Morning, y’all! Happy Earth Day! Where’s your favorite place to enjoy nature in the South? One of mine is Sweetwater Creek State Park, just west of Atlanta. It’s on our list of the best walking trails in the Atlanta area, for when you want to literally stop and smell the flowers.
Let’s get to it.
BREAKING DOWN KEMP’S LEGAL OVERHAUL
Credit: Matthew Pearson/WABE via AP
Credit: Matthew Pearson/WABE via AP
Gov. Brian Kemp signed two new laws yesterday that will overhaul Georgia’s legal system. This was part of his big legislative push this year to limit lawsuits against companies and property owners. He and other supporters say the laws will lower insurance premiums by culling frivolous personal injury lawsuits. Only time will tell if that actually happens. For now, here’s what the laws do:
- Limit when businesses can be sued for injuries that occur on their property
- Allow plaintiffs to show actual medical costs alongside initial bills, which sometimes reflect inflated charges
- Allow cases to be split into two stages, with the first determining fault and the second assessing damages
The new package makes exceptions for things like sex crimes and cases with low damage payouts.
What’s the big idea? If the laws work the way Kemp wants, businesses and commercial property owners would see relief on their liability coverages. However, opponents worry the plan relies too much on insurance companies actually lowering rates and say everyday people could lose the power to hold companies accountable for wrongdoing.
Kemp didn’t have an easy time passing the package — even some fellow Republicans had to be repeatedly convinced. Some other Georgia lawmakers are looking at ways to ensure some of the package’s promises. House Speaker Jon Burns has already instructed a legislative panel to review how insurance rates are set.
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LAWMAKERS WEIGH IN AFTER DEADLY GSP PURSUIT
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
The Georgia State Police pursuit that ended with the death of a 19-year-old last week is gaining more attention among Georgia’s lawmakers.
What happened: A reckless driver being pursued by the GSP turned off of I-20, sped through several streets, ran a red light and struck another car.
Why the GSP is in the conversation: While the driver was charged with several counts in connection with the young man’s death, the incident is one in a long line of GSP pursuits that have ended with a passenger or bystander dead.
🔎 READ MORE: How the GSP’s pursuit policy has resulted in thousands of crashes and deaths
What lawmakers are saying: Three Democratic state representatives who were dining near the site of the crash when it happened held a news conference calling for changes to the Georgia State Patrol’s pursuit policy.
- Republican state lawmakers, including Gov. Brian Kemp, have defended the GSP and their pursuit policies, which are some of the most lenient in the country. However, House Speaker Jon Burns did mention the possibility of another solution, like stiffer penalties for people who flee police.
Avoiding a political fight: Those wanting to revisit GSP’s policies have stressed it isn’t about politicizing police work, but about saving lives.
- Atlanta City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari said it isn’t “a story about cops versus the left.”
- Georgia’s Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John F. King, a former police chief, defended the agency, but also said chase policies “have to reflect the reality of what’s going on.”
SO MUCH FOR RESPECTING OUR ELDERS
Credit: FILE
Credit: FILE
Oof. Georgia ranks among the worst states for older workers, coming in at No. 43 in a recent Seniorly study. What’s the problem?
- Low earnings: Georgia seniors earn a median income of $53,005, which is below the national average.
- High discrimination: Georgia has one of the highest age discrimination complaint rates in the country.
- Hunger: Nearly 10% of Georgia seniors experience food insecurity.
- Poverty: Georgia has the third-highest senior poverty rate, exacerbated by high rents and limited public transportation options.
Georgia wasn’t the only Southern state to score poorly in these categories, which is a shame for many reasons — not the least of which is the relative affordability and temperate climes that have made the South so popular with older adults in the past.
DON’T TAKE YOUR WATER GUNS TO TOWN
There are bad decisions, and then there’s... whatever this is. Some high school seniors are capping off the school year with a prank-style game called “Senior Assassin,” where classmates dress in black, hunt down fellow seniors and shoot them with water guns.
I don’t have to tell you here, in the year 2025, why that could be a bad idea. I’ll leave that to the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office:
“Why on God’s green earth do you think it’s okay to be dressed in all black, running around with guns — regardless of whether they are real or fake — and knocking on folks’ doors? When your parents were young, they played ‘ding dong ditch.’ In 2025, you can’t be doing that. The consequences are real and extremely dangerous.”
You know it’s serious when they pull out the “God’s green earth” line. Some Atlanta-area high school seniors told the AJC the game is like a bonding ritual, which is nice but doesn’t erase the very real risks.
🔎 READ MORE: What teens and law enforcement have to say about the trend
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🎩 Democratic state Sen. Jason Esteves launched a bid for Georgia governor, promising to take on the “chaos” of President Donald Trump’s administration.
💸 Harvard sued the Trump administration to stop a freeze of more than $2 billion in grants after the university refused to capitulate to the administration’s demands over diversity programs and policies.
🖥️ Google is in the middle of an existential crisis as federal hearings begin to determine how the company should answer for operating a monopoly in search.
🔨 The CEO of Atlanta-based Home Depot, along with the heads of Walmart and Target, met with Trump Monday to discuss the whole tariff situation.
WHO DOESN’T LOVE PAYING FOR AIRPORT PARKING?
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is tripling hourly parking rates and other fees. Blame inflation, the Atlanta airport’s assistant general manager said. Our fair aviation hub hasn’t jacked up parking prices since 2017, but these are gonna really hurt. Among the changes:
- Hourly parking: From $3 to $10 or more an hour
- Daily parking in domestic terminal decks: From $19 to $30 a day
- Economy parking: From $14 to $20 a day
- Domestic park-ride lots: From $10 to $15 a day for uncovered parking
- The international park-ride deck: From $14 to $30 a day
Counter proposal: If you get out of a Hartsfield-Jackson parking situation without crying, losing your way, screaming at a stranger or missing several turns off the airport access roads, you should get a refund.
NEWS BITES
The Hawks dump general manager Landry Fields after early playoff exit
Never a dull moment in Atlanta sports, is there?
The UK has a Corgi Derby, and it’s everything you think it would be
If you’ve never seen a corgi look genuinely scary while sporting a little race jersey, today’s your day.
Georgians mourn, pay tribute to Pope Francis
Very papally poetic of Papa Francisco to make it through Lent and celebrate one last Easter before going up yonder.
Will Darius J be the second Georgia resident to win ‘The Voice’?
What can we say? We’re a talented bunch.
ON THIS DATE
April 22, 2001
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
From the front page of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: We’ve got the BEAT. Womens’ pro soccer makes its Atlanta debut with 0-0 tie. / Falcon’s No. 1 Man: Vick pick clicks with fans
RIP to the Atlanta Beat, Atlanta’s professional women’s soccer team that was founded in 2001, killed off in 2003, resurrected in 2009 and killed again in 2012 with the suspension of the Women’s Professional Soccer league. They had some huge names, too! Briana Scurry? Carli Lloyd?! Oh, what could have been.
To salt the wound, we also have a write-up of the Atlanta Falcons’ first-round draft pick of Michael Vick. Putting everything else aside, did you know Vick was the first Black quarterback to go No. 1 in an NFL draft?
ONE MORE THING
I wasn’t in the city at the time, but former A.M. ATL host Tyler Estep tells me there were radio commercials for the Atlanta Beat that indeed included “We Got the Beat” by the Go-Go’s. That should be classified as a form of psychological warfare.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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