Atlanta, GA
Atlanta City Council passes blighted properties tax targeting vacant buildings
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – On Monday, the Atlanta City Council approved a tax increase for property owners of neglected or blighted buildings.
“It’s very important. It gives us a tool we can actually use to get rid of some of these properties that have been sitting in our communities for decades,” said Byron Amos, the Atlanta City councilman who sponsored the bill.
Amos said the initiative targets uninhabited properties within Atlanta neighborhoods.
“We’re not targeting the grandmother or the person that’s fallen on hard times. The property must be uninhabited,” said Amos.
Amos said those on the blighted property list could see their property tax rate increase by 25 times at the discretion of a Fulton County judge.
He said those tax increases would go into effect the following calendar year, starting in January 2025.
“If you get into this situation, and you actually bring it back to the tax row, you can apply for a lower tax for a certain number of years. So you’re actually saving money in the long run because you’re bringing property back up to code,” said Amos.
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ATHENS, Ga. (July 4, 2026) – Atlanta United 2 earned a 1-0 win against Toronto FC II on Saturday at Turner Soccer Complex in Athens. Daniel Chica scored the only goal of the match as Atlanta maintained its fourth clean sheet of the season.
The first big chance of the match came from Atlanta in the 23rd minute. Cameron Dunbar, running across the top of the 18-yard box, picked out Arif Kovac in space to his left. Kovac, taking a touch to draw defenders to him, waited briefly before slipping Dominik Chong Qui in behind the defense on the left side of the box. Chong Qui nearly scored with a first-time shot on his left foot, but a deflection from a Toronto defender took the ball just inches wide of the far post.
In the 34th minute, Atlanta grabbed the opening goal. Chong Qui, taking a throw in from the right side, launched the ball into the Toronto box and found the head of Matthew Senanou. With a glancing flick off his head, Senanou guided the ball centrally, where Chica reacted before his markers to jump up and connect with a header, looping the ball into the bottom-right corner of the net.
Atlanta nearly added a second just before the half. In the 40th minute, Dunbar pounced on a Toronto turnover in the Atlanta half and broke through the defense. Carrying the ball down the Toronto half and into the box by himself, Dunbar wrapped a left-footed shot toward goal, but goalkeeper Adisa De Rosario was able to get down quickly and block the shot. Despite the save, the rebound spilled only as far as Kovac, who dropped a defender and De Rosario with a fake shot, but his ensuing effort was deflected out of play by center back Stefan Kapor.
It was a quiet second half, with Atlanta content to pass the ball around and maintain possession as it attempted to see out its lead. However, Toronto nearly equalized in the 78th minute. Striker Jahmarie Nolan, picking the ball up on the left side of the box, lofted a cross to the back post of the Atlanta goal toward fellow striker Dekwon Barrow. Rising up just inches from goal, Barrow connected with a header, but Jonathan Ransom quickly reacted to palm the effort off the goal line with his right hand. The chance was still alive as Kapor attempted to tap in the rebound, but Ransom, who was on the ground, extended his body to come away with a double save, sealing the three points.
Atlanta United 2 (8-5-3, 27 points) returns to action Saturday, July 11, when it takes on Inter Miami CF II at Turner Soccer Complex (7 p.m. ET, MLSNEXTPro.com, OneFootball App, Soccer Down Here).
The Braves are exiting a June that was absolutely miserable, but they finally hit a handful of homers on Friday night, hosting the Mets. They’ve got another favorable matchup here, with Chris Sale on the mound and facing the imminently hittable Sean Manaea for New York. We’ve got a national TV matchup on the 250th anniversary of this great country’s founding. The Braves have lived up to expectations, despite their horrid June, but FOX will be a bit disappointed in the Mets, relative to what they expected before the season when this matchup was scheduled.
Chris Sale has been brilliant of late, and really all year, but the struggles of Atlanta’s offense have prevented the team from capitalizing on that in the form of wins since May. One would think that this would be a game that the Braves could put some runs up against Manaea at home, perhaps building on the power they showed Friday, but this is the type of game they have frequently been losing lately. Sale may figure out a way to score a run off the pitching mound out of pure fury if he doesn’t get any run support today.
Manaea has been ever so slightly above average in most things other than ERA this year, getting the opener treatment frequently and starting only 4 games. His elite extension props up a pretty uninspiring arsenal of primarily a four-seamer, sinker, and sweeper, with a cutter and changeup sprinkled in. His four-seamer and sinker have a lot of arm-side run, while the rest of his pitches have quite average movement with well-below-average velocity. He’s perhaps been getting some HR/FB rate luck this season, so hopefully he gets some regression in favor of Atlanta’s bats.
Game Date/Time: Saturday, July 4, 8:08 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
Can you believe it? After what has been the most successful lottery and draft in Utah Jazz history, Jazz fans will get to watch prized prospect Darryn Peterson take the floor for the first time.
Peterson was the talk of draft night, with questions about whether he would actually be the #1 pick. After a month of speculation, the Washington Wizards ultimately went with AJ Dybantsa. Utah came away with the player they wanted all along, and now we get to see just how good Peterson is going to be. Yes, you have to take the summer league with a grain of salt. If a player plays great, you can’t take too much from it. If a player plays badly, it’s time to be concerned. But would argue it’s time to ignore that because it’s hard to exaggerate how good Peterson can be, and it’s just as hard to see him not playing well in his first summer league. This is a new era of Jazz basketball, and this first summer league with Peterson is a prologue to what should be the most successful chapter in Jazz basketball history.
The best part of all of this is I hardly feel any pressure or anxiety, I’m just excited to watch this new prospect be unleashed. There have been prospects in Jazz history whose futures you didn’t quite know. With Peterson, the question is just how good he’s going to be. Tomorrow we find out, and I personally can’t wait.
How to watch the Salt Lake City Summer League?
Who: Utah Jazz vs Atlanta Hawks
When: Saturday, July 4, 2026 | 3:00 MT
Where: Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, UT
How to watch: Prime Video, ESPNU, League Pass, KJZZ, Jazz+
This goes without saying. The most important thing in this game is to see how healthy Peterson looks. Does he have his burst back? How does the playmaking work? How well does he score the ball? Basically, all eyes will be on Darryn Peterson and how he looks in his debut. From the moment the Jazz run onto the floor and warm up to the time the game starts, you can bet that his every move will be the prime attraction.
Just like last season, Bailey will be another player to watch in this summer league. He showed fantastic signs this season, and this summer league is an opportunity to show his improvement. Bailey scored and rebounded last summer league without a single play run for him. Now that he understands the offense much better, he should have a nice game.
The other interesting element will be how he plays with Peterson. What does the chemistry look like? They’ve only been together for a short amount of time, but we’ll see if they are playing well together starting in Game 1.
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