A.M. ATL: Spore tour

Morning, y’all! It’s great we’re finally getting some rain. Combined with the sweaty temps, my neighborhood is seeing mushroom variants heretofore unknown to science.

Let’s get to it.

HOW A GAINESVILLE PORT COULD EASE YOUR ATLANTA COMMUTE

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

The Georgia Ports Authority has a shiny new cargo facility in North Georgia that promises to serve more than just shipping needs.

The $134 million Gainesville Inland Port connects to the Savannah River’s coastal terminals via a Norfolk Southern freight line.
In the words of Ports Authority CEO Griff Lynch, the facility “essentially extends our gates” by 300 miles, allowing incoming and outgoing shipments to quite literally take a fast track to their next destination.
Authorities predict about 26,000 containers will move between Savannah and Gainesville via rail over the next year.

Why it’s important for you even if you don’t work in shipping logistics:

All that new activity will eliminate thousands of truck trips along Georgia’s highways, including I-285 around Atlanta. Given we’re going to see dozens of 285 closures over the next few years, that sounds like real relief.

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.

ANOTHER DEADLY GSP CRASH

A Georgia State Patrol highway chase on Memorial Day ended with one bystander dead and three people injured, reviving longstanding criticisms of the agency’s chase protocols.

Chatanna Patterson, 51, was killed when a speeding car GSP officers were pursuing turned off of I-20 westbound at Hill Street. The driver crashed into another car parked at a gas station.
Georgia leaders and legislators have repeatedly called for clearer accountability for the unintended consequences of police chases.
A 2025 AJC investigation found the Georgia State Patrol’s chase policies are among the most permissive in the country.
The agency’s pursuit tactics and loose chase policy contributed to 1,900 people injured and 66 deaths over a recent five-year period.
As part of the investigation, the AJC found the families of bystanders injured or killed in these crashes have little legal recourse.

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

🐘 Who’s endorsing who? The AJC’s politics team found dozens of overlaps on the endorsement lists for U.S. Rep. Mike Collins and former football coach Derek Dooley, who will face each other in Georgia’s Republican U.S. Senate runoff. A few of these folks provided interesting explanations.

🚱 U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held up jars of brown drinking water during a House Committee on Energy and Commerce meeting, saying the sludge was from wells near a Meta data center site in Morgan County, Georgia. Residents in the area have reported water issues from related construction activity.

PITCH PERFECT

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

If you read one article for fun today, let it be AJC sports columnist Ken Suguira’s ode to the verdant new World Cup field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. I quote:

“The expanse of sod rested pool-table flat, begging to be wiggled on like a golden retriever. It was an awe-inspiring rectangle of emerald, an aura of flora. Uniform in color, evenly cut and not a dandelion to be found.”

Beautiful.

We’re only about three weeks away from Atlanta’s first World Cup match, but the people in charge of the stadium’s grass are already on a daily schedule of mowing, feeding, watering and exposure to artificial grow lights.

The grass is Kentucky bluegrass mixed with perennial ryegrass, with some durability-boosting artificial fibers thrown in. Curiously, it’s all imported from Colorado.
Even the blade length is hyper-specific. Since its installation, the turf has been mowed daily to a height of 1.1 inches (27 millimeters). For the games, it will be shaved to 0.9 inches (23 millimeters).

NEWS BITES

The cruise ship at center of the hantavirus outbreak will undergo extra cleaning

HOPEFULLY!

You should be dancing! Moving to music offers all kinds of health benefits

Is there a skill-based distinction between “dancing” and “moving your body to music?” Probably, but don’t let that stop you.

Oreo teamed up with K-pop supergroup BTS for a brown sugar pancake edition

Whew, that sounds good. The popular street food is called hotteok in Korean.

AI demand is soaring. Could space be the next data center hub?

Because of course there’s nothing else here on Earth that deserves our time, energy, money and attention.

ON THIS DATE

May 27, 1975

Credit: AJC

Daredevil tumbles. American daredevil Evel Knievel falls to the ground as his motorcycle flips in the air at Wembley Stadium during his attempt to leap over 13 London buses. After the crash, he told the 70,000 spectators, “You are the last people to see me jump. I will never jump again, and that’s true.”

[Narrator voice]: Evel Knievel did, in fact, jump again. Many times.

ONE MORE THING

A selection of real mushroom names, from my copy of the “National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms” (a handy reference whenever you need a really unique insult):

Slippery Jack. Stalkless Paxillus. Chocolate Tube Slime. Wrinkled thimble-cap. Crustlike Cup. Fuzzy False Truffle. Salmon Unicorn Entoloma. Slimy Gomphidius.

Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.

Until next time.

About the Author

Memorial Day weekend’s storms prelude soggy week to come for metro Atlanta

Daily rounds of showers and thunderstorms are expected to extend beyond Memorial Day for North and Middle Georgia this week, the National Weather Service says.