Morning, y’all! We’ll start with a bit of good news: Two little girls abducted by their babysitter in Atlanta over the weekend were found safe by police yesterday after a collaborative investigation and all-night search. Whew. Someone buy those officers a coffee.
Let’s get to it.
ATLANTA ACTIVIST’S CASE PUTS PRIVACY IN THE SPOTLIGHT
A “Stop Cop City” activist who rallied against the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center is facing federal charges following a 2025 encounter at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The unusual nature of the case has attracted national attention and debate.
Authorities say Sam Tunick gave Customs officers a passcode that deleted his phone’s contents when they asked to search it. Tunick says his activism made him a target.
The case highlights the clash between the public’s expectation of privacy and the government’s contention that warrantless searches of phones and other electronics help keep Americans safe.
What he was charged with and why
- Tunick was allowed to leave the airport the day of the encounter but was apprehended by police and indicted by a federal grand jury nine months later.
- He is charged with destruction of property to prevent its seizure, a felony that could carry five years in prison.
- Tunick has never been convicted of a crime, nor charged with any crime in relation to his activism against the training center.
- An expert told the AJC a destruction of property charge usually applies to physical evidence, and this is the first they’ve heard of it applying to digital evidence.
What Tunick and his lawyers say
- According to his legal team, evidence in the case shows Homeland Security investigators contacted CBP officials the day Tunick returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic.
- The email claimed Tunick was under investigation for “suspected terrorist activities” and asked agents to detain him, search his baggage, seize all of his electronics and collect passcodes.
- Tunick’s attorneys say he posed no national security threat and the agents were looking for information about him and others who opposed the training center.
The questions that remain
The case has invited big questions about where a person’s right to privacy ends and the government’s right to warrantless search begins.
- “Individuals who destroy or attempt to destroy property, including data, to prevent lawful search and seizure should expect to face prosecution and punishment for their actions,” a U.S. attorney told the AJC in a statement.
- One of Tunick’s attorneys likened the case to closing the door when an officer asks to search a residence: “No warrant, no permission, no question of any sort of criminal activity.”
🔎 READ MORE: Everything to know about the case, and why Tunick says he’s been on the government’s radar for a while
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WHY ROADWORK DELAYS HAPPEN
Death, taxes, humidity, constant construction on major thoroughfares: all inevitabilities in our fair city.
AJC Gridlock Guy Doug Turnbull took an intense look at what causes scheduled Atlanta road work to go past daily deadlines — which has happened a lot recently. As tempting as it is to think the traffic powers that be just want to torture us, no one actually wins when road work drags on.
Turnbull found the two biggest culprits are equipment issues and weather.
- A Georgia Department of Transportation spokesperson says the agency studies and tries to learn from every logistical issue that leads to an overage.
- Contractors can actually face fines from GDOT if closing overages cause damage.
- It’s an incredibly complex endeavor, and even something like asphalt supplies can keep crews from clearing work.
- Turnbull says the state could do better keeping an open line of communication with road crews. And, of course, he points out we can do our part by driving cautiously through construction stretches.
🔎 READ MORE: Consider this article an antidote to road rage
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🔋 DeltaX, a Korean company that builds large batteries, will invest $141 million to establish its North American manufacturing headquarters in Walton County. The battery energy storage systems, or BESS (BESSes? Who knows), it produces are seen as a solution for the surging energy demands of data centers.
🍖 Did you know Georgia was the first state to establish its own meat inspection program in 1969? A new Cooperative Interstate Shipment agreement will allow Georgia-inspected meat processors to ship their products anywhere in America. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins explains.
ROSIE THE RIVETER, GEORGIA STYLE
The Tulsa Welding School is one of the nation’s top trade schools, and it just opened a metro Atlanta campus in Decatur.
The president of the new campus is Tamekia Morris, a passionate advocate for getting more women into skilled trades.
- She says such skills give women more options when facing a labor shortage and provide an alternative to a four-year degree that can be just as challenging, successful and lucrative.
- So far, only about 15% of campus students are women, but Morris has dedicated her career to changing that.
- “I would love to see people’s perceptions change about our trades and understanding that this can be a first choice option,” she says.
👩🏾🏭 READ MORE: A very cool interview about a very hot career path
NEWS BITES
ESPN has doubts about UGA football in latest evaluations
“Thanks for the motivation, ESPN!” — Kirby Smart, probably
Atlanta Dream lose to Indiana Fever but saw sellout State Farm Arena crowd
17,000-plus, and we love to see it. (We’d love to see a win even more but alas.)
Why humidity makes the Atlanta heat feel even hotter
It’s like a hot, damp weighted blanket.
Stranger sessions: The cute viral photo shoot trend that helps singles find love
Props to anyone who does this. You must know the cure for social anxiety.
ON THIS DATE
Aug. 18, 1999
Atlanta says farewell to a friend, Celestine Sibley. Generations of Atlantans filled the North Avenue Presbyterian Church today to say farewell to Celestine Sibley, a woman whose words had moved them for more than half a century. … “Not only did journalism lose a masterful practitioner, but mankind lost one of those rare and gentle souls that makes all of us the poorer for her loss,” said Robert Coram.
Sibley, a longtime Atlanta Constitution reporter and beloved columnist, is still an icon in the AJC halls. We even have a crochet chicken named after her in the kitchen.
ONE MORE THING
The welding story and Sibley mention got me thinking about women who break into male-dominated spaces, and how that often leads to improvement in those spaces. Two examples:
- I spoke to female truckers a few years ago for a story, and they were particularly interested in staying healthy on the road. Truck drivers are at risk for several health issues because of the lifestyle they often adopt on the job, and more women in the industry could mean more focus on challenges all truckers share.
- A few years ago at a Dragon Con seminar on science fiction writing, the visiting (male) author mentioned, without agenda, that when women broke fully into the genre in the 1970s and ’80s, they grew the craft because they focused on different parts of storytelling than male writers typically did. It was moving to hear this information so casually shared since women are often made to feel as if they’re being done a favor when they enter a new sphere.
I’m sure people of color and people from other cultures have similar stories. We can all learn from each other!
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.