See ya, August (and Djokovic)
Monday, Aug. 31 — Scottie Scheffler held off Viktor Hovland to win the Tour Championship at East Lake, clinching his second FedEx Cup in three years and passing Tiger Woods as the PGA Tour’s all-time career earnings leader. Justin Rose aced the par-3 ninth yesterday, his fourth career hole-in-one.
☀️ Sunny and 90° today.
💾 Sen. Raphael Warnock is calling for a statewide moratorium on data centers after visiting the site where OpenAI plans to build a massive facility in Effingham County.
🕯️ Friends and family of Ramon Harris, the 29-year-old man who died in a stabbing along the Atlanta Beltline, held a vigil in Freedom Park on Saturday.
🏃🏿♂️➡️ Runners raised $50,000 during the annual Run With Maud at Shirley Franklin Park to raise money for the Ahmaud Arbery Foundation to support youth opportunities.
⛪ A vacant big-box retail store on Holcomb Bridge Road is reopening as a multi-use worship and event venue after a $28 million redevelopment.
💍 The Fulton County Probate Court is relaunching its free “Forever Fridays” wedding ceremonies beginning Sept. 4.
🍣 Locations of sushi restaurant NoriFish and ramen and tsukemen restaurant Okiboru are now open at the Ponce City Market food hall.
🏀 Angel Reese set the WNBA’s single-season double-double record (29) as the Atlanta Dream beat the league-best Minnesota Lynx 89-81 yesterday, climbing to the No. 4 playoff seed.
⚾ The Braves swept the Rockies, stretching their winning streak to seven games and their NL East lead over the Phillies to five games.
🏈 The Falcons set their initial 53-player roster for 2026, the first under coach Kevin Stefanski and GM Ian Cunningham. Atlanta opens the season on Sept. 13 at Pittsburgh.
ELSEWHERE
🚀 NASA launched the state-of-the-art Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on Sunday to survey hundreds of millions of stars and billions of galaxies.
✈️ Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee proposed that Nashville International Airport be renamed to honor Dolly Parton.
🎾 The final Grand Slam began yesterday with a shocker on the tennis court: No. 4 Novak Djokovic suffered his first-ever U.S. Open first-round loss, falling in five sets to Argentina’s Mariano Navone. Venus Williams also lost in the first round.
🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:
• Fix-ATL
• Upcoming Events
• TEDxAtlanta
• Global Headlines
AND
• Look & Listen
🥂 See Amy Sherald: American Sublime after hours! VIP Nights bring a more intimate experience and a cash bar every Friday, 5-9 p.m. Take in the exhibition and bring home an exclusive poster featuring Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama, included in your purchase. Get your tickets today. SPONSOR MESSAGE
1. Atlanta volunteers use art to highlight dangerous missing utility covers
🖌️ A group of volunteers is highlighting the City of Atlanta’s mismanaged infrastructure by covering public hazards with eye-catching art.
Fix-ATL is a grassroots effort to improve dangerous conditions like missing water meter covers, manhole covers, and other small utility openings on streets and sidewalks. By calling 311 to report issues, posting on social media, and installing artsy but temporary covers, Fix-ATL is “bringing attention to a systemic problem throughout the city, and ultimately converting art into civic engagement.”
Tactical urbanism – a low-cost intervention by residents to catalyze long-term change – has been recognized and endorsed by the City of Atlanta’s Department of Transportation. Fix-ATL has reported nearly 200 active hazards in the city.
🕳️ Read more in Logan C. Ritchie’s feature story here.
Amy Sherald: American Sublime
SPONSORED BY THE HIGH MUSEUM OF ART
🎨 You’ve seen Amy Sherald’s iconic portrait of Michelle Obama. Now, her largest exhibition to date is here in Atlanta, featuring rarely seen paintings and monumental portraits spanning nearly two decades.
Amy Sherald: American Sublime is in its final weeks, marking the last chance to see one of the leading artists of her generation on view in her home state. Get your tickets before the show wraps.
Can only make it in the evening? We’ve got you covered. The show stays open after hours every Friday. Grab a drink, snag an exclusive exhibition poster, and explore the galleries at your leisure.
2. Upcoming Events
🏥 The Legends of Atlanta Gala | A Breath of Fresh Air –A Tribute to Pat Mitchell, benefiting National Jewish Health; Wed., Sept. 2 at 6 p.m. at the Woodruff Arts Center.
🎨 Spelman College will host lectures by famed alumni artistsAmy Sherald and Calida Rawles on Sept. 2 at 6 p.m.
🏈Baylor vs. Auburn in the Aflac Kickoff Game, Sat., Sept. 5 at 3:30 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
🎽 Nike Running Coach Chris Bennett speaks about his new book, “This Is About Running. This Is Not About Running,” Wed., Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. at West Stride. While the event is sold out, there is a waiting list available.
🔍 Ready for a game of I Spy? The High’s newest exhibition turns the puzzles that hooked you as a kid – cluttered desks, toy chests, cloud-filled skies – into galleries built for a slower, closer look. I SPY! Walter Wick’s Hidden Wonders pairs Walter Wick’s photographs with the elaborate sets built to create them. It’s now open and ripe for searching. Learn more here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
3. Where does imagination take us?
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TEDXATLANTA
✨ What can an imaginary world, a Georgia farm and a collaboration between two artists reveal about creativity?
Genevieve LeDoux, Dyllón Burnside, Yvonne Miller and Stefan Hochhuber find inspiration in very different places. At TEDxAtlanta, their stories invite us to look beyond the obvious sources of creative thinking and consider what we might discover when we pay closer attention to the worlds around us, within us, and those we have yet to imagine.
→ See where these ideas lead. Join us Oct. 2 and 3.
4. Israeli settlers attack journalists; Flood toll compounds
🇳🇵 The number of people missing in the catastrophic flooding in Nepal rose sharply to 4,247, with at least 903 confirmed dead and hundreds of hydropower workers still trapped in tunnels, with fears that unstable debris-dammed lakes could unleash further flooding. Follow live updates.
🇨🇾 A ferry carrying 267 people capsized off northern Cyprus on Sunday, killing at least eight and leaving nearly 20 missing as divers searched waters more than 500 meters deep.
🇮🇱🇵🇸 Masked Israeli settlers attacked an NBC News crew in a West Bank village, part of a surge in settler violence with no arrests despite clear footage. In a rare condemnation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed a “handful of rioters.”
🇮🇷 The U.S. says it struck Iranian launchers on Larak Island after detecting preparations to deploy sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran vowed to respond, raising fears of renewed escalation.
🇺🇸🇨🇦 Google renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America” on U.S. maps per an executive order from President Donald Trump, but the change mistakenly bled onto Canadian government and utility sites using Google’s mapping API.
🇻🇪🇺🇸 The United States announced a sweeping agreement with Venezuela that would give a U.S.-backed venture majority control of oil projects containing more than 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.
🇮🇸 Voters in Iceland rejected a referendum that would have resumed talks on joining the European Union.
🇳🇴 Norway has a new king after the death of King Harald V at age 89, with his son Haakon VIII ascending the throne and pledging to uphold the country’s constitutional monarchy.
🗓️ Join the World Affairs Council of Atlanta for an evening with former U.S. Ambassador and Senator Jeff Flake, one of America’s most respected voices on democracy, diplomacy, and global affairs. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear firsthand from a leader who has been at the center of some of the most consequential foreign policy and political debates of our time. Register today.
5. In memoriam
Last week was rough for fans of arts and entertainment icons as we said goodbye to country music legend Dolly Parton, actor Tim Curry, artist Yayoi Kusama, singer and game show favorite Jaye P. Morgan, and voice actor Peter Cullen. We’ve rounded up some YouTube clips to give more context to their legacies.
🦋 CBS Sunday Morning has an hour-long compilation of interviews withDolly Parton over the years.
👄 The Life & Mystique of Tim Curry looks back at the beloved star of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “Clue.”
🎨 Great Art Explained’s short documentary on Yayoi Kusama explains the Japanese artist’s obsession with polka dots.
📺 If you grew up in the ’70s watching “The Gong Show,” thenJaye P. Morgan is a familiar name in pop culture history.
🗣️ Famed voice actorPeter Cullen was the voice of Optimus Prime in “Transformers” and was behind the monster vocalizations in “Predator.”
🎷 The High stays open late on Friday nights for art, music, and community. Catch Atlanta’s favorite DJs and dance the night away at HIGH Frequency Friday, or settle into live jazz, a docent tour, and light bites at Friday Jazz. See what’s on. SPONSOR MESSAGE
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