Voter education team reaches out to residents ► PAGE 5
M ay 1 5 , 2 0 2 5 | A p p e n M e d i a . c o m | A n A p p e n M e d i a G r o u p P u b l i c a t i o n | 5 0 ¢ | Vo l u m e 2 9 , N o . 2 0
Fulton County Commission ups funding for jail staffing By HAYDEN SUMLIN hayden@appenmedia.com
JOHNS CREEK SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/PROVIDED
From left, Paul Bhasin, Henry Cheng and Howard Hsu are the finalists for the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra.
Johns Creek orchestra prepares to welcome new musical director By JON WILCOX jon@appenmedia.com JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — After three years, the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra is preparing to welcome a new musical director. The nonprofit plans to announce the decision May 19, Executive Director Linda Brill said. “This is a huge thing for the life of both our organization and the arts community,” Brill said. “We are super excited. This is the culmination of years of work.” The finalists emerged from a search that yielded more than 100 candidates. The new musical director will replace the late founder and maestro J. Wayne Baughman, who died November 2023 after battling pancreatic cancer. Beloved by the orchestra and community, Baughman founded the orchestra in 2007.
The finalists include Paul Bhasin, an Emory University orchestral We are super studies director; Henry excited. This is Cheng, an internationthe culmination ally acclaimed concomposer and of years of work.” ductor, producer from Seoul, South Korea; and LINDA BRILL Howard Hsu, the music Executive Director of the Johns director of the Valdosta Creek Symphony Orchestra Symphony Orchestra. Bhasin, whose career began when he won the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition, has been praised for his “crisp, clear” conducting and “highly expressive interpretations.”
See SYMPHONY, Page 21
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RONY GHELERTER
ATLANTA — The Fulton County Board of Commissioners approved $6.4 million May 7 for the Sheriff’s Office to retain, hire and pay overtime to employees providing detention services at its jail facilities. The supplemental funding is on top of the sheriff’s existing $151.5 million budget in fiscal year 2025. The resolution comes amid a federal consent decree to restore conditions at jail facilities to constitutional, humane standards. The probe into the county’s Rice Street jail and three annexes, including one in Alpharetta, began in 2023 after the murder of an unindicted inmate who had been in custody for eight months. Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat, District Attorney Fani Willis and the Board of Commissioners have come under fire for management of the jail facilities, backlogs in the judicial system and a lack of funding for a solution. “We’ve obviously had a difficult time with staffing, specifically for detention services in our jails. It’s been a persistent issue particularly over the past four years,” County Commissioner Bob Ellis said. “We’ve applied a different sort of measures to try to increase it. We’ve obviously bolstered our annual funding resources.”
See FUNDING, Page 21
MAGGIE LEE/SAPORTA REPORT
The Fulton County Commission approved an additional $6.4 million this year for detention services at jail facilities during its May 7 meeting.
Your Trusted North Atlanta Real Estate Expert Contact Rony Ghelerter C: 703.899.6663 | @ronygsellsatlanta Rony@HOMEgeorgia.com