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Georgia judge blocks ballot counting rule and says county officials must certify election results

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ATLANTA (AP) — A judge has blocked a new rule that requires Georgia Election Day ballots to be counted by hand after the close of voting. The ruling came a day after the same judge ruled that county election officials must certify election results by the deadline set in law.

The rulings are victories for Democrats, liberal voting rights groups and some legal experts who have raised concerns that Donald Trump’s allies could refuse to certify the results if the former president loses to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in next month’s presidential election. They have also argued that new rules enacted by the Trump-endorsed majority on the State Election Board could be used to stop or delay certification and to undermine public confidence in the results.

The State Election Board last month passed the rule requiring that three poll workers each count the paper ballots — not votes — by hand after the polls close. The county election board in Cobb County, in Atlanta’s suburbs, had filed a lawsuit seeking to have a judge declare that rule and five others recently passed by the state board invalid, saying they exceed the state board’s authority, weren’t adopted in compliance with the law and are unreasonable.

In a ruling late Tuesday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote, that the hand count rule “is too much, too late” and blocked its enforcement while he considers the merits of the case.

McBurney on Monday had ruled in a separate case that “no election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance.” While they are entitled to inspect the conduct of an election and to review related documents, he wrote, “any delay in receiving such information is not a basis for refusing to certify the election results or abstaining from doing so.”

Georgia law says county election superintendents — generally multimember boards — “shall” certify election results by 5 p.m. on the Monday after an election, or the Tuesday if Monday is a holiday as it is this year.

The two rulings came as early in-person voting began Tuesday in Georgia.

In blocking the hand count rule, McBurney noted that there are no guidelines or training tools for its implementation and that the secretary of state had said the rule was passed too late for his office to provide meaningful training or support. The judge also wrote that no allowances have been made in county election budgets to provide for additional personnel or expenses associated with the rule.

“The administrative chaos that will — not may — ensue is entirely inconsistent with the obligations of our boards of elections (and the SEB) to ensure that our elections are fair legal, and orderly,” he wrote.

The state board may be right that the rule is smart policy, McBurney wrote, but the timing of its passage makes implementing it now “quite wrong.” He invoked the memory of the riot at the U.S. Capitol by people seeking to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential victory on Jan. 6, 2021, writing, “Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public.”

During a hearing earlier Tuesday, Robert Thomas, a lawyer for the State Election Board, argued that the process isn’t complicated and that estimates show that it would take extra minutes, not hours, to complete. He also said memory cards from the scanners, which are used to tally the votes, could be sent to the tabulation center while the hand count is happening so reporting of results wouldn’t be delayed.

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State and national Democratic groups that had joined the suit on the side of the Cobb election board, along with the Harris campaign, celebrated McBurney’s ruling in a joint statement: “From the beginning, this rule was an effort to delay election results to sow doubt in the outcome, and our democracy is stronger thanks to this decision to block it.”

The certification ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Julie Adams, a Republican member of the election board in Fulton County, which includes most of the city of Atlanta and is a Democratic stronghold. Adams sought a declaration that her duties as an election board member were discretionary and that she is entitled to “full access” to “election materials.”

Long an administrative task that attracted little attention, certification of election results has become politicized since Trump tried to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 general election. Republicans in several swing states, including Adams, refused to certify results earlier this year and some have sued to keep from being forced to sign off on election results.

Adams’ suit, backed by the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute, argued county election board members have the discretion to reject certification. In court earlier this month, her lawyers also argued county election officials could certify results without including certain ballots if they suspect problems.

Judge McBurney wrote that nothing in Georgia law gives county election officials the authority to determine that fraud has occurred or what should be done about it. Instead, he wrote, state law says a county election official’s “concerns about fraud or systemic error are to be noted and shared with the appropriate authorities but they are not a basis for a superintendent to decline to certify.”

The Democratic National Committee and Democratic Party of Georgia had joined the lawsuit as defendants with the support of Harris’ campaign. The campaign called the ruling a “major legal win.”

Adams said in a statement that McBurney’s ruling has made it clear that she and other county election officials “cannot be barred from access to elections in their counties.”

A flurry of election rules passed by the State Election Board since August has generated a crush of lawsuits. McBurney earlier this month heard a challenge to two rules having to do with certification brought by the state and national Democratic parties. Another Fulton County judge is set to hear arguments in two challenges to rules tomorrow — one brought by the Democratic groups and another filed by a group headed by a former Republican lawmaker. And separate challenges are also pending in at least two other counties.

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October 15, 2024

Is Atlanta the Country’s Next Great Art Hub?

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Amid a slowing art market, a sweep of gallery closures, and layoffs, Atlanta is proclaiming itself another destination on the map of contemporary art with the inaugural Atlanta Art Fair. Taking place through October 6 in Pullman Yards, the fair features 63 exhibitors: galleries, cultural partners, nonprofits, and institutions from throughout the South (25% of the featured galleries being homegrown in the city), greater US, and abroad. The weekend’s programming will center on its theater, where American Southern Art as it pertains to collecting, culture, artists’ legacies, environmental crises, and the city’s “renaissance” will be the themes of a series of talks.

Art Market Productions director Kelly Freeman set the scene during a recent call with Vanity Fair: “There’s something about creating that blank canvas that then our gallery partners, our cultural partners, our artists get to come in and program,” she says. “There’s so much energy in the air, and of course that’s Atlanta for you.”

The Atlanta Art Fair runs concurrently with Atlanta Art Week (held September 30 through October 6), which was founded by art adviser Kendra Walker. Now in its third year, Walker’s project not only landed her a spot on Forbes 30 Under 30 list, but signaled Atlanta’s rise to the larger art community. While there isn’t overt collaboration between the two events, there isn’t competition either—instead an overarching desire to cultivate longevity prevails. The Atlanta Art Fair therefore is simultaneously a response to the city’s massed attention and a call for more interested parties to stick around.

“Once people are engaged, I hope that they stay engaged with the offerings that Atlanta has outside of October, outside of that week,” Lauren Jackson Harris, guest curator and cofounder of Black Women in Visual Art, said. “It’s just visibility and consistency that I’m hoping to see, because we’re not a New York or LA, but we can create our brand by people just being consistent and intentional about feeding the arts.”

This is the refrain of those with a more optimistic outlook of the current market. As the scramble to readjust unfolds, those with robust commitments to community, art, and artists themselves, rather than to a game of assets and numbers, will stand the test.

“Letting Atlanta be Atlanta—it’s what I think we do best as an organization,” Freeman said. “We have no ego in the project. I know I will have done my job correctly if an attendee learns about some exhibition happening at Spelman College in January and decides to go because of an interaction they had at the fair.”

Here, a conversation with the curators of the Art Fair about the state of Southern art and Atlanta’s growing part in its continued presence.

Vanity Fair: Can each of you speak to the dynamic of the American South in the contemporary art world?

Lauren Jackson Harris: It was a funny comment from one of our friends, she mentioned people sometimes revere Atlanta’s art scene as the hillbilly of the South. I think once people come to the city and experience the vastness of talent that is here, even though you have to dig a little bit more—it’s not as concentrated in pockets as New York or LA.—but once you do find the richness that’s in Atlanta, you really see the value that we offer to the platform as a whole.

People always talk about this “Atlanta Renaissance,” but I’m like, Atlanta has been the Renaissance for many years. Whether it’s music, acting, dance, visual art, creative industry. We always have created that energy and that fire, and people have capitalized off of that.

I don’t want to be compared to New York or LA. Because Atlanta, we are our own child, we are our own entity, and we have our own brand of what we offer. And to compare us to major cities such as New York and LA. does us a disservice.

Karen Comer Lowe: We’re treated like this stepchild, as if there has not been an active art scene in Atlanta for decades. When I entered, I came during the National Black Arts Festival, which was this, at the time, biannual festival that brought people to Atlanta every other year for visual arts, dance, and film. Everything Black and in culture. I’ve seen this art community thrive.

If it’s new to you, that’s great. But what I would like is for people to come here, and like Lauren said, just experience it for yourself so that you can see what we have here, because there’s so many artists who live here and show outside of Atlanta. What we need in Atlanta are resources put into these spaces that we have so that we can develop new spaces.

What were the early conversations about curation, the narratives you wanted to present, and choice of artists to feature?

Harris: I sometimes work backwards, but my title didn’t come until after I started really working and having conversations with the artists and seeing what their work made me feel. The work of genteel/gentle has been haunting me from another exhibition that I wanted to do.

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October 4, 2024

Residents in Georgia ordered to evacuate or shelter in place after fire at chemical plant

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Some residents east of Atlanta were evacuated while others were told to shelter in place to avoid contact with a chemical plume after a fire at a chemical plant.

Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel told reporters that a sprinkler head malfunctioned around 5 a.m. Sunday at the BioLab plant in Conyers. That caused water to mix with a water-reactive chemical, which produced a plume of chemicals. The chief said she wasn’t sure what chemicals were included.

A small roof fire was initially contained, but reignited Sunday afternoon, Sheriff Eric Levett said in a video posted on Facebook as gray smoke billowed into the sky behind him. He said authorities were trying to get the fire under control and urged people to stay away from the area.

People in the northern part of Rockdale County were ordered to evacuate and others were told to shelter in place with windows and doors closed. Sheriff’s office spokesperson Christine Nesbitt did not know the number of people evacuated.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division were both on site, county Emergency Management Director Sharon Webb said. The agencies are monitoring the air “to give us more of an idea of what the plume consists of.”

McDaniel said crews were working on removing the chemical from the building, away from the water source. Once the product is contained, the situation will be assessed and officials will let residents know whether it is safe to return to their homes, she said.

An evacuation center was opened at Wolverine Gym in Covington.

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September 29, 2024

Southwest Airlines to cut service and staffing in Atlanta to slash costs

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A Southwest Airlines plane takes off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Friday, July 12, 2024.

Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Southwest Airlines is planning to reduce service to and from Atlanta next year, cutting more than 300 pilot and flight attendant positions, according to a company memo seen by CNBC.

The changes come a day before Southwest’s investor day, when executives will map out the company’s plan to cut costs and grow revenue as pressure mounts from activist investor Elliott Investment Management.

Southwest told staff it isn’t closing its crew base in Atlanta. Instead, it will reduce staffing by as many as 200 flight attendants and as many as 140 pilots, for the April 2025 bid month.

The airline also isn’t laying the crews off, but they will likely have to bid to work from other cities.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

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September 25, 2024

Reality TV star Julie Chrisley resentenced to 7 years in bank fraud and tax evasion case

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ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday resentenced Julie Chrisley to seven years in prison for her conviction on bank fraud and tax evasion charges, declining the reality TV star’s request for less time in prison than was originally imposed.

Chrisley and her husband, Todd Chrisley, gained fame on their show, “Chrisley Knows Best,” which followed their tight-knit family and extravagant lifestyle. A jury in 2022 found them guilty of conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans. The Chrisleys were also found guilty of tax evasion by hiding their earnings.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June upheld the Chrisleys’ convictions but found a legal error in how the trial judge had calculated Julie Chrisley’s sentence by holding her accountable for the entire bank fraud scheme. The appellate panel sent her case back to the lower court for resentencing.

Julie Chrisley’s attorney, Alex Little, asked the judge to reduce his client’s sentence to no more than five years. He argued that she was a minor player in the crimes, that her “scattered offenses” were “dramatic mistakes.” He also noted that she has behaved well and taken advantage of enrichment opportunities during her 20 months in prison so far, receiving more than 70 certificates.

In a court filing, Little had argued that Chrisley’s two youngest children are struggling with “day-to-day functioning” because of their mother’s absence.

Federal prosecutor Annalise Peters urged the judge to reimpose the seven-year sentence. She argued that prosecutors had been conservative in charging the Chrisleys, that Julie Chrisley was a “core part” of a fraudulent scheme and that she had not apologized, shown remorse or admitted wrongdoing.

Chrisley’s good behavior in prison does not cancel out an “11-year journey of fraud after fraud after fraud,” Peters said.

Peters said she felt sympathy for Chrisley’s family but that their suffering was “a natural consequence of this defendant’s criminal choices.”

Chrisley, dressed in a navy blue prison uniform and with her formerly blond hair now dark brown, addressed the judge.

“I apologize for my actions and what led me to where I am today,” she said, later adding that her time in prison has been “the most difficult time in my life” and has been hard on her family.

“I cannot ever repay my children for what they have had to go through, and for that I am sorry,” she said.

Before the Chrisleys became reality television stars, they and a former business partner submitted false documents to banks in the Atlanta area to obtain fraudulent loans, prosecutors said during their trial. They accused the couple of spending lavishly on luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel, and using new fraudulent loans to pay off old ones. Todd Chrisley then filed for bankruptcy, according to prosecutors, walking away from more than $20 million in unpaid loans.

U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross said that when she originally sentenced Chrisley she took into account her age, health and the fact that she was a caretaker for young children and elderly parents. Ross said she imposed a sentence that fell below the guidelines for Chrisley’s crimes and situation and below what prosecutors had requested. That departure from the guidelines was not based on the loss amount or the number of years that Chrisley was involved, so her sentence will not change, Ross said.

The judge noted that many people she has sent to prison have children and most don’t have the resources or the support system the Chrisleys have.

“It saddens me every time I see children going through that,” Ross said, later adding that she reminds herself, “I am not the one who made the choices to put the children in that situation.”

Two of Chrisley’s adult children, Savannah and Chase, attended the hearing. Savannah Chrisley, who spoke in support of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy at the Republican National Convention in July, told reporters outside the courthouse that the prosecution and sentencing of her parents was politically motivated.

“That’s what you get with an Obama-appointed judge,” she said as her mother was led out of the courtroom by U.S. marshals. Ross was appointed to the bench by then-President Barack Obama and took the bench in November 2014.

She said her mother will appeal the new sentence.

Todd Chrisley is serving a sentence of 12 years behind bars. The couple was originally ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution, but Ross said Wednesday that the amount now stands at $4.7 million.

Todd Chrisley, 56, is at a minimum security federal prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, with a release date in September 2032, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website. Julie Chrisley, 51, had been held at a facility in Lexington, Kentucky, and is expected to return there.

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September 25, 2024

Ahmaud Arbery’s family is still waiting for ex-prosecutor’s misconduct trial after 3 years

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Three years after a former Georgia district attorney was indicted on charges alleging she interfered with police investigating the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, the case’s slow progression through the court system has sputtered to a halt, one the presiding judge insists is temporary.

Jackie Johnson was the state’s top prosecutor for coastal Glynn County in February 2020, when Arbery was chased by three white men in pickup trucks who had spotted him running in their neighborhood. The 25-year-old Black man died in the street after one of his pursuers shot him with a shotgun.

Johnson transferred the case to an outside prosecutor because the man who initiated the deadly chase, Greg McMichael, was her former employee. But Georgia’s attorney general says she illegally used her office to try to protect the retired investigator and his son, Travis McMichael, who fired the fatal shots.

Both McMichaels already have been convicted and sentenced to prison in back-to-back trials for murder and federal hate crimes. So has a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, whose cellphone video of the shooting triggered a national outcry over Arbery’s death. A court heard their first appeals six months ago.

The criminal misconduct case against Johnson has moved at a comparative crawl since a grand jury indicted her on Sept. 2, 2021, on a felony count of violating her oath of office and a misdemeanor count of hindering a police officer.

While the men responsible for Arbery’s death are serving life sentences, the slain man’s family has insisted that justice won’t be complete until Johnson stands trial.

“It’s very, very important,” said Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother. “Jackie Johnson was really part of the problem early on.”

Johnson has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. After losing reelection in 2020, she told The Associated Press that she immediately recused herself in the handling of Arbery’s killing because of Greg McMichael’s involvement.

Dozens of Black Lives Matter and Black Panther protesters gather outside the Glynn County Courthouse where the trial of Travis McMichael, his father, Gregory McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan is held, Nov. 22, 2021, in Brunswick, Ga. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, File)

Johnson’s case has stalled as one of her attorneys, Brian Steel, has spent most of the past two years in an Atlanta courtroom defending Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug against racketeering and gang charges. Jury selection in the case took 10 months, prosecutors began presenting evidence last November and they are still calling witnesses.

Senior Judge John R. Turner, who was assigned to Johnson’s case, insists there is nothing he can do but wait.

“If anyone’s concerned that the case is being shuffled under the rug, I can guarantee you it’s not,” Turner told the AP in a phone interview. “It’s moving at a snail’s pace, but it will move forward eventually.”

After Arbery was killed, Greg McMichael told police that he and his son had armed themselves and chased the Black man, suspecting he was a fleeing criminal. Bryan, who didn’t know any of the men, made a similar assumption after seeing them pass his home and joined in his own truck.

The indictment against Johnson alleges she told police they shouldn’t arrest Travis McMichael. It also accuses her of “showing favor and affection” to Greg McMichael by calling on George Barnhill, a district attorney in a neighboring judicial circuit, to advise police about how to handle the shooting.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr appointed Barnhill four days later to take over as outside prosecutor. Carr has said he picked Barnhill without knowing he already had advised police that he saw no grounds for arrests in Arbery’s death.

Barnhill stepped aside after a few weeks, but not before he sent a letter to police captain arguing the McMichaels acted legally and Arbery was killed in self-defense.

After Johnson was charged, she reported to jail for booking and was released without having to post bond. Her attorneys waived a formal reading of the charges before a judge and she has yet to appear in court. The judge denied legal motions by Johnson’s lawyers to dismiss the case last November. Court records show no further developments over the past 10 months.

“Securing an indictment is just one step in our ongoing pursuit of justice for Ahmaud Arbery and his family,” Carr said in a statement. “We have never stopped fighting for them, and we look forward to the opportunity to present our case in court.”

Johnson’s attorneys, Steel and John Ossick, did not respond to emails and a phone message seeking comment. They have argued in court filings there is “not a scintilla of evidence” that she hindered police.

Prosecutors responded with a court filing that listed 16 calls between phones belonging to Johnson and Greg McMichael in the weeks following the shooting.

Two legal experts who aren’t involved in the case said there is no deadline for Johnson to stand trial. She hasn’t been jailed, so there is little pressure to expedite her case.

Steel’s prolonged absence because of the Atlanta gang trial likely isn’t the only factor slowing the case, Atlanta defense attorney Don Samuel said.

Courts remain saddled with a backlog of cases since the COVID-19 lockdowns, he said. And the attorney general’s office has a limited staff of criminal prosecutors with their own busy caseloads.

Samuel also questioned whether prosecutors have a strong case against Johnson. Even if she opposed charging the McMichaels in Arbery’s death, he said, prosecutors haven’t accused her of taking bribes or similar blatant corruption.

District attorneys “have a huge amount of discretion to make decisions about what cases to pursue,” Samuel said. “The notion that we’re going to start prosecuting DAs for prosecuting or not prosecuting strikes me as really being on the edge of propriety.”

Danny Porter, the former district attorney for Gwinnett County in metro Atlanta, said prosecutors like Johnson have a legitimate role in advising police on whether or not to arrest suspects before an investigation is complete.

As for Johnson’s recommendation in 2020 that the attorney general replace her with another prosecutor who concluded Arbery’s killing was justified, Porter said: “I don’t think that’s a violation of the law, though it might have made them mad.”

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September 15, 2024

Rich Homie Quan Was an Atlanta Rap Supernova—and Its Forgotten Star

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There’s a video I return to often. Posted just over 10 years ago by an essentially defunct blog called Houston Hip-Hop Fix, it shows Rich Homie Quan in a blue Argentina soccer kit and at least five necklaces. Quan and the interviewer are bathed off and on in the strobing red light of a cop car. There’s one microphone, so Quan and the host step on one another’s thoughts, deferring politely and shrugging apologies. The rapper runs through the sort of light mythmaking that marks all these interviews: Yes, the debut album is coming; no, no more free mixtapes; yes, music runs through my veins; no, I never touch pen to paper.

About 90 seconds into the clip, Quan starts talking about his relationship with Young Thug. He says they have unique chemistry in the studio, more boilerplate stuff. But a minute later––after a clumsy jump cut in the video—Quan says that he and Thug are going to release an EP. Most definitely, the interviewer says. Any plans on when that’s gonna drop? “Before the year’s out,” Quan replies. The interviewer asks whether he’d be willing to reveal the title. Quan declines, but he strokes his goatee, looks for a second into the camera––something he hasn’t done to this point––and raps his hand on the interviewer’s forearm for emphasis. “I can tell you this,” he says. “The EP me and Thug [are going to] drop? The hardest duo since Outkast.” The interviewer’s eyes widen. He starts to push back (“Now that’s—”), but Quan cuts him off. “I’m not being funny.” He presses. “I’m not putting too much on it. Hardest duo since Outkast.”

Quan, who passed away Thursday, one month before his 34th birthday, was always doing this: cocooning the audacious within a thick layer of charm and humility. He was a born hitmaker whose commercial career was compromised by record label issues, contractual lawsuits, and the industry’s uneven evolution over the course of the 2010s. Like Dre, Big Boi, and a host of other Southern pioneers, Quan wrote songs that smartly synthesized formal experimentation and personal introspection—with each new, clipped flow or harmonized aside, he seemed to burrow deeper into his own psyche. He leaves behind four sons.

Quan was born Dequantes Devontay Lamar in 1990 and was raised in Atlanta, where, as a teenager, he excelled as a center fielder and student of literature. He was less successful in a short-lived burglary career, which led to a 15-month bid shortly after he dropped out of Fort Valley State University. “It really sat me down and opened my eyes,” Quan told XXL of his time inside.

The first things you’d notice about his music were the titles. In 2012, Quan released his first mixtape, I Go In on Every Song, a promise on which it very nearly delivers. Early the following year, he earned his national breakthrough on the back of “Type of Way,” which made him sound a little mean and a little sensitive, and also like he nearly drowned in a vat of charisma as a small child. (That single was issued to iTunes by Def Jam, which seemed to indicate that Quan had signed to the label; in fact, he would remain locked in litigation with a smaller company, Think It’s a Game Entertainment, for many years.)

“Type of Way” came out as Future was pulling rap radio into his orbit, and it was seen by some early listeners as a variation on that Plutonic style. But in its verses, Quan skews much closer to traditional modes of rapping, using his melodic skills to augment the song rather than anchor it. It functions as an extended taunt—sometimes menacing, other times merely playful. Boasts that he can spot undercover cops with a single glance enjamb against lines like “I got a hideaway, and I go there sometimes / To give my mind a break”; memories of served subpoenas are delivered in delicate singsong. All of this knottiness and seeming contradiction is in fact corralled by Quan until it propels the song in a single direction with irrepressible momentum.

There were more titles, more hits: Still Goin In, the Gucci Mane collaboration Trust God Fuck 12, I Promise I Will Never Stop Going In. “Walk Thru,” a duet with the Compton rapper Problem (now Jason Martin), is a slick song about collecting inflated club appearance fees that nevertheless sounds like it was spawned in a nightmare. The hook he gifted to YG in 2013 helped get the regional star off the shelf at Def Jam and onto national radio for the first time. And in 2015, when he went triple platinum with his single “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh),” he did so by distilling his style more cleanly than ever before. That song is wobbly and joyous, making rote descriptions of money earned sound like tiny spiritual breakthroughs.

All the while, his early collaborator was on his own star trajectory. Both Thug and Quan were dogged by conservative reactions to their work. It would be a couple of years before “mumble rap” was in wide use as a pejorative, but they were, predictably, seen by some resistant listeners as uninteresting writers or inadequate vocalists. Both charges were and are rooted in ideological opposition to their styles rather than earnest evaluations of their music. But even for the initiated, Quan’s suggestion that whatever he and Thug were working on would cement them as better than the Clipse or Black Star, better than Webbie and Boosie or Dead Prez or whomever, seemed improbable.

What they delivered, in September 2014, was at once bigger and smaller than anyone could have expected, seismic but nearly invisible. The tour that Tha Tour, Pt. 1 was meant to promote never really materialized; some of the Cash Money albums teased during DJ drops would be held up in labyrinthine court cases for another half decade, if they were released at all. The terrible, sub–Microsoft Paint cover dubbed the group Rich Gang, a moniker that had already been used for Baby’s other post–Cash Money branding exercises. “Lifestyle,” the massive summer hit Thug and Quan had scored under the name, wasn’t even included. Tha Tour does not exist on streaming platforms and did not spawn any new hits. But it was as Quan promised: a perfect snapshot of two eccentrics searching manically for new veins to tap. The hardest duo since Outkast.

You could credibly argue that Tha Tour is the best rap record of the 2010s. It captures Thug, one of the decade’s true supernova talents, near or at his apex—yet it would be very reasonable to suggest that Quan gets the better of him. See Quan’s verse on the shimmering “Flava,” where he shouts, buoyant, about his son inheriting his features, then makes the act of allowing a girlfriend to count his money seem more tender than any other intimate moment. Or take the harrowing “Freestyle,” its title belying the depth of thought and passion that Quan brings to the song. “My baby mama just put me on child support,” he raps:

Fuck a warrant, I ain’t going to court
Don’t care what them white folks say, I just wanna see my lil boy
Go to school, be a man, and sign up for college, boy
Don’t be a fool, be a man, what you think that knowledge for?

On Thursday, shortly after Quan’s passing was confirmed, Quavo, one of the two surviving members of Migos, posted an Instagram story. “Good Convo With My Bro,” he wrote over a black background, and tagged Offset, with whom he’d been locked in a very public feud since shortly before their group mate Takeoff was killed in November 2022. Ten years ago, it seemed this cohort of Atlanta rappers was going to rule the industry indefinitely; today, the deaths of artists including Quan, Takeoff, Trouble, Lil Keed, and Bankroll Fresh—as well as Young Thug’s ongoing RICO trial—hang like a dark cloud over one of music’s creative meccas.

After “Flex,” Quan’s career ceased to be supported as it could or should have been by record companies; whether because of the Think It’s a Game situation, bad taste, or a lack of marketing imagination, he never again got the push he deserved. (He also never worked with Thug again: In interviews about the topic, Quan was reflective and self-critical, though some of the particulars of their falling-out may now be the concern of the Georgia justice system.) His best solo album, 2017’s thoughtful, technically virtuosic Back to the Basics, was swallowed entirely by Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN, which was surprise released on the same day.

The 2019 film Uncut Gems is typical of its directors’ output. Josh and Benny Safdie are obsessed with verisimilitude—even their most outlandish scenes are populated with nonprofessional actors, their dialogue overlapping, the blocking evolving naturally, the immersion in each character’s world totally ethnographic. Gems takes place during the 2012 NBA playoffs, and the period details are managed with fastidiousness. The lone concession seems to come about halfway through, when LaKeith Stanfield’s character pulls his SUV up to a curb, playing “Type of Way” at a deafening volume. While that song wouldn’t come out until the year after the Celtics’ run, the filmmakers evidently felt that fracturing their reality was worth it for its punishing effect. This, in so many ways, sums up Quan’s career: unstuck in time ever so slightly, caught between eras, yet still, on the most fundamental level, undeniable.

Paul Thompson is the senior editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, New York magazine, and GQ.

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September 6, 2024

Prayers Up! Explosion Reportedly Involving Delta Plane Results In Multiple Deaths Near Atlanta Airport

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Two people have died, and a third person has reportedly been seriously injured after a Delta plane tire exploded near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

RELATED: Desiigner Charged With Indecent Exposure Following Recent Airplane Incident

More Details On The Delta Plane’s Tire Explosion In Atlanta

According to WSBTV, the incident occurred during the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 27. A tire on a Boeing 757 plane was reportedly being worked on in a maintenance shop near the airport, per The Guardian. Amid the operation, the tire allegedly exploded. Furthermore, it killed “a Delta employee and a contractor.”

Additionally, a third person, who was another Delta employee, allegedly sustained a “major injury.” However, WSBTV notes that the identities of the victims have not been publicly released.

BREAKING: Two workers killed at #Delta maintenance facility near Hartsfield-Jackson – https://t.co/wpd89Exmrs #Atlanta @ajc pic.twitter.com/WMAgrBpf9K

— John Spink (@johnjspink) August 27, 2024

How Has The Airline Responded?

According to the outlet, the airline confirmed the deaths of the two individuals and the second employee’s injury on Tuesday, August 27.

“The Delta family is heartbroken at the loss of two team members and the injury of another following an incident this morning at the Atlanta Technical Operations Maintenance facility (TOC 3),” the airline’s statement reads per the outlet. “We have extended our full support to family members and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time.”

Furthermore, the airline’s statement expressed gratitude for “the quick action of first responders and medical teams on site.”

“We are now working with local authorities and conducting a full investigation to determine what happened,” the statement concluded.

In addition to Delta’s statement, the mayor of Atlanta, Andre Dickens, has also spoken out about the incident.

“I offer my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased Delta employees,” Dickens stated. “My thoughts are also with those who were injured, and I hope for their swift and full recovery. AFRD, APD, and HJAIA teams are on the scene, working diligently to address the situation.”

I offer my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased Delta employees. My thoughts are also with those who were injured, and I hope for their swift and full recovery. AFRD, APD, and HJAIA teams are on the scene, working diligently to address the situation.

— Andre Dickens (@andreforatlanta) August 27, 2024

Here’s What Has Been Reported About The Delta Tire Explosion

According to WSBTV, the plane tire has been linked to a Delta flight that arrived from Las Vegas on Sunday, August 25.

As the investigation into the incident unfolds, Delta’s TechOps, or its maintenance and repair sector, has reportedly vowed to “make counselors available” to assist staff members as they work through the tragedy, per CBS News.

“We’re all in this together, and we’ll get through this by supporting each other,” TechOps President and Delta Executive Vice President John Laughter reportedly stated.

RELATED: Woman Accused Of Stabbing Taxi Driver, Police Officer, & Delta Employee At Atlanta Airport

What Do You Think Roomies?

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Jadriena Solomon

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August 27, 2024

A top Delta executive is leaving weeks after the airline’s slow response to tech outage

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Delta Air Lines said Friday that its chief operating officer will leave the company next week after a little more than a year in the airline business to take another job.

The departure of Michael Spanos comes a few weeks after Delta canceled thousands of flights during a botched recovery from a global technology outage,

Spanos spent most of his career at PepsiCo and the Pepsi Bottling Group and was CEO of amusement-park operator Six Flags Entertainment before joining Delta in June 2023. He is one of three executive vice presidents of the Atlanta-based airline.

In a regulatory filing, Delta gave no reason for Spanos’ departure — only that he would receive severance benefits that he is due under the company’s plan for officers and directors. Spanos received compensation valued at $8.6 million last year, mostly in stock awards.

CEO Ed Bastian said in a note to employees that Spanos told him “earlier this summer” he was considering leaving Delta. A spokesperson said this happened before the technology outage.

Bastian wrote that Spanos will move in September to another company, which he did not identify. The CEO credited Spanos with improving Delta’s performance, and added that Delta will not name a new chief operating officer.

Chief operating officers typically run the day-to-day affairs of a company and report directly to the CEO. They are often considered the second-ranking executive, but at Delta, President Glen Hauenstein is generally seen as playing that role.

Delta was hit harder than any other U.S. carrier by last month’s technology outage that started with a faulty upgrade from cybersecurity-software provider CrowdStrike to computers running on Microsoft Windows.

Other airlines recovered within a couple days, but Delta canceled about 7,000 flights over five days as it struggled to reposition crews and match them with planes.

The U.S. Transportation Department is investigating the meltdown, and Delta is pursuing $500 million in damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft. The tech companies say Delta refused help and made misleading claims.

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August 26, 2024

Sensors can read your sweat and predict overheating. Here’s why privacy advocates care

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On a hot summer day in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, dozens of men removed pipes, asbestos and hazardous waste while working to decontaminate a nuclear facility and prepare it for demolition.

Dressed in head-to-toe coveralls and fitted with respirators, the crew members toiling in a building without power had no obvious respite from the heat. Instead, they wore armbands that recorded their heart rates, movements and exertion levels for signs of heat stress.

Stephanie Miller, a safety and health manager for a U.S. government contractor doing cleanup work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, watched a computer screen nearby. A color-coding system with little bubbles showing each worker’s physiological data alerted her if anyone was in danger of overheating.

“Heat is one of the greatest risks that we have in this work, even though we deal with high radiation, hazardous chemicals and heavy metals,” Miller said.

As the world experiences more record high temperatures, employers are exploring wearable technologies to keep workers safe. New devices collect biometric data to estimate core body temperature – an elevated one is a symptom of heat exhaustion – and prompt workers to take cool-down breaks.

The devices, which were originally developed for athletes, firefighters and military personnel, are getting adopted at a time when the Atlantic Council estimates heat-induced losses in labor productivity could cost the U.S. approximately $100 billion annually.

This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.

But there are concerns about how the medical information collected on employees will be safeguarded. Some labor groups worry managers could use it to penalize people for taking needed breaks.

“Any time you put any device on a worker, they’re very concerned about tracking, privacy, and how are you going to use this against me,” said Travis Parsons, director of occupational safety and health at the Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America. “There’s a lot of exciting stuff out there, but there’s no guardrails around it.”

VULNERABLE TO HEAT

Wyatt Fischer, a furnace mason employee at Cardinal Glass, sits on an excavator while wearing a SlateSafety armband, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, in Menomonie, Wis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

FILE – Construction worker Fernando Padilla wipes his face as he works in the heat on June 30, 2023 in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

At the Tennessee cleanup site, the workers wearing heat stress monitors made by Atlanta company SlateSafety are employed by United Cleanup Oak Ridge. The company is a contractor of the U.S. Department of Energy, which has rules to prevent on-the-job overheating.

But most U.S. workers lack protections from extreme heat because there are no federal regulations requiring them, and many vulnerable workers don’t speak up or seek medical attention. In July, the Biden administration proposed a rule to protect 36 million workers from heat-related illnesses.

From 1992 to 2022, 986 workers died from heat exposure in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Experts suspect the number is higher because a coroner might not list heat as the cause of death if a sweltering roofer takes a fatal fall.

Setting occupational safety standards can be tricky because individuals respond differently to heat. That’s where the makers of wearable devices hope to come in.

HOW WEARABLE HEAT TECH WORKS

Employers have observed workers for heat-related distress by checking their temperatures with thermometers, sometimes rectally. More recently, firefighters and military personnel swallowed thermometer capsules.

“That just was not going to work in our work environment,” Rob Somers, global environment, health and safety director at consumer product company Perrigo, said.

Instead, more than 100 employees at the company’s infant formula plants were outfitted with SlateSafety armbands. The devices estimate a wearer’s core body temperature, and a reading of 101.3 degrees triggers an alert.

Another SlateSafety customer is a Cardinal Glass factory in Wisconsin, where four masons maintain a furnace that reaches 3000 degrees Fahrenheit.

“They’re right up against the face of the wall. So it’s them and fire,” Jeff Bechel, the company’s safety manager, said.

Cardinal Glass paid $5,000 for five armbands, software and air-monitoring hardware. Bechel thinks the investment will pay off; an employee’s two heat-related emergency room visits cost the company $15,000.

Another wearable, made by Massachusetts company Epicore Biosystems, analyzes sweat to determine when workers are at risk of dehydration and overheating.

“Until a few years ago, you just sort of wiped (sweat) off with a towel,” CEO Rooz Ghaffari said. “Turns out there’s all this information packed away that we’ve been missing.”

Research has shown some devices successfully predict core body temperature in controlled environments, but their accuracy remains unproven in dynamic workplaces, according to experts. A 2022 research review said factors such as age, gender and ambient humidity make it challenging to reliably gauge body temperature with the technology.

The United Cleanup Oak Ridge workers swathed in protective gear can get sweaty even before they begin demolition. Managers see dozens of sensor alerts daily.

Laborer Xavier Allison, 33, was removing heavy pieces of ductwork during a recent heat wave when his device vibrated. Since he was working with radioactive materials and asbestos, he couldn’t walk outside to rest without going through a decontamination process, so he spent about 15 minutes in a nearby room which was just as hot.

“You just sit by yourself and do your best to cool off,” Allison said.

The armband notifies workers when they’ve cooled down enough to resume work.

“Ever since we implemented it, we have seen a significant decrease in the number of people who need to get medical attention,” Miller said.

COLLECTING PERSONAL DATA

United Cleanup Oak Ridge uses the sensor data and an annual medical exam to determine work assignments, Miller said. After noticing patterns, the company sent a few employees to see their personal physicians, who found heart issues the employees hadn’t known about, she said.

At Perrigo, managers analyze the data to find people with multiple alerts and speak to them to see if there’s “a reason why they’re not able to work in the environment,” Somers said. The information is organized by identification numbers, not names, when it goes into the company’s software system, he said.

Companies keeping years of medical data raises concerns about privacy and whether bosses may use the information to kick an employee off a health plan or fire them, said Adam Schwartz, privacy litigation director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

“The device could hurt, frankly, because you could raise your hand and say ‘I need a break,’ and the boss could say, ‘No, your heart rate is not elevated, go back to work,’” Schwartz said.

To minimize such risks, employers should allow workers to opt in or out of wearing monitoring devices, only process strictly necessary data and delete the information within 24 hours, he said.

Wearing such devices also may expose workers to unwanted marketing, Ikusei Misaka, a professor at Tokyo’s Musashino University, said.

A PARTIAL SOLUTION

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health advises employers to institute a plan to help workers adjust to hot conditions and to train them to recognize signs of heat-related illness and to administer first aid. Wearable devices can be part of efforts to reduce heat stress, but more work needs to be done to determine their accuracy, said Doug Trout, the agency’s medical officer.

The technology also needs to be paired with access to breaks, shade and cool water, since many workers, especially in agriculture, fear retaliation for pausing to cool off or hydrate.

“If they don’t have water to drink, and the time to do it, it doesn’t mean much,” Juanita Constible, senior advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said. “It’s just something extra they have to carry when they’re in the hot fields.”

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This story corrects the spelling of Natural Resources Defense Council in last paragraph.

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Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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August 26, 2024

Couple sues Atlanta hospital for allegedly losing part of patient’s skull following brain surgery

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A couple is suing an Atlanta hospital that allegedly lost part of a patient’s skull after it was removed during brain surgery because “several bone flaps” were lacking identification.

Fernando and Maria Cluster are accusing staff at Emory University Hospital Midtown of negligence that led to an increased hospital stay as well as both physical and emotional damages, according to the complaint filed in De K alb County, Georgia.

A spokesperson for Emory Healthcare told NBC News in a statement it does not comment on pending litigation but “is committed to providing high-quality, compassionate care for patients and those we serve in our communities.”

Fernando Cluster was at an Emory Healthcare hospital in September 2022 because he was suffering from a intracerebral hemorrhage, otherwise known as bleeding into the brain. To treat the bleeding, Cluster required emergency surgery that would include removing a portion of his skull, according to the suit.

The doctors removed a 12-by-15-centimeter bone flap with a plan to secure it back in place during a second surgery weeks later, the suit said.

But in November 2022, when Cluster was set to have his follow-up operation, the hospital allegedly struggled to find the bone flap.

“When Emory’s personnel went to retrieve the bone flap, ‘there were several bone flaps with incomplete or missing patient identification’ and therefore, Emory ‘could not be certain which if any of these belonged to Mr. Cluster,’” the suit said.

This ultimately required him to get a synthetic bone flap and entailed a significantly longer stay in the hospital. The couple alleges that the synthetic flap also caused an infection and that required another surgery.

Cluster has incurred “medical expenses in excess of $146,845.60” after being charged for the synthetic flap and the prolonged hospital stay in addition to his surgeries, the suit said.

The couple alleges in the suit that he has been unable to work, his family relationship has been impaired, and he has suffered permanent injuries due to the hospital’s negligence.

Their lawsuit doesn’t state an amount the couple is seeking, but notes that they are seeking both general and special damages. In civil suits, general damages are considered more subjective forms of compensation for claims such as emotional distress or harm to quality of life while special damages are more specific economic harms.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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August 18, 2024

Your Voice: When it comes to mental health, what is your opinion on therapy and its importance to the Black Community?

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Fredrick Hope Jr.

Atlanta

“I feel like it’s very much needed, especially in my community where we deal with a lot of crap, a lot of poverty, a lot of trauma, and a lot of gun violence. I mean, there’s a lot of negativity to me. I’m 44 years old, and just from my upbringing, man, I have witnessed over 300-400 kids that have died, and so, you know, I’m traumatized myself. I definitely know I need to be in some therapy just for the line of work I do. I’m a Violence Interrupter for an organization called Cure Violence Atlanta.”

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Vincent Christie

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August 17, 2024

No Brokeyyys Allowed: Big Mama Latto Lights Up Atlanta With Star-Studded ‘Sugar Honey Iced Tea’ Party, Rolls With The Homies At Cascade Skating Rink

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Source: Prince Williams/WireImage

Big Mama Latto celebrated her new album Sugar Honey Iced Tea with a star-studded skate party that brought out Santana, Yung Miami, Luh Tyler, Mariah The Scientist, Drea Kelly, Brooklyn Nikole, Mike Will Made-It, and more to the famed Cascade skating rink in Atlanta.

Latto "Sugar Honey Iced Tea" Album Release Party

Source: Prince Williams/WireImage

The ‘Big Energy’ rapper, 25, was all smiles at the classic Atlanta event that lit up the city with larger-than-life decorations including a giant Latto balloon at the entrance of the skating rink.

Source: Prince Williams/WireImage

Produced by MBP Productions, the bustling bash was a fitting finale for Latto’s impressive rollout that included a viral ATL tribute, sexy cover art reveals, and beauty pageant-themed visuals for single “Georgia Peach.”

Check it out below:

And yes, Latto was on her Roll Bounce and somehow got Caresha to put it on the floor, too.

Source: Prince Williams/WireImage / Prince Williams/Wireimage

Source: Prince Williams/WireImage

With Sugar Honey Iced Tea–her third studio album, Latto expects to secure her spot in female Rap’s IT-girl club.

“I paid my dues. I’m 10 years in. I got a whole wall of plaques at the crib. All the OGs love me. They show me love when I’m backstage at these awards shows, and I get my flowers [from] the motherf*****s that matter,” she said in an interview with Billboard ahead of the album’s release.

“I love the music that I’m making right now. I’m not chasing achievements. I’m just doing me. This is the happiest I’ve been to the point where I even told the label [to] fall back. I’m in the studio — I don’t want y’all sending me no beats, no songs, nothing. I’m doing what I want to do. I really haven’t been this confident for a project yet.”

What’s your fave track off Sugar Honey Iced Tea? Tell us down below and peep the social media shenanigans inspired by Big Mama Latto’s latest project on the flip.

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Alex Ford

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August 13, 2024

Judge removed from long-running gang and racketeering case against rapper Young Thug and others

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ATLANTA (AP) — The judge overseeing the long-running racketeering and gang prosecution against rapper Young Thug and others has been removed from the case after two defendants sought his recusal, citing a meeting the judge held with prosecutors and a state witness.

Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville had put the case in Atlanta on hold two weeks ago to give another judge a chance to review the defendants’ motions for recusal. Judge Rachel Krause on Monday granted those motions and ordered the clerk of court to assign the case to a different judge.

While not faulting Glanville for holding the meeting and saying she has “no doubt that Judge Glanville can and would continue presiding fairly over this matter,” Krause wrote that “the ‘necessity of preserving the public’s confidence in the judicial system’ weighs in favor of excusing Judge Glanville” from the case.

This ruling will surely cause more delays in a trial that has already dragged on for over a year. Jury selection began in January 2023 and took nearly 10 months. Opening statements were in November and the prosecution has been presenting its case since then, calling dozens of witnesses.

Young Thug, a Grammy winner whose given name is Jeffery Williams, was charged two years ago in a sprawling indictment accusing him and more than two dozen others of conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law. He also is charged with gang, drug and gun crimes and is standing trial with five of the others indicted with him.

Lawyers for Young Thug and co-defendant Deamonte Kendrick had filed motions seeking Glanville’s recusal. They said the judge held a meeting with prosecutors and prosecution witness Kenneth Copeland at which defendants and defense attorneys were not present. The defense attorneys argued the meeting was “improper” and that the judge and prosecutors had tried to pressure the witness to testify.

Glanville maintained that the meeting was proper and argued that no one gained a tactical advantage as a result.

The office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, which is prosecuting the case, had argued there was no need for Glanville to be recused.

Brian Steel, a lawyer for Young Thug, said in an emailed statement that his client is innocent and sought to clear his name through a fair trial.

“Sadly, Judge Glanville and the prosecutors have run afoul of their duties under the law,” Steel said, adding that he is grateful for the recusal order and looks forward “to proceeding with a trial judge who will fairly and faithfully follow the law.”

Kendrick’s lawyer, Doug Weinstein, also applauded Monday’s ruling.

“While I respect Chief Judge Glanville and his service to this community and the country, he simply became biased over the course of this case,” he wrote in an email. He added that he looks forward to trying the case “before an unbiased judge,” but said the only just outcome at this point is “a mistrial and bond” for Kendrick, who has been jailed for more than two years.

A spokesperson for Willis’ office declined to comment. The Associated Press has also reached out to Glanville for comment.

Krause wrote in her order that she “agrees generally” with Glanville’s assessment of the propriety of the meeting, that nothing about the meeting or what was discussed was inherently improper. She did write that the meeting “could have — and perhaps should have” been held in open court.

But when Glanville denied Kendrick’s recusal motion in court, he “provided context, questioned the veracity of allegations, and otherwise explained his decisions and actions and argued why those actions were proper.” Quoting case law, Krause wrote that when a judge discloses information relevant to his potential recusal, he must do so “in a way that is as objective, dispassionate, and non-argumentative as possible, so that the judge is not reasonably perceived as a hostile witness or advocate.”

Young Thug has been wildly successful since he began rapping as a teenager and he serves as CEO of his own record label, Young Stoner Life, or YSL. Artists on his label are considered part of the “Slime Family,” and a compilation album, “Slime Language 2,” rose to No. 1 on the charts in April 2021.

But prosecutors say YSL also stands for Young Slime Life, which they allege is an Atlanta-based violent street gang affiliated with the national Bloods gang and founded by Young Thug and two others in 2012. Prosecutors say people named in the indictment are responsible for violent crimes — including killings, shootings and carjackings — to collect money for the gang, burnish its reputation and expand its power and territory.

Steel acknowledged during his opening statement that his client’s songs mention violent acts, including killings, but he said those are just artistic expressions drawn from his rough childhood and not a chronicle of his own activities.

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July 17, 2024

Aht Aht! Summer Walker Speaks Out After Being Seen With Lil Meech’s Mom At Chris Brown’s ’11:11′ Tour Stop In Atlanta

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Summer Walker is speaking out after being photographed with Lil Meech‘s mom at Chris Brown‘s recent ’11:11’ tour stop in Atlanta, Georgia.

RELATED: So You Know It’s Real! Social Media Reacts To Summer Walker’s Boo Seemingly Tattooing Her Name On His Face (PHOTOS)

Summer Walker’s Recent Outing & Sighting With Lil Meech’s Mom

According to Ticketmaster, Chris Brown’s ’11:11′ tour made its most recent stop in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday, July 14. Brown performed at the State Farm Arena, and Walker attended the event with a female friend. To note, Walker and her friend rocked matching red and white cheerleader uniforms with the words “MISS BROWN.”

Walker shared photos and videos of her and her friend’s arrival at the arena via her Instagram Story. One post shows the singer and her friend posing alongside her ex-boyfriend, Lil Meech’s mother, Latarra Eutsey, and another unknown woman.

The singer didn’t add a caption to her post with Eutsey. However, she later took to her Instagram feed to share a few photos with Breezy himself. In the flicks, the singer busted a split in front of Brown as her friend posed with her leg up and arms around him.

“hhhhhhhhh I don’t care I never caredddd😍,” Walker wrote in the caption of the photos.

Check out the photos below.

The Singer Clears The Air As Social Media Weighs In

Although Walker clearly had a blast meeting Chris Brown, social media users appeared to be more focused on her photo with Lil Meech’s mother. One Instagram user even reacted to the photo with, “Lil Meech’s mom in the background.”

The comment apparently caught Walker’s attention, and she quickly replied.

“… just because you think 2+2 is 4, its not, its 5,” the singer wrote.

Check out the photo and Walker’s comment below.

Meanwhile, social media users reacted to the photo of Walker and Eutsey in The Shade Room’s comment section.

Instagram user @s.nashay wrote, “sometimes the family still love you after the breakup 🤣🤣🤣”

While Instagram user @blackchyynadoll added, “telling sumbdy ‘jus bc u think 2+2 is 4’ is wild when it is lol”

Instagram user @thatgirljah wrote, “She made sure she cleared that up😂😂”

While Instagram user @dischicaluvdanfl added, “Folks still talk to their ex’s parents sometimes lol it’s not their fault if they still like one another. It’s the fault of their kid who ain’t acting right 😂”

A Brief Recap Of Summer Walker’s Former Romance With Lil Meech

As The Shade Room previously reported, fans initially speculated Walker and Meech had a fling in April 2023. At the time, the pair shared similar posts on social media, which sparked the speculation.

Lil Meech and Summer Walker?? 👁️ pic.twitter.com/YCoxYBlrMV

— Glock Topickz (@Glock_Topickz) April 24, 2023

The following month, Walker confirmed her romance with Meech while appearing on an episode of ‘Caresha Please,’ per The Shade Room. However, in July of that year, trouble seemingly surfaced in the pair’s relationship, and Walker seemingly alluded that Meech was unfaithful, per The Shade Room.

Then, in August, footage went viral showing Meech entering an unknown woman’s apartment, per The Shade Room. In reaction, Walker took to social media to seemingly state that Meech embarrassed her.

Despite the public drama, Walker and Meech were spotted together at a pumpkin patch in October 2023, per The Shade Room.

In November of that year, Walker publicly confirmed that she and Meech had rekindled their romance by sharing a photo of her dropping a smooch on his cheek, per The Shade Room. However, their rekindled flame didn’t stay lit for too long. In March of 2024, Meech confirmed that he and Walker had gone their “separate ways,” per The Shade Room.

At this time, it’s unknown if Meech has currently entered another romance. However, Walker has been boo’d up with a man who goes by the name of Coop Cashington. She revealed their romance in April 2024, and they were most recently spotted together earlier this month.

RELATED: Going Strong! Summer Walker And Her Man Go Yachting For Fourth Of July (PHOTOS)

What Do You Think Roomies?

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Jadriena Solomon

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July 15, 2024

Journalist sues cops who handcuffed him for photographing ‘Cop City’ arrests

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In 2022, photojournalist Benjamin Hendren photographed some police officers arresting a group of protesters. Even though Hendren didn’t interfere with police activity—he even offered to let the officers speak with his editor—the officers arrested him. What’s more, they even encouraged employees at the construction site being protested to fabricate statements about Hendren.

Hendren has now filed a lawsuit against the officers who arrested him, arguing he was punished for exercising his First Amendment rights.

On July 29, 2022, Hendren heard over a police radio that police had arrived at the scene of a protest at the construction site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also called “Cop City“. Hendren was a freelance reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, having been hired specifically to cover Cop City and associated protests.

When Hendren arrived at the scene, he began taking pictures from a public sidewalk across the street from where Georgia State University police officers had arrested a group of protesters who had allegedly trespassed on the construction site.

“At no point did Hendren commit any crime, and at no point did he do anything that any officer could have mistaken as a crime,” the lawsuit states. “Further, Hendren did not interfere in any way with the traffic stop that was being conducted.”

However, police still stopped Hendren and handcuffed him. They “forcibly took photographs of Hendren while he was handcuffed and sat on the curb,” according to the suit. Officers even “grabbed his hair and yanked his head up so he could be photographed against his will.”

But the officers didn’t just unlawfully detain Hendren. The suit alleges that they encouraged two employees from Brasfield & Gorrie, a construction firm working on Cop City, to make false statements about Hendren, with the pair eventually claiming he “had committed criminal offenses at the construction site.” Hendren’s suit also names the Brasfield & Gorrie employees as defendants.

After this, one of the officers went so far as to write a report stating that Hendren was handcuffed because the employees “identified him as a protestor inside the construction site.” But Hendren had been detained before the employees ever saw him, according to the suit. Hendren was eventually released after being detained for over seven hours.

Hendren’s suit claims that the officers obviously and grossly violated his First Amendment rights. Courts have consistently found that individuals have a right to photograph police activity as long as they don’t directly interfere.

“Plaintiff had a First Amendment right to photograph and film police officers carrying out their official duties in public, without police interference,” the suit states. “The interference with Plaintiff’s photographing and his arrest were triggered by, and in retaliation for, his protected activity of taking pictures of public police activity, and therefore violated the First Amendment.”

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Emma Camp

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July 9, 2024

#AGP2024: Black Greeks Celebrate Divine Nine Excellence At Atlanta Greek Picnic’s Historic 20th Anniversary

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The largest Greek picnic in the country is back and taking over Atlanta with 6 days of cultural events for the Phirst Pham, devastating divas, pretty poodles, and the like.

Source:Atlanta Greek Picnic & Sean Anderson / Courtesy of The Resource Guild

20 years later, Atlanta Greek Picnic (AGP) is proudly declaring that it’s the “greatest annual HBCU takeover of them all” especially since it’s centered around newly reaccredited Morris Brown College. From June 25 -June 30, thousands of students, alumni, Black sororities, fraternities, and lovers of HBCU culture will ascend the institution for the lively celebration.

This year’s AGP will feature celeb attendees including HBCU anthem creators Fabo, Roscoe Dash, and Lil Ru with more surprises to be announced.

A press release adds AGP will also bring awareness about the importance of HBCU graduates “being whole and healthy humans” with education on financial, physical, and mental health through its AGP Cares initiative.

Source: Atlanta Greek Picnic & Sean Anderson / Courtesy of The Resource Guild

Citing the need for mental health services and the suicide rates among African Americans ages 15 to 24, AGP Cares is offering “complimentary” 6-10 minute AGP Cares Chats with licensed therapists and vital health screenings in the “AGP Cares Corner.”

AGP Founder Tiwa Works said in a statement that he’s grateful for the past and optimistic about the path forward for his annual picnic.

“As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, AGP remains dedicated to fostering unity, creating memorable experiences, and building lasting connections,” said Tiwa. “We reflect on our journey, our achievements, and the exciting possibilities ahead. We champion the celebration of our culture and the support of small businesses.

We are committed to continuously tackling important community issues such as financial literacy and mental health awareness, aiming to develop opportunities that will benefit the future generations of our community,” he added.

AGP kicked off Tuesday with a mixer at Black-owned 42 Bar & Grill and a “Bamba Tuesday” party at Rock Steady’s Afro-Carribean music gallery.

See the rest of the scheduled Atlanta Greek Picnic events below.

AGP Career Fair & Fireside Chat

Wednesday kicks off with the Career Fair & Fireside Chat on Wednesday, June 26, 2024 from 6 pm-9pm at the Westside Cultural Arts Center. Attendees will have the opportunity to network and build connections with the U.S. Army and more.

The R&B Experience at Whisky Mistress, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, 10 pm-3 am

Last year this event was sold out with drinks and bottles flowing. Attendees can expect the same vibes plus more this year.

AGP Block Party at Underground Atlanta, Thursday, June 27, 2024, 8 pm-2 am

The famous AGP Block Party at Underground Atlanta will be a great time spent outdoors in downtown Atlanta with the VIBES. A big stage, vendors, food, multiple bars, and celebrity performances.

The Social Media Hangout x Brunch Day Party at Westside Motor Lounge, Friday, June 28, 12 pm – 5 pm

Pop out with all your Divine 9 friends!

Opulence: AGP Kick-Off Party at Believe Music Hall, Friday, June 28, 9:00 pm – 2:30 am

AGP Field of Greeks Fitness And Wellness Event, Saturday, June 29, 9 am-12 pm

Taking place at Rodney Cook Sr Park – 616 Joseph E. Boone Blvd, it will be a perfect way to start your morning.

The 20th Atlanta Greek Picnic, Saturday, June 29 from 2 pm-12 am

Taking place at the Founders Plaza of Morris Brown College, attendees will be submerged in Black culture and the HBCU experience. Vendors, food trucks, and live music will flood the campus of Morris Brown College. One of the main attractions at the AGP is the annual Stroll Off where Divine 9 sororities and fraternities compete for a $10,000 prize.

The Official 2024 Alumni Greek Picnic, Sunday, June 30 from 2 pm-8 pm

Closing out the weekend will be the AGP Alumni Greek Picnic at Morris Brown College. Join Atlanta Greek Picnic in its 20th year celebrating and highlighting Divine 9 sororities and fraternities from around the country and HBCU culture. This event series has featured continuous support of Black-owned businesses and brands for over 20 years.

Will YOU be attending the 20th annual Atlanta Greek Picnic?

Source: Nightlifelink/ Courtesy of The Resource Guild

Sponsors for the 20th Annual Atlanta Greek Picnic include Red Bull, The U.S. Army, and TiwaWorks.

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Danielle Canada

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June 26, 2024