Morning, y’all! Does anyone remember that BrandsMart radio jingle? I think about it every time I pass the BrandsMart on 285. “Buyin’ the BrandsMart way, it’s sma-art!”
Let’s get to it.
ANOTHER (ALLEGED) PONZI SCHEME?!
We had the alleged First Liberty Ponzi scheme and the Drive Planning Ponzi scheme. Now, Georgia’s schemers have gone crypto.
A Georgia man is facing federal wire fraud and money laundering charges after officials say he tricked people out of $165 million in an international cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.
- Edward Zimbardi ran what he called “The Crypto Program,” which he advertised as “an opportunity to invest in advertising packages with a guaranteed 25% monthly return.” (Hmm.)
- Investors were encouraged to pay for these packages by moving cryptocurrency into wallets that Zimbardi secretly controlled.
- Instead of investing their money, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says Zimbardi spent it on “risky foreign currency bets,” personal expenses and the classic “pay old investors with money from new ones” move.
- Zimbardi fled to the remote islands of Fiji to avoid prosecution but was extradited and is back on American soil to face consequences.
🔎 READ MORE: What happens next in the case
Did you know? The term “Ponzi scheme” comes from Italian fraudster Charles Ponzi, who schemed a path through the U.S. and Canada at the turn of the 20th century. His investing pitches promised huge, rapid returns, which sounds depressingly familiar.
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DATA CENTER’S POP-UP POWER PLANT UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Georgia’s Public Service Commission continues to be a key player in the state’s increasingly controversial data center market.
- PSC regulators unanimously voted to examine whether the first data center in the state to plan to use on-site gas engines for around-the-clock power is allowed to do so under Georgia law.
- We’ve been calling it a “pop-up power plant.” The idea is that Houston-based company VoltaGrid will assemble 33 gas-burning engines next to a Covington data center under construction by developer Serverfarm.
- Regulators say using on-site generators to power the data center may violate two of the state’s bedrock energy and electricity laws: the Georgia Territorial Electric Service Act and the Cogeneration and Distributed Generation Act.
🔎 READ MORE: More about the two laws at play
Another example of AJC journalism at work: The PSC probe comes after Commissioner Peter Hubbard called for an investigation, citing an AJC report documenting the alleged infractions from the rush to install the engines.
WEST NILE MOSQUITOES DISCOVERED IN ATLANTA
Mosquitoes from multiple areas in DeKalb and Fulton counties tested positive for West Nile virus, leading health officials to urge caution.
- Traps collected from Avondale Estates, Clarkston, North Druid Hills and unincorporated areas of DeKalb County near Stonecrest and Doraville contained mosquitoes that were carrying the virus.
- Only two human cases of West Nile virus have been reported in the state of Georgia this calendar year, and neither were in the area where the carrier mosquitoes were found.
What can you do?
- Know the riskiest times. Mosquitoes are most active during the summer’s dawn and dusk.
- Wear long, loose clothing and always use some kind of repellent. The most effective contain DEET.
- Avoid standing water, and prevent it by cleaning out flower pots, tarps and buckets. (This is a great tip. It suddenly occurs to me that I have a LOT to do outside the house to dissuade these suckers.)
🔎 READ MORE: More anti-mosquito tips and how local officials are responding
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🔨 Home Depot customers are pursuing smaller home improvement projects amid what executives called a “frozen” housing market. The trend has boosted the company’s earnings despite ongoing tariff concerns.
🎥 Gov. Brian Kemp is cheering Paramount chair David Ellison’s suggestion that the media conglomerate move its headquarters out of Los Angeles and possibly to Georgia. Ellison’s threat is part of an ongoing pressure campaign to remove legal hurdles from the huge Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
🔥 Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is opposing a controversial plan to move the famed Olympic cauldron from Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood. He says the cauldron is important to the neighborhood and should stay put.
[SAD WAFFLE SOUNDS]
A Gwinnett County Waffle House employee whose song celebrating the chain went viral is now a former Waffle House employee after the company fired him.
- Edric Riley, whose musical moniker is Rockstar Riley, created “Waffy Options,” a viral profanity-free rap song that highlights Waffle House’s menu and calls the business “America’s greatest diner.”
- It’s racked up more than 1 million views on TikTok alone.
- Waffle House said he violated a policy about using company property and images for self promotion without permission. They also said he filmed a music video in the parking lot of one location, even bringing in lighting and dancers.
- Riley sat down for an interview with the AJC and is taking the firing with equanimity. He’s worked at Waffle House on and off since he was a teen and hoped to become a manager one day.
- From the way he tells it, he knew what he was doing was against policy but weighed the risk in the balance.
- “It hurts that Waffle House fired me, but I knew it was coming,” Riley said. “Waffle House is still my family.”
🧇 READ MORE: ‘I know my blessings are coming.’ Riley talks about his eventful life
NEWS BITES
Before-and-after NASA images show crater carved by a SpaceX rocket that slammed into the moon
A little microdermabrasion will buff that right out.
The best fabric for extreme heat? It’s more complicated than you think
Construction workers and outdoor laborers probably have the best suggestions.
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile takes a spin through Atlanta
It’s like being visited by an angel.
OpenAI introduces ChatGPT for Teens, promising a more age-appropriate chatbot
Well, that doesn’t sound alarming at all.
ON THIS DATE
Aug. 19, 1920
Bribery is charged in suffrage ratification: Grand jury asked to probe lobby in Tennessee. … The affiants alleged that Representative Harry T. Burn, Republican, who voted with the suffrage opposition to table the ratification resolution and then switched to the suffragists on the vote to concur in the action of the senate, was approached just prior to the roll call on the motion for concurrence. A single vote decided the issue in favor of suffrage.
A contentious battle in the Tennessee House of Representatives ended with the state ratifying the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in August 1920. Burn’s change of heart is famously attributed to a letter from his mother, Phoebe “Febb” Ensminger Burn. The note reportedly read, in part: “Hurrah and vote for Suffrage and don’t keep them in doubt … I’ve been watching to see how you stood but have not seen anything yet … Don’t forget to be a good boy.”
ONE MORE THING
That’s why more people sayyy, I like buyin’ at BrandsMart USA!
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Until next time.