With great fanfare earlier this month, the pioneering artificial intelligence company OpenAI unveiled its latest model, GPT-5, an AI system so advanced that using it was said to be like conversing with a Ph.d. It landed with a unsettling thud.
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Posted inAdrianne Murchison, Columns
Metro mayors urge corporations, philanthropists to recognize the whole metro region
If the proposed merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern is successfully completed, Sandy Springs can boast more Fortune 500 companies than the city of Atlanta, says Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul, including the New York Stock Exchange, which has been headquartered there for years. But, Paul adds, many of those firms headquartered in the […]
Posted inMaria's Metro
Metro Atlanta leaders going to D.C., Maryland and Virginia on LINK trip
The Atlanta region’s 28th LINK trip will be headed to the Greater Washington D.C. area, beginning on Aug. 20 through Aug. 23. The focus this year will be on the suburban communities outside Washington D.C. in Maryland and Virginia. The suburban-focused trip is a stark contrast to the 2024 LINK trip that was held in New […]
Posted inSecuring Atlanta's Future
The Surprising Power of the Arts to Boost Literacy
By ArtsNOW Literacy is a challenge across metro Atlanta, but progress is possible. Newly released Georgia Milestones data from the 2024-2025 school year shows that only 38 percent of third-grade students in the region are reading proficiently, a 3-point decrease from last year. While this reality underscores the urgency of the work ahead, it also […]
Posted inHistoric Westside
Letters from Leadership: Keeping the Promise of the Westside — Why the Westside TAD Matters
Early in July, the Fulton County Commission considered withdrawing from the Westside Tax Allocation District (TAD) — a move that would disrupt deeply affordable housing developments already underway in neighborhoods that played defining roles in the Civil Rights Movement. As I shared with the Commission, I live in Vine City. Every day, I see what […]
Posted inHigher Education
Georgia State Physicist Helps Lead Major International Experiment Studying Moments After Big Bang
Megan Connors, an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Georgia State University, has been elected co-spokesperson of a major international physics experiment designed to uncover new clues about how the universe began. Connors is helping to lead sPHENIX, a large scientific collaboration based at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, N.Y. She shares the […]
Posted inPeople, Places & Parks
“We’re blessed to have a park, and we want to use it”: The Friends of Harper Park’s mission to make the greenspace a community cornerstone
By Hannah E. Jones, Park Pride’s Marketing & Communications Manager “A lot of people don’t have parks. We’re blessed to have a park, and we want to use it,” said Joyce Smith, a community advocate and longtime resident of the Poole Creek neighborhood. Harper Park is a 13-acre park situated in the Poole Creek neighborhood […]
Posted inDelaney Tarr
MARTA names chief counsel Jonathan Hunt as interim CEO
At an Aug. 14 meeting the MARTA board appointed chief counsel Jonathan Hunt to serve as the agency’s interim general manager and CEO while a committee searches for a permanent replacement for Collie Greenwood. Greenwood, who had served as GM and CEO since 2022, abruptly left the agency on July 17 citing “immigration and personal […]
Posted inColumns
With ‘Highest 2 Lowest,’ Spike Lee reinterprets a classic for the digital age
Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 masterpiece “High and Low” – a gripping drama about class stratification, and morality, and whether the choices we make really matter – is the last movie that warrants a remake. But, for as much as Spike Lee’s new film “Highest 2 Lowest” follows almost the exact same structure as its inspiration, it’s […]
Posted inReporter's Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: EV Peach Pass exemption expires, slain journalists honored, GDOT seeks ATL/SAV railway input
Federal exemption ending for toll-free travel of alternative fuel vehicles in I-85 HOT lanes The State Road and Tollway Authority is advising Peach Pass customers that a federal exemption allowing certified alternative fuel vehicles, including electric vehicles, to travel toll-free in the Interstate 85 high occupancy toll lanes will end at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 29, […]
Posted inAtlanta Way 2.0
Building up, Not pushing out: how OaksATL is revitalizing English Avenue
By: Gabi Hart In Atlanta, new development often comes with a cost: neighborhoods change, prices rise and longtime residents get pushed out. But in English Avenue, a community just west of downtown, OaksATL is transforming that narrative. This summer, my co-intern Asia and I took a tour of the neighborhood with Rue Gunter, OaksATL’s director […]
Posted inGuest Column
Georgia Historical Society’s new program: Restoring Trust in American Institutions
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026, public trust in fundamental American institutions — elections, the law and the courts, the press, and our system of government itself — seems to be at an all-time low. Not a day goes by without a new allegation of election corruption, media bias, […]
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta residents gather for mayor’s office townhall on future downtown development
On Tuesday, Aug. 12, more than 50 residents, city staff and community leaders filled St. Luke’s Episcopal Church for the August General Body Meeting of the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association (ADNA), a special edition of Mayor Andre Dickens’ public town hall series focused on downtown and co-hosted with the mayor’s office. The featured speaker was […]
Posted inAdrianne Murchison, Columns
Roswell mourns former Councilman Marcelo Zapata
Roswell Mayor Kurt Wilson led a moment of silence Monday in honor of former Councilman Marcelo Zapata during the City Council meeting. Wilson learned earlier that day that Zapata died on August 1 in Argentina. Zapata, first elected to city council in 2015, resigned in 2022 due to undisclosed serious health issues. He is being […]
Posted inColumns, Common Chords, Megan Anderson
Florry’s ‘Sounds Like…’ finds beauty in imperfection
Still warm from the afterglow of Boat Songs and that moonlit Neil reverie, we drift into Florry’s world — looser, louder, and lit like a backyard hang that turned into a recording session. They’re a Philadelphia crew that comes across less like a band and more like a chosen family, bonded by late nights, shared […]
Posted inLatest News
11-county Metro Atlanta population nears 5.3 million
The 11-county Metro Atlanta region added 64,400 this year, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Aug. 13 annual population report. The annual estimate counts residents who joined the region between April 2024 and April 2025. The region’s total population now sits at 5.28 million people. Each of the 11 counties grew this year, with Fulton […]
Posted inDelaney Tarr
Georgia film is changing. Can industry leaders keep up?
The state of Georgia’s film industry changes depending on who you ask. The economic juggernaut is booming, according to advocates and executives who see the moment as a chance for “innovation.” Some struggling filmmakers and employees at empty production houses are a little more concerned. The so-called “Hollywood of the South” has felt the impacts […]
Posted inColumns, Common Chords, Megan Anderson
Neil Young turns a bank-branded pavilion into church, skips the sermon (and the new album)
Neil Young is one of the very few people on earth who can make a corporate-branded amphitheater feel like a cathedral. Not because he tries to — he doesn’t — but because the gravitational pull of his career, and the stubborn refusal to sand down its jagged edges, turns even a place named after a […]
Posted inAdrianne Murchison, Columns
Housing advocates call for reducing barriers to affordable housing
Rising construction costs, restrictive local policies, and regulatory hurdles are widening Georgia’s housing affordability gap, according to housing advocates and builders, and policymakers. During a recent meeting of the Georgia Healthy Housing Coalition, Shawn Stafford, president of Stafford Builders & Consultants, said theft and vandalism at construction sites are driving up costs. Stolen materials, from […]
Posted inHigher Education
Emory hosts global university network meeting, showcasing leadership in artificial intelligence
Emory University recently welcomed senior leaders from four international institutions for the annual Global Universities for Societal Impact (GUSI) board meeting, hosted by Emory Global Engagement and the Halle Institute for Global Research and Learning in late June. The hybrid event brought together representatives from the University of Bonn, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of St Andrews […]
