Morning, y’all! The “cooling” trend continues today, with high temperatures expected to hover around 90 degrees.
- Don’t forget it’s Election Day: Plenty of important local races are in runoffs, from school boards to the U.S. House. Find what’s on your ballot with the AJC-Atlanta Civic Circle voter guide — and stay tuned to AJC.com for results after polls close at 7 p.m.!
- Also significant: Justin Ross Harris, the man accused of leaving his 22-month-old son Cooper to die in his hot SUV a decade ago, is out of prison.
Otherwise, today’s newsletter offers the latest on a horrific house fire in Newnan, $630,000 in missing campaign money and Nathan Wade’s penchant for public appearances.
But first: A deadly incident that stands out even in Georgia’s exceedingly violent prison system.
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A GUN BEHIND BARS
Credit: Courtesy photos
Credit: Courtesy photos
Inmate Jaydrekus Hart shot and killed a food service worker inside South Georgia’s Smith State Prison over the weekend.
Corrections officials later said that a “personal relationship existed” between Hart (who also took his own life) and the worker (identified as 24-year-old Aureon Shavea Grace). They called the situation an isolated incident.
- But they’ve yet to answer one very important question: Where’d the gun come from?
It’s hard to oversell how dangerous Georgia prisons are. As AJC colleagues Carrie Teegardin and Danny Robbins have uncovered during a two-year investigation, woeful understaffing means the most violent inmates essentially run things. Makeshift weapons are everywhere. Drug trafficking rings? Commonplace, often with the help of guards.
More people are killed in Georgia than in any other state prison system in the country.
- Late Monday, Gov. Brian Kemp announced “the initiation of an in-depth, system-wide assessment of the state corrections system.” Read more here.
Even given that context, Smith stands out. The facility in Glennville (about 40 miles south of Statesboro) saw eight confirmed homicides in 2023, the most of any in the state. About two people leave the premises via ambulance every week.
The now-former warden stands accused of taking cash payments in an inmate’s multimillion-dollar contraband scheme.
- Still: Guns inside prison walls remain exceedingly rare. Guards don’t even carry them. So how’d it happen?
We don’t know for sure. Absent an explanation from corrections leaders, the AJC spoke to former officials and employees — who said it wouldn’t be all that difficult.
A prime suspect: the back gate, which is used to bring in supplies like food and lacks a metal detector.
“There could be anything in those (containers) besides rice and beans,” a former corrections officer said, “but they’re not opened.”
Make sure to read the full story here — and then dive into the AJC’s extensive investigation into corruption at Georgia’s prisons.
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A FAMILY TRAGEDY
Credit: John Spink/AJC
Credit: John Spink/AJC
Officials say a Monday morning house fire in Newnan killed six members of the same family, including 6-, 12- and 13-year-old children. Officials have not released a potential cause.
- “It hits close to home, it’s so hard,” a neighbor said. A Gofundme page raised more than $32,000 so far.
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MORE LOCAL NEWS
» The Atlanta City Council increased the relief fund for businesses affected by recent water woes to $7.5 million. It also joined the chorus calling for MARTA to pause renovations at the Five Points station.
» Clayton County Commissioner Felicia Franklin resigned her office, several months after being found prone on the ground outside a bar at Southlake Mall.
» A resident of the soon-to-be Gwinnett County city of Mulberry filed another pair of lawsuits challenging its creation.
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BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Special prosecutor Nathan Wade stepped away from Fulton County’s election interference case in March — but he’s been hard to miss lately. His appearances on cable news and events featuring District Attorney Fani Willis are rubbing a lot of folks the wrong way.
- “This is distracting from the case,” one Democratic political strategist told the AJC. “He needs to go away and not do any more interviews, ever.”
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ETHICS EXPIRATION DATE
The state ethics commission says the statute of limitations prevents them from further investigating what former Georgia Senate leader Don Balfour did with $630,000 in leftover campaign money.
It took about three years to reach that conclusion.
» Which presidential candidate is raising the most money in Georgia?
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SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS
» Former Wheeler High star Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics won the NBA title. Brown (pictured above) took Finals MVP.
» Hawks General Manager Landry Fields, meanwhile, says the home team is unlikely to trade the No. 1 pick in next week’s NBA Draft.
» Ozzie Albies’ eighth-inning solo home run gave the Braves a 2-1 win over the Tigers. Also: Marcell Ozuna currently sits second among National League designated hitters in All-Star voting.
» The Atlanta Dream expects to break their attendance record on Friday, when they host the Indiana Fever at State Farm Arena.
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GOOD EATS
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
- Now open in Vinings: Plantbaed Cafe, offering plant-based burgers, pizza and more.
- Coming soon to downtown Atlanta: Momentum Cafe, a nonprofit restaurant employing justice-impacted youth.
- Well-reviewed in Suwanee: Raik Mediterranean, offering “simple and elegant” falafel, flatbreads and kebabs.
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MORE TO EXPLORE
» Immigration detention up 50% in Georgia
» Metro Atlanta transit board gets new chair
» Shannon Sharpe, Anderson .Paak bring culture to Render ATL conference
» Interview: ‘Impractical Jokers’ tour hits Atlanta this weekend
» Driver speeding from Cobb County police killed in crash
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ON THIS DATE
June 18, 1954
An economist named Sylvia Porter spent a few days in Atlanta and came away quite impressed, dubbing her hometown of New York City “dead on its feet” by comparison.
“Atlanta is vitally alive,” Porter wrote. “Few cities have boomed as this one has in recent years. Atlanta is growing dramatically ‘outward’ to the suburbs and ‘inward’ to the downtown area, too. Atlanta is an industrial city belonging in the top rank of America.
“The expansion makes the visitor gasp.”
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
AJC photographer Arvin Temkar captured a worker checking one of the first planes to complete what will become daily nonstop Scandinavian Airlines flights from Copenhagen to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
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ONE MORE THING
Meet Elisha McKenzie, a 21-year-old Suwanee woman with Down syndrome living her dream as a licensed Zumba instructor. “I love being in front of the class,” she told the AJC.
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Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.
Until next time.
