Morning, y’all! It’s good to be back with you. I’ll be your cruise director for the next few days, when I’m not preparing some of our back-to-school coverage. Does summer break get shorter and shorter every year, or is it just me?
Let’s get to it.
JAIL RENO
Fulton County got approval for the $1.36 billion it needs to overhaul its jail. Yeah, that’s billion with a “b.” Reporter Reed Williams was there for the vote last night and said the decision wasn’t without controversy.
- A little-known jail authority in south Fulton County agreed to issue bonds periodically that the county will pay back from its general fund. With interest.
- But the Fulton County Commission will have to agree again each time a bond is issued over the life of the project, which could take a decade.
- Two of the five members of the authority’s board wanted to postpone the vote to give it more time for consideration.
Don’t forget, the feds told Fulton to fix the “abhorrent” conditions at the jail — so there’s some urgency here. But there’s still a long way to go.
🔎 READ MORE: Jail authority votes to authorize bond issuance for $1.3B Fulton jail project
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PARTY LINES
President Donald Trump is due to visit a Cobb County high school on Wednesday to talk about his savings plan for kids. But so far, the upcoming visit is putting the spotlight on something else: the local political tension.
- In a county full of Republican voters, Democrats hold most partisan offices. But the school board remains a GOP stronghold that has frequently forayed into national politics.
- In the five years I’ve been at the AJC, I’ve covered everything from face masks to critical race theory, antisemitism to immigration, book bans to Charlie Kirk — all through the lens of the Cobb County School District.
- As November looms closer, Trump’s visit to Wheeler High means that national politics will continue to seep into the local school board race.
We’ll be there tomorrow, so we’ll let you know how it goes.
🔎 READ MORE: Trump’s visit spotlights last major GOP foothold in Cobb County
GET YOUR SHIKO ON
Atlanta sprouts startup pro sports leagues like our lawns do summer weeds. Tennis (Intennse), dunking (Dunkman with TNT Sports) and Wiffle ball (Big League Wiffle Ball) are all setting up shop here. Next up? Sumo wrestling.
- Former Turner exec Stu Snyder is the visionary behind the Sumo Championship League. Atlanta will be the league’s HQ.
- Twenty wrestlers are committed to slipping on their mawashi loincloths (don’t call it a diaper), stomping to signal their readiness (that’s a shiko) and doing some belly-slapping grappling.
- Snyder ran the WWF (now WWE) earlier in his career and sees the potential to create sumo wrestling “superstars” a la the MMA’s and WWE’s best.
- The inaugural season’s schedule is a work in progress, but Atlanta will be on it.
🔎 Read more: Why sumo wrestling might work
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🚆 Welcome aboard the Plane Train. Please hold on: The union ratified its first contract. The workers operating the 24-hour transport at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport secured a five-year contract that included an immediate 18% wage increase, annual raises and paid time off.
💼 What’s going on in Stockbridge? The City Council stripped its newly elected mayor of his access to city property, funds and certain responsibilities. Now he’s under investigation based on “considerable evidence” from the city manager, city attorney and finance department.
📺 A federal judge pressed pause on a major media merger. Paramount and Warner Bros., the parent company of Atlanta-based CNN, must halt their merger for at least two weeks over concerns it may violate antitrust laws.
TOUCHING GRASS
As far as summer jobs go, helping to maintain the Oakland Cemetery is a pretty cool one, even in this heat. Nila Roper, the intern on the education team this summer, talked to the teens who are learning the value of a job well done.
- The Oakland Roots Academy trains students from Title I high schools along the MARTA corridor to be part of Atlanta’s green workforce.
- They’re doing work at the Oakland Cemetery like installing plants, constructing accessible walkways and painting the front gates — all for an hourly wage.
- It’s helping them navigate their own futures, a rising Clayton County senior said: “Being hands-on with the construction aspect of this job allows me to really see what that experience is like, and allows me to weigh my options.”
🔎 READ MORE: The next generation of Atlanta’s green workforce
NEWS BITES
VIDEO: How Atlanta became the most surveilled city in America
Watch our video about how you’re always being watched.
Thrifted Wilt Chamberlain Lakers jacket could get $150K at auction
I would gladly sell the leopard-print cargo pants I thrifted this weekend for a mere $10,000, if anyone is interested.
Cyclospora lettuce recall: How to wash produce safely
I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever eat a salad again.
ON THIS DATE
July 21, 1969
U.S. astronauts lift off after walk on the moon. Two U.S. spacemen launched themselves off the lunar surface Monday afternoon on the first leg of their long journey home from man’s first landing on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Ed “Buzz” Aldrin … landed on the moon in the Sea of Tranquillity at 40 seconds past 4:17 p.m. Sunday. Armstrong implanted man’s first footprint on the moon at 10:56 p.m. With his white-booted left foot in the moondust, Armstrong spoke man’s first words from the lunar surface: “That’s one small step for man, one giant (leap) for mankind.”
And one humongous headline for The Atlanta Journal.
ONE MORE THING
On the topic of wrestling and our temporary stints as newsletter writers, Adam Van Brimmer and I have been wondering what we would be called if we were a WWE tag team. We were stumped. The Ink-Stained Wretches? The Constitution Correspondents? The Lit-vengers? Or — and I have to say, this one was his idea — Urinal and Constipation? Feel free to send in your suggestions.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.