Morning, y’all! If you woke up in a rage and are fixing to be a menace today, I suggest brooding over your coffee to “O Fortuna,” the classic opening piece from German composer Carl Orff’s choral masterwork Carmina Burana. (This is my ideal start to a morning.)
Not only is it perfect “my enemies will rue the day they crossed me” music, but it’s connected to an extremely fun fact about governors. More on that later.
Let’s get to it.
HOW THE LATEST SCOTUS VOTING DECISION AFFECTS YOU
Credit: AJC File
Credit: AJC File
Mail-in voting will go on as usual for the midterms after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected efforts by the Trump administration to restrict vote-by-mail procedures.
What was at stake: SCOTUS rejected a plan formed under an executive order from President Donald Trump that would require states to submit lists of eligible mail-in voters to a government-approved online portal, as well as adopt standard envelope sizes for mailed ballots. The order would have let the U.S. Postal Service refuse to deliver ballots to states that didn’t comply.
What absentee (mail-in) voting looks like in Georgia:
- You can request a mail-in ballot by filling out an application online from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.
- You do not need to provide a reason to get a mail-in ballot. Georgia is one of 29 states with a “no excuses” mail-in policy.
- Oh, and obviously, make sure you’re registered to vote.
Deadlines are key
- You can submit the application electronically, or deliver it to your county elections office at least 11 days before an election.
- For the general election, absentee ballots are mailed to voters starting 29 days before the election through the Friday before Election Day.
- To be counted, your county elections office must receive your ballot by the time polls close on Election Day. You can mail it if you have time, or drop it off in person.
🔎 READ MORE: All about absentee voting in Georgia
Not signed up yet? What’re you waiting for? Get A.M. ATL in your inbox each weekday morning. And keep scrolling for more news.
NEW FLOCK AUDIT RAISES QUESTIONS FOR ATLANTA POLICE
Credit: (Casey Sykes/AJC)
Credit: (Casey Sykes/AJC)
In August, the Atlanta Police Department assembled a team to look for unauthorized use of Flock Safety cameras among their ranks as national concern over the surveillance technology grows.
The results are in:
- Of the 115,578 Flock searches audited, city leaders said 0.07% were “flagged for additional review.”
- That doesn’t sound like a lot in percentage form, but it comes out to roughly 79 possible instances of misuse.
The numbers have moved Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and APD leadership to reevaluate their policies.
- Dickens says he will work with City Council members to “codify and strengthen” the city’s privacy, oversight and accountability standards governing APD’s use of the readers.
- APD Chief Darin Schierbaum said the department will investigate the flagged searches and evaluate its policies, training and safeguards and may make changes to maintain the public’s trust.
- Dickens requested the APD-led audit after dozens of reports of Flock Safety camera misuse led to charges for law enforcement officers around the state.
How are they being misused? Not every misuse has been reported with a motive, but in several incidents, officers have used the tech to monitor current or ex-partners.
🔎 READ MORE: What APD is already doing to prevent misuse
MARTA ASKS FOR MORE FUNDING TO UP SAFETY
Our police chief has increased the number of sworn officers by 50; that's an increase of well over 20%. So, we're making the investments to meet the federal government more than halfway. All we're asking collectively is meet us halfway so that we can continue those investments for a safe and secure system.
MARTA CEO Jonathan Hunt, along with several other leaders from America’s largest transit systems, attended the National Transit Safety and Security Summit this week.
They told federal leaders their public transit systems are safe but need more federal funding to make further safety improvements.
The leaders also shared the common problems that plague every transit system, including riders who do not pay their fare on trains and buses, cybersecurity threats and a need to modernize systems.
🔎 READ MORE: More from the Washington, D.C., summit
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🥤 Coca-Cola and its bottling partners have planned about $10 billion in U.S. infrastructure investments through 2030. They include new or expanded production, distribution and office facilities, though it’s not clear if any of the projects will crop up in Coca-Cola’s home state of Georgia.
🐘 Gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson and U.S. Senate candidate Mike Collins are both running on the Republican ticket, but their approaches to appeal to the GOP base follow different paths.
What’s ‘gubernatorial’ mean, anyway?
Here’s the fun fact I promised you. We can all glean “gubernatorial” means “governor-y.” Did you know it actually comes from “gubernaculum,” the Latin word for a ship’s rudder? Governor and government also share the root.
I stumbled across this during a deep dive into Fortuna, of the aforementioned “O Fortuna,” who is the Roman goddess of fate and chance. (Shoutout to all the ladies who nursed a classical mythology special interest in their teens.) A ship’s rudder is one of her symbols, as she is said to steer the course of fate.
Mmm. Knowledge is delicious.
PROGRAMS FOR ATLANTA WOMEN AND GIRLS GET HUGE BOOST
Credit: (Courtesy of the Atlanta Women's Foundation)
Credit: (Courtesy of the Atlanta Women's Foundation)
About 20 nonprofits with programs focused on helping women and girls in metro Atlanta are the new recipients of a combined $1.4 million in funding from the Atlanta Women’s Foundation.
- The AWF announced the grants during the foundation’s annual Community Investment Celebration.
- The grants range from $25,000 to $75,000 each.
- The nonprofits serve low-income women, girls and families in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties, and focus primarily on mental and physical healthcare, workforce development and economic opportunity, empowerment, education and life skills.
- Across the U.S., only about 2% of charitable giving supports organizations dedicated to women and girls, AWF said.
🧗🏽♀️ READ MORE: A list of this year’s recipients
NEWS BITES
‘American Idol’ Season 25 is coming to Georgia
Did you know American Idol czar Ryan Seacrest is an Atlanta native and UGA alum?
Sign up for Dirty Birds Dispatch, our Atlanta Falcons newsletter
We’ll get through this season together!
Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield made some odd comments before their game against UGA this weekend
I am begging college football to be normal for at least two consecutive seconds.
U.S. acknowledges for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space
.............sigh.
ON THIS DATE
Sept. 16, 1982
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Toilet seat is no place for Bulldog. The Georgia Bulldog logo has showed up for years on hats, shirts and pennants, but the state Board of Regents has decided that the appearance of the familiar canine on toilet seats and obscene posters is going too far. On Wednesday, the state board authorized its staff to file trademark registration and licensing papers with the federal government on symbols from all of Georgia’s 33 public colleges.
Who says trademark law is boring???
ONE MORE THING
A final note on the gubernaculum thing: Don’t Google Image search that, or you’ll get a bunch of alarming anatomical diagrams. Apparently “gubernaculum” also refers to a bisecting ligament structure that guides the formation of, well, lots of things during prenatal development.
All I wanted to know was whether the word referred to a ship’s wheel as well as the rudder since the wheel is also a symbol of Fortuna. (“Wheel of Fortune” knows what’s up.)
It does not, and we are again reminded there is such a thing as too much knowledge.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
