Morning, y’all! Did you know that bird flu can also affect wild birds? The current U.S. outbreak has hit more than 170 species of North American wild birds including ducks, geese, gulls, owls, eagles. Not the happiest thought to start the day but an important one if you love worrying about your local bird friends. Luckily, your typical backyard feeders shouldn’t be at risk.
Let’s get to it.
DAY CARE DRUGGING INVESTIGATION
Credit: Dreamstime
Credit: Dreamstime
A Monroe County day care is temporarily closed and three employees have been charged after investigators say a teacher gave toddlers Benadryl to make them sleepy for nap time. Some key details on this scary situation:
- A teacher at the day care at Forsyth Methodist Church allegedly gave over-the-counter allergy medication to children as young as two to make them tired. Such medication is not indicated for children under six.
- The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning also found the medication was given without parental consent.
- Parents reported their children were sluggish and “not normal” upon pickup, according to a closure order for the center.
- Allegedly, the day care management didn’t alert parents after the incidents were discovered. The agency also said management didn’t discipline the teacher who had given the drugs.
- Another teacher and the day care center’s director have also been charged.
- The original teacher who administered the drugs now faces 16 charges, including six counts of first-degree cruelty to children, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
🔎 Read more about this ongoing case, including how one day care employee’s observations may have helped bring the incidents to light.
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GREEN SPACE UPDATES
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg/AJC
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg/AJC
Who doesn’t love a good tree or park, am I right? (That sounds like something a robot would say if it was pretending to be human.) Atlanta’s considering some changes to the downtown scenery, but they’re not without controversy.
🌲 A new park in Midtown: You know that empty lot-slash-dirt-pit situation along 14th Street, not far from the Woodruff Arts Center (or The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newsroom)? Yeah, something’s gonna be done about that. The Midtown Improvement District is under contract to acquire the 4-acre lot and turn it into a public park. It was previously planned to be a new symphony hall, and then some high-rise condos. A park sounds like a very nice solution.
🌳 A Beltline tree ordinance exception: Atlanta council members may consider major changes to the city’s tree ordinance, originally aimed at keeping up the city’s abundant tree canopy. Now, critics say the ordinance is hampering infrastructure projects.
- On Monday, the Atlanta City Council voted to exempt the Beltline and other developments from the ordinance to give a boost to backlogged projects.
- Environmentalists aren’t fans of the plan, though. Once dubbed the “city in the forest,” it’s been a struggle to maintain Atlanta’s goal of preserving 50% of its urban tree canopy.
It’s quite a process to take down a tree in Atlanta. Individuals and developers have to earn a permit from the city and get the OK from a city arborist for a tree replacement plan, among other tasks.
While we’re talking green, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has admitted that the $2 billion effort to fix the city’s water infrastructure may ding your pocketbook. Dickens said a stormwater utility fee is being considered to generate revenue for the widespread (and sorely needed) improvements.
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🚪 President Donald Trump has fired two Dems on the Federal Trade Commission in a move experts say increases his administration’s power over independent agencies.
⚖️ Chief Justice John Roberts rejected Trump’s call for the impeachment and removal of a judge who ruled against his deportation plans. A noteworthy moment of dissent from the judiciary branch.
💵 The Social Security Administration will now require in-person identity checks for new and existing recipients, meaning millions will have to travel to field offices.
✍️ Gov. Brian Kemp’s big push to limit lawsuits in Georgia is getting more blowback as state lawmakers enter the final weeks of the legislative session.
LATER TODAY: The Georgia Supreme Court will meet in Cartersville to consider whether the State Election Board overstepped its authority with last-minute election rules last year that would require an inquiry before certifying results and a hand-count of ballots on election night.
I just can't wait to have the kids and the seniors in this community to come and not only think that they can be stars, they are stars. Because once you walk in this building, you're gonna see, you are a star in this place.
It was a real tearjerker in Macon on Tuesday at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the brand-new Otis Redding Center for the Arts. The center was spearheaded by the soul music icon’s family and largely funded through donations. It’s an homage not only to Redding’s massive legacy, but also the promise of his hometown.
Read more about the new center here, including some really sweet pics of the Redding family.
Credit: Jason Vorhees/The Macon Melody
Credit: Jason Vorhees/The Macon Melody
NEWS BITES
A perfect March Madness bracket could score you $1 million or a trip to Mars
Yeah … I’ll take the $1 million, thanks.
Want to try something new? Give Atlanta pottery studios a spin!
Get it, a spin? Seriously though, it’s very fun.
The French Bulldog is still America’s top dog breed
Now I’m imagining the Georgia Bulldogs logo, but with a beret.
The cicadas are coming, but this year’s brood is only in one part of Georgia
I grew up in Maryland, where the cicada broods were so intense it was like walking on a crunchy carpet for days. When I was in high school, and I remember this so clearly it haunts me, one of my classmates opened his mouth wide to show us a whole live cicada on his tongue. Then, he ate it.
ON THIS DATE
March 19, 1952
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
From the front page of the Atlanta Journal: STREET SCENES. Big man trying to descend on store escalator which is coming up. Each time he tentatively puts foot on step it disappears to his continued astonishment. Finally he turns to chic woman who is watching him and says, “It don’t work that way, does it?”
Bicycle wheel rolling down DeKalb Ave. with not a bike nor a rider in sight, nor any on the sidewalk, to mystification of dodging motorists.
The “Street Scenes” feature appears to be just that; random observations from around town. We need to bring this back immediately.
ONE MORE THING
Congratulations to the University of Georgia’s incoming Class of 2029! UGA received a record number of applications this year, extending offers to 33% of roughly 48,000 applicants. That’s about the same number of UGA grads who work with me in the AJC newsroom. (Seriously, they’re everywhere.)
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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