The Brief for Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Marlon Hyde, WABE News. Oakwood residents and city officials are still awaiting federal notice that an immigration warehouse conversion plan has been canceled. WABE's Emily Wu-Person explains this comes as one in social circle was officially called off. City manager B.R. White told W.A.B.E., immigration and customs enforcement has had security cameras installed at the warehouse in the city just south of Gainesville. The New York Times reported the Oakwood facility was called off, but ICE has not responded to WABE questions on the development. White says he's tried several avenues to reach federal offices for information, but he hasn't heard any update either. In social circle, about an hour east of Atlanta, city officials were told by their congressional representative that the plan was called off. Butteo Panato is a resident of the area who's been organizing against the conversion. Why is there no follow-up? Why is there like no urgency? Panato says residents want public commitment from the federal government that the warehouse development is off. Emily Wu Pearson, W.A.E. News. The Atlanta Hawks are moving on from former number one overall pick, Zachary Rishersh. As W.A.B.'s Alex Helmick reports, the team traded him to Dallas. The move ends Rishishay short and underwhelming time, at least for a number one overall pick, with the Hawks. The pick came at an unlucky time for the team and perhaps Rishishishay, too. The year before, San Antonio drafted Victor Wimbunyama. The year after, Dallas selected Cooper Flag. Both highly touted before the draft. Both are looking like generational talents. With the three-team trade that includes Oklahoma City, the Hawks acquired two high-quality role players, Lou Doord, a defensive wing, and Andrew Nebhardt, a versatile guard. After some big moves last season, including trading star Trey Young, the Hawks went on a winning streak and made the playoffs for the first time since the 22-23 season. Alex Helmake WAB News. Atlanta Storytellers is the creation of musician Josh Cuthbertson, who found his way to the project through Atlanta's moth storytelling scene. My daughter and I started going to the moth together in Atlanta. I just loved the storytelling community, but music is my thing. And I had the idea of what if we could do a moth-style show but have live music via a component of that show? I've approached Eddie's attic and said, hey, here's the concept. Would you be interested in letting us try our show at Eddie's? One of the biggest surprises for me was how supportive Eddie's attic was from the jump. They loved it and said, hey, let's make this happen. That idea became the songs that shape us, a quarterly show pairing live storytelling with live music. If you talk to anyone and a song comes on the radio that they've heard before, it immediately elicits memories. Every storyteller I talked to when I said, okay, do you have a memory from your life that's intimately connected with a song? Every single person said,

I have more than one. At the upcoming, the songs that shape us anniversary show, Cuthbertson says audience will hear a mix of new voices and familiar ones. One of the storytellers told a story about just kind of his own journey with love and relationships. And he was at a point where he had just met someone a year ago. Well, here we are a year later. They're now married. And then another one, he's won Grand Slam's with the Moth. And he's going to tell kind of a... a reimagination of that first story from the first night. So we're going to have a good mix of returners who are going to tell similar stories from the first night, but with a twist. And then we're going to have new storytellers and tellers who have been with us, but are going to reflect on just what this year's been and, you know, what storytelling has meant to them. The house band for the songs that shape us is Tabernacle Collective. And the collaboration happened almost by accident. I follow one of their guitar players on social media. And so when this idea came about, I just took a chance and sent him a personal message on Instagram. One of the cool things has been to hear these musicians talk about our show in particular. It's such a different experience for them because they're used to going and playing in bars and gigs where they're going to sit down and literally for an hour and a half to two hours. They're going to just play music nonstop. Whereas at our show, they get to. to have an experience as a human just being there listening to stories. And then when it's their turn to play, they get to play from the emotion of hearing that story just being told. The band has all said that doing our show has been one of the highlights for them of the year. So which is just a tumbling, you know, for me and just really exciting, encouraging for me to hear. And as for what comes after year one? I love what we've got. It's a very intimate setting. And I love the relationship with Eddie's and with the band. But then if I'm honest, there's part of me that dreams about, okay, how could this be something much larger? What would it look like if this were to grow and to become something larger? And so for me, it's being faithful to just continue to do what we're doing. continue to tell people about what we're doing and let them experience it for themselves. And then trust that, you know, if it's meant to be something bigger, then the right person will hear it or see it and, you know, those doors will open. Atlanta Storytellers, the songs that shape us when your anniversary show, begins 6 p.m. July 22nd. Get your tickets at atlanta storytellers.org.

That's W-A-B-E Arts for today. I'm Sherry Day-Scott. Catch us Tuesdays and Thursdays on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. And visit wabE.org slash arts for more stories, amplifying Atlanta's cultural scene. That does it for the brief. More local news is always available online at WABE.org. Christopher Alston is our producer, Melissa Fato, is our editor. I'm Jim Burris, Amplifying Atlanta. This is W-A-B-E. Hi, this is Bill Nygut. We've just dropped a special podcast bonus episode of In These Times, a conversation with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who responds to President Trump's ongoing efforts to falsely claim the 2020 Georgia election was rigged. Rappensberger explains how Georgia elections are really run. You can find our special edition wherever you get your podcasts.

The fatal shooting of a teenager at a protest in Seattle has gone unsolved for six years. This is open in your face. How are there no answers? Our investigation has uncovered new evidence and witnesses who say they've never talked to police. Did police ever call you? Not once. Listen to We Keep Us Safe, a new true crime series on the Embedded podcast from NPR.