Morning, y’all! Friendly reminder: If you’re listening to the AJC’s new podcast “Who Blew Up The Guidestones?” a new episode is out.
No, this isn’t a promo, and no, I won’t do this every week. I just want y’all to listen so I can talk about it.
Let’s get to it.
EVEN JUDGES ARE CONFUSED OVER FBI RAID OF GA HOME
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
In 2017, an armed FBI SWAT team raided the home of Toi Cliatt, Trina Martin and Martin’s young son as they slept.
With weapons drawn, the agents detonated a flashbang grenade and cuffed Cliatt, all before realizing ... they were at the wrong house.
The family’s lawsuit against the FBI traveled all the way to the Supreme Court and back to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. It could have major implications for law enforcement accountability, but judges say it’s a quagmire of a case.
The legal precedent:
- Federal tort law allows law enforcement officers to evade liability for actions taken when they are performing a part of their job that involves an element of judgment or choice.
- One of three judges looking at the case in Atlanta says courts are also bound by past legal precedent. “I have so many things to say about this case,” he told the AJC. “It’s very hard.”
The family fights back:
- Attorneys for the family argue the officers can’t be immune through the exception because any “judgment” or “choice” became null when they went to the wrong house while looking for a gang member who lived a block away.
- The judges say legal precedents for cases like this are “all over the place.” That means whatever they decide will be a weighty factor in similar cases.
🔎 READ MORE: Why officers sometimes have immunity, plus other instances of wrongful raids
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AIRPORT UPDATES
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
This just in: Airport still bad place to be.
We’re now past the 40-day mark for the partial government shutdown that’s left TSA workers without pay, resulting in nightmare waits at airports across the country.
ICE assists, but concerns continue:
- After a few days of uncertainty and standing around, AJC reporters at Hartsfield-Jackson Wednesday say ICE agents deployed to assist TSA operations appeared to take over some basic duties like checking boarding passes and IDs.
- Aviation professionals aren’t pleased, for a few reasons. One, ICE agents are currently getting paid to do jobs TSA agents are doing unpaid. Also, they’re simply not trained for this work.
TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons, and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints — skills that require specialized instruction, hands-on practice, and ongoing recertification. You cannot improvise that. Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one.
🔎 READ MORE: What AJC reporters saw, why ICE is limited in what it can do
This painful saga has led to a larger question: Should Atlanta’s airport privatize security? It’s a fraught notion that could easily be used for political gain. Privatizing the TSA is even a goal of Project 2025, the ultraconservative playbook for President Donald Trump’s second time in office. Read more here.
A LOOK AT MARTA HOPE
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
For some of Atlanta’s unhoused residents, a few hours on a MARTA train or at a MARTA bus stop are the closest they can get to reliable, peaceful shelter.
Since 2020, a program called MARTA HOPE has offered assistance to countless individuals, and 6,000 unhoused people have gotten access to shelters and other programs.
Vincent Allen and Gloria Woodard, who have been employed with MARTA HOPE since its inception, showed the AJC how it’s done.
- The couple “walk the train” looking for signs of people who need help. They don’t pressure people, and often encounter folks who are already getting some sort of assistance through the program.
- “We meet people where they are, and we do not have any reservations, because it’s not a crime to be homeless,” Allen said.
- More eyes are on the program as Atlanta prepares for the World Cup this summer, but optics come in second to actually making a difference when people need it.
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
✉️ “Jackson says no to eliminating Georgia’s income tax.” That’s the line from a pro-Burt Jones mailer hitting conservative GA households. While the message clearly targets the lieutenant governor’s GOP rival Rick Jackson, the quote backing up the claim is actually from Democratic state Sen. Kim Jackson. It could be a mistake, but some critics think Jones intentionally flubbed the attribution.
📚 Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns is pushing to save his literacy bill, which would fund early reading intervention, literacy coaches and phonics-based instruction for young students. Though it passed the House, it’s been sidelined by competing Republican bills in the Senate. Burns sat down with “Politically Georgia” to talk it out.
⚡ Environmental and faith groups doubled down on their fight against Georgia Power’s data center-driven expansion. They’ve petitioned a court to review whether the state’s Public Service Commission broke state law by approving the utility’s plan to add gobs of new power resources.
NEWS BITES
Braves announce opening day roster
One more sleep, Braves fans!!!
Sound baths are one of 2026’s biggest wellness trends
We covered this with forest bathing, but again, just because it is called a bath does not mean you do it naked.
Pop Mart shares sink despite revenue surge, as analysts say Labubu reliance worries investors
Is the Labububble about to Labuburst?
The praying mantis is also an author! Find her memoir, “Bedded and Beheaded: Why My Girls and I Always Eat Our Mates,” wherever praying mantis books are sold.
ON THIS DATE
March 26, 1926
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Cloud of butterflies blinds automobilists on California roads. A cloud of butterflies, tinseled like a bank of sunset mist, is moving northward over the peninsula between here and San Francisco in a fluttering migration to no one knows where. Automobilists are blinded by the tiny travelers, which are of the “painted lady” variety.
Cat, seeking a meal, causes work of city to come to a halt. A stray cat was responsible Friday morning for the suspension of the activities of Fall River’s 111 mills, all its stores, factories and business places. The cat had had no breakfast and when it saw a fine fat sparrow light on a transformer, it made a flying leap for the bird. In so doing, the animal caused a short circuit in the huge transformer. The cat will recover.
Don’t think you can make a difference? Take heart! Even the smallest creature can cause a major traffic inconvenience.
ONE MORE THING
Real talk, sound baths actually are amazing. A “sound bath” usually consists of a set of tones played on super-resonant bowls. If you get to experience one in person, it’s like your whole body becomes a tuning fork. As someone with hearing loss, I find I glory in sound as a full-body feeling. A word of caution, though: Practitioners generally know which frequencies are best, but if you don’t vibe with certain tones, it can feel like the worm monster* from “Dune” is burrowing into your ear.
*I know it’s Shai-Hulud, nerds. Calm down.
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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