ATLANTA — On Jan. 18 and 19 the AT&T Playoff Playlist Live! will be held at State Farm Arena in advance of the College Football Playoff national championship on Jan. 20. The star-studded lineup was announced Thursday at a news conference at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Performances will include Lil Wayne and GloRilla on Saturday; and Camila Cabello, Myles Smith and Knox on Sunday. On game day, the Allstate Championship Tailgate, taking place just outside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the Home Depot Backyard, will feature country acts on the Capital One Music Stage, including global superstar Kane Brown and iHeartCountry “On The Verge” artist Ashley Cooke. The concerts are just two of the festivities visiting fans can enjoy in the days leading up to the big game. The fan experience for both ticket holders and the general public has been a focus for event planners. All weekend long, an estimated 100,000 people from across the country are expected to attend fan events preceding kickoff. “It will be an opportunity for fans of all ages to come together to sample what college football is all about, and you don’t have to have a ticket to the game to be a part of it,” said Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP in a press release. “We’ve worked closely with the Atlanta Football Host Committee to develop fan-friendly events that thousands will enjoy come January.” On Saturday, Jan. 18, Playoff Fan Central will open at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. The free, family-friendly experience will include games, clinics, pep rallies, special guest appearances, autograph signings and exhibits celebrating college football and its history. That day, fans can also attend Media Day, presented by Great Clips, which will feature one-hour sessions with student-athletes and coaches from each of the College Football Playoff national championship participating teams. ESPN and social media giants X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will be taping live broadcasts from the event. On Sunday, Jan. 19, the Trophy Trot, both a 5K and 10K race, will wind its way through the streets of downtown Atlanta. Each Trophy Trot participant will receive a T-shirt and finisher’s medal. Participants can register at atlantatrackclub.org. On Sunday evening, the Georgia Aquarium will host the Taste of the Championship dining event, which offers attendees the opportunity to indulge in food and drink prepared by local Atlanta chefs. This premium experience serves as an elevated exploration of local cuisine on the eve of the national championship. Tickets to the Taste of the Championship event are available on etix.com. Atlanta is the first city ever to repeat as host for the CFP national championship. The playoff was previously held in Atlanta in 2018. “We are honored to be the first city to repeat as host for the CFP national championship and look forward to welcoming college football fans from around the country in January,” said Dan Corso, president of the Atlanta Sports Council and Atlanta Football Host Committee. “This event gives us another opportunity to showcase our incredible city.” The College Football Playoff is the event that crowns the national champion in college football. The quarterfinals and semifinals rotate annually among six bowl games — the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. This year’s quarterfinals will take place on Dec. 31, 2024 and Jan. 1, 2025, while the semifinals will be Jan. 9-10, 2025. The CFP national championship will be Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. For additional information on the College Football Playoff, visit CollegeFootballPlayoff.com.Both new and returning temporary stores have cropped up at the super-regional mall at U.S. 30 and Mississippi Street. On the lower level, Hickory Farms, Go Calendar!, 3D Luxury Crystals, Picturesque, Infinity Lights, PolarX Ornaments and Bethlehem Gifts have opened. "There's quite a few," Southlake Mall Director of Marketing Kristyn Filetti said. Hickory Farms, which specializes in cheese, summer sausage and other artisan meats, opened outside Macy's. Go! Calendar, which sells a variety of wall and desk calendars, opened outside H&M. 3D Luxury Crystals opened outside Footlocker. Picturesque, a poster and wall art store that lets people hang their photos on the wall, opened a secondary location for the holiday outside Footlocker. The store, which sells wall art of athletes, movie stars and other pop culture characters, also as an inline location on the upper-level Center Court. Infinity Lights, Retro Games and PolarX Ornaments all opened in the Center Court. Bethlehem Gifts, which sells religious tchotchkes, opened outside Hollister. 3D Luxury Crystals, Infinity Lights and Retro Games are all new additions that have come to the mall for the first time. "There's a lot of new ones as well as returning," Filetti said. "It adds a variety of options for shoppers." On the upper level, Season of Giving, Indiana Whiskey and Native Sun all opened. Season of Giving is collecting charitable donations outside of Build-A-Bear. Indiana Whiskey and Native Sun are located on the Center Court. Native Sun also has an inline lower level by Macy's and is opening a secondary location for the holiday.
hen the Supreme Court hears on Dec. 4, trans youth and LGBTQ+ advocates across the country will be watching with bated breath. The case, which centers on a Tennessee law, will allow the U.S. Supreme Court Justices to decide whether gender-affirming-care bans for minors are unconstitutional under the basis of sex discrimination. It’s the first major trans rights case to reach the nation’s highest court after statehouses have passed scores of in recent years restricting transgender Americans’ ability to use the of their choice, , and access certain kinds of . “The central arguments are about not just the legitimacy of trans healthcare, but about, in some sense, the legitimacy of trans people as members of civic life and public life,” Chase Strangio, co-Director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project who is arguing for the plaintiffs in this case, . Tennessee’s law Senate Bill 1 (SB1), which the Biden Administration, a doctor, and three families challenged, prohibits doctors from prescribing pharmaceutical and surgical care for transgender minors that are looking to gender transition. Tennessee is home to more than 3,000 transgender adolescents, and across the U.S. there are some 300,000 aged 13 to 17, according to UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute. Gender-affirming care refers to the social, psychological, and medical care prescribed to trans individuals to support their gender identity when it conflicts with the sex they were assigned at birth. The type of care a minor receives varies from child to child, but the Association of American Medical Colleges says gender-affirming care counseling on changes in a child’s social expression (like name changes or hairstyle), puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or surgery—though research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health minimal to no use of gender-affirming surgeries on transgender and gender diverse minors in the U.S. Decisions on the type of gender-affirming care a minor patient receives require consultation between a parent and doctor. Twenty-four states passed gender-affirming care bans for minors, though some are not currently in effect, . Other states, including Florida, have ongoing litigation challenging care restrictions for transgender adults. What the Supreme Court Justices decide will have significant ramifications for trans youth in Tennessee and beyond—and the stakes could extend to trans adults as well, says Human Right Campaign (HRC) senior director of litigation Cynthia Weaver. “Certainly, how the Court comes out in this case will have some impact on laws that further restrict care for adults,” she says. “It may also encourage or discourage other states to contemplate further restrictions on adult care.” In , the Supreme Court will decide whether Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth violates the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The case was filed in 2023 on behalf of Dr. Susan Lacy, a medical doctor, Samantha and Brian Williams of Nashville, Tenn. and their teenage transgender daughter, and two other anonymous families. The Biden Administration is also a party in the case in support of plaintiffs. Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1 (SB1) prohibits doctors from prescribing certain types of treatment for transgender minors, including puberty blockers and hormones. Minors who are seeking that same medication “for other medical purposes,” the state , are permitted to take that medication. “The legislature determines that medical procedures that alter a minor's hormonal balance, remove a minor's sex organs, or otherwise change a minor's physical appearance are harmful to a minor when these medical procedures are performed for the purpose of enabling a minor to identify with,” a gender identity different from the minor’s sex at birth, to “protect the health and welfare of minors,” SB1 . The plaintiffs, however, argue that Tennessee’s law violates the Equal Protection Clause, because it bans medical treatment in what they say are “explicitly sex-based terms,” according to their brief. The Supreme Court will need to decide what level of scrutiny is applicable for Tennessee’s gender-affirming care ban. Respondents believe SB1 should be subject to rational basis review. Laws that do not discriminate against people based on their sex, gender, or other protected class have to pass the rational basis test. “[It] basically means that they have to be rationally related to a legitimate government interest,” says UCLA Law School professor emeritus Eugene Volokh. Volokh uses state laws regulating medical marijuana as an example. “If a state wants to say, ‘We don't want to allow marijuana even for medical purposes, because we think that, on balance, marijuana doesn't have sufficient medical benefits to outweigh the harms that it can cause,’ that's a rational decision for a state,” he says. The plaintiffs, on the other hand, are arguing for a higher bar for the law to meet, which would make it harder for Tennessee to justify the ban. Under heightened scrutiny, the Supreme Court would have to analyze the laws the state is passing under a more careful review because they would impact a particular population based on a protected characteristic: race, sex, religion, etc. The District Court applied heightened scrutiny to the case and enjoined the law, but the Sixth Circuit disagreed and applied a rational basis test, which allowed the law to stand. That decision was appealed up to the Supreme Court. There’s also an important precedent that may affect this case. In 2020’s , which concerned a plaintiff who was fired after expressing interest in a work gay softball league, and , which was heard alongside and involved a woman who was fired for being transgender, the Supreme Court ruled in plaintiffs’ favor. It was the first time the Supreme Court found that sex discrimination protections extended to sexuality and gender identity. If the Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs in , it would reaffirm that position. The Supreme Court could rule in a number of different ways. It could find that SB1 violates the Constitution and overturn the ban, which would be a win for LGBTQ+ advocates. Or it could hand down a narrow ruling that would determine the level of scrutiny that applies but send the case back to a lower court to apply that standard. It could instead find that gender-affirming care bans for minors should only receive a rational basis review, which would likely leave the law in place and also affect laws restricting gender affirming care for adult patients and healthcare more broadly. “There's potential, because this is a sex-based argument, for this court to say, ‘Actually, we don't really think that differentiation based on sex deserves any heightened protection.’ And so that could also alter any other types of cases that are broad based on sex discrimination, beyond transgender people,” says Ulrich. The incoming Trump Administration could also affect the case. The United States is a party in this case, because the Biden Administration sided with the plaintiffs. But “most people expect that the federal government, once the administration changes, will change their position and switch to supporting Tennessee's law,” says Ulrich. Experts are mixed on what effect that could have. Weaver says that with oral arguments already in motion, and the independence of the Supreme Court from other branches of government, there should be no impact. But Ulrich says it is possible the Court could decide to take on a new hearing to see whether they want to accept the petition from the ACLU and Lambda Legal, who are representing plaintiffs. No matter the outcome, the Supreme Court is set to weigh in on one of the most contentious issues in the country. Transgender rights have become a potent political talking point, and about 50% of Americans believe changing their gender is morally wrong, per a June 2024 Gallup . But only 34% are in favor of banning gender-affirming-care for transgender minors, the same poll found. Medical providers are largely in support of this type of care. Every major medical and mental health association in the U.S. has espoused the benefits of gender-affirming-care on the mental health of transgender youth . A peer-reviewed study in the journal Nature Human Behavior found that when anti-transgender laws are passed, suicide attempts by trans and nonbinary minors increase anywhere from 7 to 72%. “Looking at the LGBTQ+ movement broadly as it relates to gay and lesbian people versus where we are with trans people, I think this is really an inflection point,” Strangio said. “It's not just affecting trans people, it'll affect all LGBTQ people. It'll affect all people who experience gender-based discrimination.”
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ALFT Packaging, a pioneering manufacturer of flexible packaging solutions in Sri Lanka, hosted a senior delegation from Nestlé Lanka, led by Managing Director Bernhard Stefan, offering an exclusive tour of its state-of-the-art facility and showcasing the range of industry-leading, world-class flexible packaging solutions. The visit highlighted the growing partnership between the two companies and demonstrated ALFT’s commitment to innovation, sustainability, and excellence in the flexible packaging technology. During the comprehensive facility tour, the Nestlé team gained first-hand insights into ALFT’s advanced manufacturing processes, with particular focus on food safety protocols, sustainability initiatives, and innovative flexible packaging solutions. The delegation expressed strong appreciation for ALFT’s technological capabilities and dedication to maintaining the highest standards of quality and hygiene. Nestlé Lanka Ltd. Managing Director Bernhard Stefan said, “Food safety is our number one priority, making it absolutely critical that we have safety in our packaging materials. It is exciting to see how dynamic and flexible ALFT Packaging is, offering unique solutions for our packaging needs. We were particularly impressed with ALFT’s implementation of sustainability standards in their manufacturing processes.” ALFT’s innovative approach to creating unique and consumer-focused flexible packaging solutions emerged as another vital aspect of the partnership, showcasing the ability to enhance the overall consumer experience. Additionally, the company’s dedicated focus on sustainability impressed the visitors, particularly initiatives in minimising manufacturing waste and developing recyclable flexible packaging materials, aligning perfectly with current environmental priorities and future industry demands. ALFT Packaging Chairman Lakshman De Fonseka, added, “The visit by Nestlé Lanka’s senior team emphasises the strength of our partnership and mutual commitment to excellence in flexible packaging solutions. At ALFT, we are proud to demonstrate how investments in technology, sustainability, and innovation are helping global brands meet their flexible packaging needs while maintaining the highest standards of food safety and quality. We are committed to pushing boundaries in flexible packaging, positioning Sri Lanka as a hub for world-class manufacturing capabilities.” Being the only BRC- “AA” certified flexible packaging plant in Sri Lanka, this visit reinforced ALFT’s position as a leading flexible packaging solutions provider in the region and highlights the commitment to meeting the evolving needs of global brands while maintaining the highest standards of quality and sustainability.
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