State of Thursday
Jan. 15 — A field of 22 candidates — 17 Republicans, three Democrats, one Libertarian, and one Independent — has qualified to replace former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. The special election is March 10, with a likely runoff on April 7.
🥶 After wind chill temperatures in the teens this morning, it will be sunny and cold, with a high of 36° today.
🍽️ Business and civil leaders gathered yesterday for the annual Buckhead Coalition Luncheon to welcome the new CEO, Katharine Kelley.
✋ Tucker’s new mayor, Anne Lerner, and the incoming City Council were sworn in this week.
🗣️ Khadijah Abdur-Rahman is the new vice chair of the Fulton County Commission.
🏫 The DeKalb County Board of Education elected a new board chair, Allyson Gevertz, and vice chair, Awet Eyasu.
📌 Dunwoody City Council postponed action on a long-stalled zoning and land use request for a property on Ashford Dunwoody Road.
📚 After closing its store in 2022, Barnes & Noble will return to the Edgewood Retail District in May.
ELSEWHERE
🚨 A man was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after a federal immigration officer shot him in the leg during an attempted traffic stop in Minneapolis.🇩🇰 Denmark will join talks to discuss Greenland’s future after visiting with senior White House officials on Wednesday.
🛃 The State Department will suspend the processing of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries.
📰 The FBI searched the home and devices of a Washington Post reporter covering the federal government.
🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:
• Kemp’s 2026 priorities
• Abernathy Arts Center classes
• Atlanta startup Biotechnica
AND
• Quick Bites: Alici closing
🎼 Be immersed in old-world elegance with Prague Philharmonia, led by Emmanuel Villaume, Fri., Jan. 23 at Sandy Springs PAC. Hear an early Mozart violin concerto, Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture and Dvořák’s bright, lyrical Symphony No. 8. Get tickets. SPONSOR MESSAGE
1. Gov. Kemp lays out 2026 agenda with focus on roads, jobs, and affordability
🍳 Gov. Brian Kemp outlined a sweeping set of budget and policy priorities for the 2026 legislative session on Tuesday, calling for major investments in transportation, energy infrastructure, education, workforce development, and housing, while emphasizing affordability as his top focus.
Speaking at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Eggs & Issues breakfast at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Kemp said his budget proposal will include billions in new infrastructure spending, highlighted by $1.8 billion to expand express lanes along I-75 South in Henry County, one of the state’s most congested corridors.
The governor said the project would significantly increase rush-hour capacity on a route used by nearly 200,000 vehicles a day. Kemp also announced $200 million for upgrades to GA-316 between Gwinnett County and Athens.
STATE OF THE STATE
🗣️ The governor will deliver his final State of the State address before a joint session of the Georgia General Assembly this morning at 11 a.m. You can watch it here.
Architectural masterpiece overlooking Candler Park Golf Course
SPONSORED BY ASHLEY BYNUM, ANSLEY REAL ESTATE
🏡 Completed in 2022, this four-level home is a testament to modern luxury, blending sophisticated design with an unbeatable location and lifestyle benefits. Listed for $2.3 million, this 3,687 sq. ft. property offers 5 bedrooms, 4 full baths, and 2 half baths.
Features include seamless white oak flooring throughout, a floor-to-ceiling fireplace, custom accordion glass doors, a chef’s kitchen with Wolf appliances, a spa-inspired primary suite, a flexible wellness and leisure space, and a large rooftop terrace.
👉 A rare opportunity in Atlanta’s most coveted neighborhood, this unparalleled modern residence is truly a work of art.
2. New drawing classes at Abernathy Arts Center focus on observation and proportion
VIA SKETCHBOOK, A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER ABOUT ART | SUBSCRIBE
✏️ When artist John Horne talks about teaching drawing, he rarely starts with technique. He starts with people.
Over the years, in Metro Atlanta classrooms and studios, Horne has learned that the anxieties students bring with them – fear of failure, fear of not being “good enough,” fear of never getting it right – remain constant across generations. The work of an instructor, in Horne’s view, is not to rank talent or judge outcomes, but to meet students where they are and help them articulate where they want to go.
That approach anchors Horne’s two new offerings at the Sandy Springs Abernathy Arts Center – Figure Drawing: All Levels and Portrait Drawing: All Levels. Both launch next week.
👨🎨 Read more here.
3. Atlanta startup Biotechnica turns food waste into superior soil
🪴 Can we ever really get rid of food waste? We know it is a big – and growing – problem. Upwards of 38% of all food in America goes unsold or uneaten, with billions of meals ending up in landfills.
Atlanta-based Biotechnica thinks it has found a scalable solution. The startup has developed TerraFormix, an all-natural fertilizer system designed to transform food waste at scale.
By leveraging a proprietary reactor process, Biotechnica claims its system is 400 times more efficient than standard composting. And that process turns scraps into a high-grade chemical fertilizer analogue that can actually compete in a commercial farm setting.
➡ Read the whole story from Hypepotamus here.
👟 Lace up and join the Beltline Thursday Run Club. This free, social run welcomes all paces and rotates to a new Beltline location each week. Come for the miles. Stay for the community. More info here! SPONSOR MESSAGE
4. Quick Bites
VIA SIDE DISH, A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER | SUBSCRIBE HERE
🦪 In today’s Quick Bites, get details on a new Indian restaurant now open in Sandy Springs, along with a swath of upcoming restaurants, including Wyld Bird, a Miami-inspired chicken restaurant-within-a-restaurant opening inside Homegrown. Plus, we share news on Alici Oyster Bar’s closure at Midtown Promenade and provide you with a few food events to add to your calendar.
🍴 Click here to read the latest Atlanta dining news.
👟 Lace up and join the Beltline Thursday Run Club. This free, social run welcomes all paces and rotates to a new Beltline location each week. Come for the miles. Stay for the community. More info here! SPONSOR MESSAGE
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