Friday feels

May 2 — The Historic Druid Hills Home & Garden Tour kicks off today and continues through Sunday with peeks inside seven homes in the neighborhood, plus lush green spaces, vintage cars, and more. Check out our guide to the tour and buy tickets here

🌤️ Partly cloudy and 82° today. Rain is the forecast all weekend long.

🎓 Citing low enrollment, Kennesaw State University is ending its Black Studies program after 20 years.

🚨 A woman wanted for embezzling $500,000 from her Dunwoody employer is now in custody, but her co-conspirator remains at large.

🗳️ Colin Hubbard, who was involved in the effort to save Spalding Drive Elementary School, is running for the District 5 Sandy Springs City Council seat.

⚕️ Georgia Equality condemned a report released by the U.S. Department of Health that contradicts major medical organizations on the treatment of transgender youth.

🐶 The Midtown Mutt Gala – the Met Gala for dogs and their owners – returns Sunday from 2-5 p.m. on Peachtree Street between 10th and 11th streets. (The Met Gala for people is Monday in New York.)

🛍️ Glenwood Park’s neighborhood-wide yard sale is tomorrow from 8 a.m.-noon. Grab a coffee and official map at Drip Coffee (28 Garrett St.) before hunting for vintage treasures across the community.

🎸 North Springs High School’s Music Honor Society is hosting its fourth annual Spring Arts Festival on Saturday.

ELSEWHERE

🏛️ President Donald Trump ousted National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, nominating him instead for UN Ambassador. 

🎭 Nominations for the 78th Annual Tony Awards include “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Death Becomes Her,” and “Maybe Happy Ending” getting 10 nods each. George Clooney was nominated for leading actor for “Good Night, and Good Luck.” 

🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:

• Bar Vegan to shutter at Ponce
• Movie Review: ‘Thunderbolts’
• The Sports Section
AND
• Top Stories of the Week 


✅ For 70 years, Peachtree Orthopedics has provided expert, specialized care for all your orthopedic needs. With 43 fellowship-trained physicians and convenient UrgentORTHO clinics, we help you recover quickly and Get Better. SPONSOR MESSAGE


Photo via Bar Vegan/Facebook

1. Bar Vegan to shutter on Monday

⛔ Bar Vegan, a cocktail bar and restaurant founded by Pinky Cole and her Slutty Vegan partners, will close on Mon., May 5 after four years at Ponce City Market, according to an announcement on Instagram.

“In March of 2021, a handful of entrepreneurs – commonly from the Atlanta University Center – combined vision, style, culinary arts, and an idea, and molded it into a multi-million dollar scalable business,” the announcement read. “This past month, April 2024, [sic] the decision was made to close the location that created the hookahless blueprint, for there to be similar vegan bars across the country, Bar Vegan Atlanta.”

The closure of Bar Vegan comes on the heels of the closures of Slutty Vegan in Duluth and on the campuses of Georgia Tech and Spelman earlier this spring. The closures were part of a restructuring of the Atlanta-based vegan restaurant chain founded by Cole in 2018. 

➡️ Read the full story here.


‘Happy Cities’ Expert Leads Conversation on Perimeter’s Future

SPONSORED BY PERIMETER COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS

🏙️ Perimeter is on the move, and you have a front-row seat to its evolution at Envision Perimeter on May 20. This can’t-miss event features Dr. Tristan Cleveland from Happy Cities, a leading voice in designing urban spaces that prioritize well-being. Explore the power of urban design to create joyful, connected communities in fast-growing areas like Perimeter.

🌟 Be part of the vision!  

➞ Limited seats – secure your ticket now!


Photo by Chuck Zlotnick/MARVEL

2. The ‘Thunderbolts’ are the superheroes we didn’t know we needed

WEEKLY FILM REVIEW | BY SAMMIE PURCELL

⚽ At the beginning of “Thunderbolts,” Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) is on a mission, sent by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to destroy any and all evidence of a super soldier experiment gone wrong.

As the last scientist standing tries to take her down, she begins to narrate exactly how the following scene will play out – there’ll be a scramble for the gun, a brief skirmish resulting in a bunch of smashed lab equipment, the scientist will make a brave attempt at a few last words, and Yelena will kill him. Bing, bang, boom, done. Boring. 

Yelena might be talking about the mission at hand, but it’s not hard to make the leap that this is “Thunderbolts” commenting on the state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. The formula is becoming tired, and they know it.  But as much as this moment is poking fun at the state of these movies, “Thunderbolts” is not suggesting that Marvel abandon the routine all together – just that it tries to get back to whatever made that early run of movies work in the first place. And, by God, “Thunderbolts” does just that.

🦸 Click here to read Sammie’s full review. And if you’re in the mood for something a little less comic book-related, check out her review of “On Swift Horses” here.

🍿 Stay in the picture with Scene by Rough Draft, our weekly newsletter about Georgia’s film industry. Subscribe for free.


2. Story #23. Derby Day; Braves host Dodgers2. Story #2

BY MIA FISHMAN

🏇 The 151st Kentucky Derby (aka “The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports”) is tomorrow at approximately 6:57 p.m. The favorite? Journalism (TV: NBC). 

⚽ Atlanta United hosts Nashville SC tomorrow at 2:45 p.m. (FOX; 92.9 FM). 

🏀 Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels, nicknamed “The Great Barrier Thief,” won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award after leading the league with 229 steals.

🏐 The Atlanta Vibe hosts the Omaha Supernovas in a matchup of the Pro Volleyball Federation’s two best teams on Sunday at 6 p.m. at Gas South Arena. Tickets are available (Roku Channel).

⚾ The Braves won back-to-back series against the Diamondbacks and the Rockies last week. They host the Dodgers this weekend at home, starting tonight at 7:15 p.m. (FanDuel Sports/93.7 FM).

⚾ Prison Fellowship, a nonprofit dedicated to serving the families of those currently and formerly incarcerated, will host a free children’s basketball clinic tomorrow at Maynard Jackson-Holbrook High School. 

🏈 The NFL fined the Falcons and Defensive Coordinator Jeff Ulbrich following Ulbrich’s son’s prank call to Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders during the NFL Draft. 


✅ For 70 years, Peachtree Orthopedics has provided expert, specialized care for all your orthopedic needs. With 43 fellowship-trained physicians and convenient UrgentORTHO clinics, we help you recover quickly and Get Better. SPONSOR MESSAGE


4. Top Stories of the Week

A look back at this week’s most-read stories from our website. Follow @RoughDraftATL on Instagram for regular updates.

① Hip hop innovators OutKast to be inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (pictured)

② Asana Partners buys Shops of Dunwoody, outlying buildings

③ Underground cocktail bar Redacted opens in Summerhill

④ Monday nights are for Atlanta’s supper clubs

⑤ Anne Lerner announces run for Tucker mayor


✅ For 70 years, Peachtree Orthopedics has provided expert, specialized care for all your orthopedic needs. With 43 fellowship-trained physicians and convenient UrgentORTHO clinics, we help you recover quickly and Get Better. SPONSOR MESSAGE


💭 Test your knowledge of the week’s news in tomorrow’s News Quiz. Keep an eye out for our email at 8 a.m. or bookmark this page! 


🔤 Don’t miss News Word Atlanta, our new, daily word game – Presented by Oglethorpe University, Atlanta’s premier undergraduate learning experience.

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This report was compiled and written by Rough Draft Atlanta's staff.