The mortality rate for Black mothers in the U.S. has not improved, per data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Why it matters: The pregnancy-related death rate for Black women is more than three times the rate for mothers of other racial and ethnic groups.

By the numbers: The maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black women rose from 49.5 to 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to 2023 data from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System, the most recent available.

Zoom in: March of Dimes gave Georgia a failing grade on the state of maternal and infant health in a report card published last year, we previously reported.

• Maternal mortality rates in Georgia have climbed in recent years, we reported last spring, and Black women account for most of those deaths.
• The state fired every member of its maternal mortality review committee in November after ProPublica obtained internal reports on the two deaths they were reporting on.

What they're saying: "There's implicit bias" when you're a Black patient and you have a non-Black provider, says LaTasha Seliby Perkins, an assistant professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

• Perkins, who is African American, says she experienced it during a previous pregnancy, when a doctor overlooked the fact that she was of advanced maternal age, because she didn't appear to be over 35.

Context: The medical system has a racist history, and a 2023 study in The Lancet found that even Black women in areas with more access to maternal health care are at a "disproportionately" higher risk of dying during or after childbirth than white women who live in underserved areas.

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Beyoncé fans have another opportunity to watch the singer close out her Cowboy Carter Tour at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Driving the news: The presale window for the July 10, 11, and (recently announced) 13 shows opens at noon today and closes at 11am tomorrow. (All times are local)

• The artist presale begins on Feb. 13 at noon and ends at 10pm.

Zoom in: Head to Ticketmaster or Beyoncé's tour website for information about additional sponsored presales.

What's next: General ticket sales begin at noon Friday.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's funding plans could mean Atlanta and other large Georgia cities receive "substantially" less cash per capita for projects, according to an Urban Institute analysis.

Catch up quick: This past week, newly installed transportation secretary Sean Duffy said the agency should prioritize "communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average" for the highly competitive grants and loans programs.

Zoom in: According to an Urban Institute analysis, that criteria could likely metro Atlanta suburbs and exurbs — areas which would likely favor highway and major roadway widening or construction.

The big picture: "We find that the winners of such a policy would be higher-income areas and those with larger white populations," Yonah Freemark and Lindiwe Rennert, the study's authors, write.

• "As such, the policy would reinforce many of the nation's existing demographic inequities and fail to support the U.S. residents most in need of expanded transportation investment."

Read more at the Urban Institute

👀 New legislation proposes giving carpet companies and cities immunity from lawsuits alleging they are tainting water with "forever chemicals." (AJC)

🙏 Former State Rep. Terry England was hospitalized after an accident at his farm in Barrow County. (WSB)

😢 The funeral service for the Roswell police officer who was fatally shot in the line of duty will be held tomorrow. (11 Alive)

⚖️ A security contractor filed a lawsuit against Atlanta's inspector general, alleging she illegally obtained his financial records. (Capital B)

💵 The Georgia Environmental Protection Division fined the city of Atlanta nearly $300,000 for sewage spills at the R.M. Clayton Water Reclamation Facility. (WABE)

⏩ State senators on Monday night advanced Gov. Brian Kemp's legislative package to curtail large civil judgments and rewrite litigation rules. (AJC)

Georgia is spending 4% of what the feds suggest it should on anti-tobacco efforts, a new report says.

Why it matters: Cigarette smoking remains the country's leading cause of preventable deaths, causing one in five of all U.S. deaths, according to the CDC.

State of play: Georgia allocated $4.3 million on smoking cessation efforts in fiscal 2025 — far less than funding levels recommended by the CDC, an American Lung Association "State of Tobacco Control" report shows.

• Georgia was one of 40 states that earned an F from the ALA for anti-smoking funding.
• The state also earned a failing grade for smoking restrictions, taxes, access for cessation services and banning flavored tobacco.

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