Bipartisan bill led by Senator Raphael Warnock aims to cut red tape, speed up Georgia transit projects, and give state agencies more flexibility to deliver improvements faster.
By Milton Kirby | Washington, D.C. | December 4, 2025
U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) is leading a new bipartisan push to fast-track transit projects across Georgia and the nation, unveiling legislation aimed at cutting federal red tape, reducing delays, and giving state agencies more control over construction reviews.
Warnock introduced the Streamline Transit Projects Act on Wednesday alongside Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and John Curtis (R-UT). The bill seeks to reduce the time it takes to approve and build transit projects—everything from new bus rapid transit corridors to station upgrades and light-rail improvements—by allowing qualified state and local transit agencies to conduct their own environmental reviews for low-impact projects.
State officials currently have that authority for highway construction, but not for transit. The sponsors argue that fixing this imbalance will help agencies deliver improvements more efficiently at a time when metropolitan regions are battling traffic congestion, rising emissions, and growing demand for reliable transit options.
A Push for Faster, More Flexible Transit Delivery
Warnock said the proposal will help Georgia communities receive modern transit improvements without years of avoidable delay.
“This bipartisan legislation will give transit agencies new tools to more quickly deliver projects that meet local needs and improve the ridership experience,” Warnock said. “By delivering transit projects faster, we can continue to invest in a brighter, more connected future for all who call Georgia home.”
The bill would streamline certain environmental reviews, reduce duplication, and allow states to use the same flexible process already applied to road construction—changes the senators say will accelerate project timelines without sacrificing environmental protections.
Support Across the Aisle
Co-sponsors emphasized the need for states and localities—not Washington—to take the lead on straightforward transit upgrades.
Sen. Mike Lee framed the legislation as a return of authority to states. “Utah’s transit projects will be better off without the federal government meddling in every decision and holding up construction… Don’t tread on our TRAX!” Lee said.
Sen. Mark Kelly highlighted how long waits for routine approvals hurt everyday riders. “Right now, simple transit projects can get tied up in years of red tape… Our bill cuts needless delays for low-impact projects so commuters see the benefits sooner.”
Sen. John Curtis said growing regions like Utah need faster tools to keep pace: “This bill gives transit agencies the flexibility to meet local needs more efficiently… connect people, reduce traffic, and protect the environment we all treasure.”
MARTA Strongly Backs the Bill
Metro Atlanta’s transit agency offered quick support. MARTA Interim CEO Jonathan Hunt said the reforms would improve safety, mobility, and project delivery.
“Reducing unnecessary administrative hurdles will help us accelerate project approvals and deliver high-quality transit to the metro Atlanta region more efficiently,” Hunt said. He added that modernizing federal processes will help MARTA expand mobility options and strengthen safety and security for riders.
Part of Warnock’s Broader Transit Strategy
Warnock has been one of the Senate’s vocal advocates for public transit expansion, pushing for upgrades in Georgia’s rapidly growing metro areas and improving mobility in both urban and rural communities. He previously secured key provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to strengthen federal transit grant programs and support efforts to expand service statewide.
If enacted, the Streamline Transit Projects Act could smooth the path for major initiatives underway or planned across Georgia—including MARTA bus-rapid-transit corridors, station modernization, regional mobility upgrades, and new connections designed to reduce congestion as the state continues to grow.
By Milton Kirby | Abbeville, AL | December 2, 2025
On a warm September night in 1944, a 24-year-old Black mother from Abbeville, Alabama walked home from a revival service. Her name was Recy Taylor, and what happened next would echo far beyond the unpaved roads of Henry County. It would ignite a national outcry, embolden a generation of activists, and lay down one of the earliest steppingstones of the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Taylor’s kidnapping and brutal gang rape by six white men was not only an act of racial terror; it was a defining moment of resistance. And though Alabama’s all-white legal system refused to prosecute her attackers — even after multiple confessions — Taylor refused silence. Her insistence on justice, and the national movement built in her name, helped shape the path later traveled by Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin, and the freedom fighters who changed America.
Recy Taylor
Mrs. Recy Taylor, 1944, credit: “The Rape of Recy Taylor” Courtesy of The People’s World/Daily Worker and Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University
In 2020, TIME Magazine retroactively named Recy Taylor its “1944 Woman of the Year,” an acknowledgment long overdue. She did not hold office, command an army, or lead a corporation. She wielded something more dangerous: truth, courage, and the refusal to surrender her dignity.
A Crime Meant to Silence — and the Woman Who Would Not Be Silenced
On September 3, 1944, Taylor walked home from Rock Hill Holiness Church with friends Fannie and West Daniels. A green Chevrolet circled them repeatedly before seven armed white men jumped out. At gunpoint, they forced Taylor into the car, drove her into the woods, blindfolded her, and raped her one after another.
Her friend Fannie Daniel immediately reported the kidnapping. Taylor was later found near the center of town by her father and a former police officer. Despite being traumatized, she insisted on reporting the assault to authorities.
Her courage produced immediate results — and an immediate backlash. The sheriff identified the car’s owner, Hugo Wilson, who confessed and named the other men involved. Instead of being arrested, he was allowed to go home.
The next day, the Taylor home was firebombed.
Rosa Parks Before Montgomery
The NAACP, outraged by the sheriff’s refusal to act, dispatched its best investigator: Rosa Parks, already deeply engaged in documenting sexual violence against Black women. Parks traveled to Abbeville, interviewed witnesses, and began organizing a national campaign.
Her work in the Taylor case became the blueprint for what she would later do in Montgomery.
Parks and other leaders formed the Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor, uniting voices likeW.E.B. Du Bois, Mary Church Terrell, Langston Hughes, and activists across the country. The national pressure pushed Alabama’s governor to order not one, but two grand jury hearings.
Both — all-white and all-male — refused to indict.
Yet the movement did not fade. It grew.
A Catalyst of the Civil Rights Movement
Decades before the world called Rosa Parks “the mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” Parks herself pointed back to Recy Taylor’s case as a catalyst. Historian Danielle L. McGuire later documented that the fight for Taylor marked the first major statewide campaign against sexualized violence toward Black women — and the roots of women-led resistance that shaped the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Black women’s testimonies — often dismissed, ignored, or punished — became acts of political resistance. Recy Taylor stood among the bravest of them, risking everything to tell the truth.
Life After the Headlines
The assault left Taylor unable to have additional children and forced her family to live under constant threat. She separated from her husband, later moved to Florida for work, and ultimately returned to home in Abbeville as her health declined. Her only child, Joyce Lee, died in a car accident in 1967.
For nearly seven decades, the state of Alabama refused to acknowledge its failure. That changed in 2011, when the Alabama Legislature issued a formal apology — a victory made possible by the scholarship and activism that had resurrected Taylor’s story.
Taylor died on December 28, 2017, at 97 years old. She lived long enough to witness the world finally naming the injustice she endured.
Recy Taylor article in The Chicago Defender, credit: “The Rape of Recy Taylor” NMAAHC
Legacy: A Thread Woven Into America’s Freedom Story
TIME Magazine’s selection of Recy Taylor as “1944 Woman of the Year” reframed the era: history is not shaped only by presidents, generals, or magnates. It is also shaped by a sharecropper’s daughter who refused to be erased.
Her courage galvanized Rosa Parks. Her testimony inspired a movement. Her story helped change the national conversation around sexual violence, Black women’s rights, and dignity under the law.
Taylor’s life reminds us that all justice movements are connected. The Civil Rights Movement did not begin on a Montgomery bus in 1955. It began in places like Abbeville — under pecan trees, along dirt roads, in the voices of Black women who refused to be silenced.
Recy Taylor’s bravery laid the groundwork for the world we continue building today.
Georgia will receive over $300 million in federal BEAD funding to expand broadband, helping close the digital divide and bringing high-speed internet to unserved rural communities.
By Milton Kirby | Atlanta, GA | December 2, 2025
Georgia is set to receive more than $300 million in new federal funding to expand high-speed internet access across the state, marking one of the largest broadband investments in Georgia history.
U.S. Senators Raphael WarnockandJon Ossoff announced the funding Monday in Washington, secured through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The money will be distributed through the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) to local contractors to build out new fiber networks in communities that still lack reliable service.
State leaders estimate that 15% of Georgians still do not have dependable broadband — a barrier that affects families, students, farmers, and small businesses across rural and underserved counties.
A Major Push Toward Full Connectivity
Senator Warnock said the investment moves Georgia closer than ever to 100% statewide broadband coverage.
“This federal investment means life gets easier for hundreds of thousands of Georgians,” Senator Warnock said. “You need a broadband connection to do just about anything. You can’t even farm without a broadband connection.”
Warnock also criticized delays by the Trump Administration in releasing federal broadband dollars earlier this year, saying he will continue pressing for all remaining BEAD funds to be released quickly.
Senator Ossoff called the funding “a major next step” for Georgia families and businesses.
“Our historic bipartisan infrastructure law continues to deliver for Georgia,” he said. “This is about ensuring every Georgia family and business has high-speed internet.”
Where the Money Will Go
Under the BEAD program, the new $300 million will be used to:
Build fiber broadband in unserved rural counties
Upgrade outdated networks in underserved areas
Expand affordable access programs aimed at low-income households
Support construction jobs and local contracting across the state
The Georgia Technology Authority will allocate funds to providers capable of installing fiber in areas where service is slow, unreliable, or non-existent.
A Long Legislative Trail to Today’s Funding
Senator Warnock has made broadband expansion a signature priority:
In 2024, he toured OFS Fitel in Norcross with former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to highlight Georgia’s role in fiber manufacturing.
He urged the FCC to expand theE-Rate program to allow Wi-Fi hotspot lending by schools and libraries.
In 2022, he hosted then-FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel in Jackson County to spotlight rural internet needs.
Alongside Senator Luján, he pushed for strong federal rules to prevent digital discrimination by internet providers.
Senators Warnock and Ossoff also announced $1.3 billion in BEAD funding for Georgia in 2023. In May 2025, both senators demanded the Trump Administration release the delayed BEAD funds—setting the stage for this week’s announcement.
Why This Matters for Rural and Urban Georgia
The expansion is expected to help:
Farmers who depend on broadband for precision agriculture
Students completing homework and online learning
Small businesses that rely on digital payments and online tools
Seniors using telehealth services
For many counties, especially in South Georgia and parts of Appalachia, fiber broadband is still years away without federal help.
Monday’s announcement marks one of the strongest steps yet toward closing that gap.
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Seventy years after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, her quiet “no” still shows how organized, everyday courage can move a nation forward.
By Milton Kirby | Montgomery, AL | December 1, 2025
A quiet act that shook a city
Seventy years ago in Montgomery, Alabama, a soft-spoken seamstress made a choice that changed the course of American history.
On December 1, 1955, 42-year-old Rosa Louise McCauley Parks refused bus driver James F. Blake’s order to give up her seat so a white man could sit. Montgomery’s rules reserved the front rows for white riders and pushed Black passengers to the back. The middle seats, where Parks sat, were a constant battleground.
Three Black riders in her row stood up. Parks did not.
“I felt that, if I did stand up, it meant that I approved of the way I was being treated, and I did not approve,” she later said. She was not too tired from work; she was “tired of giving in.”
Police were called. Parks was arrested, fingerprinted, fined, and pushed into the machinery of Jim Crow justice. But what happened next turned one woman’s arrest into a mass movement.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott: 381 days of organized courage
Parks’ arrest hit a nerve in a city where Black riders made up about three-fourths of bus passengers but had few rights on board. For decades, drivers had ordered Black passengers to stand, even when seats were open. Many drivers carried weapons and had near-police authority on their routes.
This time, the community pushed back.
The Women’s Political Council quickly circulated tens of thousands of leaflets calling for a one-day bus boycott on the day of Parks’ trial, December 5, 1955. Black residents walked, carpooled, and paid Black taxi drivers instead of riding city buses. Courtroom benches were full. Bus seats were nearly empty.
That same evening, thousands crowded into Holt Street Baptist Church. Local ministers and organizers formed a new group, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), and chose a young pastor, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, as president.
Rosa Parks – Don Cravens – Getty Images
They voted to keep the boycott going. Day after day, for 381 days, Black residents of Montgomery walked miles to work and to school. Volunteers ran car-pool systems. Church parking lots became dispatch centers.
The city tried to break the movement. Parks lost her job as a seamstress. Her husband, Raymond, was fired as well. Leaders were arrested and threatened. A grand jury declared the boycott illegal. Still, people kept walking.
In federal court, a separate case, Browder v. Gayle, challenged bus segregation directly. In November 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on Montgomery’s buses was unconstitutional. On December 20, 1956, the court’s order took effect. Dr. King called off the boycott. The next day, Black riders boarded buses and sat wherever they chose.
A quiet “no” had turned into a landmark victory that propelled the national Civil Rights Movement.
Years of organizing before the bus ride
The popular story often begins with a tired seamstress on a December afternoon. But Parks’ courage was not sudden. It was built over years of steady, often dangerous work.
Parks joined the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP in 1943 and soon became its secretary. She attended meetings, took notes, and listened. She and her husband were active in the local Voters League, struggling to increase Black voter registration at a time when poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation kept almost all Black citizens from the rolls.
Parks herself tried three times to register to vote before finally succeeding in 1945.
As NAACP secretary, she helped investigate violent crimes that white authorities preferred to ignore. In 1944, she took on the case of Recy Taylor, a Black woman from Abbeville who was kidnapped and gang-raped by white men. When local juries refused to indict the attackers, Parks and other activists organized the Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor, building one of the strongest national campaigns against racial and sexual violence in that era.
She also worked for justice in the case of Jeremiah Reeves, a Black teenager accused of raping a white woman and later executed.
In the summer of 1955, just months before her arrest, Parks attended training at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, an interracial education center where activists studied nonviolent protest and community organizing. That experience, she later said, helped strengthen her resolve.
By the time she sat down on that bus in December 1955, Rosa Parks was not just a seamstress. She was a seasoned organizer who understood both the risk and the power of civil disobedience.
Roots of resistance: family, school, and early Jim Crow
Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913. Her parents, James and Leona McCauley, separated when she was young. Rosa and her younger brother, Sylvester, were raised mainly by her mother and maternal grandparents near Montgomery.
Her grandparents were formerly enslaved people who believed fiercely in racial equality. They kept a shotgun by the door and refused to shrink from white terror. Growing up in their home, Parks learned both the fear and the pride that came with resisting injustice.
She attended the laboratory school at Alabama State College, an unusual opportunity for a Black girl in the 1920s. Later, she worked to complete her education, earning her high school diploma in 1933 at a time when only about 7% of Black Alabamians had finished high school.
During World War II, Parks worked at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery. On base, the buses were integrated, and she could ride alongside white co-workers. Off base, she had to return to segregated city buses. That painful contrast, she later said, “opened her eyes” to the unnatural cruelty of Jim Crow.
In 1932, she married Raymond Parks, a barber and early NAACP activist. With his encouragement, she returned to school and deepened her activism. Their small home became a place where politics and community strategy were regular topics at the kitchen table.
The personal cost—and new beginnings in Detroit
The boycott’s success came at a high cost for Parks and her family. In addition to the firings and constant threats, she and Raymond struggled to find work in Montgomery afterward. The city that had celebrated her as a symbol elsewhere often treated her as a troublemaker at home.
In 1957, the couple moved north to Detroit, Michigan, looking for safety and opportunity. Even there, they found neighborhoods divided by race and an economy that still treated Black families unfairly. Parks continued her work quietly—speaking, organizing, and supporting local struggles against school segregation, housing discrimination, and police brutality.
From 1965 to 1988, she worked as a staff assistant for U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr. Her desk in his Detroit office became a quiet but powerful bridge between local residents and the halls of Congress. Through this job, her influence reached into the federal government and helped shape responses to civil rights issues in the North as well as the South.
Building leaders: The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute
In 1987, Parks co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. The institute focuses on youth leadership, voter education, and teaching civil rights history. Its “Pathways to Freedom” programs take young people on bus tours through key civil rights sites, helping them see that history is not just something in a textbook—it is written by ordinary people who refuse to accept injustice.
By then, the nation had begun to give Rosa Parks the honors her work deserved. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. Textbooks called her the “mother of the modern Civil Rights Movement.” For many schoolchildren, her story became their first lesson in civil disobedience.
Inspiring new movements: from Montgomery to disability rights
Parks’ influence did not end with racial desegregation. Her example helped later generations see public transportation as a stage for justice.
In 1984, in Chicago, disability rights activists from the group ADAPT rolled their wheelchairs in front of city buses to protest the purchase of hundreds of new vehicles without wheelchair lifts. Like Parks, they were demanding the right simply to ride. Their actions helped build support for accessible transit and laid groundwork for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Their protest echoed Parks’ lesson: organized, nonviolent disruption can force a city—and a nation—to confront who is left behind.
Final honors and a living legacy
Rosa Parks died in Detroit on October 24, 2005, at the age of 92. In death, she received an honor no woman in U.S. history had ever received before: her body lay in honor in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Thousands lined up in silence to pay their respects.
Today, buses, schools, streets, and museums bear her name. But her deepest legacy lives in something smaller and harder to measure: the courage of ordinary people who refuse to “give in” when the rules are unjust.
Each year, walkers trace the short route from Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church to the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery. The distance is only a few city blocks. The meaning stretches across generations.
It is a reminder that one woman’s quiet “no,” backed by years of organizing and a city willing to stand with her, can bend the arc of history—and still speaks to struggles for justice today.
Utility shutoffs are surging nationwide as soaring energy costs, record debt, and collapsing financial stability push Americans into darkness—mirroring the lowest U.S. happiness levels ever recorded.
By Stacy M. Brown | Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent | November 29, 2025
America’s poorest families have long lived on the edge of darkness. Today, that edge is widening. Utility shutoffs are rising across the country as households buckle under soaring electric bills, mounting debt, and a level of financial despair that now mirrors what researchers describe as the lowest happiness rating ever recorded in the United States. The suffering is no longer hidden. It is the new face of life under the Trump administration.
“Electricity is becoming unaffordable in many parts of the country,” Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, stated. His assessment is borne out in the data. About 14 million Americans are behind on their utility bills, with overdue balances up 32 percent since 2022. National electricity prices have risen 11 percent this year, and some states have seen increases of up to 37 percent.
In cities like New York, residential shutoffs in August were five times higher than the previous year. In Pennsylvania, more than 270,000 households have already lost electricity as average bills climbed 13 percent. Each number represents a home gone cold. A refrigerator is no longer running. Children doing homework in the dark.
Michigan tells the same story. Nearly 942,000 households are behind on their Consumers Energy or DTE bills, including 339,000 who are more than 91 days delinquent. In September alone, utilities disconnected more than 40,000 customers. “The organizations that provide energy assistance are seeing a significant increase in applications,” said Anne Armstrong of the Michigan Public Service Commission.
Even families earning far above the poverty line are now seeking help. When keeping the power on competes with groceries and rent, the question becomes how to survive another month.
The latest data on national well-being echoes the hardship. A YouGov poll conducted for MarketWatch found that only about half of Americans feel any happiness from how they use or manage their money. Thirteen percent said they do not know what would bring them financial happiness at all, a signal of deep instability. The United States ranked at its lowest position ever recorded in Gallup’s World Happiness Report, a decline researchers linked to financial strain and weakening trust in institutions nationwide.
Some states are trying to respond. In Delaware, lawmakers advanced legislation to strengthen protections for residents at risk of losing heating or cooling. The bill would prevent winter shutoffs during freezing temperatures, block cooling
Shutoffs during extreme heat, require utilities to make direct attempts to reach customers before cutting service. “Residents need long-term security and clear, consistent protections,” said Rep. Melanie Ross Levin, a Democrat and the bill’s primary sponsor.
Her colleagues added that no family should face life-threatening conditions because of one overdue bill. “Any one of us can be affected by energy insecurity,” said Rep. Rae Moore, a Democrat. “An entire family’s health shouldn’t suffer because they couldn’t afford to pay a high energy bill in the middle of summer.”
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Uncle Nearest founders file an emergency motion to stop a possible asset sale, arguing the receiver is moving too far without letting them defend the debt itself.
By Milton Kirby | Chattanooga, TN | November 28, 2025
Control of a Billion-Dollar Brand Is Now at Stake
The future of Uncle Nearest, one of the most celebrated American whiskey brands of the last decade, now turns on a single question: who gets to decide what happens next — the founders or the federal receiver?
That tension moved into a new phase this month after founders Fawn and Keith Weaver filed an emergency motion asking a federal judge to let them defend themselves, assert counterclaims, and stop the receiver from making irreversible moves that could reshape the entire company.
At the same time, the receiver is quietly laying the groundwork for what could become one of the most watched spirits-industry sales in recent years. Those two paths now collide.
How the Receivership Started
The company entered receivership in August after Farm Credit Mid-America accused Uncle Nearest and related entities of defaulting on more than $108 million in loans.
U.S. District Judge Charles E. Atchley Jr. appointed Tennessee attorney Phillip G. Young Jr. as receiver, giving him control of the company’s operations, finances, and records — and placing a legal stay on all other litigation.
That stay meant the Weavers could not answer the lawsuit. They could not defend themselves. And they could not file counterclaims, even though they said the loan balances were based on data they dispute.
Receiver’s Expanding Role Raises New Tensions
In late October, the court entered an Agreed Order that required the receiver to file monthly reports and review financial records from affiliated Weaver entities.
Not long after that, the receiver began working with Arlington Capital Advisors, a national investment bank known for handling high-profile transactions in food and spirits.
According to filings and media reports, Arlington has already begun receiving inquiries from industry competitors looking for access to the company’s internal data.
For the founders, that signaled something deeper: a possible sale of “substantially all assets,” including the distillery, real estate, and intellectual property.
They argue that giving outside companies access to private information — during a global slump in the spirits market — could threaten the long-term value of the Uncle Nearest brand.
The Emergency Motion: A Bid to Regain a Voice
On November 24, the Weavers filed a detailed emergency motion that asks the judge to lift the litigation stay.
If granted, they would finally be allowed to:
Answer the complaint
Present defenses
File counterclaims
Challenge the validity or size of the Farm Credit debt
In the filing, they say there has been “no adjudication” of whether the loan amounts are correct or whether the debt should be reduced “in whole or in part.”
They also express alarm that the receiver is sharing “competitively sensitive” information with outside parties while exploring far-reaching strategic options.
Their message to the court is straightforward: “Do not let major decisions be made before we get a chance to defend ourselves.”
Receiver Pushes Back
On November 26, the receiver filed a response opposing the emergency motion. He argues that allowing open litigation now would:
Distract from the financial review
Harm negotiations with lenders
Complicate refinancing efforts
Disrupt any possible sale process
The receiver also says the stay is essential to stabilize the company and maintain control of the process.
In short, while the Weavers want to regain participation and slow the receiver’s momentum, the receiver believes that loosening the stay could undermine the very restructuring he is tasked with managing.
A December Deadline Looms
Judge Atchley has given Farm Credit and the receiver until December 2 to respond fully to the Weavers’ emergency motion.
After that, the court is expected to rule — either:
keeping the stay in place,
modifying it,
or allowing the Weavers to fully re-enter the litigation.
That decision will determine whether the next chapter of Uncle Nearest is shaped by its founders or by the receiver’s ongoing evaluation of refinancing and sale options.
What Happens Next
The stakes are unusually high.
Uncle Nearest reached a $1 billion valuation
just a year ago — a remarkable figure powered by its cultural resonance, aggressive marketing, and strong distribution footprint.
Now, with the spirits market cooling and lenders applying pressure, the company’s future could be decided not by brand strength but by a judge’s ruling on procedural rights.
If the stay is lifted, the Weavers regain a voice in the litigation and can challenge the debt, the numbers, and the narrative.
If it remains in place, the receiver’s next filings — including any move toward a full sale — will carry far greater weight.
Either way, December begins a new phase in a case that now mixes business, culture, valuation, and the fight for control of one of the most important Black-led spirits brands in the United States.
MARTA begins installing its new Better Breeze fare system across the region, bringing contactless payments, new Breeze cards, and upgraded faregates by spring 2026.
By Milton Kirby | Decatur, GA | November 26, 2025
MARTA riders will soon tap into a new era of transit travel. The agency has begun a major, systemwide installation of its updated fare collection system, called Better Breeze, with work continuing through spring 2026.
The upgrade will replace every Breeze card reader, faregate, ticket machine, validator, and mobile app, ensuring a more reliable and efficient payment experience for riders across metro Atlanta.
Phased Work, Station by Station
To keep stations open during the transition, MARTA is closing faregates in phases and posting clear signs inside the stations. Riders should expect detours but no service cuts.
The schedule moves across several stations from late November through early December:
West End Station – Nov. 24
Riders parking in the south lot at South faregates should follow the signs to reach the north entrance and allow extra time for their trip
.
North Springs Station – Nov. 25
West faregates near the bus loop closed. Riders should use east faregates on the opposite side of the station.
Photo by Milton Kirby – Crew Installing new faregates at Kensington Station
Kensington Station – Nov. 26
East and west faregates closed. Bus loop faregates remain open. Riders coming from the north lot should follow the signs to the bus loop. ADA riders should allow extra time.
Doraville Station – Dec. 1
South faregates are already closed. More closures begin Dec. 1. Riders must use emergency gates for entry. A valid fare is still needed to exit at the destination.
Photo by Milton Kirby – Indian Creek Entrance
Indian Creek Station – Dec. 3
East faregates at the bus loop closed. Riders must use west faregates.
Additional ongoing work continues at Dunwoody, East Point, Lindbergh Center, Ashby, and Georgia State stations. Some stations will use emergency gates during construction, and riders must have a fare to exit at their destination.
What Riders Need to Know
MARTA says customers should continue using the current Breeze card, old Breeze vending machines, and the existing mobile app. New faregates will be visible but not yet active until the final launch next spring.
The Better Breeze system will bring several major changes:
Photo by Milton Kirby – New Fare Collections Machines At Kensington
New Fare Equipment
New contactless faregates, validators, and touchscreen vending machines. The new gates are harder to tamper with, helping reduce fare evasion and improving station security.
New Ways to Pay
Open payment technology will let riders tap a bank card or mobile wallet directly on the faregate or bus farebox.
New App
The current Breeze Mobile 2.0 app will be retired. Riders will download a new Breeze app and create a virtual Breeze card in their account.
New Breeze Cards
All riders will move to account-based Breeze cards. Fare will be stored in the account rather than on the card, making replacement easier and reducing lost value.
Reduced Fare, Mobility, and Partner Agencies
Riders who use Reduced Fare or Mobility services can choose a new physical card or download the new app. They can contact MARTA by email or phone for help getting set up.
MARTA’s regional partners—including CobbLinc, Ride Gwinnett, and the ATL—will also shift to the new Better Breeze system. Transit customers will receive updates from their local providers in the coming months.
MARTA encourages riders to watch for signs inside stations, listen to announcements, and check online updates as the transition progresses, with detailed guidance on switching to new cards and apps coming closer to the April 2026 deadline.
For more information and to sign up for updates, visit MARTA
Thanksgiving blends history, food, travel, turkey pardons, football, and family traditions. The holiday’s origins, cultural shifts, and modern travel and shopping trends continue to shape its national meaning.
By Milton Kirby | Atlanta, GA | November 25, 2025
The Origins: A Feast of Survival and Alliance
Thanksgiving began long before football games, parades, or busy airports. The moment most Americans learn about—the 1621 harvest feast in Plymouth Colony—was a gathering shaped by hardship. The Pilgrims arrived in December 1620. Their first winter was cold, brutal and deadly. Only about half survived.
The Wampanoag people, led by Massasoit, chose to help the newcomers. They showed them how to plant corn, grow crops, and fish in local waters. When the Pilgrims held a harvest celebration that fall, roughly 90 Wampanoag arrived—likely after hearing gunfire and thinking the colony was under attack. Instead, they joined the feast.
For three days the groups shared food like venison, fowl, fish, stews, squash, and corn. They raced, fired muskets, and tried to communicate across two very different cultures. The uneasy peace held for decades, until the violent years of King Philip’s War.
Though not the first thanksgiving in North America—Spanish settlers in Florida held one in 1565, and Jamestown colonists in 1610—Plymouth became the story Americans chose to remember.
From Regional Tradition to National Holiday
Thanksgiving stayed mostly local for two centuries. That changed in the 1800s when writer Sarah Josepha Hale championed the holiday in her 1827 novel Northwood, describing a classic New England meal centered on roast turkey. Her influence helped popularize the menu we know today.
During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving in 1863, hoping to unite a divided nation. In 1941, Congress fixed Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November.
The Fowl History: How Turkeys Took Center Stage
Turkeys were not the star of the 1621 feast, but they became the centerpiece of the modern table because they were large, plentiful, and could feed a family. By the late 1800s, gifting turkeys to the White House became a tradition.
In 1947, farmers sent live hens to protest a government effort to discourage poultry consumption. A peace offering followed: the National Turkey Federation brought President Harry Truman a turkey. Over time, the presentation morphed into myth. Some claimed Truman “pardoned” the bird. Others pointed to an earlier story about Lincoln sparing a Christmas turkey at the request of his son Tad. But no official pardons existed until 1989, when President George H.W. Bush formally granted a turkey clemency—launching a ritual that now draws national attention every year.
Modern Traditions: Food, Travel, Football, and the Shopping Frenzy
Today’s Thanksgiving is a blend of old customs and new habits. What began as a harvest celebration is now a major cultural event shaped by food, travel, entertainment, and commerce.
The Feast
Most households serve roast turkey with dressing or stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. Many families add regional favorites—macaroni and cheese in the South, tamales in Latino households, or seafood in coastal communities. Some swap the turkey entirely for beef tenderloin, ham, or vegetarian dishes.
The holiday has also become a place where cultural humor shows up. Comedian Rickey Smiley often jokes about the difference between simple Thanksgiving menus and the long, elaborate spreads that show up in many Black households. On his nationally syndicated radio show, he playfully contrasts a straightforward plate of turkey, honey-baked ham, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce with the “two-minute roll call” he remembers from his own family gatherings. He jokes that the list could include roasted turkey, two kinds of fried turkey, macaroni with white cheese, macaroni with yellow cheese, multiple greens, dressing, sweet potatoes, and desserts “too many to name.” His humor captures a real truth: every family’s Thanksgiving table reflects their culture, their region, and their own way of celebrating.
Friendsgiving gatherings have grown in popularity, offering a relaxed, potluck-style meal with a chosen family.
The Morning Rituals
Turkey Trots—charity 5Ks and community fun runs—have become a fast-growing tradition. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade remains a national favorite, with huge balloons and marching bands marking the official start of the holiday.
Gratitude and Service
Many families hold a gratitude circle, sharing something they are thankful for. Volunteers prepare meals at shelters and food banks, keeping alive the holiday’s spirit of giving.
The National Spectacle: Football and Parades
NFL games dominate the afternoon. The combination of food, family, and football is now as traditional as the turkey itself.
The Consumer Shift: Thanksgiving and Black Friday
Thanksgiving also marks the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. Black Friday has crept earlier and earlier, with many retailers opening on Thursday evening. What was once a day of rest and reflection is now tied tightly to doorbuster sales and early holiday deals.
Travel: The Busiest Week of the Year
Thanksgiving remains the country’s biggest travel holiday. TSA expects nearly 18 million passengers during the week, and U.S. airlines plan to carry a record 31 million travelers from Nov. 21 through Dec. 1. The FAA says this will be the busiest Thanksgiving period in 15 years.
The Sunday after Thanksgiving is expected to break screening records, with more than 3 million people moving through airports in a single day.
But most people travel by car. AAA predicts about 81.8 million Americans will drive 50 miles or more—another all-time record.
Working on Thanksgiving: The Rules Depend on the State
For many workers, Thanksgiving is not guaranteed. In Wisconsin, for example, state law does not require private employers to give the day off, nor do they have to offer holiday pay. Only federal, state, and municipal workers are automatically guaranteed the day. A few New England states still restrict businesses from opening, based on laws more than 300 years old.
A Holiday With Many Meanings
Thanksgiving is celebrated in different ways across the country—some joyful, some reflective. Since 1970, many Native Americans have gathered in Plymouth for the National Day of Mourning to remember their ancestors and challenge the historical narrative that overlooks centuries of trauma and displacement.
For immigrant families, Thanksgiving is often a chance to blend cultures—mixing traditional dishes with foods that reflect their heritage.
Whether seen as a celebration, a commemoration, or a day of service, Thanksgiving continues to evolve while remaining one of America’s most meaningful and complicated holidays.
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The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo closed its 41st season with packed arenas, rising music stars, bold fashion moments, and championship performances celebrating Black cowboy and cowgirl heritage nationwide.
By Milton Kirby | Denver, CO | November 25, 2025
The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo ended its 41st season the same way it started—with packed crowds, big moments, and a whole lot of love for the culture that keeps this tradition alive.
Photo by Milton Kirby -BPIR – Upper Marlboro, MD
BPIR President and CEO Valeria Howard-Cunningham expressed deep gratitude, highlighting how the event celebrates the history, family bonds, and the resilience of Black cowboys and cowgirls who keep this culture alive.
The 2025 tour stretched from Denver to Memphis, moved west through Oakland and Los Angeles, circled back to Atlanta, and touched down four times in historic Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth. The year closed in the DC/Upper Marlboro area, where the National Championship Finals brought out longtime supporters and new fans who wanted to witness the sport’s brightest stars.
A New Era in Country Music
A cultural shift is happening inside BPIR. The Soul Country Music Star partnership is giving Black country artists a stage they have long been denied. The Soul Country Rodeo Weekend brought immense talent and explosive energy, and the season ended in Burbank with the first-ever Soul Country Music Star Festival. When the dust settled, Atlanta’s Nathaniel Dansby walked away with the 2025 title.
Rodeo Meets Runway
Houston also saw something new when BPIR teamed up with SP5DER for the Sweet Tooth Rodeo. It was a mix of bucking bulls and bold fashion, and the arena looked more like a runway than a dirt floor. Fans are still talking about it.
Photo by Milton Kirby – BPIR – Upper Marlboro, MD
The Champions Who Left Nothing Behind
The athletes are the heartbeat of BPIR. Riders young and old brought fire to every arena this season. Championship titles went to:
Lamarr Hankins in Ranch Bronc.
Haley Mason in Ladies Breakaway.
Harrel Williams Jr in Junior Breakaway.
Tony Aska in Bull Dogging.
Devon Johnson and Montrel Gilder in Team Roping.
Travoris Zeno in Bull Riding.
And a rising generation—Kinley Adair, Rylen Wilburd, Paris Wilburd—claimed their own victories.
Montrel Gilder earned All Around Cowboy. Paris Wilburd took All Around Cowgirl. The future looks strong.
Photo by Milton Kirby – BPIR – Upper Marlboro, MD
Looking ahead
BPIR’s 42nd season is already shaping up with rodeos scheduled across the country, including dates in Fort Worth, Memphis, Atlanta, and Upper Marlboro, to keep the momentum going into 2026.BPIR’s 42nd season is already taking shape, and the movement rolls on with rodeos planned nationwide:
February 14 Fort Worth, TX (1:30 PM & 7:30 PM)
April 10 Memphis, TN (10:00 AM Rodeo for Kidz Sake)
April 11 Memphis, TN (1:30 PM & 7:30 PM)
April 17 Atlanta/Conyers, GA (Rodeo for Kidz Sake, Time TBD)
April 18 Atlanta/Conyers, GA (12:00 Noon & 7:30 PM)
May 16 Fort Worth, TX (1:30 PM & 7:30 PM)
June 20 Fort Worth, TX (1:30 PM & 7:30 PM)
July 11 Oakland, CA (2:30 PM)
July 12 Oakland, CA (2:30 PM)
July 18 Los Angeles, CA (7:00 PM)
July 19 Los Angeles, CA (3:30 PM)
August 1 Conyers, GA (7:30 PM)
August 2 Conyers, GA (3:30 PM)
August 15 Fort Worth, TX (1:30 PM & 7:30 PM)
September 18 Upper Marlboro, MD (10:00 AM & 7:30 PM)
September 19 Upper Marlboro, MD (1:30 PM & 7:30 PM)
October 17 Fort Worth, TX (1:30 PM & 7:30 PM)
Howard-Cunningham closed the season with a message of love and appreciation, emphasizing BPIR’s role in building unity and shared purpose, inspiring ongoing support for the movement into 2026.
Dear Shadow Ball: I have a feeling that I am going to learn some things. Is third baseman Judy Johnson (a 1975 Hall of Fame inductee) a male or female? David Nivens, parts unknown … I should note that Mr. Nivens has supplied two questions thus far and I very much appreciate both … this column exists for only one purpose and that is to answer your questions on Negro League baseball history. To that end, I need your help … if you are reading this column and enjoy it and want it to continue and you don’t already know everything about Negro League history … then please submit a question on any aspect of Negro League history.
– players, teams, events, and more – Your questions are the lifeblood of Shadow Ball—they shape where we go next. Your participation is important and appreciated. Submit your questions to shadowball@truthseekersjournal.com.
Dear David: I have a feeling that I am going to learn some things also. Judy Johnson, like Dolly King, Connie Johnson, Bunny Downs, Bonnie Serrell, Beverly Boanes and Judy Gans, was very much a man. All these fellows were Negro League baseball players. William Julius Johnson was nicknamed “Judy” due to a resemblance to another player with that nickname – “Judy.” Why that player, Robert Edward Gans, was called “Judy” is a question for another day when I figure it out.
Last week’s Shadow Ball Significa question What was the name of Atlanta’s most prolific franchise (in terms of years in the league) in the Negro Leagues? Since this question has stood unanswered for a month, I am going to provide the answer – the Atlanta Black Crackers.
The Atlanta Black Crackers were founded in 1919 as the Atlanta Cubs and lasted, active most years, until their demise in 1943. They were members of the Negro Southern League, later the Negro American League and played as an independent. They never won a pennant.
The Shadow Ball Significa Question of the Week: What Georgia native was the first African American to hit a home run in Yankee Stadium?
Ted Knorr
Ted Knorr is a Negro League baseball historian, longtime member of the Society for American Baseball Research’s Negro League Committee, and founder of the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference and several local Negro League Commemorative Nights in central Pennsylvania. You can send questions for Knorr on Negro League topics as well as your answers to the week’s Significa question to shadowball@truthseekersjournal.com or Shadow Ball, 3904 N Druid Hills Rd, Ste 179, Decatur, GA 30033
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