Morning, y’all! Travelers, check your licenses. Starting May 7, you’ll need a government-issued Real ID to board domestic flights. The Department of Homeland Security says Real IDs are more secure than other kinds of identification.
The good news is, if you had your driver’s license renewed in the past few years, it’s probably Real ID compliant. On Georgia licenses, there will be a star in the top right corner.
Confused? Yeah, same. Here’s the lowdown.
Let’s get to it.
LANDMARK TRIAL SIDESTEPS NEW GA. LEGAL RULES
Credit: Matthew Pearson/AP
Credit: Matthew Pearson/AP
An important personal injury case in Gwinnett County could have been a testing ground for Gov. Brian Kemp’s freshly signed lawsuit-limiting legislation, intended to protect companies from certain kinds of litigation.
However, the presiding judge says the new law doesn’t apply because it’s, well, new.
⚖️ What the trial is about: The case is one of hundreds of Georgia lawsuits filed by people who say they were harmed by exposure to ethylene oxide gas, sometimes used to sterilize medical equipment.
⚖️ How the new laws would have affected it: Defense lawyers wanted to limit what the opposing counsel could tell the jury during closing arguments, saying it was mandated by the new Kemp-backed laws.
⚖️ Why the judge said no: She had a few reasons. One, the law just went into effect, while the case at hand has ground on for three years. Two, she said she hasn’t had time to familiarize herself with the law and how, or if, it would apply.
☣️ Wait, excuse me, let’s go back to the alleged poison: The plaintiff in this case is a truck driver who says living and working near a Covington sterilization facility caused his cancer diagnosis.
- His lawyers say the facility released millions of pounds of ethylene oxide into the air without warning the public. They also say he’s owed between $27 million and $32 million in damages.
- This is one of more than 400 similar lawsuits pending against the past and present owners of the Covington plant.
Looks like we’ll have to wait for another trial to see how Kemp’s new law plays out.
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POLL ROUNDUP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
We have information from a slew of new polls revealing how Georgians feel about some of the most pressing topics of the day.
Marijuana: Most Georgians support legalizing marijuana, according to a recent AJC poll. Nearly 56% of respondents answered in support; the highest pro-weed proportion in years.
Abortion: In a survey of 38 Georgia-based OB-GYNs, 30 docs said they think Georgia’s ambiguous abortion law negatively affects women’s health. Eighteen respondents said they personally experienced delays in care that caused harm to pregnant women. The survey was conducted by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology in conjunction with Sen. Jon Ossoff.
DOGE: More than half of Georgia voters are skeptical of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Unsurprisingly, responses in the AJC poll were deeply split along partisan lines. Overall, 52% of Georgia voters disapprove of DOGE’s government-slashing efforts.
- ❌ About 95% of Democrats disapprove of DOGE’s efforts
- ❌ About 60% of Independents disapprove of DOGE’s efforts
- ✅ About 85% of Republican voters approve of DOGE’s efforts
MORE GA. FAMILIES ARE HOMESCHOOLING
Nearly 90,000 Georgia students participated in homeschooling during the 2024-25 school year, a massive one-year increase of about 10,000.
Homeschooling is on the rise across the country, though why people choose to homeschool can vary from religious or political reasons to accessibility, special needs, cost and safety issues.
The number of homeschooled Georgia students has increased 45% over the past decade, though it’s still a drop in the bucket compared to the 1.7 million students enrolled in the state’s public schools.
READ MORE: How parents tackle homeschooling challenges
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
📜 President Donald Trump says he doesn’t know whether both U.S. citizens and noncitizens are entitled to due process as upheld by the Constitution. “I don’t know,” he said during a recent interview. “I’m not a lawyer.”
🫏 Georgia Democrats elected a new chairman this weekend. Charlie Bailey, a partner at a local law firm, has twice sought statewide office in Georgia.
SHIPPING DOMINOS BEGIN TO FALL
Credit: Courtesy of Georgia Ports Authority
Credit: Courtesy of Georgia Ports Authority
Global shipping has slowed since the Trump administration began its tariff push. Truckers, logistics specialists, dockworkers and ports officials in Georgia have seen ripples of these changes stateside, but are bracing for a bigger wave in a few weeks.
There’s been an extreme surge in canceled sailings starting this week, according to industry data.
- Economists predict a drop in national trucking demand by mid-May, followed by layoffs around June.
- Savannah may have a leg up over other ports because its leadership and users have diversified cargo sources in recent years, meaning a drop in shipping from, say, China, will affect it less.
- The state’s trucking and rail industries, however, have been planning for shipping growth. If that doesn’t happen, a lot of workers could be left high and dry.
NEWS BITES
Woo! Atlanta United didn’t lose this weekend!
They didn’t win either. Eh, details.
Sovereignty won the 151st Kentucky Derby
If the horse named Journalism couldn’t do it, Sovereignty is a nice thematic second.
People are betting on the next pope
Next thing you know we’re gonna have fantasy conclaves. Cardinal drafts. Archbishops running 40 meter dashes. Surely some revelation is at hand, indeed!
World’ tallest and smallest dogs meet up for a playdate
dontsquishthelittleonedontsquishthelittleone
ON THIS DATE
May 5, 1993
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: Elbert P. Tuttle says today that his views on race relations were formed when he was a young boy, in the early 1900s.
He remembers sitting next to his mother on the front porch of their house one morning, watching bus after bus pass by a black woman waiting at the curb.
His mother walked down the corner and stood with the woman until the next bus came by and stopped. The black woman got on, and his mother walked back to the porch.
“I’ve never forgotten what she did, and I never will,” he said.
A nice story from a then-95-year-old Elbert Tuttle, a prominent Georgia appeals judge who helped advance critical pieces of Civil Rights legislation. His name graces the Elbert P. Tuttle U.S. Court of Appeals building (or, just “The Courthouse”) downtown.
ONE MORE THING
Hello and welcome to Pedant’s Corner! Remember, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day. It commemorates the 1862 Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla. One could argue it was the last time a European power tried to invade a North American country, and some historians say the victory may have influenced the outcome of the American Civil War.
Go forth and be insufferable!
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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