A.M. ATL: 🤔 What would you drop?

Morning, y’all, and welcome to New Year’s Eve! Happy ninth birthday to my son, Abel, too. He’s the best.

• In terms of weather and traffic: You can expect the former to be lovely. The latter probably not.
• Programming wise: A.M. ATL is taking Jan. 1 off, but we’ll be back Thursday.

First, though, let’s dig into the latest on ceremonies planned for former President Jimmy Carter, the AJC’s high school football player of the year and those viral claims about a heaping helping of snow heading our way.

Plus some ... theoretical physics.

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EYES TO THE SKY

It’s that time of year again, folks.

The time when we put large objects on top of a pole, then drop them slowly to the ground in the middle of the night because the calendar that a Catholic guy named Greg invented like 400 years ago tells us it’s a different year now.

In New York City the object is a big ball, not only because some people used to keep time with similar structures but because the owner of the New York Times got tired of fireworks displays.

• In Atlanta we’ve got the Peach Drop, which is back from its semi-annual hiatus this year and plans to welcome tens of thousands of folks (plus Big Boi, Neon Trees and other musical acts) to Underground Atlanta.

On the odder Georgia front, the tiny town of Tallapoosa drops a taxidermy possum named Spencer. Further south in Perry, a buzzard swoops down.

We love it when folks pick a gimmick and stick to it.

• Which got me thinking: If your Georgia town slowly dropped something from the sky, what would it be?

I’m talking carpet samples raining down in Dalton. Maybe a big chicken in Marietta (or Gainesville or Fitzgerald, for that matter). In Macon, perhaps a giant vinyl record — or good golly, even a massive mock-up of Little Richard’s pompadour.

How about (carefully) lowering a colossal crock of stew in Brunswick? An onion drop in Vidalia would be pretty sweet, too.

And Butts County could drop, well … trou.

I could keep going forever, but that feels like an appropriate place to stop. Shoot an email to tyler.estep@ajc.com with your own ideas and maybe we’ll include them in a future edition of the newsletter.

Check out our full list of New Year’s Eve festivities, too. And keep these laws in mind if you’re fireworks-minded.

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PAYING TRIBUTE

Mary Mancus, manager of Plains' Buffalo Cafe, speaks to a reporter outside the restaurant.

As the fine folks in Plains (and Atlanta, and the rest of the world) continued mourning former President Jimmy Carter, more details about ceremonies honoring his life and legacy emerged.

• On Saturday, a motorcade will carry Carter to Atlanta, where he’ll lay in repose at the Carter Center.
• On Jan. 7, a flight will take the former president to Maryland. A procession will then carry him to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol.
• A funeral is scheduled for Jan. 9 — which will also be a National Day of Mourning — at the Washington National Cathedral.
• Carter will be interred in Plains later that day.

Lots more coverage (including photos!) at AJC.com. And don’t miss this lovely piece about the community that loved a president.

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TALKING POLITICS

» Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr doesn’t want the state Supreme Court to take up Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ appeal of her office’s disqualification from its 2020 election interference case.

» The U.S. House’s ethics committee didn’t find any evidence of Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Albany) intentionally misusing campaign funds.

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LET IT GO

These ladies enjoyed the snow that snarled Atlanta in 2014. They're unlikely to see the white stuff next week.

Have y’all seen those viral social media posts suggesting Atlanta’s due for about a foot of snow next week? Well … calm down. Things are definitely trending colder, but as the National Weather Service explained in its own series of posts:

• “We cannot, with any meaningful confidence, forecast snowfall values 10+ days (or even a week!) out. Nailing down just the temperature forecast is difficult this far out, and snow in the south is delicate — requiring precision within a degree.”

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TOO DA(R)N HIGH

It ain’t breaking news that rents keep rising around metro Atlanta. But new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau put a rather startling number on it.

• To wit: The median monthly price across the metro sat at $1,563 between 2019 and 2023. That’s 41% more than the previous five-year span.

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BEST OF THE BEST

Milton quarterback Luke Nickel celebrates after his team scored in this month's state title game.

Milton quarterback Luke Nickel put up gaudy, record-breaking numbers en route to a second straight Class 5A state championship. He’s bound to play college ball at Miami — and he’s the AJC’s 2024 high school football player of the year, too.

“He played as locked-in and laser-focused as I’ve ever seen him,” Nickel’s coach said.

• Don’t miss the AJC’s high school football all-state and all-metro Atlanta teams, either!

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SPEAKING OF QUARTERBACKS …

Georgia’s Gunner Stockton has a pretty big game coming up tomorrow night. But what’s he like off the field? Well, there are cows involved. And he’s “super clean,” according to his roommates.

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MORE TO EXPLORE

» 3M, Mohawk hid dangers that led to health crisis, Georgia county says

» Cobb man injured in house party shooting now charged in teen’s killing

» Robots are lifting spirits this holiday season at new children’s hospital

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ON THIS DATE

Dec. 31, 1946

While post-World War II wrangling over atomic weapons dragged on, Atlanta celebrated another sort of milestone: “the baby-havingest year ever.”

In all, at least 11,563 newborns had arrived through Jan. 30, with “several other storks … said to be circling for a landing during the waning hours of the old year.”

(For context: These days, Northside Hospital alone delivers at least 15,000 babies every year.)

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PHOTO OF THE DAY