Ballers!

Saturday, Oct. 24 — It’s a basketball doubleheader at State Farm Arena today as the Dream host the Valkyries in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals at 1 p.m. (Atlanta leads 2-1), and the Hawks play the Rockets at 8:30 p.m. The Hawks are 2-0 on the young season after beating Charlotte by 47 points last night.

☀️ Sunny with a high of 70° today. 

MARKET UPDATE

📉 The Dow fell 653 points, or 1.2%, yesterday as oil topped $100 a barrel on fears of renewed U.S.-Iran fighting. The S&P 500 slipped 0.5%, and the Nasdaq dipped 0.2%. For the week, the Dow still gained 0.4%.

LOCAL NEWS

🎗️ Tom Houck, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s teenage driver and a longtime voice in Atlanta media, died Thursday at 79. He gave civil rights tours of Atlanta until last month.

📣 GOP gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson reversed course and will join President Donald Trump at his rally in Perry, GA, tonight, after campaigning with Gov. Brian Kemp in Cherokee County this afternoon.

🏳️‍🌈 NPU-F delayed a vote on demolishing the Virginia-Highland home where Michael Hardwick’s 1982 arrest sparked a landmark Supreme Court challenge to Georgia’s sodomy law.

✊ The Sandy Springs Police Department cited former mayoral candidate Dontaye Carter for violating public assembly and protest permit ordinances during a “No Kings” rally last weekend.

🎸 Virginia Highland District Porchfest won’t be held in 2027 so organizers can address issues related to the festival’s rapid growth. 

🚌 At least 15 people were hospitalized, including one trainer who was airlifted, after Salem High School’s football bus overturned near I-20 in Conyers late Friday. 

🏈 In last night’s high school football games, unbeaten Mays outlasted Southwest DeKalb 34-31 (2OT), Milton beat Gainesville 49-46, Holy Innocents’ clinched its region, and Marist beat Chattahoochee 49-20. See full scoreboard.

🏈 In local college football action today:

  • Tarleton State at West Georgia, 2 p.m. (102.7 FM, ESPN+) 
  • Clark Atlanta at Edward Waters, 2 p.m. (SIAC Network)
  • Boston College at Georgia Tech, 3:30 p.m. (680 AM/93.7 FM, ACC Network) 
  • Georgia State at Arkansas State, 7 p.m. (88.5 FM, ESPN+)
  • No. 5 Georgia, Mercer, Georgia Southern, and Morehouse are off this week. 

ELSEWHERE

⚖ The Justice Department sued to block Alaska from certifying a potential win by Democrat Mary Peltola over Sen. Dan Sullivan, citing a same-name rival. President Donald Trump said he ordered the lawsuit.

⚾️ The Brewers beat the Rays 3-2 to take Game 1 of the World Series. Jacob Misiorowski threw a 103.5 mph pitch, a record. Game 2 is tonight at 8 p.m. in Milwaukee (Fox).

 THIS WEEKEND

🌳 Outdoor Activity Center Open House; today from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at West Atlanta Watershed Alliance. 

🎃 Pumpkin Festival; tomorrow from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Stone Mountain Park.

🍷 Inman Park Wine Stroll; today from 1-6 p.m.

🌭 Simply Weird Film Festival; tomorrow and Monday from 6-9:30 p.m. at Red’s Beer Garden.

🏈 Atlanta Falcons vs. San Francisco 49ers; tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Falcons are partnering with MARTA to host a free pregame pop-up party at the Indian Creek MARTA Station parking lot from 9-11 a.m.

⚽ Atlanta United vs. Chicago Fire; tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

➡ Here are some concerts to check out: 
🪖 JPEGMAFIA @ Tabernacle Presented by iTHINK Financial (tonight)
🏃 Sueco @ Center Stage (tonight)
🧠 EMEI @ Buckhead Theatre (tonight) 
🐴 Jon Pardi @ Akins Arena at The Classic Center (tonight) 
🙏 The Hails @ The Masquerade (tomorrow) 
👩‍🎤 Indigo Girls @ Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre (tomorrow)
🎸 Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds @ State Farm Arena (tomorrow)

A Haunting at 100: The High’s Halloween Party

SPONSORED BY THE HIGH MUSEUM

🎃 Dance in the Taylor Lobby, hear ghost stories in the Atrium, and raise a glass to our first hundred years. A Haunting at 100, the High’s Halloween party, takes over the whole museum after dark on Fri., Oct. 30.

➞ Get the details here.

1. Local media news

TOGETHER WITH LEFF’S ATLANTA MEDIA

📢 Atlanta PR exec Mitch Leff is back with his monthly update on what’s happening across Atlanta media. Subscribe to his newsletter and database, and email him any industry news tips.

📍 PR Tip of the Month: Before launching a public relations campaign, learn how the media works. Reporters want stories that will interest their audience, so you’ll be a stronger interview subject if you remember their definition of news: conflict and change. Find more tips in our “PR Guidelines” section.

📋 Here are some notable news and moves from across the local media world:


📧 Subscribe to Mitch’s Media Musings to get the complete newsletter every month!

🔍 Step inside the miniature worlds that shaped a generation of readers. I SPY! Walter Wick’s Hidden Wonders brings together Wick’s meticulously hand-built photographs, optical illusions, and search-and-find puzzles in the largest survey of his work to date. Now Open. SPONSOR MESSAGE

2. Top stories of the week

A look back at this week’s most-read stories from our website. Follow @RoughDraftATL on Instagram for regular updates.

① 2026 Michelin Guide to the American South features these Atlanta restaurants

② New renderings revealed for The Stitch, with project set to begin in 2027

③ Atlanta City Council halts ‘robots with guns,’ endorses Starbucks boycott

④ Sandy Springs selects developer to lead city’s downtown expansion (pictured)

⑤ Atlanta City Council votes to sell detention center to Fulton County for $68 million

🔨 Masterful craft, enigmatic form, and quiet poetic beauty: Martin Puryear: Nexus features more than 70 works. Sculptures in wood, glass, marble, and cast bronze appear alongside rarely shown drawings and prints. Join the artist in conversation with curator Michael Rooks on Nov. 12 from 7–8 p.m. SPONSOR MESSAGE

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This report was compiled and written by Rough Draft Atlanta's staff.