Morning, y’all, and welcome back! The rain should subside by midmorning, but temperatures will drop into the 30s by the afternoon — a preview of even colder days to come.
News wise, we’ve got a look at Maranatha Baptist Church’s first service since Jimmy Carter’s death, a positive update from the UGA student injured in New Orleans and the end of another disappointing Falcons season.
But first: an unrepentant Jan. 6 participant.
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NO REGRETS?
Today marks four years since a mob angry about Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss stormed the U.S. Capitol, pushing past police lines and clashing with officers for hours. Often violently.
Phillip “Bunky” Crawford says he’s “lost everything” since that day. But he doesn’t regret participating.
- “If I had to go back, I would do it all the same,” Crawford recently told the AJC’s Chris Joyner.
Crawford — who lives in Bremen, about 45 miles west on I-20 from Atlanta — is one of 44 people with Georgia ties charged in the 2021 riot that threatened to upend American democracy.
He’s pleaded guilty to or been convicted of a litany of charges, including multiple counts of assaulting police. He’s due for sentencing later this month, multiple years in prison a distinct possibility.
But like the investigation’s 1,600 or so other defendants, he’s expecting a pardon shortly after Trump moves back into the White House on Jan. 20.
- Trump has called the Jan. 6 rioters “patriots” and “heroes” and vowed to provide pardons his first day in office, though he recently said there “may be some exceptions.”
“There is a good percentage of these people who do feel some sort of genuine remorse and realize that what they did was a mistake,” said Luke Baumgartner, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.
Crawford is not among that crowd.
Read more about his case (and the larger investigation) right here. And expect little drama when Congress meets today to certify Trump’s 2024 Electoral College win.
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THE WEEK AHEAD
🍎 Today: Cobb and Gwinnett County public schools come back from winter break. Atlanta holds a swearing-in ceremony for newly elected City Council member Eshé Collins.
🚌 Tuesday: Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton schools return to class. Former President Jimmy Carter’s remains depart Atlanta’s Carter Center, then lie in state at the U.S. Capitol for about two days.
❤️️ Wednesday: Hit Broadway musical “& Juliet” continues its run at the Fox Theatre.
🙏 Thursday: A national day of mourning for President Jimmy Carter. His state funeral takes place in Washington, D.C., before he’s interred back home in Plains.
⚖️ Friday: President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled for sentencing in his New York hush money case. The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments about the law potentially banning TikTok.
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‘A PARTY IN HEAVEN’
As mourners continued passing through Atlanta’s Carter Center to pay their respects to former President Jimmy Carter, Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church held its first services since his passing.
“Those of us who knew him knew how strong his faith was,” Kim Carter Fuller, the president’s niece, said while leading her Sunday school class. “They are just having a party in heaven.”
- Don’t miss this piece about Carter’s carpentry skills and a special table he made for the kids at Maranatha.
- Check out more photos of Carter’s funeral procession and ceremonies in Atlanta.
- If you’re headed out to the Carter Center today, don’t bring bags!
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CRIME WATCH
» Gwinnett County police arrested and charged a teenager in a weekend shooting outside the Mall of Georgia.
» A Hall County man exchanged gunfire with a deputy while trying to flee a traffic stop on I-985, the GBI says.
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RECOVERY REUNION
Elle Eisele, the UGA student injured in last week’s terror attack in New Orleans, wrote in social media posts that she’s “fighting” and “healing” — and managed to reunite with a high school classmate who’s also recovering at the hospital.
- As Bourbon Street reopens after attack, wariness remains
- UGA fans mourn loss of Kirby Smart’s father after New Orleans fall
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PARTING WORDS
After 42 years at the AJC, education columnist Maureen Downey is retiring. Her final piece is both angsty and optimistic.
- “The dangers that students face, from school shootings to the pernicious effect of social media, have never been more frightening,” she writes. “At the same time, the students themselves never fail to dazzle me.”
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MAYBE NEXT YEAR
Rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. looked sharp, accounting for three total touchdowns. But the Falcons defense floundered in the team’s season finale, a 44-38 overtime loss to the lowly Panthers.
The result helped complete the squandering of a once-promising division lead and seal Atlanta’s seventh straight season without the playoffs — officially making them “longtime losers,” columnist Michael Cunningham writes.
- “We have got to find ways to come out with those big time wins that really count and we’ll do that,” Penix said. “We’ll do that in the future. That’s what I can’t wait for.”
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FOOD ON THE MOVE
» Longtime sandwich shop Souper Jenny is closing its Brookhaven location and moving over to Chamblee.
» Popular seafood spot Fishmonger shuttered its West Midtown location with plans to move into Star Metals this spring.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
» MARTA bus driver fatally shot in Decatur; 2 of 3 suspects arrested
» DOJ, Fulton County reach legal agreement to improve conditions at jail
» Federal government approves Okefenokee wildlife refuge expansion plan
» Finalists named for Georgia’s top literary award
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ON THIS DATE
Jan. 6, 1948
Mrs. Peyton Brown of North Druid Hills Road had a bone to pick — and The Atlanta Constitution gladly published it on the front page.
“Why is it when you have guests for dinner, the hostess has to sit quietly by and watch her guests nonchalantly putting cigarette ashes on her best china, no matter how many ash trays there are on the table?,” she wrote.
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
AJC contributor Jenni Girtman captured people waving to former President Jimmy Carter’s motorcade from the Jackson Street bridge in Atlanta.
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ONE MORE THING
Who else is really ready for their kids to head on back to school?
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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.
About the Author
Tyler Estep hosts the AJC Win Column, Atlanta's new weekly destination for all things sports. He also shepherds the Sports Daily and Braves Report newsletters to your inbox.
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