Atlanta Hawks to celebrate MLK Day with game

Friday feelings

Jan. 16 — The newly-expanded National Center for Civil and Human Rights will offer free admission tomorrow through a partnership with FedEx in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in Atlanta. To find more MLK-related events, check our guide.

☀️ After another freezing night, it will be sunny and 54° today. The weekend looks cloudy with temperatures in the high 30s to low 50s.

🗣️ Gov. Brian Kemp called for an expedited income tax rate cut, another tax rebate, and funding for needs-based scholarships in his final State of the State address on Thursday.

🚨 Two people were shot at an Old Fourth Ward warming center on Thursday by an “irate individual.” Atlanta Police said the GBI will investigate since one of its officers discharged a weapon.

🚓 The GBI is also investigating after Chamblee police fatally shot a suspected shoplifter outside a Walmart after authorities said he pulled a gun.

🔽 Brookhaven Police Chief Brandon Gurley told his city council that crime in the city is down significantly in every major category.

💸 Data center tax breaks produced less economic value and jobs than initially reported, according to a correction by state auditors.

🛍️ Shoppers are lamenting the closure of the Macy’s at Northlake Mall in Tucker.

🆕 Rough Draft welcomes King of Pops co-founder Steve Carse as a new regular columnist. His Work Is Fun column will focus on his insights into work-life balance.

ELSEWHERE

🇻🇪 Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado gave President Donald Trump her Nobel Peace Prize medal, a symbolic thank-you for toppling Nicolás Maduro.

➡ President Trump threatened to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act and deploy troops to quell protests in Minneapolis as a massive immigration crackdown continues.

🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:

• Fly fishing for breast cancer

• Film review: ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’

• The Sports Section

AND

• Top Stories of the Week

🏀 Hey, Atlanta! Come out and celebrate the legacy and influence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the Atlanta Hawks for their MLK game vs the Bucks on Jan. 19. Get tickets today. SPONSOR MESSAGE

*Photo provided by Casting for Recovery*

1. Breast cancer survivors find solace and friendship in fly fishing retreat

🎣 As a stage IV breast cancer survivor, Stephanie Atkinson has been seeking friends with common ground since her diagnosis 10 years ago. She found them last fall in an unlikely place: fly fishing in the North Georgia mountains.

Casting for Recovery (CFR), a national nonprofit, takes women diagnosed with breast cancer on weekend fly fishing retreats. CFR was founded by breast reconstructive surgeon Dr. Benita Walton and professional fly fishing guide Gwenn Perkins Bogart in 1996, on the belief that the motion of gently casting a reel is therapeutic for those living with breast cancer.

Participants apply online to spend three days with volunteer physicians, nurse navigators, social workers, and dietitians who are available to discuss nutrition, mental health, and physical effects after receiving their diagnosis.

🪝 Logan C. Ritchie has more on this story here.

Join the America @ 250 Symphony Celebration

SPONSORED BY ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

🇺🇸 America @ 250 celebrates our country’s birthday and heritage with sounds that define our nation. Join the celebration this January with works by Duke Ellington, Bernstein’s West Side Story, Copland, and more. Plus, leading guest artists performing concertos by Barber and Artie Shaw, and new compositions by great American composers Leonard Slatkin and Valerie Coleman.

🎶 Your Orchestra tells the American story with prominent works commissioned and premiered in America, works by expats living in America, and works that shine a light on our multicultural tapestry.

🎟️ Visit here for tickets and information.

*Photo by Searchlight Pictures/William Rexer*

2. ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ is a testament to rapturous community

WEEKLY FILM REVIEW | BY SAMMIE PURCELL

⛪ Directed by Mona Fastvold and co-written by Fastvold and Brady Corbet, “The Testament of Ann Lee” relays the story of the Shakers’ founder (portrayed by Amanda Seyfried) from her humble beginnings in Manchester, England to her eventual status as one of the most radical religious figures of the 18th century.

The Shakers – splintering off from the Quakers – practiced celibacy (a doctrine straight from Mother Ann herself), believed in social and gender equality for all people, and were pacifists. But they are perhaps best remembered for their fierce, ecstatic movement in song and dance during worship.

“The Testament of Ann Lee” has been described as a musical, but in Fastvold’s film, the music and choreography feel far more like a tone poem of sorts – bursts of movement and sound meant to express emotions that are not so easily put into words, particularly in the oppressive and harsh society Ann and her cohort inhabit. That movement is particularly mesmerizing, but “The Testament of Ann Lee” is most striking in its insistence on viewing its subjects strictly in the context of their own time. Hauntingly modern in its visuals yet divorced from modernity at the same time, “The Testament of Ann Lee” is a story about the nature of community and belief, about suffering and joy in equal measure.

🎶 Click here to read Sammie’s review. You can also read her review of the film “All That’s Left of You” here.

🍿 Stay in the picture with Scene by Rough Draft, our weekly newsletter about Georgia’s film industry. Subscribe for free.

3. College football finale; Hawks MLK Day game

BY SAMANTHA GARDELLA | SPONSORED BY NYO

🏈 No. 1 Indiana and No. 10 Miami go head-to-head in the CFP National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Mon., Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN).

🏀 Atlanta Dream co-owner Renee Montgomery is investing in The Sports Bra, the first U.S. sports bar fully dedicated to televising women’s sports.

🏀 The Hawks host the Bucks as part of the NBA’s MLK Day quadruple header on Mon., Jan. 19 at 1 p.m. (Peacock, 92.9 FM).

🏈 The Falcons have completed eight head coaching interviews as they search for a replacement for Rahem Morris. Former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh is out of the running after the Giants hired him.

⛳️ Brooks Koepka is leaving LIV Golf and returning to the PGA Tour. Koepka was one of the first PGA Tour star players to jump ship in 2022, and he’s the first player to return.

🏀 Current Kennesaw State star Simeon Cottle and former Owl Demond Robinson are among the college basketball players who have been charged in an NCAA sports betting case.

🏀 Here are this weekend’s local college basketball games:

No. 21 Georgia men host Arkansas tomorrow at 4 p.m. (ESPN2; 95.5 FM)
Georgia women host Ole Miss on Sunday at noon (SEC Network, 95.5 FM)
Georgia Tech men are in Raleigh to play NC State tomorrow at noon (The CW, 93.7 FM)
Georgia Tech women are in Durham to play Duke on Sunday at 6 p.m. (ACC Network; 93.7 FM)
Georgia State men are in Monroe, LA, to play ULM tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. (97.5 FM)
Georgia State women host Appalachian State tomorrow at 2 p.m. (ESPN+)
Emory men and women are in Waltham, MA, for a double header against Brandeis tonight at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (FloCollege)
Kennesaw men are in Bowling Green, KY, for tomorrow’s game against WKU at 3 p.m. (ESPN+)
Kennesaw women host Jacksonville State tomorrow at 2 p.m. (ESPN+)