Happy hump day, all! Today’s weather: The day is forecast to be windy and cooler after severe weather struck overnight, including a tornado in Rockdale County.
Today’s highs in the mid-60s will probably have already been reached when you read this and will be followed by falling temperatures into the 50s.
It’s the middle of the week, and the news is bountiful — from Georgia Tech students looking ahead to Monday’s eclipse to Nike releasing a new sneaker with an Atlanta influence to the FBI releasing more information about the man who is accused of breaching the agency’s gates in Chamblee.
One update from Monday, Rosanne Cash has rescheduled her concert at the Buckhead Theatre for November. The change was not made available to the AJC until after the newsletter went out.
Now, let’s get to it.
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A SOLAR ECLIPSE, BUSES AND WHIPPED CREAM
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Look! Up in the sky!
OK, if you’re planning to do this for Monday’s solar eclipse, be sure to wear protective glasses for the event. Safety first! (This has been your AJC public service announcement.)
This may make you jealous, but a group from Georgia Tech’s School of Physics has chartered a 55-seat bus to travel to Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge in southern Illinois. There, participants will get the best seat in the house for the eclipse in its totality. (The eclipse is expected to only be partial in metro Atlanta)
Not to be outdone, the school’s astronomy club is taking an additional 55 participants on another bus to a campground near Eminence, Missouri. Those who don’t fit on either bus are carpooling or making alternate plans.
Students and faculty tell AJC staff writer Vanessa McCray this is a big deal. The astronomy club expects its costs to be roughly $6,000-$7,000, so they increased dues, sold T-shirts and held bake sales to raise funds. They even put together a fundraiser where club leaders willingly got smacked in the face with a paper plate full of whipped cream on “Pi Day,” March 14. Ah, science!
“My school is actually going to pay to send me out to see the eclipse, so as a broke undergrad, this was the most exciting thing in the world to me,” said Nadia Qutob, a senior from rural Harris County who will be on the physics school’s bus.
Ethan Atkinson, president of the astronomy club, hopes this trip will help make up for the letdown he experienced during the 2017 eclipse. His high school had glasses for students and had set aside the time for everyone to go out and look up into the sky.
Alas, Mother Nature was not so cooperative.
“It was super cloudy and rainy, so I missed it. I didn’t get to see it; that’s why I’m so excited for this one,” he said.
THEN THERE’S MILLIE
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
I would be remiss if I didn’t encourage everyone to read Ernie Suggs’ fascinating interview with R&B/soul legend Millie Jackson.
It’s an unflinching look at the singer, 79, who created her own path in music. Jackson initially entered the recording industry sounding like fellow Georgia-native Gladys Knight, but she pushed later to have a sound all her own because of concerns she was coming off like warmed-over Motown.
She found her footing in a more raw sound that didn’t spare on expletives and was something parents/fans played late at night when the kiddies went to bed. She had hits, including “My Man, A Sweet Man,” “Ask Me What You Want” and “It Hurt So Good.”
But it was her live cover of Luther Ingram’s “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right” that became her staple. Jackson, who was born in Thomson near Augusta and moved to Atlanta in 1985 after spending much of her life living outside the state, would sing the song for as long as 20 minutes, rapping with the audience about love and relationships.
It’s Jackson’s first interview with the AJC and a very personal chat.
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Keep scrolling for more news.
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AROUND THE STATE
Hoping to avoid “funeral home hacks,” Senior U.S. District Judge Hugh Lawson Jr., who died on Good Friday, penned his own obituary. And the phrase you won’t find in it: “forever treasured.”
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State GOP first vice chairman Brian K. Pritchard is refusing to step down, despite a judge’s ruling he violated state election laws by voting while on probation. Top Republican leaders want him to resign.
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Residents of a rural Hancock County town can be forced to give up portions of their land for a railroad project via eminent domain, a Georgia Public Service Commission officer has ruled.
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METRO ATLANTA
Pick up the pace. That’s the message Tuesday from the judge in the “Young Slime Life” gang case. Fulton Judge Ural Glanville said he is open to holding proceedings on weekends if steps to speed up the trial are not taken.
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The man accused of Monday’s attempt to breach the gate at the FBI’s Atlanta headquarters has been identified as Ervin Lee Bolling, 48, of South Carolina. The father of three is an insurance broker and Navy veteran.
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ANTI-SMOKING GROUPS SUE U.S. GOVERNMENT
Anti-smoking groups sued the U.S. government Tuesday over a long-sought ban on menthol cigarettes. The White House, the groups complain, is sitting on the ban, which they worry is caught in election-year politics.
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Limited marine traffic is bypassing wreckage of collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after crews opened a second temporary channel Tuesday. A third channel for bigger ships is in the works.
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SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS
The rally we hoped would come at the last minute did not materialize Tuesday as the Atlanta Braves lost to the Chicago White Sox 3-2. The teams will play the rubber match this afternoon – weather permitting.
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The Atlanta Hawks and the Chicago Bulls will meet again soon, but the question is when. Both teams have fallen in the standings, but each is counting on a win to improve their overall season.
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NIKE AIR MAX CELEBRATES ATLANTA
Credit: Courtesy Nike
Credit: Courtesy Nike
Sneakerheads rejoice. Ahead of 404 Day this Thursday, Nike has announced its Nike Air Max sneaker. The $185 shoe goes on sale today at select stores and features a phoenix arising from above the letters ATL.
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Atlanta’s Black chefs have mixed emotions about TikTok influencer Keith Lee’s return to the city. Some want Lee to give Atlanta’s eateries another chance while others are less sanguine.
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MORE TO EXPLORE
» Rivian’s production dips amid wave of cost-cutting measures
» Move-in day marks new era for Goat Farm
» Another right whale dead as conservationists warn of declining numbers
» 166 unclaimed human cremains scattered at Macon cemetery
» Savannah suspends its glass recycling
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ON THIS DATE
April 3, 1938
Two dozen tall men stopped by Atlanta City Council to say enough is enough: Storefront awnings should be at least 6 feet and 6 inches above the ground. “We are tired of ducking,” their petition said.
A councilman (height: 6-foot-2) also suggested “requesting hotels to install special length beds for us, and asking the Pullman Company to construct special cars with berths of adequate lengths.”
“I am tired of sleeping with my knees under my chin,” he said.
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
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ONE MORE THING
Madonna showed Monday why she’s still the reigning queen mother of pop, despite several younger singers aiming to take her crown, says the AJC’s DeAsia Paige in a review of the singer’s show at State Farm Arena.
Yes, Madge — the endearment she has been given by fans — was late starting (around 10:15 p.m.), as has now become an annoying feature of her shows. (Many of her fans are parents and, gulp, grandparents, and don’t have time to party until the wee hours of the morning.)
And yes, the vocals of the 65-year-old legend don’t have the stamina that they used to. (”You may notice that my voice is cracking a lot,” the singer said at one point.)
But, Paige writes, Madonna’s ability to combine more than 40 years of music with theater is a feat miles above the competition.
“Throughout her two-hour set, Madonna captured all of the iterations of her decorated career via grandiose theatrics that often felt like you were watching a Broadway play based on her life,” wrote Paige.
And it didn’t hurt that Madonna was aided by Henry County’s own Bob the Drag Queen as the show’s host. Decked out in a costume inspired by Madonna’s Marie Antoinette-look from the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards, Bob let the audience know she was on home turf.
“I’m looking for the juiciest, ripest peach in town,” she said, flirting with audience members. “If all the gays are here, then who’s in Piedmont Park?”
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Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at leon.stafford@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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