A.M. ATL: Second act

Morning, y’all! On my first day as your fill-in A.M. ATL host, I’d like to extend a special welcome to Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, the pandas who arrived via the “FedEx Panda Express” yesterday morning. I bet they were downright bamboo-zled to find themselves on a plane and now in Atlanta.

Let’s get to it.

ISO IDEAS

The closed campus could get a second act. (Courtesy of CBRE)

When I’m not moonlighting as a newsletter writer, I’m an education reporter — so I was very interested in this story from Zachary Hansen about the future of a now-closed high school in Roswell.

Districts across metro Atlanta are considering closing or already have closed schools thanks to declining student enrollment. I expect there will be more talks like this in the near future — maybe even in your neighborhood.

• Fulton County closed its alternative high school, Independence High, in May. But its proximity to the urban core of Roswell makes it a prime spot for redevelopment.
• Potential options for the site include residential, retail and restaurants, office, hospitality, civic and cultural uses, and public gathering spaces.
• The city is inviting developers to submit proposals for the site — particularly ones that prioritize pedestrian connectivity, public spaces and preserving the existing buildings.

🔎 READ MORE: Shuttered high school in Roswell advertised for mixed-use redevelopment

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ROAD TRIP

The U.S. Marshals Service has started transferring pretrial detainees from a metro Atlanta facility to a South Georgia facility nearly 190 miles from the federal courthouse in Atlanta, in a move that federal judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys all oppose.

• The transfers could block detainees’ rights to a speedy trial and effective assistance from counsel and deviate from the Marshals Service’s own policies, attorneys for Georgia’s Federal Defender Program said. The program represents more than half of the roughly 400 people slated to be moved.
• Studies show that pretrial detention negatively impacts defendants, and those effects are worsened when detainees are far from the courthouse.
• The executive director of the program says there’s another cost to this: The six-hour round trip cost taxpayers about $1,000 per visit.
• Attorneys have begun filing motions to block their clients’ transfers, with dozens more expected in the future.

🔎 READ MORE: Plan to move detainees to South Georgia illogical, defense attorneys argue

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

🎥 A proposed tax credit for the struggling film industry could help jolt it back to life. A Georgia lawmaker is a co-sponsor of the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act, which would create a credit for productions that spend at least $1 million and shoot 75% of their scenes in the U.S.

🔒 Fulton’s sheriff is in favor of buying Atlanta’s detention center. Sheriff Patrick Labat said conditions in the Rice Street jail are “harrowing.” Atlanta Mayor Andrew Dickens agreed to sell the detention center, but now elected officials have to approve the deal.

🐘 National Republican leaders are still backing U.S. Rep. Mike Collins’ campaign for U.S. Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who recently visited Atlanta to campaign for Collins, said the party is still putting resources into the race against incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.

RINK REVIVAL

On the rink. (Ben Gray for the AJC)

The last local competition of the Atlanta Roller Derby’s season was this weekend, but the league has plenty of work ahead of it: trying to revitalize a legendary Decatur roller rink.

• The Golden Glide Skating Rink has changed hands a few times in its 52 years. Most recently, a Norcross-based company put the rink up for sale — which is when members of the Atlanta Roller Derby got involved.
• A small nonprofit, the league couldn’t buy the rink outright. Instead, it created a small for-profit subsidiary that signed a lease-to-own deal with the rink’s owners. They hope a few years of successful operations will help them procure a loan.
• Outgoing league president Megan McCoy (known as Mac Attack on the rink) is bursting with ideas to help increase business at Golden Glide, including line-dancing, age-specific programming, menu changes and new equipment.

Golden Glide is open Thursday through Sunday if you’re feeling inspired to strap on some skates.

🔎 READ MORE: Atlanta Roller Derby tries to save legendary Decatur roller rink Golden Glide

NEWS BITES

‘Zombified’ CDC, hobbled by cuts, struggles to fulfill scientific mission

Spooky.