ATLANTA AND THE WORLD CUP: The World Cup is coming to North America — and a key part of it perhaps to Atlanta — in eight years. Member nations of FIFA, soccer's global governing body, voted Wednesday in Moscow to play the 2026 men's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The three nations combined on a joint bid to host the tournament, one of the world's largest sporting events, and defeated a competing bid from Morocco, 134 votes to 65 votes. The North American bid proposed a prominent role for Atlanta, suggesting Mercedes-Benz Stadium as one of the sites for semifinal matches. It also suggested Atlanta as a contender to host the tournament's international broadcast center. The U.S./Canada/Mexico bid names 23 cities in the three nations as candidates to host World Cup matches and says the number will be whittled to 16 "official host cities" by June 2021, including at least 10 in the U.S.
» Mercedes-Benz Stadium would need real grass
Credit: Domenico Stinellis
Credit: Domenico Stinellis
COLUMBUS, THE VATICAN & ATLANTA: For years, investigators searched the world for a stolen letter written by Christopher Columbus in 1493. The eight-page, handwritten letter had been preserved in the Vatican Library but was replaced at some point with a forged copy. Investigators would discover that an Atlanta art collector purchased the Columbus letter for $875,000 in 2004 without knowing it had been stolen. When the current owner verified the situation, the kind soul voluntarily agreed to hand over the historic document for its return to the Vatican.
» "A priceless piece of cultural history"
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
MAKING HER MARK: Dorothy Cotton, one of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s, closest aides in an orbit dominated by men, has died at age 88. The Dorothy Cotton Institute and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where Cotton served as national director of education from 1963 until King's assassination in 1968, confirmed Cotton died June 10 in her home in Ithaca, N.Y. Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who worked with closely with King in the SCLC, shared a story about Cotton: "I remember one meeting, Martin said 'Dorothy, get me a cup of coffee.' She said 'No, I won't get you a cup of coffee.' She was constantly rebelling against the role of being made a second-class citizen. She would tell Dr. King no all the time. So I got the coffee."
