School’s out (for some)
Thursday, May 21 —More than two inches of rain drenched Atlanta during yesterday’s rush hour, shutting down the Downtown Connector and prompting rescues of motorists stranded on flooded streets, including at least one Waymo self-driving car. Waymo announced it was suspending service in Atlanta until the stormy weather ends.
☔ Cloudy and 83°, with a 60% chance of storms in the late afternoon.
🏙️ Downtown was buzzing yesterday as Founders Green opened in South Downtown and the former CNN Center debuted its rebrand as The CTR on the building’s 50th anniversary.
🗳 Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed HB 376, legislation that would have strengthened the state’s Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit program, which has been in place since 2002.
🔎 The Sandy Springs Police Department released more information about a suspicious person investigation during Tuesday’s primary voting, which shut down a polling place and delayed results by four hours in Fulton County.
⁉️ The results from Georgia’s primary election on Tuesday were a mixed bag for LGBTQ+ and allied candidates across the state.
🏫 The Atlanta Board of Education announced that it will consider establishing the Tax Allocation District Investment Review Committee (TADIRC) at its next board meeting.
⛲ The City of Atlanta improved its ParkScore ranking to 18th nationally among US cities, reflecting its commitment to expanding access and enhancing park amenities.
😋 The Dunwoody Homeowners Association Food Truck Thursday event, now called “Dine Around Dunwoody,” will travel to different venues around the city, but tomorrow’s scheduled event has been postponed because of expected inclement weather.
🎊 Happy last day of class to students in the Fulton County School District! Atlanta Public Schools and City Schools of Decatur will join them tomorrow. Sorry, DeKalb – you’ve got to wait until next week.
ELSEWHERE
📺 Stephen Colbert ends his 11-year run on “The Late Show” tonight at 11:35 p.m. on CBS, with surprise guests expected for the extended finale of the franchise David Letterman launched in 1993.
🇨🇺 The U.S. Department of Justice indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro on charges related to his alleged role in a 1996 takedown of two civilian planes that killed four people.
🎓 Harvard’s faculty voted to cap A grades at 20% per course starting in 2027, addressing grade inflation that saw A’s more than double over the past two decades to 60% of all grades.
🎗️ Former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, the co-author of the landmark Dodd-Frank financial reform law, and a pioneer for LGBTQ+ rights during his tenure in office, died Tuesday at the age of 86.
🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:
• Amy Sherald at the High
• Eddie Mobley memorial bench
• Autolane saves AVs
AND
• Quick Bites
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1. Highlights from the High Museum’s ‘American Sublime’ conversation with Amy Sherald
VIA SKETCHBOOK | A WEEKLY VISUAL ARTS NEWSLETTER | SUBSCRIBE
🗣️ Two nights before “Amy Sherald: American Sublime” opened at the High Museum of Art, celebrated painter and Georgia native Amy Sherald took the stage with Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and writer RaMell Ross and High Museum Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Angelica Arbelaez for a wide-ranging conversation.
They covered the American South as a creative force, the politics of gaze, the limits of representation, the role of the ordinary in contemporary Black art – and a preview of Sherald’s next creative move.
“American Sublime” debuted at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2024, then traveled to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Baltimore Museum of Art before landing at the High, its final stop. The exhibition brings together more than 35 paintings made between 2007 and 2024, the most comprehensive presentation of Sherald’s work to date. Among them: her renowned portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama and her portrait of Breonna Taylor, commissioned by Vanity Fair.
🎨 Learn more about the highlights of the exhibition here.
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2. Eddie Mobley’s legacy to be honored at Veterans Park on Memorial Day
🎖️ The Sandy Springs Foundation and Police Department hit their fundraising goal for the Eddie Mobley Memorial Bench, allowing the community to honor the beloved auto shop owner and Vietnam veteran this Memorial Day.
While Mobley passed away more than a decade ago, his generosity stuck with longtime police officers, spurring them to mount a campaign to memorialize the Vietnam War veteran on the site of his former auto shop earlier this year.
The unveiling ceremony, made possible by a grassroots effort involving all corners of the community, is on Mon., May 25, at 10 a.m. at Veterans Park.
3. Autolane is bringing order to autonomous vehicle parking chaos
🚗 It’s not just human drivers who are to blame for parking frustrations. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) like Waymo are already adding a new layer of chaos to Atlanta’s most crowded parking lots and, as witnessed during yesterday’s flood, on the streets.
While convenient for riders, AVs are already disrupting parking operations at places like Lenox Square Mall, dropping off passengers in inconvenient spots, clogging valet lanes, and creating bottlenecks for pedestrians and traffic alike. At Lenox, the situation had become acute enough that Simon Property Group, which runs the mall, called it an “emergency situation.”
To address the growing AV management challenge, Lenox is now one of the first properties in Atlanta to deploy technology from Bay Area startup Autolane, which has built a ride-hailing orchestration system designed to bring order to AV curbside chaos.
➡ Read the whole story from Hypepotamus here.
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4. Quick Bites
VIA SIDE DISH, A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER| SUBSCRIBE HERE
😋 In this week’s Quick Bites, get the scoop on a doughnut shop coming to South Downtown, the newest restaurant stall serving crepes at Chattahoochee Food Works, and a rush hour-inspired happy hour in Dunwoody. Look for details on Georgia Tech’s next Food and Beverage Accelerator, the discontinuation of lunch at Lucian Books & Wine in Buckhead, and a Lao cooking class.
👉 Read the latest Atlanta dining news here.
❤️ Therapy that helps you feel seen, supported, and understood – while building practical skills to navigate life with confidence at Intown Psychology.
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