Morning, y’all! Happy Friday. As the late country bard George Jones said, I’ve got my motor runnin’ for a wild weekend. And by wild, I mean reading a lot and going to the grocery store.
Let’s get to it.
THE DA VS. THE JUDGE: A BREAKDOWN
We’ve been following the story of the DeKalb County district attorney who is trying to get a county judge removed from all criminal cases and other matters because the DA says the judge has a personal vendetta against her and tried to throw her in jail.
It’s a thorny one, but it’s slowly roping in bigger and bigger Georgia figures, so let’s get our heads around it:
The players:
- DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston
- DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Yolanda Parker-Smith
The beef:
- In 2023, Parker-Smith improperly threatened to jail Boston and two assistant DAs, according to the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission.
- Parker-Smith faces possible punishment by the Georgia Supreme Court, including removal from office.
- Boston claims Parker-Smith is biased against her and her staff. Boston’s lawyer says it’s a personal vendetta.
- Parker-Smith’s lawyer says the same thing about Boston, claiming the DA’s actions are driven “less by a legitimate basis grounded in recusal than by personal animus.”
What’s happening now:
- A fellow DeKalb Superior Court judge recently denied Boston’s request to recuse Parker-Smith. (Recusal is when a legal figure steps aside from a case because of a conflict of interest.)
- Now, Boston’s bringing out the big guns.
- She’s hired a former Georgia Supreme Court chief justice as a special prosecutor to get the state’s appellate courts to weigh in.
- Her latest legal moves are supported, in a written statement, by 14 district attorneys and 13 solicitors general from around Georgia.
Parker-Smith has an alleged history of this kind of behavior:
- The JQC says Parker-Smith violated the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct in several ways in the past.
- In 2024, she illegally jailed attorney Gerald Griggs, the past president of the Georgia NAACP, for being late to a hearing, the commission alleged.
Now, all of these legal minds are in a battle for what amounts to legal and procedural precedent. But, at the heart of it is what appears to be a very ugly feud between two public servants.
🔎 READ MORE: DA gets statewide support in fight against judge
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THE COOLEST THING MADE IN GEORGIA
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce holds an annual Coolest Thing Made in Georgia competition, and we have our 2026 winner: the Blue Bird Vision Electric school bus.
- The bus, manufactured in Fort Valley, beat out runner-up TifTuf drought-tolerant Bermuda grass in a final round.
- More than 4,000 of the electric buses are now operating across the country. That national appeal tipped the scales for chamber officials, who say the buses show Georgia’s continued strength in advanced manufacturing.
- Blue Bird, founded in Fort Valley, will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2027.
- Fun fact: Its Vision Electric line first debuted at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
- “This award belongs to all of our employees who come to work every day at our Macon, our Perry, and our Fort Valley facilities,” said Blue Bird’s general counsel Ted Scartz.
- All very cool, but I live in one of those “everyone cares a LOT about their lawn” neighborhoods, and many of my neighbors would be very interested to hear more about that Bermuda grass.
🔎 READ MORE: How Blue Bird says electric buses help students
🚌 Additional fun fact: Before automobiles, horse-drawn carriages that transported children to school were called “kid hacks.” (Hackney was a word for a hired carriage.)
LETTING BYGONES BE BYGONES
“He worked hard. He’s smart. He’s created thousands of jobs, given opportunity to thousands of Georgians, and has the character to be our next governor.” — Gov. Brian Kemp on GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson
“I’m going to try my best to be at least as good and build off that legacy.” — Rick Jackson on Gov. Brian Kemp
Well, that could have been awkward! Kemp and Jackson united at the Georgia Chamber’s annual congressional luncheon for the first time since Jackson’s party-rattling primary win.
If you recall, Kemp made a last-minute decision to back Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the GOP primary instead of Jackson, which ended in a humbling defeat.
Now, they’re putting on a united front as Jackson takes on Democratic nominee and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🐘 The Republican mayors of Valdosta and Tifton are both backing U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s bid for reelection over his GOP challenger, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins. They told the AJC the work Ossoff’s done for their communities outweighs partisan differences.
🌿 80 Acres Farms, a vertical farming startup, is shutting down its metro Atlanta operations. The Ohio-based startup raised millions of dollars and promised a significant investment in Georgia, but says a potential acquisition fell apart.
NEWS BITES
Meta says its AI hacked another company, adding to worries about bots going rogue
AI-on-AI aggression!
Rubber ducks by the thousands splash into Chicago River for Special Olympics fundraiser
Almost as cool as the event: the cleanup.
A former GA high school coach charged with stealing $65K from booster club, police say
Yikes.
Meet the Georgia content creator going behind the scenes at your favorite concerts
He posts interviews with crews on major tours — a very cool way to show how much work, and expertise, goes into a great show.
ON THIS DATE
Aug. 7, 1932
Georgia expects 2,000,000 visitors for bicentennial. With the double object of fostering Georgians’ knowledge of their own state, and recalling to the rest of the country the two hundred years of progress which have elapsed since General James Edward Oglethorpe landed with his companions at Yamacraw Bluff, the Georgia Bicentennial Commission Saturday mailed out 2,700 pamphlets outlining the scope of the celebration to leaders all over the state.
We’re going to have to get ready for our tricentennial soon!
ONE MORE THING
I am not making this up — the very first conversation I had with a new neighbor (or, rather, was subjected to) when we moved into our current home was about a War-of-the-Roses-style clash between two houses with competing grass types. I never had strong opinions on zoysia vs. fescue, and still don’t, but boy, some people do! Human minds nurture an endless variety of passions, and I think that’s beautiful.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.