We have always liked records that feel as though they might spill their pint before the first song is over. Rum Sodomy & The Lash is one of them. It staggers into the room with scraped knuckles, a broken smile, and a century of inherited memory slung across its shoulders. Loud enough for celebration and […]
Category: Columns
Posted inColumns
Georgia schools still rely on 1985 funding formula as student needs grow
Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, in a recent New York Times Magazine essay, writes about the decision she and her husband made to send their daughter to predominantly Black public schools serving high-poverty communities, where funding and resources were more limited than at many other schools. Their choice was intentional. They wanted their daughter to attend school […]
Posted inGabi Hart
Shanequa Gay’s new Beltline monument begins with the women and stories that shaped Atlanta
Before Shanequa Gay’s newest work becomes a monument on the Atlanta Beltline, it begins with something less permanent but just as powerful: a conversation. Gay, an Atlanta-based multidisciplinary artist and Spelman College professor, has been selected by Atlanta Beltline Art to create a major public artwork for the Westside Beltline Connector. Her sculpture will be […]
Posted inGuest Column
What if Atlanta’s theater crisis is also an opportunity?
American nonprofit theater is in crisis. Audiences have not fully returned from the pandemic, costs have risen, philanthropy is stretched, and theaters around the country have cut programming, laid off staff, reduced seasons or closed altogether. Atlanta has not been immune. Atlanta Lyric Theatre closed in 2023 after more than four decades, and Georgia Ensemble […]
Posted inDelaney Tarr
Beltline acquires final piece of land needed to close 22-mile loop
After two decades, four mayoral administrations and nearly 200 real estate acquisitions, the Beltline finally has the land it needs to close the 22-mile loop and complete Atlanta’s “emerald necklace.” Atlanta Beltline, Inc. closed the sale for the final piece on Sept. 22, and announced it Oct. 1. It’s a minor parcel — only 0.2-acres […]
Posted inGabi Hart
Out On Film opens its 39th festival with LGBTQ+ stories, community and ‘Before I Do’
For one night in Midtown, the red carpet was more than a path into a movie theater. It was an invitation to see LGBTQ+ lives, relationships and experiences reflected on the big screen, and to experience those stories together. Out On Film opened its 39th annual LGBTQ+ film festival Sept. 24 at Landmark Midtown Art […]
Posted inLatest News
The 2028 Olympic torch relay will hit all 50 states — and it starts in Atlanta
For the first time in history, the famed Olympic Torch will relay through all 50 U.S. states before landing in its host city of Los Angeles — and the tour will kick off in Atlanta. The flame will be lit in Olympia, Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, before heading through the United States […]
Posted inMaria's Metro
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens says he’s focused on implementing transit plans
The Atlanta region has had plans to expand transit for decades and decades. Now we have another opportunity to move forward with rail transit with the Atlanta City Council voting unanimously to implement light rail on the 22-mile Beltline corridor. We also have Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, in an exclusive interview with SaportaReport after the […]
Posted inColumns
Blue wave or red undertow, artificial or super, something has shifted
It will be another five weeks before we can say what it means, but there has been a significant shift in public opinion in the country this fall.
Posted inColumns
Judge dismisses College Park councilwoman’s TPO petition against resident
A Fulton County Superior Court judge dismissed a petition for a stalking temporary protective order brought by a College Park councilwoman against a resident. During a Monday hearing, Judge Tamika Hrobowski-Houston said resident Allyson Blue’s words and actions toward College Park Councilwoman Jamelle McKenzie did not amount to stalking, harassment or threats and denied McKenzie’s […]
Posted inGabi Hart
Tierra Encantada brings Spanish immersion preschool to Atlanta with plans to expand
A Spanish immersion early childhood education franchise is preparing to open its first Georgia location in Atlanta’s Kirkwood neighborhood, the beginning of a planned 12-center expansion across metro Atlanta. Tierra Encantada, which provides child care and early education from infancy through pre-K, expects to open its Kirkwood center at 1655 Memorial Drive SE this fall. […]
Posted inGabi Hart
Scrubs, simulations and science: Inside Atlanta’s Academy for Innovation in Medicine
A pig’s lungs were inflated in front of a group of Atlanta ninth graders. For Kylah, a student at the Academy for Innovation in Medicine (AIM), touching the lung and watching it expand was only the beginning. On that Wednesday, Sept. 23, students also learned how to intubate a mannequin, guiding a tube into an […]
Posted inGabi Hart
$164 million verdict puts spotlight on child sex trafficking in Atlanta-area hotels
TRIGGER WARNING: This story discusses child sex trafficking and sexual exploitation. If you or someone you know may be experiencing human trafficking, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888 or text 233733. In an emergency, call 911. At 15 years old, J.R. was walking alone down Old National Highway on a cold, rainy night […]
Posted inLatest News
An eminent domain battle in North Georgia reaches a conclusion
With eminent domain involved, pushback is almost always imminent. Tallulah Falls was no different. Residents of Tallulah Falls, Ga., pushed back against the nearby City of Demorest, Ga., which was planning to use eminent domain for a water expansion project that would “establish a new surface-water treatment facility designed to protect the region’s drinking water […]
Posted inAdrianne Murchison, Columns
Documentary revisits Atlanta’s 1906 race massacre with a warning for today
Filmmaker Trent Frank posed the question to the audience following the screening of his documentary, “Never Again: The 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre:” Could this happen again? His film recounts the cultural and political climate in September 1906 that led to four days of violent attacks against Atlanta’s thriving Black communities, killing at least 25 people. […]
Posted inDelaney Tarr
Wingate leaders take on ‘hairy projects’ — Trestletree Village is the latest
“The worse the problem, the more likely that I’m sitting in the chair.” This is the approach of Wingate Companies Senior Vice President John Tatum. And now, he’s in the chair at Atlanta’s Trestletree Village Section 8 Community, steps from the Beltline trail. Wingate, a national real estate and development firm focused on affordable housing, […]
Posted inCommon Chords
The places we almost forgot: ‘The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society’
Every city has a building that somehow survived the wrecking ball. Surrounded by newer glass and wider roads, it quietly reminds everyone that progress always leaves something behind. The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society turns that tension into music. By the time it arrived in late 1968, The Kinks had already accomplished enough […]
Posted inAtlanta Way 2.0, Columns
YWCA Greater Atlanta announces reopening of renovated Phillis Wheatley campus for early 2027
In a major step toward revitalizing Atlanta’s Westside, YWCA Greater Atlanta President and CEO Danita Knight announced the grand opening of the newly renovated Phillis Wheatley campus, scheduled for the first quarter of 2027. The official announcement was delivered on Sept. 18 during a panel discussion at the Transform Westside Summit. Named in honor of […]
Posted inGuest Column
Tackling the loneliness crisis among adults with intellectual disabilities: How Atlanta’s faith communities may be a solution
At 22, while his childhood friends were beginning the next chapter of their lives after graduation, Troy sat at home. Alone. Troy is an adult with intellectual disabilities, and for many people like him, the transition out of high school marks the end of their most consistent source of community. Opportunities for a meaningful life […]
Posted inAdrianne Murchison, Columns
Robb Pitts backs Republican Thorne, defends remarks about Democrat Goldman
Just months ago, Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts was fighting the federal seizure of the county’s 2020 election records. Now, the outgoing Democrat is endorsing Republican Fulton County Commissioner Bridget Thorne, whose role in the federal investigation became part of the controversy surrounding the January raid. Pitts recently announced his support for District 1 […]
