Georgia's new law banning most gender-affirming care for transgender minors goes into effect Saturday, and health care providers are scrambling to squeeze patients in.

Driving the news: The law prohibits doctors from administering hormone therapy or transition-related surgery to Georgia minors — though it exempts puberty blockers.

What they're saying: "For me, it's been absolutely exhausting. For my patients, it's devastating," said Izzy Lowell, a physician who started her gender-based medical care practice QMed in Atlanta six years ago.

• Her team is working around the clock and has blocked off sessions for walk-in visits this week ahead of the deadline.

Lowell's mainly virtual practice now treats people in 25 states. Half of them have bans in effect or coming into effect, she said.

Zoom in: The "most devastating" situations she has seen are 10-year-olds to 12-year-olds who are "just under the age where they could start care," are "desperate to start," and yet medically it's too soon to start hormone replacement therapy.

Be smart: Puberty blockers suppress sex hormones and pause pubertal changes. Cross-sex hormone therapy can be a next step for patients who develop sex characteristics associated with their preferred gender, Axios' Oriana González reports.

• Minors already receiving hormone replacement therapy as of July 1 will be grandfathered in.

What we're watching: Lowell has hope that the onslaught of laws targeting transgender Americans will eventually reverse course. But it's not likely to happen because decision-makers change their minds, she said.

• Rather, it'll be because young people, who "see gender completely differently," will grow up.

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A property owner's request to build a golf course and gated community on a South Carolina island advocates say is important for the survival of Gullah Geechee culture has been rejected by local officials.

Driving the news: The Beaufort County Council on Monday denied developer Elvio Tropeano's petition to remove a cultural protection overlay on 502 acres on St. Helena Island.

Why it matters: The island, which is near Georgia's border, is home to significant Gullah Geechee and civil rights history.

• The Penn Center, located there, in the 1860s became the first school in the South established for formerly enslaved Black people.
• During the 1960s, the campus served as a planning center for Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis and other members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

What they're saying: The Coastal Conservation League, which opposes the project, said late Monday in a press release that the Council’s decision reiterates what the "community has made abundantly clear through many hours of public hearings over the past six months: golf courses, resorts, and gated communities have no place on St. Helena Island."

The other side: Tropeano said Monday before the vote was taken that his plans are designed to prevent displacement of residents, would reduce residential density by 60% and permanently protect more than 85% of green space.

What's next: Axios emailed Tropeano for comments on his next steps but did not hear back.

A solution is in sight for one of the Beltline's trickiest knots — a quirky collision of bike paths, transit tracks and one of the Southeast's busiest interstates in northeast Atlanta.

Driving the news: Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and Congresswoman Nikema Williams, all Democrats, yesterday announced they'd secured a $25 million grant to construct the Northeast Trail to Lindbergh.

Why it matters: The crucial link will connect the Beltline to MARTA rail and two other trail systems, creating more access for people to explore the metro.

Zoom in: The grant will help build a 2.2-mile segment from where the Northeast Trail ends near I-85 to Lindbergh. It will include connectors to the Confluence Trail and Path 400.

State of play: The Northeast Trail starts in Piedmont Park and heads north past the Ansley Park Golf Course and the Piedmont Heights neighborhood.

• Crews are still pouring concrete north of the golf course to link the trail to the Armour Yard area. The stretch behind Ansley Mall is closed for construction.

What's next: The segment's design is 60% done, Beltline officials say, and work could begin in early 2025. They're holding a July 27 meeting to update the community on the project.

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The victims in the Atlanta Child Murders, the series of abductions and killings of nearly 30 Black children, teens and adults that took place from 1979 to 1981, now have a memorial on the City Hall grounds.

Driving the news: Mayor Andre Dickens and former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms unveiled the memorial created by artist Gordon Huether.

• The curved Corten steel wall lists the victims' names and has ledges where people can place flowers, photos or other remembrances.

A poem by Atlanta poet Pearl Cleage is inscribed on the ground of the memorial.

Go see it: The memorial is on the northeast corner of the Capitol at Mitchell and Washington streets, diagonal from the Georgia Capitol.

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