A.M. ATL: Show your work

Morning, y’all! I’m settling into newsletter writing like Spain is settling into being the World Cup champ; like Bryce and Trinity are settling into life outside the villa; like parasites are settling into lettuce. What I’m trying to say is, I like it here.

Let’s get to it.

COP CITY CONSULT

(Photo Illustration: Chris Skinner for the AJC / Source: Miguel Martinez for the AJC, File, Getty)

What can you buy with almost $1 million? The city of Atlanta can’t really say. And after digging through more than two years’ worth of emails, memos and invoices, neither can reporters Thad Moore and Riley Bunch.

• For more than two years, former City Clerk Foris Webb III collected $35,000 per month from the city of Atlanta to help it navigate the efforts to “Stop Cop City” — even after those efforts were put on hold.
• The city brought him out of retirement to consult on the first-of-its-kind attempt to put the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in the hands of voters. His job was to help validate the signatures on the petition that would have triggered a citywide vote.
• But more than a year of his time (worth $420,000 per his contract) is unaccounted for in the public records the city has released, Thad and Riley found.
• The whole thing ended with a bit of a whimper: The training center opened, Webb stopped billing the city in the fall and leaders are still looking for answers.

🔎 READ MORE: Atlanta paid him more than the mayor. It has little record of his work.

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BRAKES AND BABIES

Presidential visits bring presidential traffic jams. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

President Donald Trump is coming to town today. Here’s some news you can use for his visit.

First, let’s talk traffic:

• If you’re driving anywhere in or around Marietta this afternoon, expect things to be clogged up.
• Trump will be coming into Dobbins Air Reserve Base and heading to Wheeler High, where he’s expected to speak at 3 p.m. His plane could arrive as early as 1:30 p.m. and depart as late as 5:30 p.m., breaking news intern Alex Nettles reports.
• Parts of I-75, Cobb Parkway and Delk Road could be closed before and after the event for the motorcade to pass through — meaning your drive home could be interrupted.

🔎 READ MORE: Trump’s visit to Cobb school could impact traffic during evening commute

Next, your bank account:

• The federal government is giving $1,000 to children born between 2025 and 2028. That’s what Trump will be touting at Wheeler High.
• It goes into an account similar to your IRA. You can add money each year and accrue interest, but your child can’t access the funds until adulthood.
• There are a lot of caveats that education reporter Martha Dalton explains neatly for us. Send her story to your friends and family with newborns.

🔎 READ MORE: Interested in opening a Trump Account? Here’s how they work.

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

🏢 Investors are buying up office space in anticipation of a market rebound. For now, the buildings with interesting stories and modern conveniences are king.

💰 Look twice before donating this election season. A new study found close to 300 websites tied to Georgia campaigns to be fraudulently selling merchandise and collecting donations in candidates’ names.

🌩️ The Weather Channel app now comes with a dose of nostalgia. Android and iOS users can click the “retro” toggle in the in-app settings and see weather data that looks like it’s from a 1980s and 1990s TV broadcast, with smooth jazz playing in the background.

SPRICY?!

It’s a mystery I’ll be taking straight to every group chat I’m in: Why did Coca-Cola trademark the word “Spricy”?

• The Atlanta-based beverage company filed a trademark application for the word “Spricy” earlier this month under the goods and services category for soft drinks.
• Details are sparse, but one expert told reporter Amy Wenk that a big company won’t usually make a filing like this “unless they have something in the works that’s pretty serious internally.”
• It could be referencing a new product or a marketing slogan combining “Sprite” and “spicy.” Or it could be nothing.

At least for a little while, it’ll be my new catchphrase.