🎉 Dogwood Festival weekend
All aboard Friday
April 12 — MARTA revealed the locations of the infill rail stations promised by Mayor Andre Dickens: Krog Street/Hulsey Yard, Joseph E. Boone, Murphy Crossing, and Armour Yards.
🌞 Today will be sunny, windy, and 67°. The weekend looks picture-perfect with sun and highs in the upper 70s to low 80s.
➡ The head of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia will take over the investigation of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ alleged involvement in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
🐶 Fulton County reiterated to Rough Draft that it won't resume animal control services to the City of Atlanta without a signed contract. The Atlanta City Council could take up the issue at its Mon., April 15 meeting.
💦 Related, the Fulton County Commission is searching for a legal way to avoid paying $5.7 million in old water bills to Atlanta.
🔎 A bipartisan investigation by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee said the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services consistently fails to protect children from abuse, and mismanagement at the division is “a key contributor” to deaths and injuries.
🚰 Sandy Springs residents who live near the Mt. Vernon Highway bridge should plan for a water outage today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.🇪🇹 Chef Ali Lemma will open a location of his popular Ethiopian food stall, Ruki’s Kitchen, at Switchman Hall in Peoplestown later this year.
🏆 Entrepreneurs from Wheel the World, Dateability, and Derek's Doodles were among the winners at last night's EDDIE Awards. The awards spotlight entrepreneurs within the disability community.
ELSEWHERE
➡ Former NFL star and actor O.J. Simpson, whose achievements on the field were eclipsed by the brutal murder of his wife and her friend and the subsequent trial that saw him acquitted, died of cancer Wednesday. He was 76.
🕖 Here's what's in today's newsletter:•
April festivals•
Film review: 'Civil War'
•The Sports Section
AND • Top Stories of the Week
Enjoy the beautiful weekend,
Collin & Sammie
🎶 Schwartz Center for Performing Arts announces the 2024–25 Concert Season! Highlights include the incomparable violinist Sarah Chang, the Atlanta premiere of "American Railroad" with Silkroad Ensemble and Rhiannon Giddens, and a collaboration with Imani Winds and Boston Brass. Subscriptions for four or more concerts are available now.
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1. April festivals: Dogwood Festival and more on tap this month
🌸 The Atlanta Dogwood Festival is back today through Sunday with hundreds of artists from around the country setting up their tents for the 88th annual event in Piedmont Park.
Virtually every kind of art imaginable will be represented at the festival, with a juried Fine Artist Market that includes sculpture, paintings, pottery, jewelry, photography, and much more.
🗓️ But that's not the only festival coming to Atlanta this month. From major music festivals to iconic home tours, there are plenty of fun events to check out in the city this month.
🏮 In Sandy Springs, the Lantern Parade returns tomorrow at Morgan Falls Overlook Park.
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2. 'Civil War' doesn't capitalize on its most interesting themes
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW | BY SAMMIE PURCELL
📸 During one of "Civil War's" quieter moments, veteran war photographer Lee (Kirsten Dunst) sits with her mentor Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) watching the sky light up with gunfire from a fight a few miles down the road.
Despite the pops and shouts in the distance, they’re both fairly calm about the whole thing – a hallmark of “Civil War,” in which the mundane, the beautiful, and the horrific constantly overlap – and having a conversation about whether their jobs really matter anymore. Lee in particular feels a keen sense of failure. She has spent her whole career in war zones, she says, documenting and cataloging atrocity after atrocity, hoping that a public record of the horrors of war would be enough to stop it from ever happening on her home turf.
The above revelation from Lee is one of the more interesting moments in “Civil War,” one that plays into the larger naïveté and denial that befalls even the hardest-boiled journalists in this world. But, while this particular brand of American exceptionalism - the idea that you are safe from conflict simply by virtue of who you are - is lightly explored throughout the rest of the film, Director Alex Garland mostly leaves that theme hanging, preferring instead to make a broader, less interesting thematic point about the ways in which we’ve become numb to violence.
🍿 Stay in the picture with Scene by Rough Draft, our weekly newsletter about Georgia's film industry. Subscribe for free.
3. The Sports Section
Skylar Salisbury, host of Big Sky Buckets, is back with this week's sports update.
🏌️♂️ After a rain delay and amid difficult playing conditions, round one at The Masters is still incomplete. Bryson DeChambeau is in the lead with seven under, but world No.1 Scottie Scheffler is just one stroke back.
📺 The 2024 Masters will be longtime sportscaster Verne Lundquist's final run. He's retiring after more than four decades in the business. Lundquist, who also called college football and basketball, is known for his line, "Yes sir!"
⚾ The Braves, who lost 16-4 yesterday, start a six-game road trip in Miami tonight at 7:10 p.m. (BSS).
💸 Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, is accused of stealing over $16 million to pay gambling debts, and may face federal charges potentially leading to 30 years in prison.
🏀 The Hawks’ Trae Young returned last night after missing 23 games due to finger surgery. Despite the Hawks' loss, Trae had the most efficient game of his career. Spoiler alert: he didn’t miss.
🏀 The 82-game regular season ends on Sunday, ushering in the NBA playoffs and play-in tournament. Atlanta plays on Wednesday in Chicago in a win-or-go-home game.
🏀 The Indiana Fever are expected to take Iowa's Caitlin Clark as the first pick in the WNBA Draft on Mon., April 15. ⚽ Coming off of a draw for the first time this season, Atlanta United faces Philadelphia Union at Mercedes-Benz Stadium this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. (Apple TV+).
🥇 It seems that being an Olympic gold medalist isn’t enough anymore, as this year’s track and field athletes will also earn a cash prize for winning.
🎽 Evans Shebet and Hellen Obiri look to defend their 2023 titles in Monday's Boston Marathon, where runners may have the wind at their backs.
⚾ If you're looking for a fun summer trip to see some baseball, our partners at NerdWallet have ideas on five hotels that are near or attached to Major League ballparks.
🍸 Don't forget! Sip Brookhaven, presented by Explore Brookhaven and Word of Mouth Restaurants, is THIS WEEKEND. Don't miss out on a gorgeous spring evening sipping through boutique wines, craft cocktails, and local beers while enjoying light bites and live music! Tickets to this event are $35 and $50.
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4. Top Stories of the Week
A look back at this week's most-read stories from our website.
① Steven Satterfield, Miller Union, and Dive Wine opening Poncey-Highland wine bar Madeira Park (pictured)
💭 Test your knowledge of the week's news in tomorrow's News Quiz. Keep an eye out for our email at 8 a.m. or bookmark this page!
⌨️ Today's newsletter was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.