A.M. ATL: Let’s stress about the World Cup!

Morning, y’all! I have a new career goal: Fine Water Sommelier. This weekend in Buckhead (of course), the Fine Water Society is holding its Taste and Design Awards and Fine Water Summit. I’m obsessed.

These water connoisseurs specialize in minimally processed water with a distinct terroir and minerality that retains some of the character of its origin. Use that line the next time you hand someone a glass of good old Georgia tap.

Let’s get to it.

GETTING ATL WORLD CUP-READY

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

We’re a little more than a year away from the 2026 World Cup coming to Atlanta. It’s exciting! It’s scary! There’s a lot to be done to make sure Atlanta is ready for its worldwide close-up. If only we’d stop finding weird stuff underground.

⚽ The games: Atlanta will host eight games in June and July, including a coveted semifinal match. All games will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

💰 The money: An estimated 300,000 visitors will descend on Atlanta and its surrounding environs, each one a precious little piggy bank for local businesses.

The World Cup is expected to bring in about $500 million, but Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said he hopes that number can double — especially if people can be convinced to stick around a day or two longer.

📝 The very long to-do list:

A $120 million downtown makeover, including 25 miles of street resurfacing, 150 new streetlights and 14 miles of sidewalk repairs.
A complete or nearly complete Beltline with almost 18 miles of open walking trails, including a pedestrian path directly to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
A new $530 million South parking deck at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, with about 7,700 additional spaces.
Numerous security enhancements to deal with downtown crowds.

🚍 One thing that won’t be done:

MARTA’s A-line route, its first rapid bus line downtown. The project’s experienced several delays, and could end up costing double the initial budget at more than $122 million.

One problem is they keep running into unexpected stuff underground: shallow, unmarked water lines, historic trolley tracks, an abandoned underground parking garage no one knew about and now... bones. They’re believed to be horse bones, but Atlanta police still need to investigate.

Not signed up yet? What’re you waiting for? Get A.M. ATL in your inbox each weekday morning. And keep scrolling for more news.

CHILDREN: EXPENSIVE

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

I don’t have kids, so sorrows and prayers to the rest of you on this. A new study by Lending Tree calculated how much it costs to raise a child in Georgia from birth to 18 years, and the grand total is:

💸 $201,058 💸

Here’s the kicker: Georgia is actually the fourth most affordable state in the country to build a family.

The study also says the cost of children has risen 25% since 2023.
Infant day care in Georgia costs, on average, $11,066 a year.
Nationwide, families now spend 23% of their income on child-related expenses.

❓ Trivia question: What is the most expensive state to raise children, according to the study? Hint: It’s not California (No. 5) or New York (No. 8). I’ll put the answer at the bottom.

THE NEW SPAGHETTI JUNCTION

Credit: Hyundai Motor Group/TNS

Metro Atlanta has Spaghetti Junction, but now Savannah has its own traffic nightmare. It’s the exit for the new Hyundai EV plant on the I-16 interchange, and locals are calling it The Quagmire.

The Hyundai manufacturing center opened in October, long before expansions could be made to the once-sleepy stretch of I-16 about 20 miles south of Savannah.
The roads leading to the campus already create standstill traffic, and at about 1,500 workers, the place isn’t even fully staffed yet. The final head count will be closer to 8,500.
It’s worse because the new traffic pattern intersects with routes to other manufacturing plants in the area, plus the normal people who live there and just want to survive their everyday commutes.

It's bad, horrible, awful. When I left the house this morning, I told my husband, ‘I'm off to go sit in traffic.' And I don't even pass through all that mess at the exit.

- Carolyn Sowder, a clerk at Ken’s IGA, a grocery store near the EV plant

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

President Donald Trump made an all-caps callout to Russian President Vladimir Putin after a military strike on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv: “Vladimir, STOP!”

Stacey Abrams hasn’t ruled out a third run for Georgia governor. Whether her fellow Dems would be on board is another question.

All of those election security measures some Georgia lawmakers wanted have amounted to very little ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta stopped offering gender-affirming care to transgender children as the Trump administration continues to threaten organizations that don’t adhere to the administration’s ideologies.

A spokeswoman for Children’s Healthcare told the AJC the change was a “system-level decision.”

The mother of a transgender child shared a message with the AJC that she received from her child’s CHA doctor through an online medical portal:

Unfortunately, due to threats to federal funding, Children’s leadership has determined that we cannot start any new patients on medication for gender-affirming care and will need to transition all of our current patients receiving gender-affirming care to other organizations. I know this is very disappointing and I am so sorry for this change. We hope it will be temporary.

WEEKEND PLANS

Credit: @skylarsnapsga

Some weekends are more necessary than others, and this feels like a very necessary weekend. Let’s make the most of it:

📚 Black Girl Book Fair: Find your new favorite read at a beautifully bookish event led by seven Black- and women-led bookstores. There’ll be book-themed festivities for kids and adults, products from Black-owned businesses, book recommendations and more.

🏡 The Inman Park Festival & Tour of Homes: Brighten your day with a quirky parade, artisan markets, music and a chance to be politely nosey and view homes in one of Atlanta’s oldest neighborhoods.

🍲 Taste of Marietta: Celebrate the 30th annual festival on Marietta Square with offerings from more than 70 Marietta and Cobb County-area restaurants.

🎨 Get creative with the kids: Who doesn’t love a family-friendly arts outing? There are plenty going on right now to get everyone moving, laughing and creating.

🍓 Weekend baking: Make this vintage strawberry bread recipe, because every part of that sounds amazing.

NEWS BITES

Atlanta Falcons take UGA standout Jalon Walker in the NFL Draft

Astonishing fact from our own D. Orlando Ledbetter: The Falcons hadn’t taken a player from Georgia in the first or second round of the draft since 1966!

Pope Francis bought all of his shoes from the same Argentine cobbler before he was Pope

Another dream job, for someone at least: Papal Cobbler.

Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks are beefing in the NBA Finals

Tsk, that’s very un-midwestern of them.

Girl boss bonobos in Congo form groups to fend off male aggression, study says

The girls that get it, get it. ✨

ON THIS DATE

April 25, 1909

Credit: File photo

From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: 1,000 MILE AUTOMOBILE AND ROAD BUILDING CONTEST TO BE PULLED OFF IN THE FALL. From New York to Atlanta by automobile! Practically unheard of before, but a certainty in the near future.

I audibly said, “Aww!” Makes you wonder what headlines from today will be looked upon that way a hundred years from now.

ONE MORE THING

Trivia answer: It’s Hawaii! But at least you’d get to be in Hawaii. The other most expensive states for child-rearing are Massachusetts, Washington and Maryland.

Have a good weekend! I’m going to spend mine ruminating on the terroir of Cobb County’s finest sink water.

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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