A.M. ATL: 🔎 Lax care, little punishment
Morning, y’all! Expect morning lows in the 30s throughout the weekend. High temperatures will only reach 50 today, but we should warm up a bit by Sunday.
- Georgia Tech football finished off an undefeated home slate in style last night, topping NC State 30-29 on a game-winning touchdown run from freshman quarterback Aaron Philo.
More sports news in a bit, plus a 2026 candidate for governor, another unsavory funeral home discovery and Spelman College’s search for a new president.
But first: Who’s making sure assisted living facilities take care of our loved ones?
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STILL UNPROTECTED
Wanna be mad?
In 2020, Georgia’s General Assembly passed a series of laws meant to crack down on negligent assisted living centers. Mandates for increased staffing, stiffer financial penalties for safety violations and dangerous incidents, etc.
An AJC investigation helped trigger those changes — but four years later, another deep dive found little proof of progress.
- For her latest report, reporter Allie Gross pored over hundreds of court documents and state inspection reports, discovering scads of disturbing violations.
- But that’s not it: She also found that, over a recent 12-month period, more than 90% of those violations received the state’s lowest-possible classification — meaning little to no penalties, monetary or otherwise.
Those incidents included things like taking hours to respond to residents’ emergency calls, losing track of residents altogether and failing to provide air conditioning or fans in the summer.
- “This is very bad. I see a domino effect,” said Richard Mollott, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, which advocates for people in senior care facilities. “You have the state not doing a good job overseeing the operators and then the operators not doing a good job.”
Which leads us to this: When fully-staffed, the state’s Department of Community Health employs 158 inspectors. To keep tabs on operations at nearly 30,000 regulated facilities.
- That’s about 227 facilities per inspector.
As Allie writes, regulations are only as good as their enforcement.
Why does this matter? Well, we’re talking about your loved ones’ health and safety here. Nana, Papa, mom or dad. Maybe even you, right now or in the near future.
Nearly one-fifth of Georgia’s population will be 60 or older by 2030.
Make sure to read the full story for more details, including the state’s response. And stay tuned next week for another installment in the series.
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AND SO IT BEGINS
Welcome to the 2026 election season, folks. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, announced Thursday he filed paperwork to run for governor. Current Gov. Brian Kemp is term-limited.
“When you have an open seat and a state as big as Georgia, you need to organize and capitalize as soon as possible,” he told the AJC.
- Marjorie Taylor Greene to lead subcommittee eyeing government spending
- There was no red wave among Georgia’s Latino voters. Here’s why
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MORE IMMINENT AFFAIRS
A handful of location elections, include a citywide Atlanta council seat, are headed to Dec. 3 runoffs.
Early voting starts today in Henry County, Saturday in DeKalb and Fulton counties, and Monday in Mulberry, the new Gwinnett County city looking to fill one more council seat.
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FUNERAL HOME FAILURES
Last month, authorities found 18 decomposing bodies in a South Georgia funeral home. Last week, an Augusta couple sued another funeral home for allegedly losing their daughter’s remains.
- And now? Cobb County police are investigating after discovering 35 boxes of cremated remains inside a condemned funeral home.
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‘A TRUE COLLEGE TOWN’
Leaders at Georgia State University want their downtown Atlanta campus to feel more like “a true college town” — and now have $107 million to try and make that happen. The plan includes renovating buildings, improving safety and creating more gathering places.
“I think this is a great step for us,” President M. Brian Blake said.
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MORE CAMPUS NEWS
» Spelman College President Dr. Helene Gayle officially stepped down, a little over a month after she took a leave of absence from the top-rated institution.
» UGA added new security measures to the running trails where nursing student Laken Riley was killed in February.
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UNITED WE STAND
It’s been a few weeks since Atlanta United advanced to the eastern conference semifinals of the MLS playoffs, but the wait is almost over. Can the ninth-seeded Five Stripes keep the magic rolling in Sunday’s road match against rival Orlando City?
As goalkeeper Brad Guzan says: “Whenever your back is against the wall, you’ve got to rise to the occasion.”
Meanwhile, on the American football front:
- Tech already played, the Falcons are (mercifully) off and UGA might as well be. But the second round of the high school playoffs starts tonight and includes 16 top-10 matchups.
- Also of note: Coveted Carrollton High quarterback Julian Lewis committed to play college ball with Colorado and coach Deion Sanders.
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A CORNUCOPIA OF FUN
It’s the weekend, baby, and all kinds of holiday-themed festivities are on tap — from tree lightings to a Grinch-Nutcracker ballet mashup and an adult snowball fight.
- And don’t forget: the new Pink Pig debuts Saturday, when the Georgia Festival of Trees kicks off in Duluth.
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MORE TO EXPLORE
» Could Fulton County acquire the city detention center at long last?
» $600M expansion planned for this Georgia paper products factory
» Kroy Biermann, Kim Zolciak home up for foreclosure auction
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ON THIS DATE
Nov. 22, 1964
On the anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Atlanta Constitution editor Ralph McGill visited his grave at Arlington National Cemetery.
“It does not matter if one goes at the early hour when the gates open, or later,” he wrote. “There always are visitors. More than curiosity motivates them. They have lost something—they seek something.”
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
AJC photographer Arvin Temkar captured linemen removing an American flag following the funeral procession for Eric Weems, a fellow lineman from Griffin who died on the job last week after an equipment failure.
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ONE MORE THING
Please enjoy this look at why (and how) local orchestras are finding harmony with Atlanta hip-hop stars.
“We have the palette to do lush, beautiful symphonic sounds,” one leader said, “or we can get down with heavy beats or lean into brass.”
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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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