Rainy days and Thursdays

Thursday, June 18 — Georgia Republicans scrapped redrawing the state’s congressional maps just hours before gaveling in for a special session yesterday. Voting rights groups said lawmakers had not provided drafts of the proposed new boundaries ahead of the session.  ☔ Heavy rain with a high of 83° today, as Tropical Storm Arthur, the first named storm of the hurricane season, made landfall in Texas yesterday, bringing a flood risk across the South.

⚽ In the FIFA World Cup:

📹 Atlanta Police shut down Kai Cenat’s “Streamer University” event at State Farm Arena yesterday after thousands of fans showed up, overwhelming the venue.

🩺 Georgia has twice as much medical debt as the rest of the country, according to Georgians for a Healthy Future. 

🗳️ Dexter Fisher won the Athens-Clarke County mayor’s runoff Tuesday, defeating Tim Denson to become the city’s first Black mayor.

🚨 DeKalb County authorities made an arrest in the deadly shooting of a pregnant woman and her unborn son.

💸 The Norcross City Council is discussing increasing the occupational license tax rate on businesses by 150%, raising about $600,000 in operating revenue to balance the city’s 2027 budget.

🏆 A victim’s rights advocacy group recently honored Gwinnett County Chief External and Government Affairs Officer Deborah Tuff for her team’s anti-human trafficking documentary series. 

🤰 The Jewish Fertility Foundation announced that most of the recipients of its first-ever Surrogacy Pilot Grant program are same-sex couples.

⚾ Oklahoma ended Georgia’s season, beating the Dawgs 11-4 to advance to the NCAA Championship, where they will face North Carolina.  

⚾ The Braves dropped both games in a doubleheader to the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, extending their losing streak to three games.

ELSEWHERE

🇺🇦🇷🇺 Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks of the war this morning, striking a Moscow oil refinery for the second time in a week. 

🇺🇸🇮🇷 The U.S. and Iran digitally signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding yesterday, agreeing to end the U.S.-Iranian war, with 60 days to negotiate a final deal. 

🏛️ The Obama Presidential Center opens today in Chicago with a dedication event, before welcoming the public tomorrow.  

✈️ Qantas announced nonstop flights from Sydney to London beginning October 2027, marking the world’s longest commercial route.

⛳ Golf’s third major of the year, The U.S. Open, teed off at 6:35 a.m. today at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, N.Y. Watch on USA Network.  

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

• Rialto renovations 

• Curator Karen Comer Lowe 

• ForgeUp Ventures

AND 

• Quick Bites

❤️ Tickets are on sale now for CHRIS 180’s 2026 CHRIStal Ball, Sat., Aug. 15, at Curate. Join us for an elegant evening supporting trauma-informed mental health care for children, youth, adults, and families across Metro Atlanta. Buy tickets here! SPONSOR MESSAGE

Photo by Rachel Spooner

1. Rialto Center celebrates 30 years with renovations, new season

🏗️ The Rialto Center for the Arts will celebrate its 30th season with Georgia State University and 110 years in downtown Atlanta in 2026. To mark the occasion, the Rialto plans to upgrade the lobby and expand its arts programming. 

The former movie theatre has been a mainstay on Forsyth Street since 1916, with the current building constructed in 1962 when the cinema expanded.

The venue renovations, which will include upgrades to the lobby plus various stage, sound, and facility equipment, will total around $290,000. Additionally, on May 18, the organization announced a switch from a subscription model to a membership model, saving devoted patrons money and providing better flexibility.

🎭 Check out the full story here.

Buckhead estate built to entertain

SPONSORED BY ATLANTA FINE HOMES

🏡 Priced at $4.7 million, this seven-bedroom Buckhead estate sits on more than 3.8± private acres.

Resort-style amenities include a heated pool and spa, a tennis court, a bocce ball court, a cabana and an expansive lawn. Inside, soaring ceilings, a wine cellar and dramatic entertaining spaces complement a Spanish-inspired design built for memorable gatherings. The property offers parking for up to 12 vehicles.

Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty is Metro Atlanta’s No. 1 residential real estate company and No. 1 in luxury home sales above $1 million.

👉🏼 Explore our current listings.

Photo courtesy of Karen Comer Lowe

2. Atlanta art curator Karen Comer Lowe on what’s next 

VIA SKETCHBOOK, A WEEKLY VISUAL ARTS NEWSLETTER | SUBSCRIBE

🎨 Karen Comer Lowe is a curator first and foremost. She’ll tell you so directly. After more than 25 years championing artists of the Black diaspora, she holds relationships with galleries, museums, collectors and auction houses that make her a trusted guide for collectors entering those spaces.

But, the curatorial instinct comes before the advisory work. As a curator, she centers the art and the artists. As an adviser, she centers the client.

The project she’s most focused on right now is the Red Clay Art Circle, a private membership community she launched for emerging and established collectors who want to deepen their relationship with Black contemporary art.

✏️ Read more from Sherri Daye Scott here.

3. ForgeUp Ventures takes aim at the accelerator model

💸 Jeff Knight sees a gap in the accelerator model that dominates the startup space. Venture studios can cook up an idea and then recruit a seasoned entrepreneur to run the company. Or accelerators can take equity in a founder and run them through their specified curriculum.

But, neither of those options fully supports founders in “the messy middle”: The post-validation stage, where they have a product, early traction, and some capital, but still need hands-on help turning that momentum into repeatable growth.

So Knight, who is based in Florida, and his team have come up with a new model with ForgeUp Ventures.

➡Read the whole story from Hypepotamus here.

✨ Early bird tickets are now on sale for Community Assistance Center’s CAC Annual Gala on Sat., Sept. 19, from 6-10 p.m. Join us for an inspiring evening supporting neighbors and building a stronger, more stable community. SPONSOR MESSAGE

Photo by Kate Blohm

4. Quick Bites

VIA SIDE DISH, A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER | SUBSCRIBE HERE 

😋 In this week’s Quick Bites, get the scoop on an absolute explosion of restaurant openings around Atlanta and a closure in West Midtown. There are also details on the revamp of Truth Be Told in downtown Roswell, a new seafood restaurant headed to Brookhaven, and a new market and deli opening in DeKalb County from food waste nonprofit Goodr.

🍴Here’s the latest Atlanta dining news.

🎨 Turn creativity into opportunity with ArtsXchange Creative Careers for Youth. Summer intensives in songwriting, journalism, visual literacy, and fashion help teens (ages 11-18) build real-world skills, amplify their voices, and explore future pathways. Scholarships are still available for the June and July programs. More info here. SPONSOR MESSAGE

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