The Atlanta Falcons revealed their Friday injury report before Monday night’s road game against the Philadelphia Eagles, and it includes a new name.

During Friday’s practice, Atlanta was without starting linebacker Nate Landman, while backup nickel cornerback Antonio Hamilton Sr. and starting right tackle Kaleb McGary were limited. Those three were also on Thursday’s injury report.

Sixth-round rookie running back Jase McClellan, however, was not. McClellan, who was inactive in the season-opening 18-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, has a knee injury and was limited Friday. He has not been on any previous injury report since reporting for the start of training camp.

Landman has battled a lingering quad injury for several weeks, and the team added a calf ailment to his designation Friday. Hamilton and McGary are contending with groin injuries. Hamilton missed the loss to the Steelers with his injury, while McGary was a new addition to the injury report this week.

In practice Thursday, McGary was limited while Landman and Hamilton were both out.

An undrafted free agent in 2022, Landman played in 16 games with 14 starts last season, logging 110 tackles, seven tackles for loss and a pair of sacks. He drew the start against the Steelers and saw 37 snaps alongside Kaden Elliss in the middle of Atlanta’s defense.

If Landman is inactive Monday, Troy Andersen, who played the other 31 defensive snaps while Landman was off the field against Pittsburgh, figures to see a bulk of the workload next to Elliss.

McGary had a difficult time in the Falcons’ loss to Pittsburgh. He allowed two pressures, one sack and a quarterback hit, according to Pro Football Focus, which graded his pass blocking at 38.1. The 2019 first-round pick often faced star Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt, one of the league’s best pass rushers.

Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson said Thursday afternoon Atlanta planned on helping McGary in the matchup by sending chip blocks his way, but the team failed to execute.

Hamilton, who signed with the Falcons this spring and had an impressive preseason, started nine games for the Arizona Cardinals a season ago. He spent this summer as the No. 2 nickel behind Dee Alford.

Atlanta returns to the practice field Saturday in Flowery Branch before heading to the northeast for a Week 2 primetime matchup. The Falcons and Eagles will kick off at 8:15 p.m. Monday inside Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Uber riders in Austin and Atlanta will be able to hail a Waymo robotaxi through the app in early 2025 as part of an expanded partnership between the two companies. 

Waymo’s autonomous vehicles have been available on the Uber app in Phoenix since October 2023. This expansion comes at a time when Uber has been snatching up self-driving partnerships across its ride-hail and delivery verticals. Last month, Uber announced  partnerships with GM’s Cruise and the U.K.’s Wayve. 

Waymo runs its own commercial autonomous ride-hailing service, Waymo One, in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, providing around 100,000 trips per week, according to the company. The Alphabet-owned AV company began testing robotaxis in Atlanta and shuttling its own employees in Austin earlier this year; these are usually the first steps Waymo takes before it begins offering the Waymo One service in new markets. However, with this partnership, Waymo’s fleet of Jaguar I-Paces will only be hailable via Uber in Austin and Atlanta. 

Waymo did note that in the weeks to come, a limited number of early riders will be able to access rides in Austin and Atlanta via the Waymo One app. 

Waymo did not share how many vehicles it would dispatch in Austin and Atlanta, but said the fleet would “grow to hundreds of vehicles over time.” Uber will handle the fleet management services, like cleaning and repairing the cars, while Waymo will continue to be responsible for testing and operations of the Waymo Driver, including roadside assistance and other rider support functions. 

The company said it would continue to own and operate Waymo One services in its existing markets, but it’s possible Waymo’s long-term plan involves extending such partnerships so it can focus on offering the technology-as-a-service, instead of putting resources into operations, which adds significantly to overhead costs. 

Waymo did not respond in time to TechCrunch to clarify its partnership strategy in the future.

The expansion comes as Waymo continues to be under federal investigation after regulators in May received 22 reports of its robotaxis crashing or potentially violating traffic safety laws by driving in the wrong lane or into construction zones.

ATLANTA – A new report by the March of Dimes shows more than 40% of Georgia’s counties are maternal care deserts, which means there’s not a single birth center in that county.  

Dr. Padmashree “Champa” Woodham is a maternal fetal medicine specialist in Augusta.   

She says there are very few experts, such as her south of Atlanta.   

“I have patients that are traveling three or four hours to see me,” Dr. Woodham said.  

She says it shows just how lacking Georgia is in maternal specialists and care.  

“But a maternal fetal medicine specialist like myself…south of Atlanta, for example, there are no more than maybe 10 to 15 Maternal Fetal Medicine providers in the rest of the state. So, the fact that all of the women outside Atlanta only have access to those few providers is really terrifying,” Dr. Woodham said.  

The March of Dimes just published their most recent maternal care deserts report, which seems to confirm what Dr. Woodham is saying.  

They publish the report every two years.  

“To define a maternity care desert, that means there are no obstetric providers and no obstetric hospitals or birth centers in a particular county,” said Tamara Currin, Director of State Government Affairs with the March of Dimes. 

She says pregnant women living in those deserts are having to drive much further for care, which sometimes delays when they start receiving it.    

“The trend has gotten worse. We see that from our 2022 report to our 2024 report. There’s been about 2% more hospital closures,” Currin said.  

In the report’s map, all the counties in pink are considered maternal care deserts, while the ones in orange are considered to have low access to maternal care.  

The report finds that 70% of birthing centers in the U.S. are concentrated in just ten states.  

“And that’s staggering. And we are not in one of them. Georgia is not one of those,” Dr. Woodham said.  

This situation, according to Dr. Woodham, puts more pregnant women at risk. 

“If we don’t stay ahead of this, we’re going to see the preterm birth rate increase more,” she said. 

Dr. Woodham says another big part of the problem is the state just doesn’t have enough maternal care providers.  

This is why she advocated for state funding of a new maternal-fetal medicine fellowship program to train more providers to work in the state.  

She says it’s a good example of the state taking action to address the problem, but she says the state needs many more programs like it.  

FOX 5 reached out to state health departments that represent some of the maternal care deserts closer to Atlanta to see how they’re addressing the problem, such as the Northwest Georgia Health district which represents Paulding, Polk and Haralson counties, but haven’t heard back from yet.  

The Northeast Health District, which represents Barrow and Walton Counties, say they couldn’t provide any information on addressing maternal care deserts in time for our deadlines on Thursday evening.  

The District 4 Health District, which represents Butts, Lamar and Pike Counties sent this statement: 

“The Georgia Department of Public Health’s Perinatal Health Partnership program is expanding its reach of home visiting services it offers to expectant mothers from pregnancy until the full first year of their baby’s life. The home-visit program was first introduced in the Gainesville and Waycross areas, and the program is expected to be rolled out in counties in District 4 Public Health’s area next month. 

“The Perinatal Health program focuses on assisting pregnant women with high-risk conditions or risk factors that increase the likelihood of poor pregnancy outcomes. Although enrollment can occur after delivery, early intervention is preferred. Perinatal Health Partnership services include additional monitoring to detect potential warning signs, complications, and problems between provider appointments. Early detection increases the likelihood of prompt intervention and referral to healthcare providers for further assessment and treatment.”