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By Maria Saporta

It was Atlanta’s turn in the TimeWarner rotation.

The multi-faceted media company held its annual meeting in Atlanta Friday morning at the Omni Hotel — providing shareholders an upbeat picture of the company and its three major operating units.

Atlanta is home to Turner Broadcasting System, which owns TNT, the Cartoon Network, CNN among a host of other cable channels.

“This is a good intimate gathering,” said Jeffrey Bewkes, TimeWarner’s chairman and CEO, obviously commenting on the fact that not a huge crowd of shareholders attended

By Maria Saporta

The Woodruff Arts Center has implemented a major reorganization in its board — at the same time as it elected Larry Gellerstedt, CEO of Cousins Properties, as its new chair. He succeeds Phil Kent, CEO of Turner Broadcasting System.

The arts center used to be governed by an 80-member board that only met twice a year. Although there was an executive committee that was in charge to keep a closer eye on the center’s operations, the overall board still had the legal responsibilities on the decisions.

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told the arts lovers attending the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund luncheon Thursday: “I did a bad thing.”

The mayor was referring to his budget proposal that called for cutting the city’s arts and cultural budget by 50 percent — from $470,000 to $235,000.

“We had to make a lot of hard and tough decisions,” the mayor told the luncheon crowd about how the city’s general fund budget has contracted by $100 million since 2008 to its smallest level in more than two decades.

But on Wednesday, while jogging, the mayor — who has been a strong supporter of the arts long before he took office — began to second-guess himself.

By Maria Saporta

Georgia planning professionals were relieved when Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a bill on May 17 that would have gutted the state’s local planning guidelines.

Senate Bill 86 — the Qualified Local Governments/Certified Retirement Communities — would have removed the requirement for communities to prepare comprehensive plans for their counties and cities.

The bill had been written to address concerns of smaller cities and counties over the state-imposed law (that’s been around since the days of Gov. Joe Frank Harris’ administration in the late 1980s) because of the costs of developing and maintaining the plans so they can be obtain certification for “Qualified Local Government” status.

Dan Reuter, land use division chief for the Atlanta Regional Commission, sent out an

By Maria Saporta

It had been 20 years since Primerica last held an annual shareholders meeting, and then the life insurance company was known as the A.L. Williams Corp.

But on Wednesday, May 18, the new, independent Primerica held its first annual shareholders meeting at its headquarters in Duluth — an uneventful meeting that lasted just 22 minutes.

Chairman and Co-CEO Richard Williams stood in front of a large sign with bold letters: “Let Freedom Ring.”

By Maria Saporta

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has hired its first-ever vice president for federal affairs.

The new vice president is Jeff Hamling, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia’s 6th district). Hamling also was Price’s 2006 Congressional re-election campaign manager. He also worked with U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson on his first campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2004.

The Georgia Chamber decided it needed to establish the new position to serve as an advocate for the state’s business community and be a liaison between the chamber and Georgia’s Congressional delegation and federal agencies.

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta’s African-American legacy will live on in the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, thanks to a new gift announced Tuesday morning.

The family and business associates of the late Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson are leading a fundraising effort among minority business owners to raise $2.5 million for the center.

Jackmont Hospitality, a company founded by the former mayor, has pledged $250,000 towards that effort. Also Jackson’s daughter, Brooke Jackson Edmond; business partner Daniel Halpern; and Jackson’s widow, Valerie Jackson, will champion that special fundraising initiatives for the center.

By Maria Saporta

The country’s central problem today is its debt, according to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia).

Isakson, who spoke Monday at the annual luncheon of the Georgia Council on Economic Education at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said the issue was finally coming to a head over having to raise the nation’s $14.2 trillion debt limit.

“Eventually, you have got to pay the piper,” Isakson said. “We’ve probably got 60 days to deal with the problem of raising the debt limit.”

Isakson, however said that the limit should not be raised without “consequential commitments on behalf of the administration and Congress” to limit the debt through spending cuts and changes in entitlements.

Dear Readers,

Good changes are under way at saportareport.com.

On Tuesday, we will launch the first weekly edition of the SaportaReport e-newsletter that will highlight our latest offerings — stories and columns — appearing on my website. Over the past several months, several of you have asked to become SaportaReport subscribers, and we are happy to finally be able to oblige.

saportareport.com has been a unique venue for news and commentary on issues and people important to citizens who care about metro Atlanta. And we are happy to tell you about several new offerings.

Recently, saportareport.com has increased its coverage, adding former AJC reporter David Pendered as a regular writer covering local government and community stories, as well as former AJC film critic Eleanor Ringel Cater, who is contributing a weekly movie column.