A.M. ATL: Late for the train

Morning, y’all! In Florida, they call quick afternoon rainstorms “Palmetto Pounders.” We need to think of a Georgia equivalent. It can’t have the word “pounder” in it, though. This is a family newsletter. Peach Spritz? Squall, Y’all? Goober Gale? Wow, those got worse as they went on.

Let’s get to it.

EXCLUSIVE: NEW MARTA TRAINS HAVEN’T PASSED SAFETY TESTS

Credit: Philip Robibero

Credit: Philip Robibero

MARTA is close to rolling out a long-awaited $707 million fleet of brand-new railcars, just in time (and not a moment too soon) for Atlanta’s World Cup hosting debut in June.

Big problem: The cars haven’t yet passed critical safety tests. That’s added to already-long delays and fueled new fears the cars may not be ready by the World Cup deadline.

Records reviewed by the AJC reveal previously unknown tensions and concerns between MARTA and Stadler, the Swiss train manufacturer that produced the cars.

There’s a lot going on here, so definitely read the whole story. Some highlights:

The 224 railcars will be MARTA’s first new cars in two decades. Dozens of cars in the existing fleet are nearing 50 years old, and regular riders know they’re showing their age.
Under state policy, MARTA needs to notify the Georgia Department of Transportation that the trains are safe and ready for passengers 30 days before they’re put in service.
As of Tuesday, none of the new trains had passed the full battery of tests required before GDOT can sign off on operating them.
MARTA officials were so worried about the project’s progress last summer that they threatened to pursue a $1+ million damage claim against Stadler.

The project has blown several deadlines, but Interim General Manager and CEO Jonathan Hunt says MARTA will meet the June 4 deadline for the railcar launch. If it doesn’t, it will be in the interest of safety.

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.

ATLANTA POLICE WON’T WORK WITH ICE DURING WORLD CUP

Credit: Ben Hendren/AJC

While MARTA sorts out the railcar situation, Atlanta’s police chief drew some boundaries around law enforcement activity during the World Cup.

Chief Darin Schierbaum said his department will not work with federal immigration officials to arrest or detain undocumented immigrants during the tournament.
He also said no one will be arrested “just for being homeless.”
These assurances speak to widespread concerns about how hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors may interact with the U.S.’ increased anti-immigration activity and the possible displacement of Atlanta’s unhoused population.

Police, fire: ‘We ready’

Atlanta’s police and fire departments have been preparing for this moment for years.
As many as 250 additional officers will report in from across the state to help during the games.
Bilingual police officers will be made available to help respond in emergencies.
The city also has foreign language hotlines to help translate emergency calls.

Reminder: Atlanta’s first World Cup game, a group stage match between Spain and Cabo Verde, is June 15. That’s less than three weeks away.

GA LAWMAKERS TAKE ON ROBLOX

Georgia’s elected officials are taking on Roblox, a massively popular online game for kids that’s at the center of several lawsuits nationwide.

Roblox has more than 144 million daily users globally, many of them under 13, and is considered a highly influential platform for kids.
However, a mounting number of lawsuits claim the platform has failed to protect young users from exploitation, harmful content and predatory behavior.
Attorney General Chris Carr launched an investigation into Roblox in February following reports of child exploitation on the platform.
State Sen. Sally Harrell, D-Atlanta, who co-chaired a bipartisan Senate Study Committee on social media and its impact on children, says the growing Roblox controversy shows how critical it is to regulate digital spaces for children.

🔎 A PARENTING MUST-READ: Child psychology experts break down what these immersive games mean to kids and why they can lead to addiction and exploitation.

Parents often think their child is just playing a game. But these platforms are complex social environments, and not always safe ones.

- Laura Ladefian, a licensed counselor in Georgia, on Roblox and similar programs

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

👾 Georgia was a global hotspot for Bitcoin mining (an energy-heavy process by which the cryptocurrency gets its perceived value). Now that crypto is past its hype, some of these centers are pivoting to the new tech hotness: AI.

🐘 President Donald Trump’s esteem was highly relevant in several critical Republican primaries across the country. Georgia’s GOP candidates for Senate are still waiting to see if the president will bequeath a possibly game-changing endorsement for their June runoff.

COOL NEW MURAL ALERT

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Feast your eyes (heh) on the newest addition to Atlanta’s collection of 2,000+ murals.

Several new works have cropped up downtown ahead of the World Cup, including this feel-good pastiche on the side of the Waffle House near Centennial Olympic Park.

Atlanta artist Nick Benson even immortalized Outkast members Andre 3000 and Big Boi (on the left) in the quintessentially Atlanta scene. More about the mural here.

❓ QUIZ TIME: What famous work of art is Benson paying homage to? He even left a clue in his work. Answer at the bottom.

NEWS BITES

Scripps National Spelling Bee guide: How to watch, who the notable spellers are, rules and prizes

The three-day competition began Tuesday and concludes tonight.

Independent bookstores are thriving, defying narrative of a die-off

Some bookstores just get you, ya know?

New global warming consequence just dropped: bigger hailstones

Nature’s Dangerous Dippin’ Dots.

A robot named Argus has 20 legs and moving ‘eyes’ that can see in any direction

Noooooooooooooooo thank you! Impeccable mythological name choice, but noo no no.

ON THIS DATE

May 28, 1986

Credit: AJC

Woman, 87, foils thief with parasol. Fear might have suggested caution, but when the 87-year-old widow of a British knight was mugged by a bike-riding purse-snatcher, she wasn’t afraid — she was livid. “I was furious,” Lady Vera Tucker said of the assault in which she thrashed the fleeing thief with her silver-handled parasol until the parasol bent. … Lady Tucker said she lived through World Wars I and II in London “with bombs flying all around me” and considered the mugging minor by comparison.

Sisters, if someone tells you to “act like a lady,” assume they mean Lady Vera Tucker.

ONE MORE THING

Quiz answer: Benson’s mural riffs on American artist Edward Hopper’s iconic 1942 painting “Nighthawks,” which depicts patrons at a dramatically lit corner diner.

Credit: John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Additional fact you don’t need to know and don’t care about: A lot of AJC employees, myself included, park in a Midtown parking deck that also serves the Woodruff Arts Center. Every floor number bears the name and work of a famous artist, supposedly so people can have several points of memory and don’t wander betwixt levels, lost and alone.

Anyway, Hopper and “Nighthawks” is Level 6.

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

Is MARTA World Cup ready? New Atlanta trains haven’t passed safety tests.

Days before the World Cup begins in Atlanta, MARTA’s new railcars have not passed required safety tests, raising concerns about delays in a $707 million project.