Morning, y’all! It’s almost time for the Easter bunny to come! Those things really lose their magic as you age, especially when you learn the Easter bunny is regarded as a spring symbol of fertility. There’s a reason the saying isn’t “Playing checkers like rabbits,” after all. Don’t let the kids read this.
Let’s get to it.
IN THE MEDIA MIX
A few shake-ups in the Atlanta media scene lately, and as always, there’s some good and some bad.
The good: Channel 24 is back! Well, it’s ATL Community Media now. Atlanta’s public access channel was shuttered for about a year, but now it’s on the air again with a new look and mission.
- The channel was launched in the 1980s but went dark in 2023 after the city’s contract ended with its previous operator. ATL Community Media now has its own studio space and a champion in Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.
- “Elevating the voice of the people of Atlanta is what public access television is and has always been,” Dickens said at the new site’s ribbon cutting. “This is about your voice on your channel, from your station in your city.”
- Dickens and other leaders hope ATL Community Media serves as a public forum for people to discuss community issues without the media middleman. One big challenge: making sure the public access channel is, well, publicly accessible as people cut cable in droves for streaming services.
The bad: Atlanta’s WABE is laying off staff for the second time in six months as the Trump administration threatens more cuts to NPR and PBS. The public news operation’s leadership said the cuts are about “consolidating resources to weather uncertain economic times.”
- The Trump administration has reportedly drafted a plan to end most federal funding for public media. Earlier this week, it released a statement claiming NPR and PBS “spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”
- The president’s allies have spread the party line. In March, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused the organizations of using taxpayer money to push “radical left positions.”
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A MEATLESS BEEF
One of Atlanta’s celebrity notable restaurateurs is at the center of a legal drama stemming from claims of wage theft and mismanagement.
- Two businesses owned by Pinky Cole, founder of the Atlanta-based chain Slutty Vegan, failed to pay a settlement to end a lawsuit over unpaid wages, plaintiffs told a federal judge Wednesday.
- In 2022, an employee filed a lawsuit against Bar Vegan, one of Cole’s restaurants. It eventually became a class action lawsuit as other Bar Vegan servers and bartenders signed on.
- They claimed Cole and her business partners withheld tips and overtime and failed to meet federal minimum wage requirements at the restaurant’s Ponce City Market location.
- A settlement was reached, but now plaintiffs are saying Cole and company never paid up.
- Cole says even though she was named in the lawsuit, she didn’t actually own Bar Vegan at the time because she briefly lost the Slutty Vegan brand during a corporate restructuring. She reacquired Slutty Vegan dining empire earlier this year.
Cole gained fame in the Atlanta restaurant scene with her saucily named, meat-free offerings. Slutty Vegan’s success also earned her widespread acclaim in the business world.
THE KING FILES, DECLASSIFIED
Last week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said classified documents related to the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy would be released “within the next few days.”
“The next few days” is quickly approaching. What information could they contain?
- Don’t expect any bombshells: There are plenty of experts who have spent entire careers looking over documents related to King’s assassination. They doubt the release will reveal anything new or earth shaking.
- JFK’s were already released: In March, the Trump administration published about 64,000 documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Historians said there was nothing new in the release, and some of the documents had already been available through other sources for years.
- The King family disagrees with the release: They say they would like to review the documents before they’re made public.
So, why should we care?
When he took office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order fulfilling a campaign promise to release troves of documents about King and the Kennedy brothers. The AJC’s Ernie Suggs points out the promise also feeds into the American appetite for conspiracy theories.
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
📍 Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador and met with the country’s vice president to push for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. On order from the Trump administration, Abrego Garcia was seized in the U.S. and sent to a prison in El Salvador despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation. His case has become a nationwide flashpoint regarding the administration’s radical anti-immigration actions.
💰 Sen. John Ossoff’s coffers prospered in Q1 as he reported $11 million in campaign donations. The Georgia Democrat faces a tough Republican field for reelection, but has gained national support for his bold criticisms of Trump.
🎥 Watch scenes from U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s fiery town hall, including the moment police used a stun gun on a protester.
❗By the way, Dems are not pleased with how things were handled at Greene’s event.
WHITHER YON MIDTOWN RESTAURANTS?
Several West Midtown restaurants have closed recently, leaving diners to chew on questions and memories. West Egg, Superica, Elsewhere Brewing, Cultivate, Le Fat and Humble Pie were all area fixtures. What happened? Call it a dangerous recipe of change and circumstance.
West Midtown’s real estate has shifted. The area is flush with mixed-use properties that drive up rental costs, which means restaurants need a lot more cash on hand.
Traffic is gnarly and parking is pricey. Not great appetizers for any meal, no matter how good.
There are no easy answers, but comings and goings in the area suggest diners still prefer unique options over any old corporate-backed chain.
NEWS BITES
The Hawks are set for a do-or-die playoff situation Friday against the Miami Heat
Let’s fly in some good vibes to State Farm Area.
Braves drop another one, sullying hurler Spencer Strider’s return
They can’t dim the power of his glorious mustache, though.
Busy Bee bringing famed fried chicken, Oprah’s fave catfish to Atlantic Station
Sounds delicious. Also, of course Oprah would have a favorite catfish. (Don’t we all?!)
Word of the day: Xenotransplantation
It’s the process of animal-to-human transplants; an innovation that’s decades in the making.
How often should you really be washing your bedsheets?
Warning: You can’t unread this.
ON THIS DATE
April 17, 1933
From the front page of The Atlanta Constitution: “I am not like the fanatic wets who want beer for the sake of beer. I would have beer as a trial to see if it would help things. If it doesn’t the people can rub it out.”
Then-Speaker of the Georgia House Ed Rivers was down to legalize beer and reduce the financial strain of Prohibition on Georgia’s struggling economy, but let’s be clear: He wasn’t one of those fanatic wets!
ONE MORE THING
“The Fanatic Wets” would make a great name for a rock band. (Props if you can name the iconic newspaper columnist I stole that line from.)
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
About the Author
AJ Willingham is an National Emmy, NABJ and Webby award-winning journalist who loves talking culture, religion, sports, social justice, infrastructure and the arts. She lives in beautiful Smyrna-Mableton and went to Syracuse University.
