A.M. ATL: Panda countdown

Morning, y’all! The calendar says October; the thermometer hasn’t gotten the message yet. I crank the AC down every morning so I can put on long sleeves. The low temperature here on the Georgia coast won’t crack 70 this week. Come on, Mother Nature.

Let’s get to it.

PANDA PLANNING

Save this date: Nov. 6. That “first Friday” is when Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, newly emigrated giant pandas from China, make their public debut at Zoo Atlanta. FedEx recently delivered the duo via the Panda Express cargo plane (why am I suddenly hungry for orange chicken?), and they’ve been in quarantine at the zoo since.

But soon enough, you’ll be able to see them in their new digs, which include …

• Dayrooms with climbing structures and a pool (no swim-up bar, unfortunately).
• Outdoor habitats, also with climbing structures (can’t a panda get a chaise lounge? Or a hammock?)
• The design is meant to be “contemplative,” according to zoo officials (that explains the absence of the bar ... no one likes a brooding drinker).

Zoo Atlanta spent $6 million upgrading its giant panda crib in anticipation of Ping Ping’s and Fu Shuang’s arrival. The living quarters have been vacant since 2024, when the panda family of Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun and Xi Lun returned to China. Lun Lun and Yang Yang came to Atlanta in 1999, and their twin cubs were born here in 2016.

🐼 READ MORE: Pandas prep for their debut

🎟️ TICKETS: Be the first to see the new pandas

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A DEBATABLE DEBATE

Georgia’s governor’s race pits a seasoned politician (Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms) versus a political outsider (Republican Rick Jackson). The contrast showed in Tuesday’s debate.

Bottoms was clearly the more polished debater, even in the town hall-style format that minimizes back-and-forth interaction between candidates. That said, Jackson seemed to connect by leaning into his personal backstory (foster care to billionaire).

Notable moments for Bottoms

• Several questions asked candidates to offer detailed solutions to policy challenges. That’s tough when answers are limited to 60 seconds, but Bottoms hit her marks on topics such as Medicaid expansion, affordability, tax cuts and wages. Agree or disagree with her positions, she did get them across.
• She repeatedly reminded viewers of how Jackson embraced President Donald Trump ahead of the primary election earlier this year. In a general election, Jackson’s vow to “be Trump’s favorite governor” and his blanket support for Trump’s decisions and policies could hurt instead of help.

Jackson’s notables

• WWKD? Jackson cited Gov. Brian Kemp’s leadership in several answers and said he would emulate the popular (60% approval rating) two-term governor if elected. In one answer, he said Kemp “always makes the right decision.” In another, Jackson said he would stand up for Georgians against anybody, “just like Brian Kemp has done” — presumably a reference to Kemp’s challenges to Trump.
• Jackson will deliver or else. On several topics, including income tax cuts and public safety, Jackson said if he failed to enact change in his first term as governor he wouldn’t run for re-election in 2030.

🔎 READ MORE: 5 takeaways from the Georgia governor debate

📺 WATCH: Debate replay courtesy of Atlanta News First

ATLANTA PRIDE: LOUDER AND PROUDER

Atlanta celebrates Pride differently. First, the Atlanta Pride festival is held in October to align with National Coming Out Day, not during Pride Month in June. Second, our city is home to the world’s largest Black Pride event, held this year over Labor Day weekend. Lastly, it’s the parades, and IYKYK.

The festival is Friday through Sunday and centered in Piedmont Park. Saturday will see a series of marches dedicated to different segments of the LGBTQ+ community (trans, bi and pan, dyke) in the buildup to Sunday’s main parade down Peachtree Street.

For your planning purposes:

• Keep an eye out for the parade’s honorary grand marshal, newly elected U.S. Congressman Everton Blair Jr. He is Georgia’s first openly gay member on Capitol Hill.
• The Chaka Khan Hacienda daytime dance party follows Sunday’s main parade. Visit Piedmont Park’s Coca-Cola Main Stage to see Leiomy Maldonado from HBO Max’s “Legendary,” Armana Khan and Brigitte Bidet.
• The Starlight Cabaret drag show, a must-see since 1989, starts at 7:15 p.m. Sunday, also on Piedmont’s main stage. Phoenix, an Atlantan and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum, is the MC.
• Forgive the shameless plug, but come visit us at the AJC tent in Piedmont Park throughout the festival. Come meet our team and learn more about how the AJC delivers Substance and Soul every day to Atlanta and Georgia.

🗺️ MAP IT OUT: Where each event takes place

🏳️‍🌈 READ MORE: Previewing Atlanta Pride 2026

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

👮 NY man arrested for threatening Rep. Mike Collins. The aspiring senator is the latest elected official to receive terroristic threats. Details about the message are few, although it did target both Collins and his son-in-law, who has made white nationalist and antisemitic social media posts.

📢 Keisha Lance Bottoms gets candid in AJC interview. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate reflects on her mayoral term, talks voting laws and issues a warning to the GOP-controlled General Assembly should she win the election race vs. Republican Rick Jackson.

❎ Voter education series hits the road. Keep Our Republic Georgia, a nonpartisan voter education group led by former Secretary of State Cathy Cox, is hosting a “community conversation” Wednesday with election officials in Savannah (6 p.m., Memorial Stadium). Topics to cover include voting procedures, ballot counting and security measures meant to ensure an accurate result.

⚓ Data centers a boon for Brunswick port. Georgia has more data centers under development than any other U.S. locale, and the construction equipment needed to construct the facilities is flowing through the nation’s busiest port for wheeled and tracked vehicles in Brunswick.

MICHELANGELO IN GEORGIA

Taking in the works of one of the art world’s GOATs, Michelangelo, usually requires a plane ticket and some connections at the Vatican. Starting Friday, though, a tank of gas and $30 in your pocket is all that’s needed to see several rarely seen drawings, letters and poems by the Renaissance master.

Savannah’s Telfair Museums hosts the U.S. debut of “Michelangelo’s Women: Images of Female Power and Divinity from the Casa Buonarroti,” the first exhibit ever to focus solely on Michelangelo’s depiction of and relationship to women.

Why Savannah? Because the show’s curator, Gary Radke, retired to the Georgia coast after leading Syracuse University’s internationally renowned Florence Graduate Program in Renaissance Art for 35 years.

Will I recognize any works? Yes. The seven original drawings include sketches related to the painting “Madonna and Child,” the Book of Genesis depictions on the Sistine Chapel ceiling and Michelangelo’s fresco “The Last Judgment.”

What’s the Telfair Museums? The first public art museum in the southeastern United States, the Telfair opened in 1886. The Michelangelo exhibit will be displayed at the Jepson Center, which sits across one of Savannah’s charming squares from the original museum building.

🎨 READ MORE: Michelangelo didn’t just paint and sculpt men

NEWS BITES

Braves fall to Dodgers, face elimination today

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto outduels Chris Sale.

High-flying Falcons soar to beat Saints in Katrina anniversary game

Who are these guys and what have they done with our chronic underperformers?

Georgia Power data breach exposes info of 300,000 customers

No bank or credit card information, but hackers could have your address, email and phone number.

Nobel Prize for physics goes to scientist for research on ghost particles

These particles, called neutrinos, are everywhere. George Lucas was right.

ON THIS DATE

Oct. 7, 1918

Schools and theaters closed because of flu. Places of public gatherings in Atlanta were closed … to guard against the spread of the Spanish influenza. … “Resolved, by the board of health, that all schools, libraries, theaters, motion picture shows, dance halls, churches and all places of public amusement where people congregate be ordered closed and that street cars be operated with open windows except in case of rain.”