In Brief

ZOO

Zoo Atlanta lays off 4, plans other cutbacks

Zoo Atlanta, feeling a continued pinch from the economy, has laid off four full-time staffers. The employees held jobs in education, multimedia, human resources and animal staff.

Chief executive officer and president Dennis Kelly volunteered to take a 10 percent salary cut.

“Crucial parts of the zoo’s 2009 plan have been behind budget for the first five months” of the year, chief financial officer Kathy Williams said.

Williams said additional cuts would include a reduction of seasonal employee hours and cuts in discretionary spending such as training. HOWARD POUSNER

Supreme court

UGA students will have to turn down the music

The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by two University of Georgia students who claimed a local noise ordinance unlawfully restricted the volume of their music.

The lawsuit said the noise ordinance should not be so restrictive in downtown Athens, the heart of the city’s pulsing music scene which has spawned bands such as R.E.M., the B-52s and Love Tractor. The ordinance prohibits shouting, singing and playing music if the sound can be heard from 300 feet away at any time or from 100 feet after 11 p.m. on weeknights and after midnight on the weekends.

The state Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, dismissed the suit. The court found that the two students had failed to show any harm or injury resulting from the ordinance.

BILL RANKIN

UNITED WAY

Metro United Way falls short of donation goal

The United Way of Metro Atlanta fell $1.2 million short of its $82 million goal in the fund-raising campaign that ended in March.

“Our United Way has not been immune to this recession,” said President Milton J. Little Jr.

The $80.5 million raised will go the more than 350 community programs United Way supports.

Little said projections of coming donations will be “tough” because of continuing layoffs and an anticipated increase in unfulfilled pledges.

“We are going to talk to CEOs and other donors and use what we learn to set the [new fund-raising] goal in September,” Little said. CHRISTOPHER QUINN

GWINNETT

Waller picked to be new juvenile judge

Gwinnett County Magistrate Judge Robert Waller has been selected to become the next Juvenile Court judge in Gwinnett County. He will replace Judge Phyllis Miller.

Waller said Monday that the appointment has “been a lifelong dream for me and I’m just happy as I can be.”

Waller, a former high school teacher, has prosecuted cases in Juvenile Court and served for two years as an associate Juvenile Court judge. ANDRIA SIMMONS