Morning, y’all! Here’s your meteorological term of the day: heat dome. It’s when an area of high pressure traps hot air underneath it and blocks cooling winds and rain, kind of like an invisible greenhouse.
All that to say, it’s gonna be another long, hot week. Blame the dome.
Let’s get to it.
MORE ICE ARRESTS MEAN MORE CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE
What happens to the children of people arrested, detained and deported by ICE?
In Georgia, many are landing in an already-strapped foster care system.
- There were 83 immigrant children in Georgia state custody during the six-month stretch from October 2025 to March 2026.
- That’s up from 46 children during the same six-month period one year prior, according to data from the Georgia Department of Human Services.
- These displaced children make up a fraction of the roughly 12,700 in foster care, group homes or institutions in Georgia. However, experts say any influx taxes the underfunded system.
- The DHS Division of Family and Children Services faced an $86 million budget shortfall last fall, leading the agency to suspend or eliminate funding for multiple foster care contracts.
- One expert says such children, who may not speak very good English and are dealing with unthinkable trauma, also have unique needs.
- Even noncitizen children have historically qualified for child protective services.
🔎 READ MORE: Case workers describe the difficult path for immigrant kids
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NEIGHBORS FED UP WITH NOISE FROM PULLMAN YARDS
Pullman Yards, an entertainment and event complex nestled cheek-to-jowl with residential blocks east of downtown, is a difficult neighbor.
Anyone in the Kirkwood community knows the complaints: events that go late into the night at teeth-rattling volumes, congestion on small neighborhood roads, dangerous traffic patterns.
It’s such a common topic, Atlanta City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari guesses the Pullman Yards drama took up more of her time in four years on the City Council than any other issue.
How are these disruptions allowed, and what will it take to stop them? Residents are at a loss.
- According to Atlanta’s city events manager, “Pullman Yards, is not under the Mayor’s Office of Special Events’ purview.” The Atlanta mayor’s office also says the site isn’t regarded as an “outdoor venue” and isn’t subject to such permits.
- In other words, the site doesn’t need to go through a permitting process that other organizers of other big events have to complete. This means no recourse for the noise and the congestion.
- Adam Rosenfelt, co-owner of Pullman Yards, told the AJC the site has special regulations because it has historical significance. Those regulations allow the spaces at Pullman Yards to be used as “convention halls, places of assembly, and similar uses.”
While these explanations may settle the question for some, community members, local leaders and even lawyers say they’re not good enough.
🔎 READ MORE: Lots of juicy neighborhood drama with very real repercussions
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
✈️ Delta has seen record revenue from higher fares, but fuel costs from the Iran war have cut into the carrier’s profit. Put a different way, paying customers have subsidized higher operational costs for the company, but not enough to make the big arrow go up for shareholders.
🏠 Rick Jackson won the GOP nomination for Georgia governor on the back of his “foster care to billionaire” story. Now that he’s officially up for the job, how will his policies advocate for Georgia’s struggling foster care system?
THE WORLD CUP’S TASTY ATLANTA LEGACY
Atlanta’s last World Cup match is this week. Sad!
On the whole, the World Cup has brought several successes to the city (and several significant disappointments, to be sure). Now that we’re nearing the end, AJC restaurant critic and food reporter Henri Hollis takes a look at how the event could reshape Atlanta’s restaurant scene.
He notes some key issues:
- Food businesses that saw the World Cup as a way to kickstart longer strategies seem to have had better success than those with a short-term, event-long view.
- The success of events like the FIFA Fan Fest and the positive international impression of Atlanta could reshape public perception of previously neglected downtown areas. That could lead to more business for local establishments.
🔎 READ MORE: What’s worked for local restaurants, what hasn’t, and what to hope for
NEWS BITES
Passengers pull back man partly sucked out of broken window on a flight
New mortal fear unlocked! (The word “partly” invites lots of horrifying questions but yes, the man survived.)
How to stay safe and still enjoy produce this summer with the outbreak of diarrhea-causing parasite
Two mortal fears in one day? Lucky us.
We’re seeing a slow comeback of simpler cars
Remember when you didn’t need a computer science degree to repair something small on your own car? When you didn’t need to take off the whole back bumper to replace a tail light? Remember when air filters didn’t require you to remove the passenger’s seat to change them? Oh, this rant could go on and on.
Five summer novels more substantive than your typical beach read
Get in loser, we’re reading Dostoevsky on the beach.
ON THIS DATE
July 13, 1894
Sprained her tongue. Waterbury, Conn. — Mrs. Jonas T. Taylor, of this city, is suffering from a peculiar accident. While she was paying a visit to her parents in Winsted a few weeks ago she sprained her tongue while laughing. Nothing was thought of it at the time. She believed, of course, that the trouble would soon disappear. Mrs. Taylor returned to her home and the pain increased and her tongue began to swell. … she went to a New York hospital, where she received treatment for a while … (and) has now returned home.
Rule of three? I promise — no more mortal fears throughout the rest of today’s newsletter.
ONE MORE THING
Getting back to the hot weather …
When I lived in Syracuse, I knew a young man who claimed he “trained his body to not feel cold.” He routinely ventured out in jean shorts and T-shirts in the middle of the central New York winter and seemed to expect people would be impressed.
Maybe there’s an inverted Southern species, a type of dude who insists he’s impervious to heat and stalks about in sweatshirts in July.
Gentlemen, you do not need to do this! You are very strong, we believe you. Please drink some water.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.