Atlanta, GA
Government shutdown threatens Atlanta’s innovation economy
Shutdown could slow innovation
The federal government shutdown has halted new research grants from agencies like the NIH and NSF. Local biotech leaders, including Portal Innovations Atlanta and Georgia Tech-based startup Topo DX, say the freeze could stall early-stage research and slow medical breakthroughs. To offset the funding gap, Portal Innovations has launched a $100 million fundraising effort to support startups impacted by the federal pause in research funding.
ATLANTA – In week two of the federal government shutdown, agencies say most new research funding is on hold, a freeze that could slow innovation in Atlanta and beyond.
What they’re saying:
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), no new grants are being processed, and most staff are furloughed. Once operating funds are exhausted at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the federal agency that funds most university research outside of medicine, normal operations will cease. Even a brief delay could have lasting effects on innovation within Atlanta’s growing life sciences economy.
“A lot of innovation is reliant on federal funding support, especially grants like the NIH,” said Ashley Cornelison, executive director of Portal Innovations Atlanta. “Companies’ access to that is going to be perhaps limited, and it will be really challenging for innovation to be able to scale. It could have some long-term effects.”
Portal provides lab space, funding and expert support to help early-stage biotech and medtech startups grow from university research into real companies. The life sciences incubator sits just off the Georgia Institute of Technology campus in Science Square, a public-private partnership on Tech-owned land designed to link university research with private-sector innovation.
One of the companies under the Portal umbrella, Topo DX, is developing faster lab tests to detect infections in hours instead of days, helping patients get the right antibiotics sooner.
“We want to help people, save lives and prevent overuse of antibiotics, which is a huge problem,” said Adam Krueger, co-founder and lead researcher at Topo DX. “Overuse of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance is what they call the ‘silent pandemic.’ It’s a serious killer.”
Krueger built Topo DX from his research at Georgia Tech, as many Atlanta founders have done. The university routinely ranks among the top U.S. institutions in research activity.
On its website this week, Georgia Tech said the shutdown “is delaying payment for federally funded research activities at Georgia Tech, which represent more than $100 million per month in expenses.” The institute said it will begin implementing mitigation strategies “as early as next week to help ensure business continuity during this shutdown.”
“There’s a lot of grants that either aren’t being funded or there’s questions about them being continued,” Krueger said. “A lot of people are uncertain about their future and about their research future.”
Topo DX is applying for grants through the NSF but remains mostly privately funded. Krueger said the freeze will likely hit hardest at the seed stage of research.
“Research is all about finding something new, something that hasn’t been proven yet,” he said. “Private funding makes a lot of sense once you’ve proven what you have works. But in the seed stages, it’s high risk, high reward — and that’s where government funding really matters.”
At Portal, Cornelison said many founders are anxious about the uncertainty.
“They’re concerned about how it will impact not only them and their companies, but the therapies that they might be advancing,” she said.
Local perspective:
Before the shutdown, Portal began bridging the gap in federal funding with private capital, announcing a $100 million fundraising effort “to help these companies in this difficult time and really bridge them in the absence of what might have been other available resources,” Cornelison said.
The Source: This is an original report by FOX 5’s Alli Levine, who spoke with people who use the loans to fund research.
ATLANTA – Atlanta police are searching for three masked men who drove a rental truck directly through the brick wall of a downtown clothing store early Wednesday morning. Investigators say the thieves heavily ransacked the business before making a quick escape.
Atlanta smash-and-grab details
What we know:
The burglary occurred just before 5 a.m. Wednesday at Identity-ATL, a high-end streetwear shop on the 100 block of Walker Street SW. Police say three masked men repeatedly rammed a U-Haul truck into the side of the building, smashing a massive hole in the brick wall.
Store owner Rod Thomas received an urgent call from his alarm company and rushed to his business as fast as he could. The thieves grabbed whatever clothing items they could get their hands on, drove away a white pickup truck, and left behind a pile of rubble.
Shop owners react to destruction
What they’re saying:
Thomas what he saw when he arrived at his store. He worked so hard to build. “I was just speechless, for real,” Thomas said. “I’m just distraught, you know.”
Despite the blow to his storefront, Thomas remains determined to move forward. “I rather they not do that. But I have to move forward,” Thomas said, offering a straightforward message to the thieves: “Do something better. That’s what I would say.”
Phillip Louissaint, who owns Saint’s Professional Grooming barbershop in the same building, said the neighborhood is normally a safe, pleasant place to do business. “It’s very disturbing,” Louissaint said. “Actually, it’s disturbing a little bit. We haven’t had any signs of anything like this happening here.”
Search for masked suspects
What we don’t know:
Police have not yet provided a physical description of the three suspects who remain on the loose. Authorities have also not released an official dollar amount or total value for the clothing items that were stolen during the raid.
No injuries were reported during the crash or the subsequent robbery. Investigators are currently reviewing area surveillance videos to track down the white pickup truck and identify the men responsible.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from store owner Rod Thomas and neighboring business owner Phillip Louissaint, who explained how they experienced the incident.
Atlanta, GA
Jermaine Dupri sues Sony Music over alleged $18 million royalty dispute involving So So Def artists
Atlanta music executive Jermaine Dupri and his So So Def companies are suing Sony Music Entertainment, accusing the record label of improperly handling royalty payments tied to a decades-long business relationship.
The lawsuit, filed July 6 and amended July 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges Sony underpaid, failed to properly report and withheld millions of dollars in royalties connected to recordings by artists including Kris Kross, Xscape, Da Brat and Jagged Edge.
Dupri and So So Def are seeking at least $18 million in damages, along with interest and attorneys’ fees, according to the complaint.
So far, Sony Music Entertainment has not filed a response to the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, Dupri and his companies discovered the alleged royalty issues after a 2025 audit conducted by accounting firm Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman.
According to the complaint, the parties entered a tolling agreement in November 2025 after So So Def raised concerns about approximately $18 million in allegedly unpaid royalties.
The complaint alleges Sony engaged in a pattern of financial reporting problems, including underreporting royalties, failing to report certain royalties, changing royalty statements years later, using incorrect royalty rates and improperly withholding payments.
The lawsuit also alleges Sony improperly used unrecouped balances, money a label claims is still owed from previous expenses, to offset royalty payments that should have been paid.
Kris Kross royalty dispute
One of the largest claims in the lawsuit involves Kris Kross, the Atlanta rap duo known for the 1992 hit “Jump.”
The complaint alleges Sony failed to properly report producer and override royalties from Kris Kross’ first two albums, Totally Krossed Out and Da Bomb.
According to the lawsuit, Sony did not provide royalty statements for those projects until 2023, and Dupri’s companies claim they are owed more than $2.2 million related to those recordings.
The complaint also alleges Sony later produced statements showing more than $33 million in foreign sales connected to Kris Kross royalty accounts and maintained those royalties in a separate accounting system that So So Def did not know existed.
Claims involving Xscape, Da Brat and Jagged Edge
The lawsuit also details royalty disputes involving several other artists connected to Dupri and So So Def. Dupri claims So So Def is owed more than $10 million in interest on unpaid royalties tied to Xscape, Kris Kross and Da Brat projects.
For Xscape, the complaint alleges Sony underreported producer royalties from the group’s 1993 album “Hummin’ Comin’ at ‘Cha” and owes more than $960,000 related to that project.
The lawsuit also alleges Sony underreported production-share royalties by more than $144,000 through incorrect calculations and underreported producer royalties from Xscape’s album “Off the Hook” by more than $22,000.
For Da Brat, the complaint alleges Sony underreported producer royalties from her 1994 album Funkdafied and owes more than $1 million related to that recording. The lawsuit also alleges additional royalties may be owed from her album “Anuthatantrum,” though damages have not been determined.
The lawsuit alleges Sony began reporting previously unreported royalties connected to Jagged Edge’s 1997 album “The Jagged Era” in statements issued in 2023. The complaint claims those statements only covered royalties dating back to 2007, leaving earlier royalties unaccounted for.
Dispute over Sony’s royalty practices
The complaint challenges Sony’s handling of unrecouped balances.
The lawsuit cites an Xscape account that showed an unrecouped balance of about $1.53 million as of 2020. Dupri’s companies allege Sony withheld more than $1 million in royalties generated between 2020 and 2024 because of that balance.
The plaintiffs argue those balances should have been forgiven under Sony Music’s 2021 Artists Forward Legacy Unrecouped Balance Program.
The lawsuit alleges Sony’s failure to apply the program resulted in approximately $1 million in payments that were not made. The complaint also identifies potential royalty issues involving artists and projects connected to So So Def, including: Mariah Carey, Usher, Bow Wow, Bone Crusher, Anthony Hamilton and more.
Dupri and his companies are seeking compensatory damages, interest, attorneys’ fees and a jury trial.
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — After Atlanta hit 96 degrees with a heat index of 102 over the Fourth of July weekend, a City Council member is pushing legislation to formalize how the city responds when extreme heat threatens public health.
Atlanta typically opens cooling centers as temperatures climb, but Councilmember Kelsea Bond said the city lacks a consistent, codified process to ensure the same steps are taken each time extreme heat arrives.
“There’s not something that is cohesive in our code that says this is going to happen this way every single time,” said Michael Julian Bond, Post 1 at-large.
Bond’s proposed resolution would create a citywide heat safety plan. It calls for more cooling centers, expanded outreach to vulnerable residents and using a health-based measure such as HeatRisk to determine what resources are needed based on conditions.
“The many individuals that don’t have working A/C or don’t have adequate air conditioning — we want to make sure they are able to get relief,” Bond said.
Multiple council members have signed on in support, arguing the city needs to prepare for more frequent and intense heat as the climate warms.
“The weather’s not going to get any cooler with global warming, and so we want to be prepared,” Bond said.
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