Dreaming of Monday
Aug. 26 — A new statue of late U.S. Rep. John Lewis was unveiled on Saturday outside of the historic courthouse on Decatur Square. The statue, by Basil Watson, replaces a Confederate monument that was removed in 2020.
🌞 Sunny and 92° today.
👮 Four men were found dead at a Dalton, GA park in an apparent robbery gone wrong. A 16-year-old faces murder charges as investigators piece together a “complicated case” possibly involving drugs.
🚨 The man found dead along I-285 in Dunwoody on Aug. 19 has been identified. He was wanted for allegedly assaulting a homeless woman hours earlier.
💬 A Georgia Senate panel investigating the Fulton County Jail handed down 17 improvement recommendations, including the City of Atlanta turning over its detention center for additional space.
🔎 In other Fulton Jail news, multiple people were arrested and five warrants were issued for persons involved in smuggling contraband to the facility.
🏢 The first tower in the Centennial Yards development — a 304-unit apartment building called The Mitchell — has topped out.
🦠 With COVID cases on the rise again in Georgia, GPB News has a look at a new vaccine and the availability of the treatment medication Paxlovid.
⛳ The 30-player field is set for this week’s TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club. Play begins Thursday.
🏀 The Atlanta Dream hope to set an attendance record when they host Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever at State Farm Arena tonight.
ELSEWHERE
🎾 The U.S. Open starts today in Queens, New York. Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Poland’s Iga Świątek are the top seeds. Defending champion and Atlanta native Coco Gauff is seeded third.
🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:
• Above the Waterline
• Nan Thai Buckhead
• Global Headlines
AND
• Look & Listen: Women’s Equality Day
Have a great week,
Collin & Sammie
✅ Hey, Dunwoody! What’s best about living or working here? What would you change? The city’s comprehensive plan will help shape the future. Take our survey, then come to our public workshop Sept. 10 at Park Place, 5-7 p.m. (SPONSOR MESSAGE)
1. Project 2025 is a profound threat to people and nature
ABOVE THE WATERLINE | A MONTHLY COLUMN BY SALLY BETHEA
🌳 In her latest Above the Waterline column, environmentalist Sally Bethea reflects on the bipartisan creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 and the conservatives’ new push to dismantle it.
Last year, the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation published Project 2025: a 900-page blueprint crafted by former members of Donald Trump’s administration in preparation for his return to the White House if he wins reelection in November.
If fully implemented, Project 2025 would sabotage climate science programs; dismantle the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the National Weather Service; and gut the EPA – eliminating or weakening research, regulatory, and enforcement programs.
➳ Read Sally’s full column here.
Don’t miss the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival!
SPONSORED BY ATLANTA FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL
🥂 Step right up to a spectacle of Atlanta’s finest culinarians at the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival on Sept. 12-15 at Historic Fourth Ward Park!
Within the famous Tasting Tents presented by Goya Foods, guests will have the chance to immerse themselves in over 60 tasting stations, each one a portal to culinary bliss as your ticket includes delectable food, tantalizing drinks, captivating entertainment, and so much more this September! For a more personalized experience, multi-course Intimate Dinners with award-winning chefs are available today!
🍴 Tickets to this all-inclusive gourmet food fair are on sale now! Buy tickets here.
2. Nan Thai opening second location in Buckhead
🍜 Twenty-one years after opening the original Nan Thai Fine Dining on Spring Street in Midtown, a second location will open in Buckhead this fall.
This October, Chai Yo Modern Thai executive chef and owner DeeDee Niyomkul, the daughter of restaurateur Nan Niyomkul, will transform her space at 3050 Peachtree Road into Nan Thai Buckhead.
“This is my way of honoring my parents’ iconic Nan Thai brand,” Niyomkul said. “We’ll be introducing some of my mother’s, Chef Nan’s, favorite dishes to our guests in Buckhead.”
3. Russia strikes Ukraine; The Taliban cracks down
🇺🇦 🇷🇺 Russia has launched a massive aerial assault on Ukraine today. Russia and Ukraine swapped 115 prisoners of war each on Saturday. It was the first exchange since Ukraine’s surprise Aug. 6 attack in Russia’s Kursk region.
🇮🇱 🇱🇧 Israel launched its largest strike on Hezbollah in Lebanon since 2006, claiming its preemptive actions yesterday thwarted a planned major attack. Hezbollah fired back with 320 rockets and drones. Israel said it intercepted most projectiles, including all drones.
🇦🇺 Australia’s new “right to disconnect” law lets workers ignore after-hours messages from their employers without fear of reprisal.
🇦🇫 The Taliban has codified strict morality rules in Afghanistan, including requiring women to cover their faces and banning music in cars. The Justice Ministry says the 35-article law, based on sharia, will be enforced by the morality police.
🇩🇪 German police have arrested a 26-year-old Syrian man accused of stabbing three people at a weekend film festival.
🇸🇩 As Sudan’s civil war enters its 17th month, aid agencies say cholera is killing refugees who are already struggling with famine. Rapper Macklemore has canceled his concert in Dubai in protest of the United Arab Emirates’ support of the Rapid Support Forces, a claim the UAE denies. The war has displaced more than eight million Sudanese.
🇧🇷 More than two dozen cities in Brazil are on high alert as wildfires burn out of control. At least two people are reported dead, while gray, smokey fog has been covering the capital city of São Paulo.
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago is moving to redesign its coat of arms to remove references to Christopher Columbus, who colonized the island starting in 1498.
🇧🇩 More than one million Rohingya refugees living in squalid camps in Bangladesh marked seven years since they were forced to flee Myanmar under a military crackdown. During a protest on Sunday, many wore ribbons reading “Rohingya Genocide Remembrance.”
🇧🇼 One of the largest diamonds ever discovered has been unearthed in Botswana. Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi was photographed holding the huge, 2,492-carat diamond with two hands.
🚀 NASA has extended two astronauts’ International Space Station stay by more than eight months, citing safety concerns after thruster issues.
🇫🇷 The 2024 Paralympics start this week in Paris.
🗓️ Register today to attend a fireside chat and breakfast with Karen Pierce DCMG, British Ambassador to the United States on Thurs., Sept. 5. Get a better understanding of the past, present, and future of the special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K. Learn more.
✅ Hey, Dunwoody! What’s best about living or working here? What would you change? The city’s comprehensive plan will help shape the future. Take our survey, then come to our public workshop Sept. 10 at Park Place, 5-7 p.m. (SPONSOR MESSAGE)
4. Women’s Equality Day
Today is Women’s Equality Day, which commemorates the 1920 adoption of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote in the United States. Here are some podcasts and readings exploring the state of women’s equality more than a century later.
💵 Why do women still make less money than men? In the U.S., the average woman makes 80 cents to every dollar a man makes. Bloomberg’s The Pay Check podcast delves into the issues.
🎙️ The Parity Podcast explores ways to accelerate gender equality and level the playing field in the workplace.
🎤 Femme Wonk is a policy and current affairs podcast hosted by Katie Davey that discusses innovative and traditional policy from the perspective of gender equality and inclusion.
🌳 See where the National Park Service has invested over $38 million in infrastructure and preservation projects for parks commemorating women across the nation.
Interested in Tucker?
📣 Don’t miss our new, weekly newsletter from Staff Writer Cathy Cobbs. Tucker’s first weekly newsletter covers local highlights, including:
• Debate over starting a Tucker police department
• Mixed reactions to the proposed trail connecting downtown to Northlake Mall
• Restaurant openings like Nicky’s Undefeated and Books & Brew
• Remembering Tucker’s role in the 1996 Olympics
• More!
➡ Click to read the first issue and subscribe here.
📧 Today’s newsletter was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
