Morning, y’all. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. My favorite part was the 1.5 seconds when it rained. More on that in a minute.
Let’s get to it.
IS IT DRY IN HERE?
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr./AJC
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr./AJC
Remember how rainy it was earlier this summer? As AJC climate and environmental reporter Drew Kann writes, it seems “the spigot in the sky” suddenly went dry about a month ago.
Now Georgia’s in the beginning of a “flash drought,” which could cause serious headaches for farmers heading into harvest season.
What is a flash drought?
- These sudden and rapidly expanding bouts of dryness happen when low precipitation and warm temperatures combine.
- More than 77% of Georgia is now considered “abnormally dry.”
Word of the day: evapotranspiration
- Warmer temps and drier days are obviously bad news for plants. As the heat increases, so does evapotranspiration — a process where moisture evaporates from the plant into the atmosphere, and the plant draws new moisture from the soil. Can’t do that when the ground is dry.
- Cotton and peanut crops, ready for harvest, could feel the effects. Some peanut farmers say it’s been tough even getting the plants out of the dry soil.
🔎 READ MORE: What GA farmers are worried about, and what will likely be OK
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ANXIETY SIGNS IN GA FACULTY POLLS
Two recent surveys show growing pockets of fear among Georgia’s university professors. However, two Georgia voices say it’s not enough to show real patterns of concern.
- The 2025 Faculty in the South Survey of 12 Southern states showed some teachers fear political interference, grant cancellations and attempts to silence classroom discourse.
- A Georgia survey from the American Association of University Professors revealed more than half the 800 professors surveyed would not recommend working in Georgia to a colleague. Nearly a quarter intend to apply to jobs in other states.
- In an AJC Opinion piece, two Georgia professors say the surveys aren’t representative of the entire full-time faculty of Georgia’s public universities; about 11,500 educators in all.
A RARE DISEASE, A RARE VICTORY
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Late last week, the FDA granted accelerated approval for a drug called elamipretide, used to treat a rare condition called Barth’s Syndrome.
That might not mean much to most, but to the roughly 150 people living with Barth’s Syndrome in the U.S., it could be the difference between life and death.
- A Georgia man has been at the center of the approval push for years, advocating for others with the condition and sharing his story with regulators and medical experts.
- Walker Burger says the drug changed his life. Barth’s Syndrome causes severe muscle weakness that can lead to early death and a life overshadowed by debilitating fatigue.
- His story also offers a peek into the nuances of the FDA’s drug approval process. With rare diseases, it can be difficult to get enough data to determine if a drug is safe, and millions are on the line for pharmaceutical researchers who develop them.
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🔐 A government shutdown is likely. The House passed legislation to fund the government through November, but Senate Republicans didn’t have enough support from Dems to do the same.
💰 President Donald Trump is imposing a $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications for skilled foreign workers.
🇰🇷 Gov. Brian Kemp is set to visit South Korea, and will meet with Hyundai executives while abroad. Though the trip was planned before September’s ICE raid on a Georgia Hyundai plant, the incident moved Kemp to add to the itinerary.
🔌 Comcast is restructuring its regional operations. That could affect personnel in Atlanta, since the Philly-based media giant anchors an office tower at The Battery Atlanta near Truist Park.
LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBOR ...
Credit: Jenni Girtman/AJC
Credit: Jenni Girtman/AJC
The Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena are tackling hunger (or maybe dunking on hunger?) with two philanthropic events at the Hawks’ home base.
Million Meal Pack: About 5,000 volunteers from 100 organizations will join forces at State Farm Arena for the fifth year of this marathon of teamwork. Yes, they really do make a million meals, which are distributed to metro Atlanta communities by relief organization U.S. Hunger.
Forkside Seats: This 1,000-person dinner, prepared by some of Atlanta’s top chefs, benefits The Giving Kitchen, a well-known organization that also helps with housing insecurity, substance misuse and other hardships.
🥪 READ MORE: Why collabs like this resonate in Atlanta
NEWS BITES
It’s hard to put a silver lining on that Falcons loss, woof.
If that doesn’t send you floating toward the heavens, nothing will.
But, wait, important: They did! It actually worked.
Yes. If we have to be overtaken by robots, at least make it robots that do good things for people.
ON THIS DATE
Sept. 22, 1961
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Here’s how to get over those teen-age problems. Teen-time is not all happiness and hotrods. Students in high school worry about a thousand things, from acne to algebra, from growth to grades, from draft to diets, and from lab problems to lonesomeness. … (Continued on page 17, column 1) If your big worry contains your own inadequacy … THINK SOMETHING OF YOURSELF. You’re important. … There is a baby born in Georgia every 5½ minutes, more than 100,000 a year … Yet each one them has a personality different from every other baby ever born since there has been a world.
Not sure teens and their partially formed brains are able to heed such lovely advice, but my goodness, we adults can certainly use it. “Think something of yourself.”
ONE MORE THING
Congratulations and a big thank you to Janelle, who won our Atlanta United giveaway. We had a great time at the game this weekend chatting about horses, business and family, and watching ATLUTD take a decent draw against San Diego.
Credit: AJ Willingham
Credit: AJ Willingham
Further proof our AM ATL family members are smart, funny, accomplished and exceedingly pleasant company.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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