Morning, y’all! Expect a cloudy day with plenty of rain, which feels appropriate for this Friday the 13th. The storms will pick up even more over the weekend.
News wise, we’ve got the latest on Donald Trump’s Fulton County indictment and a film festival panning Atlanta. David Pollack dishes on his “College GameDay” dismissal, too.
- Also, a traffic alert: An early morning crash had all lanes of I-285 West shut down near Chamblee-Dunwoody Road.
Now. Let’s check in on the legal battle over a public vote on a contentious topic.
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STILL WAITING
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Remember this?
When activists opposed to Atlanta’s public safety training center delivered boxes of signatures to City Hall, in a push to get the pricey project put to a public vote?
It’s been a year now and there’s still no resolution.
As my colleague Riley Bunch reports, the matter might be moot at this point — but it’s not going away.
How we got here: In June 2023, activists launched a massive petition effort across Atlanta with an eye toward collecting signatures from at least 15% percent of the city’s registered voters.
- That, in theory, is the threshold needed to trigger a public vote on the $90 million training center going up in southern DeKalb County.
Activists say they collected way more signatures than required, but the city challenged the effort in court — and then appealed an initial decision in favor of the petitioners.
Last December, both sides delivered oral arguments in front of a federal appeals court. (More specifics here.)
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Where things stand: The court still hasn’t weighed in on which signatures should count. It also remains unclear if such an initiative, which is untested on the municipal level, is even valid under state law.
Construction on the training center, meanwhile, is darn near done. Officials hope to have it up and running in December.
- That, Emory University law professor Fred Smith said, could render the complex legal case moot.
What’s next: Regardless, petition organizers plan to turn out at Monday’s City Council meeting — and in 2025, when the mayor and several council members stand for reelection.
“If we can’t get them to engage when they are in elected office,” activist Brittany Whaley said, “we’ll be able to get them to engage when they have competitive races and they’re trying to secure their political future.”
Make sure to read Riley’s full story for more details. And check out our timeline of the controversy, too.
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FINAL GOODBYES
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Funerals for two Apalachee High School shooting victims — 14-year-old Mason Schermerhorn and math teacher Cristina Irimie — are set for Saturday afternoon. Their separate 2 p.m. services will take place in Jefferson and Buford, respectively.
More than 1,000 people gathered last weekend to honor teacher and football coach Ricky Aspinwall. The funeral for 14-year-old Christian Angulo is scheduled for Sept. 20.
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FULTON FOLLIES
» Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dismissed three more counts from Fulton County’s indictment of former President Donald Trump and others. They involve alleged false statements in federal court.
» District Attorney Fani Willis, meanwhile, plans to defy a subpoena and skip this morning’s hearing of the state Senate committee investigating her — meaning the issue will likely end up in court.
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AT A CROSSROADS
Mark George, the freshly minted CEO of Norfolk Southern, steps into the role at a critical (and messy) time for the Atlanta-based railroad.
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SO MUCH FOR SUNDANCE
Credit: AP File Photo
Credit: AP File Photo
Our fair city is no longer in the running to host the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. The finalists announced Thursday include the festival’s longtime home of Park City, Utah; Boulder, Colorado; and, for some reason, Cincinnati.
- Recover from the disappointment by partaking in one of these 15 weekend events!
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BACK-AND-FORTH BALLOTS
A judge disqualified independent Cornel West and socialist Claudia de la Cruz from Georgia’s list of presidential candidates — but they may still appear on your ballot in November.
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‘FREAKING AWESOME’
Credit: Ken Sugiura/AJC
Credit: Ken Sugiura/AJC
Columnist Ken Sugiura touched base with Georgia gridiron great David Pollack, who’s focusing on family and feeding folks in need after losing his gig on ESPN’s “College GameDay.” He also launched a football-related YouTube channel, of course.
“Football’s freaking awesome,” Pollack said. “There’s nothing better than college football on this planet.”
The top-ranked Bulldogs take on Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC. Georgia Tech hosts VMI at 3:30 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
- Braves: A four-game home series with the Dodgers starts tonight (7:20 p.m. on Apple TV). Usher throws out the first pitch Saturday.
- Falcons: Atlanta 69 will simulcast Monday’s game against the Eagles, which is a good thing for DirecTV customers currently lacking ESPN.
- High school football: Check out our top 10 games of the week!
- United: The Five Stripes desperately need a win in Saturday’s home match with Nashville.
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MORE TO EXPLORE
» Another jail contractor accuses Fulton sheriff of nonpayment
» New chairman appointed to key Fulton County agency
» Clayton cops arrest murder suspects found jaywalking, faking sleep
» Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys art collection premieres at High Museum
» Roy Wood Jr. hopes to give CNN comedic boost with new show
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ON THIS DATE
Sept. 13, 1924
A city committee called for duplicated Atlanta street names to be addressed, saying some 49 of them were exactly the same.
Even back then, there were “as many different kinds of ‘Peachtrees’ in Atlanta as the number of streets necessary to make up an average small town.”
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
AJC photographer Miguel Martinez caught Lakesha Julien snapping her own photo of the new MARTA bus wrapped to honor late U.S. Rep. John Lewis and his wife, Lillian Miles Lewis.
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ONE MORE THING
Did you know you can now bet on Congressional elections? Like, wager money? Pretty wild — and quite possibly a terrible idea!
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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.
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