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A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting Atlanta. Written by Emma Hurt, Kristal Dixon and Thomas Wheatley.

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Hello, Atlanta. Southern bureau chief Michael Graff here. 

As a Charlotte resident, I’m obligated to find flaws in Atlanta in the same way that a younger sibling must find flaws with a firstborn. But your Axios Atlanta authors showed me around on a quick December visit, and I must concede: Atlanta's neat!

I was there for a little more than 24 hours, and here's what we packed in:

a food stall frontage for Aviva by Kameel

What we learned: It's important to remember that there are multiple locations of Aviva by Kameel, and everybody you're meeting with should know that. Otherwise, some members of your party (ahem, Kristal and Thomas) will show up to the wrong one. Photo: Michael Graff/Axios

Lunch: Shawarma and rosemary chicken and falafels and baba ganoush at the Aviva by Kameel location at CODA in Midtown. The small food hall also made for a fine place to meet and talk shop on a rainy day.

Dinner: At Ponce City Market I spotted Botiwalla and King of Pops, which made me think of Charlotte's favorite slogan: Hey, we have that in Charlotte, too! 

But on this trip, Kristal and Thomas and I went a little fancier with Atrium, where we had a mix of cocktails like the Deal's Revenge (a spicy old-fashioned) and zero-proofers like the All That Glitters (ginger, pepper, lime and soda), and followed them with steak and duck. One downside: I ordered mussels that never arrived.

Of note: I did eye the W.H. Stiles Fish Camp, which I want to try on the next trip.

Coffee: The next morning, I met Emma at Biggerstaff Brewing for coffee and a warm apple cider, then we snagged a light lunch at Bread & Butterfly.

View from the Georgian Terrace hotel room. Photo: Michael Graff/Axios

Hotel travel can be like opening a Christmas gift from your off-the-wall aunt: Never know what's inside. But the Georgian Terrace exceeded expectations. The cost (about $200) was reasonable and the staff was kind and allowed me an early check-in. 

The building itself, made of brick and marble with huge windows and chandeliers, sparkled with holiday decorations. 

Green space with the Atlanta skyline in the backdrop

From the back lawn of the Carter Center. Photo: Michael Graff/Axios

The sun came out on Day 2 and Emma took me on a walking tour of Old Fourth Ward.

We saw the old Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr. (and Sr.) preached; the new version where Sen. Raphael Warnock preaches; the tomb for King and his wife, Coretta Scott King; and MLK’s birth home. 

sign for Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta

Of note: We also strolled past a restaurant Charlotte can't wait to see arrive: Slutty Vegan.

From there, we walked a bit along the Beltline, where I saw a few places we've written about, and I learned a little more about the trail's story. Then we cut across to the Carter Center and its rolling green backyard.

My thought bubble: I may lose my Charlotte card for saying this, but Atlanta is a breathtaking blend of past, present and future. I'd move there … if not for the traffic. 

A visitor's guide to 24 hours in Atlanta

A quick swing through one of the South's great cities

highways lead to the Atlanta skyline at night

Atlanta skyline from Jackson Bridge. Photo: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Hello, Atlanta. Southern bureau chief Michael Graff here. As a Charlotte resident, I’m obligated to find flaws in Atlanta in the same way that a younger sibling must find flaws with a firstborn. But your Axios Atlanta authors showed me around on a quick December visit, and I must concede: Atlanta&#x27;s neat!

Things to Do

Driving the news: For those who turned it off and went to bed, Georgia defeated — and we mean really defeated — TCU 65 to 7 Monday night to claim the school's second-straight national championship.

Why it matters: On a list of things Georgians would like to be ranked No. 1 in, college football has to be near the top. These Bulldogs are a championship program now, not just one winning team.

Georgia's the first team to win back-to-back national championships since nemesis Alabama won in 2011 and 2012.

It is Georgia's fourth overall title; only seven schools have more.

What happened: Minutes before the game, sideline reporter Holly Rowe asked Georgia coach Kirby Smart what he needed to see from his team.

"Aggression," Smart said flatly, in a Very Football Coach way. Rowe asked if that was all, and Smart went on: "That's what we want to do. We're going hunting tonight."

Hunting: Georgia scored on every possession in the first half to jump to a 38-7 halftime lead, and it only got better after that.

The big picture: The championship was an unofficial holiday for many folks around the state. 

On Monday, the first day of the legislative session, state lawmakers made quick work of swearing in freshmen reps and senators so they could be in a position to watch the game.

The Georgia Department of Public Health canceled its January meeting scheduled for Tuesday because of the game, ending its announcement with “Go Dawgs!”

UGA fans pinched pennies all year to afford tickets (and the last-minute airfare). Or they packed four in a minivan and drove the nearly 2,300 miles. 

Best exit: Quarterback and MVP Stetson Bennett leaving the field to a standing ovation.

Most dedicated: The AJC’s Greg Bluestein, who, after being treated for a kidney stone, still managed to make the game. 

Best duck: Sideline photographers who (for the most part) avoided Kenny McIntosh

What we're watching: Which of these players is going to run for Senate in 40 years? 

UGA crushes TCU 65-7 in National Championship

Stetson Bennett celebrates a touchdown pass

Stetson Bennett celebrates after a touchdown pass late at the College Football Playoff National Championship game. Photo: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

College Football Playoff

Well, that was exciting. Driving the news: For those who turned it off and went to bed, Georgia defeated — and we mean really defeated — TCU 65 to 7 Monday night to claim the school&#x27;s second-straight national championship.

Sports

One hour before the city of Memphis released videos of police fatally beating Tyre Nichols on Friday, Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens joined leaders from cities and states across the country condemning the officers’ actions.

Why it matters: The Memphis footage prompted emotional responses from people around the country, but in the ever-changing South, they were also painful reminders of a shared past, and a complicated future.  

"Atlanta and Memphis have a shared history: Atlanta is the birthplace of Dr. King, and Memphis is where he was killed by an assassin," Dickens said in a video shared to his social feeds. "This is yet another time where we all have to bear witness to the loss of life at the hands — loss of Black life, a Black man dying — at the hands of law enforcement."

Demonstrators in Atlanta. Photo: Cheney Orr/AFP via Getty Images

"Memphis. I know about a tragedy in Memphis," tweeted Bernice King, the youngest daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. "My heart goes out to that city.""

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police chief Johnny Jennings participated in demonstrations in Charlotte, saying, "The hard work that we've been doing over the last several years can be just wiped away, and we have to start from ground zero again. It's frustrating." Photo: Alexandria Sands/Axios

Driving the news: Demonstrators marched solemnly and peacefully over the weekend in cities throughout the South — Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta. In each place they chanted names of local people killed in altercations with police, like Darryl Williams in Raleigh or Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte.

And in Atlanta, the demonstrations came at a pressure point in the city’s policing history, after clashes between law enforcement and protesters of the so-called “Cop City” police training facility turned deadly earlier this month. Gov. Brian Kemp issued a state of emergency last week. 

The big picture: The South is strung together by paved highways and a barbed history, spicy food and rich culture, and a recent population boom that has brought prosperity but also threatens to exacerbate longstanding economic inequities.  

Each wave of newcomers also frays lines to the region’s past.

A demonstration in Raleigh, NC. Photo: Lucille Sherman/Axios

Take Dickens’ words about King, that he was born in Atlanta and assassinated in Memphis. As it happens, King should’ve been in North Carolina on April 4, 1968, the day he died, but canceled his trip to stay in Memphis for a sanitation workers’ strike.

And in more immediate history, consider the path of Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis: She was born into a military family in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, spent two decades as a police officer in Atlanta, and was later police chief in Durham, North Carolina, before moving to Memphis.

My thought bubble: As I watched the videos from Memphis, I couldn’t help but think of an exhibit at the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. It is a display of shelves, with hundreds of jars of soil collected from the sites of lynchings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The jars reveal the richness of this Southern earth: deep and dark brown dirt from Selma, red clay from the Piedmont, lighter shades of sand from the coastal plain.

All soil that has at once sustained the country and been burying ground for its worst sins. 

And now in many ways — from policing to political power to affordable housing strategies — it's likely the land of a region that will define the country's future.

National

Charlotte

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Axios Charlotte, anchored by Michael Graff and Emma Way, gets you smarter, faster on the most consequential news and developments unfolding in your backyard.

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Southern cities mourn with Memphis

Demonstrations in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee are peaceful

Demonstrators in Memphis protest the death of Tyre Nichols. Photo: by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Police

One hour before the city of Memphis <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="released videos" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/01/28/memphis-police-tyre-nichols-arrest-footage" data-vars-content-id="c1516f33-bbaa-4c48-8b8f-be0e4c1a84db" data-vars-headline="Southern cities mourn with Memphis" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/01/28/memphis-police-tyre-nichols-arrest-footage" target="_self">released videos</a> of police fatally beating Tyre Nichols on Friday, Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens joined leaders from cities and states across the country condemning the officers’ actions.Why it matters: The Memphis footage prompted <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="emotional responses" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/01/28/reactions-tyre-nichols-fatal-beating-arrest-us" data-vars-content-id="c1516f33-bbaa-4c48-8b8f-be0e4c1a84db" data-vars-headline="Southern cities mourn with Memphis" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/01/28/reactions-tyre-nichols-fatal-beating-arrest-us" target="_self">emotional responses</a> from people around the country, but in the ever-changing South, they were also painful reminders of a shared past, and a complicated future.

News

Data: AJC poll; Chart: Simran Pawrani/Axios

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has a commanding and expanding lead over Democratic rival Stacey Abrams with less than 50 days remaining until the widely anticipated 2022 elections, per the latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution/University of Georgia poll shared with Axios.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) is in a statistical dead heat with Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

Why it matters: The poll in this pivotal swing state offers a modest counterpoint to reports of Democratic gains in recent months. The Warnock-Walker match, which could be key to Senate control, was one of the only reasons for Democrats' optimism in the AJC poll.

Kemp's lead on Abrams was 50% to 42%, up from five points in the AJC's July poll.

By the numbers: The survey (Sept. 5-16, margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points) showed double-digit leads for Republican nominees for lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state. 

It also revealed a 37% approval rating for President Biden. 

What we're watching: More signs of split-ticket voting. Nearly 1 in 10 Warnock's supporters said they back Kemp.

In a Senate race that features two Black men who have very different takes on racism, 77% of likely Black voters favor Warnock. That's down from 85% two months ago. 

Abrams maintained about 80% support among Black voters in the governor's contest.

The intrigue: About 20% of independent voters remain undecided in each marquee race.

Disclosure: The AJC and Axios are both owned by Cox Enterprises, but Axios did not participate in the administration of the poll.

Poll: Kemp up big on Abrams, Warnock-Walker tied

Republicans look strong in latest AJC poll.

Georgia

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has a commanding and expanding lead over Democratic rival Stacey Abrams with less than 50 days remaining until the widely anticipated 2022 elections, per the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution/University of Georgia poll " data-vars-click-url="https://www.ajc.com/politics/ajc-poll-gives-republicans-the-edge-in-most-races/CPN7VPBV5VAADJZ77I7VBPPRGY/" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.ajc.com/politics/ajc-poll-gives-republicans-the-edge-in-most-races/CPN7VPBV5VAADJZ77I7VBPPRGY/" target="_blank">latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution/University of Georgia poll </a>shared with Axios.<ul><li>Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) is in a statistical dead heat with Republican challenger Herschel Walker.</li></ul>

Out of state, small investors — or "laptop landlords" — accounted for 5.26% of home sales in Atlanta during the first half of 2022, according to a new Wall Street Journal analysis.

Why it matters: Most of the frustration over the rental crisis in Southern cities like Atlanta has been directed at big corporations buying up hundreds of homes and renting them out for profit.

But smaller investors, defined as those who own between 2 and 10 homes, are also contributing to rising prices.

Details: The Journal story describes these landlords as mostly "well-paid professionals who view owning a rental as a core investment, alongside stock or bond funds." They take advantage of technology that enables them to buy a home quickly online, without even visiting the city where the home is located.

Data services help them “pick neighborhoods with precision,” the Journal found. The landlords can instantly see crime rates and school rankings, then use online real-estate marketplaces to connect with financing and local property managers.

The big picture: Investors bought up 28% of all single-family homes nationwide in February of this year, according to the data firm CoreLogic, the Journal reports.

People who own 10 or fewer homes accounted for about half of the overall investor haul.

Southern metros that have lots of low- and middle-income renters are particularly appealing to coastal investors, the Journal notes.

Out-of-state small real estate investors eye Atlanta

Oftentimes, the investors snatch up property without even visiting the city first.

Illustration of a hand about to pick up the last house surrounded by leftover imprints of other long gone houses.  

Real estate

Out of state, small investors — or &quot;laptop landlords&quot; — accounted for 5.26% of home sales in Atlanta during the first half of 2022, according to a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="new Wall Street Journal analysis" data-vars-click-url="https://www.wsj.com/articles/everyones-a-landlordsmall-time-investors-snap-up-out-of-state-properties-11661705278" data-vars-content-id="e3748bca-40e4-4237-95e7-61b3bc902d96" data-vars-headline="Out-of-state small real estate investors eye Atlanta" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/everyones-a-landlordsmall-time-investors-snap-up-out-of-state-properties-11661705278" target="_blank">new Wall Street Journal analysis</a>.Why it matters: Most of the frustration over the rental crisis in Southern cities like Atlanta has been directed at big corporations buying up hundreds of homes and renting them out for profit.

Michael Graff

Featured stories

Southern cities mourn with Memphis

A visitor's guide to 24 hours in Atlanta

UGA crushes TCU 65-7 in National Championship

Poll: Kemp up big on Abrams, Warnock-Walker tied

Out-of-state small real estate investors eye Atlanta