Police in Georgia have detained Nika Melia, a leading opposition politician, his party said on Thursday.

He is accused of insulting law enforcement officers.

Melia is one of the key figures in the pro-European political alliance Coalition for Change, which is Georgia’s largest opposition group.

It’s the second such detention in recent days.

Last week, a Georgian court placed Zurab Japaridze, another leader of the Coalition for Change, in pre-trial detention for an indeterminate period of time.

Japaridze had refused to appear at a parliamentary inquiry into alleged crimes committed under the former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is now in jail.

Other opposition figures have also been accused of similar offenses. They have also refused to appear at hearings and have rejected the parliamentary inquiry as illegitimate.

What is the situation in Georgia?

Georgia was previously regarded as one of the most pro-Western and democratic of the Soviet Union’s successor states.

But the current ruling Georgian Dream party is accused by critics of mimicking authoritarian tactics employed by Moscow and steering the country towards Russia and away from Europe and its aspirations of joining the European Union.

The government denies the allegations.

Membership of the 27-nation bloc is a popular goal among Georgians and incorporated in the constitution.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, however, last year postponed accession talks with Brussels until 2028.

That decision revived street protests that had rocked the country in 2023 and 2024 after the government introduced the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence — referred to by critics as the “Russian Law” — that requires NGOs to register as foreign agents or “organizations carrying the interests of a foreign power.”

Georgia has had no formal ties with Russia since Moscow backed separatists in two breakaway provinces in 2008.

Edited by: Sean SInico

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Most Georgia Bulldogs fans probably don’t know the names behind the scenes in the Butts-Mehre building that crunch the numbers and spent months making decisions when putting together an athletic budget.

People like Stephanie Ransom, Scott Hallberg and Derek Hammock.

“They’re not the most popular people in the athletic department right now,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said.

On a fourth-floor conference room in Brooks’ AD suite, the senior administrators who oversee the finances and business operations of an athletic department that supports 21 teams have held meetings with every sport and department.

“I can walk into those meetings and play good cop, bad cop depending on what mood I’m in that day and help them out,” Brooks said. “It’s been a lot of work to really refine the budget.”

Brooks said crafting the $223 million fiscal year 2026  budget is more “complex” in the first year of expected direct player payments of about $20.5 million — including $2.5 million of new scholarships — as part of the House Settlement which is awaiting final approval.

Brooks said he approached it wanting minimal impact on the experience of the Georgia athletes.

He asked programs to rank their priorities to find areas that Georgia could be more efficient in, like team travel.

He’s got plenty of company at athletic departments across the country, including colleagues in the SEC who are holding their spring meetings this week at the Sandestin Hilton.

“Every school I’ve talked to has tightened the belt and cut expenses and tried to continue to be good stewards of those dollars,” said Auburn executive deputy athletic director Jared Benko, the former Georgia Southern athletic director. “From a revenue standpoint, you’re always looking to grow in revenue.”

At Georgia, softball is expected to produce $127,500 in ticket revenue after the school began charging for tickets this past season. That’s a far cry from the $43,008,842 projected for football ticket revenue in the next fiscal year which includes a ticket price increase to $80 for all games.

If the SEC goes to nine conference games, more money is expected to flow in through its TV contract with Disney.

“That $20.5 million, that comes from somewhere,” South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer said. “We have to come up with it. All of us as coaches are certainly cognizant of that.”

On the expense side, Georgia athletics has cut its annual payment to university programs to the university from $4 million to $2 million.

Spread out throughout Georgia’s budget numbers is the phrase “reassessment of needs and spending efficiencies,” with cuts to travel, supplies and other areas. Georgia cut its “outsourced meals” from $1.4 million to $834,921 as it prioritized in-house meals over catered meals. Costs for pregame basketball, softball, soccer, gymnastics, tennis and volleyball meals were trimmed.

Georgia projects $1.25 million in revenue for a new, non-athletic related events.

Brooks said the school is eyeing a spring Sanford Stadium concert, but has brought in Top Golf in the stadium in the past.

“We have to look at potentially other things we can bring to Stegeman,” he said. “Now that we have turf on the baseball field, maybe there’s opportunities for maybe a small concert there.”

Oklahoma is cutting 5% of its athletic employees, athletic director Joe Castiglione confirmed this week.

“It’s a massive reimagination of the structure that we need for college athletics, the ecosystem for it and obviously the economics behind it,” he said. “I would say it’s a strategic re-org, streamlining.”

At Auburn, Benko said: “We’re looking under every single rock and tightening the belt.”

A year ago, Texas A&M athletic director Trev Alberts said here: “We don’t have a revenue problem in college athletics, we have an expense problem.”

A year later, here’s how he’s addressed that in College Station.

“We’ve just tried to look at how do we find a way to eliminate redundancy of expenses, how to do a better job of running our business like a business,” said Alberts, noting that student services and academic support make the business of college athletics unique.

Alberts said Texas A&M won’t add additional debt service on facility upgrades so those must be fully funded. That includes a project that would add baseball suites and club seats.

Benko said Auburn is “making things as efficient as possible but still being in position for championships…We’ve put controls in place so every dollar is justified.”

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will close the state’s salt waters to commercial and recreational oyster harvesting for human consumption effective 6 a.m. Sunday, June 1, 2025. The closure extends through midnight on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, and applies to all salt waters from the Georgia-South Carolina state line to the Georgia-Florida border. 

The seasonal closure is enacted annually to protect public health during the warmer months, when the risk of shellfish-related illnesses—particularly those caused by the naturally occurring bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus—is elevated due to rising water temperatures. 

The closure follows the requirements of Georgia law (O.C.G.A. §§ 27-4-195 and 27-4-197(a)) and supports compliance with federal guidelines established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference. These guidelines recommend implementing Vibrio control measures, including seasonal harvest closures, when average water temperatures exceed 81 degrees Fahrenheit. 

An administrative order signed by DNR Commissioner Walter Rabon further cites recent scientific studies showing that the commercial quality of intertidal oyster meats declines significantly during the summer months. 

This closure does not apply to subtidal mariculture oyster farms operated by certified Master Harvesters who have received explicit permission from the DNR. These operations must comply with stringent harvest, handling, and cold-chain management requirements outlined in Georgia’s recently implemented Vibrio control plan and shellfish mariculture regulations. 

Oyster harvesting in Georgia will reopen at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, when cooler temperatures improve both product safety and quality. For more information, contact the Coastal Resources Division at 912-264-7218.