Morning, y’all! My husband told me the other day, “It just looks like it’s hot out.” Neither of us could explain it, but he was totally right.
Let’s get to it.
LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE FOR APALACHEE SHOOTER
Credit: (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Credit: (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
“You wrote, ‘I want to make history. I want people to remember the pain I caused.’ And there you succeeded. You studied that pain when you studied the trials of your profane idols.”
That’s what Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm said as he handed down a life sentence without parole yesterday to Apalachee shooter Colt Gray.
- Gray, now 16, pleaded guilty last week to all 55 counts related to the September 2024 attack that left four dead and several others wounded at a high school near Winder.
- His admission paved the way for a life sentence for murder, but defense attorneys argued for leniency, saying he could possibly improve as a person.
- In response, Primm and prosecuting attorneys cited Gray’s writings and an obsession with crime, violence and school shootings that didn’t abate after the attack.
- Testimony during the three-day hearing revealed Gray’s mother, Marcee Gray, helped fuel this obsession and even acted as a go-between to get photos and writings posted to online crime message boards after Gray’s arrest.
- “I’m being compared with the big dogs,” he told his mother in a phone call, just two months after the shooting.
🔎 READ MORE: Shooter’s mother read him online praise for his actions while he was in jail
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HOT PORT SUMMER
Credit: (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
Credit: (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
Georgia’s ports are enjoying a strong summer, even though it’s usually a slower season for shipping.
- Terminals typically see a slump in June, July and August in the time between when back-to-school goods move through the port and the start of the holiday gift cargo season.
- Right now, they’re also facing trade uncertainty and the complications of war.
- However, nearly half a million container units moved through the authority’s Savannah terminals in June. That was enough to erase a year-over-year deficit in volume.
- Early data suggests Georgia’s share of U.S. cargo will climb from 10.5% to 10.7% when FY2026 numbers release in September.
- While Georgia Ports Authority is pleased at the upturn, all the economic and global uncertainty has led to guarded predictions for the future.
🔎 READ MORE: What shipping experts are concerned and hopeful about
CHEMICAL SPILL LED TO FISH KILL, STATE SAYS
A chemical spill at the city of Atlanta’s South River Water Reclamation Center led to the death of some 1,250 fish in the city’s South River near Constitution Lakes Park.
- To be clear, this isn’t the really big fish kill that happened in the Chattahoochee River a few weeks earlier. But the state’s findings contradict the city’s explanation.
- The watershed department, days after the June 27 incident, said the chemical spill at the South River facility did not cause the fish kill.
- The state’s Wildlife Resources Division said water quality patterns, a documented chemical spill and the stormwater pathway between the city’s facility and the South River point to watershed management being at fault.
Now is as good a time as any to give a shoutout to all the professionals who try to keep Georgia’s waterways safe and investigate these kinds of incidents.
Maybe things like fish kills don’t always affect our day-to-day lives, but they affect our watersheds, wildlife, environmental health and communities, and we appreciate everyone who keeps watch over it all.
🔎 READ MORE: What the city has said in response
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🥤 Coca-Cola says it scored big from the World Cup. The Atlanta beverage giant says tournament-related sales led to its biggest growth boost in years.
- Did you know? Coca-Cola is a longtime World Cup sponsor and has exclusive pouring rights for nonalcoholic beverages inside the host city stadiums.
🤖 Workplaces are looking for cheaper AI as costs rise without similar spikes in productivity. Wow. No one could have seen this coming.
💰 Rick Jackson unveiled an $87 million ad campaign targeting his opponent for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Also mentioned in his initial messaging (favorably!): Bottoms’ successor and current Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.
THE HISTORY OF CABBAGETOWN, IN PICTURES
Credit: Photo courtesy of Chunklet Music Preservation Project
Credit: Photo courtesy of Chunklet Music Preservation Project
Nestled between the Atlanta Beltline’s Eastside Trail and the Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts, Cabbagetown today is one of the city’s most sought-after intown neighborhoods, known for its refurbished bungalows, cottages, retail shops and community spaces.
- The historic neighborhood has come a long way from its origins as a mill town established in 1881 to house serve laborers, many of them from the Appalachian region, who worked at the Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills, the South’s first textile processing facility.
- When the mill closed in 1977, Cabbagetown entered a period of decline as many workers and their families moved away in search of jobs elsewhere, leaving behind a sizable number of original mill residents, empty houses and vacant buildings.
- In the 1980s, drawn by affordable rents and the neighborhood’s convenient location, young artists, especially musicians, began moving into Cabbagetown. Before long, the neighborhood became a proving ground and creative hub for an eclectic music scene whose influence continues to ripple through Atlanta today.
“Cabbagetown ’76: The Photographs of Barbara McKenzie” showcases never-before-seen images documenting Cabbagetown residents and their surroundings during the pivotal period between the mill town’s decline and the early stages of gentrification. Presented by the Chunklet Music Preservation Project, the exhibition opens Friday and runs through Aug. 30 at the Cabbagetown Community Center.
📷 READ MORE: How the nonprofit brought McKenzie’s photos out of obscurity
NEWS BITES
I was not ready for the plot twist in this story: The senders were former eBay employees.
Atlanta Falcons training camp begins today. Here’s what to know
To those counting down the days like it’s Christmas, the Falcons’ regular season begins Sept. 13.
Do you toss food past the date on the label? Experts say it’s often a waste
Does it smell weird? Does it feel weird? Nope? Into the mouth it goes. (Unless it’s milk or chicken. Not taking any chances there.)
ON THIS DATE
July 29, 1936
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Journal’s weather reporter seeks surcease, finds storm. The Atlanta Journal’s weather reporter went to Florida to spend a quiet vacation away from the elements — and on the very first day a tropical storm jumped up and slapped him in the face. Tired of writing stories about a long chain of weather occurrences which included a million-dollar ice storm in Atlanta, spring floods, a devastating tornado, a record-breaking drought and blistering heat waves, the reporter arrived at Miami Beach prepared to relax and forget all about the weather, but fate decreed a postman’s holiday.
I can’t be sure, but one has to assume the writer here, Harry Wilensky, was also the “Journal man” whose vacation went so awry. At least, I like to hope so, because that means this article was written out of pure spite.
ONE MORE THING
surcease (n): a temporary respite or end
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Until next time.
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