new restaurants, shops, startup offices, residential lofts and other gathering spaces.
• Part of the development boom was in anticipation of the World Cup. Now that it’s over, South Downtown’s owners say their project team is pausing new construction to see what’s working and what’s not.
• There’s still plenty of other building in the area. Nearby, the $5 billion Centennial Yards minicity in the former Gulch is a hive of construction activity. The new owner of the former CNN Center, now known as The Center (stylized as “The CTR,” which is painful to type) is also moving forward with a reimagining of the hulking mixed-use complex.

🔎 READ MORE: Why South Downtown investors are using a startup playbook

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ATLANTA SCHOOLS ARE GETTING SECURITY DRONES

Drone Sgt. Shaquita Kent said the aircraft can examine a property more broadly, reaching areas officers can't see. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Atlanta Public Schools is adding tactical and drone teams to its police force in an effort to address school security.

• APS has two drones that monitor outdoor areas, and the tactical team will respond to indoor threats.
• Teams have trained over the summer to be ready for the upcoming school year, APS police Chief Ronald Applin said.
• The new teams are part of a larger focus on school safety across Georgia following the 2024 mass shooting at Apalachee High School.
• Following statewide legislation passed in 2025, Georgia’s public schools receive roughly $68,000 per school in state grants to spend on security measures, such as cameras, officers, crisis-response training or mental health support.

🔎 READ MORE: What we saw at a demonstration of the tactical and drone teams

Meanwhile, Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee shooter Colt Gray, was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday. The elder Gray was found guilty of 29 charges related to his son’s attack, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children.

Earlier this week, 16-year-old Colt Gray was sentenced to life without parole.

Colin Gray is the third parent nationwide, and the first in Georgia, prosecuted for a mass school shooting committed by their child.

🔎 READ MORE: The judge explains his decision

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

🗣️ U.S. Rep. Mike Collins was confronted with a barrage of questions about a new controversy during a recent campaign event. Recent reports revealed that Collins’ son-in-law’s social media accounts contained white nationalist content, Nazi imagery and conspiracy theories. Collins is challenging U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in the midterms.

✈️ Did you know gambling is outlawed on commercial aircraft? That hasn’t stopped sports betting company DraftKings from partnering with Delta for betting-themed (but not actual betting) in-flight entertainment.

🏙️ Invest Fest, a popular entrepreneurial and financial literacy conference, is coming to Atlanta in August. However, the event’s founders say they’re not getting enough support from the city, and may not return.

HOW’D THOSE BARRIERS GET THERE?

Concrete bike lane barriers line Cherokee Avenue Southeast on Monday, July 13, 2026. (Ben Hendren for the AJC)

In May, the Atlanta Department of Transportation added concrete barriers to the inside of a bike lane on Cherokee Avenue in an attempt to further protect cyclists from cars.

Since then, cars have hit and gotten stuck on the barriers at least three times.

Driving is hard.

🚧 READ MORE: Definitely still a million times better than hitting a person

YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD FORMULA 1 RACE

“I can see this could be a fun event, but this is not the place that it should be happening.”

That’s the understatement of the day from a Neighborhood Planning Unit member talking about the Formula 1 racing event that will be held on the streets of Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood this Saturday.

• The Red Bull Showrun, a live high-speed motorsports demonstration, will feature Formula 1 cars burning out and doing donuts on a roughly half-mile stretch of Hank Aaron Drive.
• Oh, and the “track” (neighborhood road) also intersects with MARTA’s brand-new rapid bus line which is active but still under construction. Regular bus routes will also be disrupted for days.
• Unsurprisingly, MARTA and area residents are very, very unhappy that Atlanta city officials approved permits for the event.
• Even weirder: The “cars going very fast and being very loud” festival was originally going to be held in Piedmont Park (???!!??!), but Midtown residents complained. Summerhill residents must feel a way about that.

🏎️ READ MORE: Lots of questions about this one

NEWS BITES

Tanning is hot again. Here’s what it does to your skin

Young people are returning to the cancer tubes because of social media hype. We don’t have enough time to unpack that.

An AJC Food & Dining reporter judged a kid’s cooking competition. Here’s what they came up with

A mess. They made a mess.

Some robotaxis approved to operate without steering wheels and losing the brake pedal could be next

Sure, someone 150 years ago probably said they’d “never get in a carriage without a horse” and we know how that turned out.