Marietta Daily Journal
Sweet rides, good cause
ACWORTH — The parking lot outside of Holbrook Life Communities, a senior living community, was transformed into a display of classic cars over the weekend. The car show was organized by Holbrook staff working with Car Community Connection, a classic...
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Critter couture
MABLETON — Pets and their families from across Cobb County turned out in style Saturday for Cobb County Animal Services’ Woofs and Whiskers fashion show. The fashion show, which was held at Mable House Arts Center, invited people and their furry...
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Data debate
A pair of experts said residents should be concerned the Marietta City Council is considering approving a data center near a residential area. The comments came during a Thursday evening town hall at the Cobb County Civic Center on data centers hosted...
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Excellent educators
It was an emotional and exciting morning for three schools as the Cobb School District named its 2026 elementary, middle and high school-level Teachers of the Year. Cobb Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale and several members of the Cobb Board of...
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Welcoming vibes
SMYRNA — Riverline Coffee, the Jonquil City’s newest coffee shop, is for “the craft obsessed and the curious.” Inside the shop, shelves full of books on various topics, games, coloring books and pencils cover one wall. On the other side of the shop, a...
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Wrapped in tradition
MARIETTA — Rolls of toilet paper dangled from trees, trash cans and bushes across Marietta High School while the school’s entrance was blanketed by the stuff Monday evening. Members of the Marietta High School Class of 2027 arrived the night before...
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Class is in session
ACWORTH — Cobb Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale visited students and teachers and spoke with media Monday during a firstday-of-school event at Pickett’s Mill Elementary School. As around 105,000 students headed back to school across the district,...
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A lot of colors
MARIETTA — The Marietta High School parking lot turned into an art studio for the senior class with parking spaces as their canvases. In an annual tradition, the Class of 2027 kicked off the last weekend of summer vacation by painting their reserved...
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Laying the foundation
For inaugural city manager William “Bill” Tanks, managing Cobb County’s youngest city takes dedication, focus and a commitment to serving others. Tanks began his role as city manager in April 2024, one year after the city incorporated in May...
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Practice makes perfect
NORTHEAST COBB — With the first day of school on Monday, the Cobb County School District’s youngest students got their first look at their school buses and classrooms Thursday morning. Dozens of students at Mountain View Elementary School boarded the...
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‘Be somebody’
MARIETTA — As students prepare to return to school next week, Marietta City Schools hosted its annual staff kickoff celebration to welcome teachers and faculty back to class. Superintendent Grant Rivera led the kickoff at the Marietta Performing Arts...
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Dogs on duty
MABLETON — With the 2026-27 school year approaching next week, the Cobb School District is preparing to introduce an additional eight Vapor Wake K-9s to its weapons detection fleet. In total, 16 different K-9s — trained to detect explosives and...
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Grand re-opening
EAST COBB — The Kroger at Shallowford Falls celebrated its grand reopening with a ribbon-cutting and giveaways for customers. The $1.1 million renovation includes a new floral department, the addition of a Murray’s Cheese Shop, and updated dairy,...
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That time of year
MARIETTA — Thousands of families turned out to Jim R. Miller Park on Saturday for the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office’s fifth annual Back-toSchool Bash. The event is meant to help prepare students and families for the new school year by distributing...
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‘Family fun event’
MARIETTA — Over 400 volunteers, community members and candidates packed the Jim Miller Park event center as Cobb Sheriff Craig Owens hosted the 35th annual Low Country Shrimp Boilin’ celebrating community and law enforcement Thursday evening. Owens...
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Source of joy
MARIETTA — Although he was born with a rare heart condition, 4-year-old Jace Connor of west Cobb does not let that stop him from playing like any other kid. Some of his favorite activities have included swimming in the summertime, playing with his...
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Cobb welcomes Trump
With the local economy top of mind for many voters heading into the November midterm elections, President Donald Trump visited Wheeler High School Wednesday to promote the new Trump Accounts investment program, touting his administration’s economic...
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50 years behind the badge
ACWORTH — Acworth Police Chief Mark Cheatham said a 50-year public service career in law enforcement is rare, which is why friends, family, colleagues and officials surprised one of the Lake City’s finest with a celebration this week. Officer Mike...
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2,997 flags
MARIETTA — A few dozen volunteers gathered Saturday morning off Roswell Street to assemble flags in preparation for the Kiwanis Club of Marietta’s Field of Flags project. The Field of Flags project brings together club members and volunteers on the...
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In remembrance
MARIETTA — A few dozen volunteers gathered Saturday morning off Roswell Street to assemble flags in preparation for the Kiwanis Club of Marietta’s Field of Flags project. The Field of Flags project brings together club members and volunteers on the...
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Pain at the pump
Gas prices are on the rise again across the U.S., including Cobb County, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). In Georgia, the average price for regular unleaded gas was $3.76 on Friday, compared to $3.65 per gallon on Wednesday and...
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A new path
— Just over a year after construction began, the Cobb School District celebrated the grand opening of its second career academy at Allatoona High School Thursday. The $25 million Cobb Innovation and Technology Academy at Allatoona High School is...
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Green investments
This week, the Kennesaw City Council asked city staff to look into potential ways to improve two parks near Dobbs Drive and Pine Mountain Road. The move follows weeks of residents expressing concern at the parks’ seeming lack of maintenance or...
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Growing pains
MABLETON — The City Council voted Monday night to approve a new tax to fund police services. In a 6-1 vote, Mableton’s council approved the new 4.5 mill rate to fund the city’s new Public Safety Special Services Tax District. Councilwoman Debora...
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Sacred tradition
MARIETTA — Around two dozen soon-to-be ordained ministers — along with family, friends and worshippers — gathered at the Switzer Library Saturday morning for a laying of the hands ceremony. The laying of the hands is a sacred tradition observed in a...
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‘Unbroken chain’
MARIETTA — Around two dozen soon-to-be ordained ministers — along with family, friends and worshippers — gathered at the Switzer Library in downtown Marietta on Saturday morning for a laying of the hands ceremony. The laying of the hands is a sacred...
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Data center tabled
MARIETTA — By unanimous vote Wednesday, the Marietta City Council tabled a request for a data center near Delk Road, and adopted a temporary moratorium on data centers in the city. The data center request, by Storage Powers Ferry Place LLC, seeks to...
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Rising high
CUMBERLAND — Members of the Cumberland Area Council were given a behind-the-scenes tour of a major incoming development just outside The Battery Atlanta on Wednesday. Staff of general contractor JE Dunn Construction led the group through the...
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FIFA fever
Despite the United States’ loss to Belgium during the FIFA World Cup round of 16, spirits were high at the Marietta Square watch party as families and friends turned out to view Monday evening’s match. People decked out in red, white and blue filled...
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Let Freedom Ring
MARIETTA — Marietta celebrated the Fourth of July in style Saturday morning at the annual Let Freedom Ring Parade. The parade has been held every year since 1969, according to the Marietta History Center, when it was first organized by the Marietta...
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Love for country
MARIETTA — Marietta celebrated the Fourth of July in style Saturday morning at the annual Let Freedom Ring Parade. The parade has been held every year in Marietta since 1969, according to the Marietta History Center, when it was first organized by the...
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Our Picks
Sunday Patience WGTV (8) 8 p.m. A young autistic girl was witness to her father's murder but can't find the words to tell anyone what happened. As the case grows cold, criminal archivist Patience Evans (Ella Maisy Purvis) studies the evidence,...
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Stars and stripes
Armed with bundles of American flags, dozens of volunteers fanned out across Veterans Memorial Park on Wednesday, planting 250 flags in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary and the veterans who have served to protect it. Richard Garland, the city’s...
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Going green
This week marked medical cannabis expansion in Georgia as new legislation went into effect, expanding eligibility and allowing more forms of medical cannabis. At the Trulieve Marietta Dispensary, located at 220 Cobb Parkway, patients celebrating the...
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‘Angels on Earth’
It was an emotional day at St. Joseph Catholic Church on Monday afternoon when a Kennesaw woman was reunited with the first responders who saved her life after she was struck by lightning. Mary “Jeanne” Menna, 66, got the chance to meet the men and...
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A trip to the past
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park was transported 162 years into the past this weekend to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. The battle took place on June 27, 1864, during the American Civil War as General...
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Getting creative
SMYRNA — Downtown Smyrna transformed into a public art studio Saturday as artists gathered to paint boxes that will be displayed around town as public art installations. It was the first Brush & Box Fest, which invited residents to watch and interact...
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‘I’m excited’
MARIETTA — Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods made a stop in Marietta Friday afternoon to address the Cobb County Republican Women’s Club. During the event, Woods — a Republican who is up for reelection — defended his work to improve...
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Helping hands
A charity effort is helping a Marietta widow make repairs to her house while alleviating costs for an Atlanta couple who just adopted a child. Robert and Nicole Rodden — a couple from Atlanta who adopted a daughter in January — are working with a team...
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Making the most of summer in Cobb Co.
Summer is in full swing and families and friends across Cobb County were outside Wednesday afternoon enjoying a hot, sunny day. Summer officially began on Sunday, marking the longest day of the year. Down at Paces Mill Park, in Cumberland, visitors...
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The city center
ACWORTH — Business and economic development remains strong in downtown Acworth despite a recent string of vacancies in the area, city officials say. After residents expressed concerns that some storefronts in the downtown were empty, the Journal...
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Coming together
MARIETTA — Marietta Square saw more than 50,000 people Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the Cobb NAACP’s three-day Juneteenth celebration. Juneteenth, which commemorates the ending of slavery in the U.S. in 1865, became recognized as a national holiday...
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‘It’s a resemblance of freedom’
MARIETTA — Marietta Square hosted thousands of county residents Saturday for the Cobb NAACP’s 23rd annual Cultural Festival, as part of their yearly three-day-long Juneteenth celebration. In partnership with the city of Marietta, the Cobb NAACP...
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Primary: Round 2
Cobb voters turned out to the polls Tuesday, despite scattered rain showers, to cast their votes in the statewide primary runoff election. A runoff election occurs when no candidates in a race garner more than 50% of the vote. Cobb Elections Director...
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FIFA FEVER
Thousands of attendees turned out to Marietta Square Friday evening for a FIFA World Cup watch party to see the U.S. take on Paraguay. Over 2,000 people came to watch the United States team win Friday’s match 4-1. Numbers are still coming in for...
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‘Everyone is accepted’
SMYRNA — The annual Smyrna Pride Festival brought thousands out to Smyrna Market Village on Saturday for a celebration of community, identity and belonging. The event featured food, vendors and live music. Liz McDaniel, director of communications...
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‘Stay tuned’
CUMBERLAND — What’s next for The Battery Atlanta? The biggest ongoing project near the mixed-use development surrounding the Atlanta Braves’ stadium is the Henry, a pair of 20-story towers that will include a hotel, condos and more than 500...
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Public pushback
It was standing room only at Wednesday’s City Council meeting as hundreds of protesters packed City Hall to voice their opposition to data centers in the city. A rezoning request, unanimously approved in June 2025, allows Atlanta-based MMM...
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Welcoming the world
MARIETTA — Twenty different community groups — from young soccer players to Atlanta United and National Women’s Soccer League officials — came together Thursday to paint a 4-foot soccer ball sculpture in celebration of the upcoming FIFA World Cup. The...
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Feeling the fever
MARIETTA — Twenty different community groups — from young soccer players to Atlanta United and National Women’s Soccer League officials — came together Thursday to paint a 4-foot soccer ball sculpture in celebration of the upcoming FIFA World Cup. The...
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Patchwork of talent
MARIETTA — The East Cobb Quilters Guild drew hundreds of people Thursday for the first day of their biannual quilt show at the Cobb County Civic Center. The show features more than 300 handcrafted quilts. Steve Agenllo, an ECQG member and cochair of...
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Braves stars surprise Dobbins airmen with lunch, thanks for service Big league visit
MARIETTA — Inside Hangar 5 of Dobbins Air Reserve Base, hundreds of airmen were treated to a surprise visit from some hometown celebrities. Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley and his wife Anna surprised the service members with a free lunch...
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‘Make it fair or take it away’
ATLANTA — Four district attorneys announced a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a new state law which makes elections for certain county offices nonpartisan in five metro counties. DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced the lawsuit...
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Marietta Police training facility now open
MARIETTA — The Marietta Police Department has a new $2.06 million training center after the city unveiled the facility Tuesday afternoon. The training center, on Sawyer Road near Sawyer Road Elementary School, is part of a larger campus, which also...
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What will become of Wildman’s?
Six months before he died, Dent Myers, proprietor of Wildman’s Civil War Surplus in Kennesaw, was asked who would run his shop after he was gone. “There’s nobody else (that) could handle it,” he told this reporter. “I mean, not the business. It’s...
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Get your motor running
ACWORTH — Downtown Acworth was a hodge podge of colorful metal and gleaming chrome Saturday afternoon as a fleet of vintage cars parked for the Downtown Classic Car Cruise. The event invites collectors and hobbyists to show off their vintage cars to...
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Revered and reviled
In the mid-1960s, two brothers roamed over the hills of west Cobb, armed with a heavy and primitive World War II-era mine detector. The instrument, purchased from a surplus store, was likely a SCR625. Developed by the Army and powered by batteries, it...
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‘Portnoy effect’
A surprise visit led to a bump in business for two Cobb pizzerias after Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy came to town for his viral “One Bite Pizza Review” series. Solar Slice Pizza, in Marietta, and Ruby’s Sourdough Pizza, just outside downtown...
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Head of the class
During Marietta City School’s annual employee awards luncheon Wednesday, Rachel Maddox, a fourth-grade teacher at West Side Elementary School, was named the district’s 2026-27 Teacher of the Year. In front of a crowd of hundreds of fellow educators,...
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Come on down
CUMBERLAND — Cobb’s trivia and game fanatics have a new hangout spot available at The Battery Atlanta. The venue, the Great Big Game Show, invites visitors of all ages to step behind the podium to put their knowledge, skill and luck to the test,...
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‘250 years of why’
MARIETTA — Among the rows of white headstones at Marietta National Cemetery lie more than 18,000 veterans — service members from every American conflict stretching from the Revolutionary War to the modern wars in the Middle East. This Memorial Day,...
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‘More than a symbol’
MARIETTA — Hundreds of Scouts gathered Saturday morning at Marietta National Cemetery to place around 18,000 American flags on the graves of veterans ahead of Memorial Day. The event is organized by the Foothills District, which is under Scouting...
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MILESTONE MARKED
MARIETTA — Over 500 graduates tossed their caps into the rainy sky Thursday night at Marietta High School’s commencement ceremony for the Class of 2026. In total, 570 seniors crossed the stage at Northcutt Stadium to receive their diplomas, dressed in...
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A major milestone
CUMBERLAND — The team behind the Cobb Convention Center Atlanta’s $190 million expansion celebrated a major construction milestone Thursday, “topping out” the project with the placement of the building’s final steel beam. Officials broke ground on the...
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Keli Gambrill defeats Hungerford in landslide
KENNESAW — Commissioner Keli Gambrill defeated retired banker Clark Hungerford handily to win the Republican nomination to represent District 1 seat on the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, clearing the way for reelection in a race with no Democratic...
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‘Never shall we forget’
MARIETTA — Service members, family, friends and elected officials gathered to honor fallen Georgia National Guard members and other U.S. military during a Memorial Day Ceremony at Clay National Guard Center on Tuesday. The outdoor ceremony was held...
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MARIETTA SENIORS CELEBRATE AT BACCALAUREATE SERVICE
Before Marietta High School’s commencement ceremony, the Class of 2026 celebrated faith and academic success Sunday during a baccalaureate faith service. The student-organized worship service saw about 150 Blue Devils in graduation robes fill the pews...
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In memoriam
ACWORTH — Members of the Captain John Collins Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution gathered at the Mars Hill Cemetery in Acworth on Saturday to honor a Revolutionary War hero on the eve of America’s 250th birthday. The chapter unveiled a...
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FIFA FANS UNITE
CUMBERLAND — One of the sporting world’s most coveted prizes made a stop at The Battery Atlanta Thursday. A crowd of hundreds waited in line to get an up-close look at the World Cup Trophy, which was unveiled on the main stage right outside Truist...
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Austell to hire city manager following new law
Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill this week that amends the city of Austell’s charter to create a city manager position. The bill, HB 1005, was drafted by Rep. David Wilkerson, D-Powder Springs, and cleared the Georgia House and Senate unanimously. The...
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Class of 2039
MARIETTA — High schoolers aren’t the only ones receiving diplomas in the Marietta school system this month. In a graduation ceremony Wednesday, over 100 prekindergarten students at the Emily Lembeck Early Learning Center donned gowns and were awarded...
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