College Park City Council has approved another measure that constrains the mayor’s authority. During a Monday meeting, council unanimously approved a measure permanently preventing Mayor Bianca Motley Broom from placing any item on a regular meeting agenda seeking approval to spend her community enhancement funds. The move follows several actions by council since 2024 when […]
Category: Columns
Posted inCommon Chords
Wit, wolves, and wreckage: Warren Zevon’s Excitable Boy
By the time Excitable Boy arrived in 1978, Warren Zevon had already lived several musical lifetimes, most of them unfolding in Los Angeles, the very place where success was supposed to be contagious. He wasn’t on the outside looking in. He was in the rooms, at the parties, and on the couches, friends with the […]
Posted inAdrianne Murchison, Columns
The political divide between caring and apathy
Do you wake up in the morning with a joyful mindset, believing all is well and loving thy neighbor? Or is a part of you bracing and expecting the next turbulence to unfold in the news, or on your social media feed? We know there is a political divide in this country. But it isn’t […]
Posted inColumns
The affordability session takes up data centers, and punts
here was a story in the Columbus Ledger last week which puts much of the news from the Golden Dome in sharp perspective.
Posted inColumns
Raphael Bostic: ‘The work is not done’
Raphael Bostic moved to Atlanta in 2017 to become president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta – breaking norms as the first Black and first openly gay president of one of the 12 Federal Reserve banks. Bostic, 59, stepped down at the end of February from what he called “the best job” he’s ever […]
Posted inLatest News
Vine City site set near Morris Brown College set for major mixed-use development
An Atlanta-based consortium of developers is partnering with Morris Brown College to transform a long-vacant site in Vine City into a community hub and education space, complete with a hotel and grocery space. On Mar. 2, Resurgence Commercial Partners announced it had received unanimous procurement approval from the Invest Atlanta Board of Directors to advance […]
Posted inDelaney Tarr
The Atlanta Opera and creating ‘the theater of our time’
Despite what you may have heard, opera’s not dead. At least, not in Atlanta. Nationwide data shows cause for concern: OPERA America found a nearly 21 percent drop in national ticket sales from 2019 to 2023. It’s not surprising. For years, the opera world has tried to get butts in seats and find its funding […]
Posted inAdrianne Murchison, Columns
Morehouse to play key role in $457M National Science Foundation project
Morehouse College will play a key role in a National Science Foundation initiative to build a next-generation academic supercomputer. The $457 million project will fund construction of “Horizon,” a supercomputer for the National Science Foundation’s Leadership-Class Computing Facility. The Morehouse Center for Broadening Participation in Computing has received an initial $5 million grant to begin […]
Posted inGabi Hart
Providing Shelter When Disaster Strikes: Airbnb.org’s Mission
When disasters force people from their homes, one of the most urgent needs is often the least visible: a safe place to stay. Long after alerts fade, families are still searching for shelter near work, school and community. That gap is where Airbnb.org operates. “Airbnb.org is here to help on your worst day,” said Christine […]
Posted inColumns
‘Man on the Run’ tracks Paul McCartney from The Beatles to Wings
“Paul McCartney: Man on the Run” opens with a telling quote from the man himself. In old footage, an interviewer asks McCartney what’s the thing he values the most? His answer is “personal peace.” That answer is immediately followed by footage of The Beatles arguing (notably, McCartney and John Lennon) during the band’s last days, […]
Posted inCommon Chords
Testimony in a tired time: Mavis Staples’ Sad and Beautiful World (2025)
When Sad and Beautiful World was released just a couple of months ago, Mavis Staples was 86 years old and still doing the rarest thing in American music: sounding not preserved, but present. This is not a victory lap, not a museum piece, not a soft-focus farewell. It is a record that meets the moment […]
Posted inGabi Hart
Construction begins on historic Oakland City Warehouses along the Atlanta Beltline
Construction is now underway on Oakland Exchange, a mixed-use project in Southwest Atlanta that will preserve historic Cut Rate Box Co. warehouses while adding affordable housing and commercial space. The Atlanta Beltline and Atlanta-based infill developer Urban Realty Partners closed a public-private deal to bring the project to life. The development is located at 1088 […]
Posted inColumns
Family lawsuit alleges man died after being restrained during welfare check
DeKalb County Police bodycam video shows a handcuffed man being pulled away from his home toward a mobile crisis unit vehicle, his breathing loud and labored. The man, Arben Pilici, 49, died after he was placed in the back of the vehicle while officers and a social worker stood outside in conversation, according to a […]
Posted inGuest Column
It shouldn’t take luck to stay healthy in Georgia
In Atlanta, we often celebrate innovation — in business, technology and health care. Yet for many families across the metro area, the most basic part of health care remains the hardest: knowing whether they can afford the care they’re told to get. As someone who grew up translating insurance letters for my immigrant parents, and […]
Posted inDelaney Tarr
Egleston Hall makes 2026 ‘Places in Peril’ list
On Feb. 25, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation released its 2026 ‘Places in Peril’ list for significant historic properties at risk of demolition or neglect – and Egleston Hall has made the list. It’s a hot topic among preservationists because All Saints’ Episcopal Church is considering a plan that could demolish the 1918 Gothic Revival […]
Posted inLatest News
Final container business lands at Pittsburgh Yards
Five years after the opening of Pittsburgh Yards, the community-led job hub has officially received the tenth and final shipping container needed to complete the Container Courtyard. Some courtyard businesses are already open. Others are in “different stages,” but all nine consumer-facing businesses should be open sometime in the spring, and accessible to patrons – […]
Posted inColumns
Jones has setbacks, at least one self-inflicted
You can’t exactly say that having the way cleared so that he could get an endorsement from the Republican National Committee is the worst thing to happen to Lt. Gov. Burt Jones this year.
Posted inColumns, Maria's Metro
The sad saga of the historic Paschal’s hotel and restaurant
For more than 20 years, one of Atlanta’s most notable civil rights venues has sat vacant – waiting for new life. It’s hard to overstate the role Paschal’s has played in Atlanta’s civil rights movement. Two brothers, Robert Paschal and James Paschal, began operating as a sandwich spot in 1947. Then, in 1959, the two […]
Posted inGabi Hart
Kamala Harris brings ‘107 Days’ book tour to Macon, reflects on power, community and what comes next
Former Vice President Kamala Harris brought her national “107 Days” book tour to Macon, Ga., on Feb. 11, offering a reflection on power, community and resilience during a wide-ranging conversation moderated by chef and restaurateur Mashama Bailey. The stop was part of a tour that began in New York City in September 2025 and is […]
Posted inAdrianne Murchison, Columns
Sandy Springs shuts down massage spas suspected of illicit activity
Last week, the Sandy Springs Police Narcotics and Vice Unit executed search warrants at two alleged illegal massage spas. The city is working to stop the spread of illicit activity and taking similar steps to Roswell, where police in recent years have targeted illegal massage spas and operations engaged in prostitution and sex-trafficking. According to […]
