A.M. ATL: Data dump

Morning, y’all! My stint at A.M. ATL has come to another end. As always, thanks for reading along. You’ll be in your old pal Adam Van Brimmer’s capable hands next week.

Let’s get to it.

DEFEATING DATA

A small city south of Atlanta is saying “no” to data centers, after its leaders said yes to zoning that would allow one.

• Lovejoy, a small city in Clayton County, annexed a piece of land that was supposed to be a mixed-use residential development. But a year later, the property owners changed their mind and got approval for a rezoning to allow for a potential data center. Months after that, the developer unveiled the plan: a $1 billion data center project totaling about 3.5 million square feet of development.
• Residents overwhelmingly and vocally rejected the idea. The project’s developer then backtracked, and the city last week banned data centers within its borders soon after.
• Georgia is now the second-largest data center market in the country. Lovejoy joins a small but growing list of cities in the state that have said “no” to the facilities.

🔎 READ MORE: How one Georgia city went from considering a data center to banning them

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LOOPED IN

A recent land acquisition means the Atlanta Beltline is now a true loop encircling the city.

• With a 0.2-acre purchase in northwest Atlanta, the Beltline has acquired all the land it needs to complete the 22-mile contiguous trail.
• The assembly process took about two decades, four mayoral administrations, nearly 200 land closings and more than $200 million.
• The final purchase of the vacant parcel cost roughly $550,000. It’s on English Street in Blandtown.
• The Beltline is one of the country’s largest rails-to-trails corridors, and so far, it’s spurred more than $14 billion in private investment.

(This is the story I teased you about in yesterday’s newsletter — sorry for being cryptic, but we weren’t allowed to publish until a certain time! That’s showbiz.)

🔎 READ MORE: ‘A defining milestone’: Beltline finalizes land deals to finish trail loop

HOLD IT

Atlanta is pumping the brakes on the sale of its detention center.

• The city was poised to vote whether to sell the detention center to Fulton County for $68 million, but council members have questions that need to be answered first.
• Most likely, the city will get to keep using space in the detention center for its own detainees, but be off the hook for millions of dollars in operational costs. Plus, the 182 corrections employees would get to keep their jobs if they want to.
• Still, city officials want to slow down before committing to the 50-year deal — even though the county needs to do something soon to address the “abhorrent” conditions at its current facility.

🔎 READ MORE: Citing unanswered questions, Council delays vote to sell city’s lockup

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

🎓 The University System of Georgia has a new leader. Longtime business executive Thomas A. Fanning will be the next USG chancellor, succeeding former Gov. Sonny Perdue. It will be Fanning’s first full-time role in higher education, making the hire controversial among some University System employees.

💵 The Libertarian and Green parties are challenging a Georgia campaign law. State law allows some politicians to raise unlimited cash while limiting contributions to other candidates — giving an advantage to some of Georgia’s biggest political names. Judges agree the law is likely unconstitutional, but success in court isn’t guaranteed.

📥 Need more politics? It’s a great time to sign up for Politics PM. We’ll be highlighting voter voices in an extra newsletter every Monday ahead of the election. Opinion Editor David Plazas will moderate discussion on the most pressing topics on the ballot, and spotlight candidate and columnist opinions that will help inform your vote. Sign up here.

VOTING: A PLAY IN THREE PARTS

Getting to the polls

First and foremost, are you registered to vote? The deadline is almost here, so now is the time to check. Mark these dates on your calendar:

• Registration deadline: Oct. 5 (that’s Monday)
• Early voting: Oct. 13 through Oct. 30
• Deadline to request an absentee ballot: Oct. 23
• Election Day: Nov. 3

🔎 READ MORE: What to know about voter registration in Georgia

Inviting the feds in

Georgia’s State Election Board is asking the feds to prohibit the state from using its current vote counting method, according to letters obtained by the AJC.

• Georgia uses electronic voting machines that use QR codes to tally votes.
• The State Election Board, which is often in lockstep with the Trump administration, wants to force the state to change its voting system less than two weeks before voting starts.
• Advocates say it’s a matter of election security, but critics say it’s an attempt to cause chaos. There is no evidence to suggest Georgia’s voting machines were manipulated in the 2020 election.

🔎 READ MORE: Georgia board asks Trump administration to investigate voting machines

Pushing the feds out

On the other hand, Georgia won the latest round against the Trump administration in the fight over voter records.

• Remember when the U.S. Justice Department sued to try to make Georgia hand over sensitive voter information? A federal judge dismissed that lawsuit.
• The Trump administration has now lost more than two dozen of the 30 cases it filed against states that refused to hand over unredacted voter rolls.

🔎 READ MORE: Judge tosses Trump administration lawsuit seeking Georgia voter data

NEWS BITES

Elon Musk duels with Delta CEO over in-flight Wi-Fi. United sees an opening.

Forget Wi-Fi on planes. I love going hours without getting a notification.

Federal scholarship for private school and homeschooling opening to most kids in at least 30 states