Atlanta News First

Although the first World Cup match in Atlanta isn’t until Monday, FIFA is already here, leaders emphasized during a Wednesday news conference — and they said the city is ready. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum and others gathered at the police department’s Joint Operations Center to give an overview of what the city is doing to keep the public sa...

North America’s longest continually operating major league sports franchise is marking its 60th season in Atlanta, and its history here is full of some of its biggest milestones.  On April 12, 1966, the Atlanta Braves’ first-ever game was played at Atlanta Stadium (as it was then known) against the Pittsburgh Pirates before more than 50,000 fans.  The Braves’ history in...

Ice and snow are predicted this weekend in metro Atlanta. In this podcast, award-winning investigative reporters Anastassia Olmos and Harry Samler - better known as Better Call Harry - talk about the home and auto preparations you should be undertaking ahead of winter's biggest storm yet.

Ice and snow are predicted for this weekend in metro Atlanta. In this podcast, award-winning investigative reporters Anastassia Olmos and Harry Samler - better known as Better Call Harry - talk about the dangers of alternative heating appliances in your home. 

Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank answered several questions Thursday as the 83-year-old business and philanthropic titan held a news conference following a huge shakeup in the Falcons’ front office. Early Sunday evening, Blank announced the  firing of both Terry Fontenot and Raheem Morris  from their positions of general manager and head coach, respectively. Fontenot and Morris w...

On Nov. 1, funding ran out for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, due to the government shutdown.  Although a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to continue supporting SNAP, benefits remain in limbo. Georgia Democrats have called on the state to intervene, while Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced measures to assist those in need.  For more coverage...

In the late hours of Oct. 26, 1970, and into the early morning hours of Oct. 27, the most famous armed robbery in Atlanta history happened. And it was right after the city's most famous sports event in its history, up until that time: Muhammad Ali's return to professional boxing in a sanctioned fight at Atlanta Municipal Auditorium against Jerry Quarry.  Jeff Keating is president of Dogh...

The return of the champion ended with Atlanta’s most famous armed robbery in history. On Oct. 26, 1970, Muhammad Ali returned to the right for the first time since his three-year suspension from boxing for refusing to be inducted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. The fight was being held in Atlanta at the Municipal Auditorium - site of Friday night wrestling, all-night gospel singin...

Over a long, distinguished career as an American sports journalist, Terence Moore likely interviewed Hank Aaron more than anyone. In fact, Moore said he was the last media professional to interview Aaron before his death on Jan. 22, 2021. “Hank once said to me, ‘Of all the books that’ve been written about me, and of the documentaries produced about me, no one truly knows the real...

The two political candidates couldn’t have been more different. One man, descending from a family line of Baptist ministers and championing the values of temperance and chastity, promised law and order. The other belonged to a political party thriving on social disorder and looser interpretations of the laws regarding recreational pursuits. Such a scenario could be easily imagined in any mod...

Sixty years ago today, Mary Shotwell Little left her job at C&S Bank, where she worked as a secretary. That evening, she met a coworker for dinner and shopping at Lenox Square, and parted ways about 8 p.m. She never showed up for work the next day, thus beginning one of metro Atlanta’s most infamous missing persons cases of the 20th century. On Nov. 12, 2025, “ The Vanishing: The 6...

Early city officials purchased six acres in 1850 to be a public burial ground for a young-but-fast-growing town of Atlanta.  Originally called Atlanta Graveyard or City Burial Place, this was the beginning of Oakland Cemetery.  It was officially renamed in 1872. By then it had expanded to 48 acres, mainly due to pressures of the Civil War. In the late 19th century, families tended the pl...

The product that has become the world's most iconic consumer brand was first served in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886. Dr. John Stith Pemberton, a local pharmacist, produced the syrup for Coca-Cola, and carried a jug of the new product down the street to Jacobs’ Pharmacy, where it was sampled, pronounced “excellent” and placed on sale for five cents a glass as a soda fountain d...

Its streets were traveled by some of the nation’s principled and most courageous. Its buildings were brick-laid by people who endured and persevered to leave behind a better city than they discovered. Atlanta and the nation have taken a lot from Auburn Avenue. Now, the time may have finally arrived to give something back. ATLVault talks with David Yoakley Mitchell, executive director of the...

One of the world’s most celebrated and influential speeches was delivered 60 years ago. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., made his now-famous “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963, capping the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” event. King gave his speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Here is a recording of what became a speech that has inspired mill...

Mary Phagan had only two things on her mind on April 26, 1913. First, it was Confederate Memorial Day in Georgia, and she was excited to show off her new dress. Second, she had to pick up her paycheck of $1.20 from Leo Frank, her boss at the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, where she worked to help support her widowed mother who ran a local boarding house. Phagan ate a late breakfast of cabbage...

The Heart of Atlanta Supreme Court decision stands among the court’s most significant civil rights rulings. In Atlanta, two arch segregationists vowed to flout the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the sweeping slate of civil rights reforms just signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Pickrick restaurant was run by Lester Maddox, who would eventually become governor of Georgia. The other...

Atlanta’s very first Super Bowl remains arguably the most exciting in NFL history. The crime that happened only hours later remains the Super Bowl's most infamous. Hours after the St. Louis Rams withstood a furious, late-game and last-second surge from the Tennessee Titans to win their first-ever NFL championship, two men were stabbed to death outside a Buckhead nightclub. Ray Lewis - a Balt...

On Sept. 5, 1955, two Atlanta businessmen - Joe Rogers and Tom Forkner - opened the very first Waffle House, located in DeKalb County's Avondale Estates community. Rogers started in the restaurant business as a short-order cook in 1947  at the Toddle House in Connecticut. By 1949, he was a regional manager, then moved to Atlanta. He met Forkner while buying a house from him in Avondale Estate...

On April 3, 1948,  the first Black police officers began patrolling Atlanta's streets around Auburn Avenue, marking the official integration of the Atlanta Police Department. Author Thomas Mullen discusses the challenges these pioneers faced in mid-20th century Atlanta. Mullen is the author of seven books, including Darktown, Midnight Atlanta and Lightning Men, written in the timeframe of 194...

Dr. Jeffery Wells, author of 2011′s “ The Atlanta Ripper: The Unsolved Case of the Gate City’s Most Infamous Murders ,” the definitive book about the crimes, talks with ATLVault. 

On April 6, 1972, a fire began at the Triangle Refinery in Doraville, starting with an overfilled storage tank. Vapors from the tank reached nearby homes on Doral Circle and ignited a pilot light at one of the homes causing an explosion. The explosion then set three storage tanks on fire.  In all, 300 people were evacuated from their homes, staying at nearby elementary schools, hotels, or wit...

Last week's assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk shook the nation and the world, and its aftermath continues to permeate every fabric of America's political consciousness.

 Conservative political analyst Charlie Kirk was shot and killed last week as he spoke to a crowd gathered in a courtyard at Utah Valley University. Less than 48 hours later, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox  identified a suspect  arrested as Tyler Robinson. In this week’s episode of  On The Record , political consultants Jason Shepherd and Fred Hicks discuss the  latest act of...

Former state senator Jason Esteves would make history as Georgia's first Black and first Hispanic governor if he's elected in next year's historic 2026 elections. But first, he must win a crowded Democratic gubernatorial primary, which is filled with four other candidates with the same aspirations.  Esteves sat down with Atlanta News First Political Reporter Doug Reardon to discuss the issues...