A former Atlanta auto garage and homeless shelter will be redeveloped into apartments for Emory Midtown health care workers.

Why it matters: The Emory University-led project aims to preserve much of the historic Peachtree Street buildings while creating housing for nurses and technicians priced out of Atlanta.

Zoom in: The university, which purchased the property from Central Atlanta Progress in 2019, announced plans Monday to build more than 50 "competitively priced" rental apartments for health care workers.

Caveat: The project is still in the early stages, university officials said, and key details such as family accommodations or eligible salary ranges will be presented in the future.

The big picture: Affordable housing for health care workers is a major challenge, especially for staff working 12-hour shifts and managing family responsibilities, Eric Ford, a health care management professor at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, told Axios.

Catch up quick: The buildings most famously served as a shelter run by the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless that once housed an estimated 15,000 men, women and children annually, according to a Georgia State University research project.

• The shelter closed in 2017 after years of political and legal battles with City Hall and business leaders, including Emory, over the nonprofit leadership's management. Emory bought the buildings in 2019.

What they're saying: The reuse of the historic buildings "is a phenomenal win-win for all parties," David Y. Mitchell of the Atlanta Preservation Center tells Axios.

• "Now you have, if you will, a state-of-the-art hospital across the street from an architecturally significant and contributing structure that gives people a place of identity and home [to] create so much of what we claim Atlanta is. Now you can visually see it."

Context: The proposed housing is located at the northern edge of The Stitch, Central Atlanta Progress' plan to cover the Downtown Connector with 14 acres of green space.

What's next: Emory has applied for a special permit from City Hall to demolish part of the 487 Peachtree Street building to add windows for the new apartments.

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For one glorious week in 1953, Georgia was the middle of martian mania. Then reality reared its ugly head.

Why it matters: The list of great hoaxes wouldn't be complete without a tricky trio who tried to pass off a dead, hairless monkey dyed green as an alien body.

Catch up quick: On July 8, 1953, Cobb County police officer Sherley Brown encountered three young men on Bankhead Highway and their astounding discovery: a lifeless martian the friends hit with their pickup.

• Two other little green men escaped the scene, the trio — Atlanta barbers Edward Watters and Tom Wilson and butcher Arthur "Buddy" Payne — told Brown.

Zoom out: Astonishingly, Brown let the young men go on their way with the creature. The story went viral, 1950s-style, sparking telephone calls to TV stations, newspapers and police departments with reports of similar phenomenon.

Yes, but: The GBI and Dr. Marion Hines, an anatomy professor at Emory University, quickly shot down the group's claims. "If it came from Mars, they have monkeys on Mars," Hines reportedly told the Associated Press.

State of play: Today, the preserved monkey is on display in the GBI's appointment-only museum located in the lobby of its Panthersville headquarters.

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After hours of proclamations and public comment, the Atlanta City Council got down to business Monday and took action on the following items.

First up is a new ordinance that spells out how far vape shops can be from elementary and secondary schools.

• The changes now require the shops to be at least 1,000 feet from elementary, middle, junior high or high schools, as well as other vape shops.

Fire station upgrade: Fire Station No. 5 on Campbellton Road will soon undergo some renovations, as council members approved a task order funding the project at a cost not to exceed $1 million.

What's coming up: Council members introduced an ordinance to create license requirements for short-term rentals in multi-family developments.

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A group of business owners working to improve West Midtown's connectivity hope a new tool will help visitors find parking more easily — and keep supporting local businesses.

Why it matters: The cost and availability of parking is among several reasons Atlantans gave for why multiple restaurants in the district have closed since 2024.

The latest: The Upper Westside Community Improvement District has debuted a new interactive map that shows where people can find parking.

Zoom in: Users can check parking rates for roughly 30 options and see which decks have bike parking and EV charging stations.

Context: The new tool's release comes on the heels of more than a dozen restaurant closings in the district within the last 12 months.

The big picture: The closures have sparked debates around what's causing restaurants to shutter, including high costs to park, rising rents and traffic headaches.

💬 Kristal's thought bubble: It's much easier for me to use Uber when I'm venturing out to West Midtown.

• It may cost a little more, but I don't have to deal with the headache of finding parking, paying to park and navigating traffic.

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🗳️ Fulton County Commissioners Dana Barrett and Marvin Arrington, Jr., launched campaigns to unseat Chairman Robb Pitts. (WABE)

🗞️ Mario Guevara, the metro Atlanta journalist who is in ICE custody after his arrest while covering a protest, wants El Salvador President Nayib Bukele to stop his deportation. (Fox 5)

⚖️ The Georgia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans are fighting Gwinnett County and the Stone Mountain Memorial Association in court over the removal of a Confederate monument and proposed "truth-telling" museum. (AJC, AJC)