Athens-Clarke County
Reporting about Clarke County, Georgia. Some stories will be republished in the Athens Banner-Herald as part of a news-academic partnership with Grady Newsource.
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Athens Vulture Festival Returns to Educate, Create Empathy
Athens is making efforts to educate people about the value of our under-appreciated avian friends, vultures. On Sept. 28, Athens is holding its sixth annual Athens Vulture Festival. The event will kick off with a bird walk at 8 a.m. and festivities will continue through noon. The bird walk will…
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UGA vs. Notre Dame Game to Bring Thousands of Visitors, Dollars to Athens
The University of Georgia vs. Notre Dame football game this Saturday will set an all-time attendance record for Sanford Stadium when the Fighting Irish and the Bulldogs go head-to-head on Sept. 21. Record-Setting Attendance Athens does not have an exact estimate for how many visitors the game day weekend may…
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3 Athens-Clarke County Officials Advocate For Board of Elections Audit
Some Athens-Clarke County officials are advocating for an audit of the Board of Elections in light of a congressional investigation regarding a voting machine at the Winterville Train Depot precinct. The investigation is in response to last November’s unexplained decline in votes for lieutenant governor. Democrats won every partisan race…
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Accountability in ACCPD: Police Complaints Go Through Specific Process
In 2017, two out of 46 total police complaints made against Athens-Clarke County Police Department received disciplinary action, according to an investigation of over 100 complaints. In 2018, a similar number of complaints received disciplinary action. Complaints in Athens go to the department’s Office of Professional Standards and Recruitment, where…
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Criminal Cases in Athens: An Examination of Public Defenders Versus Hired Attorneys
Defendants, with their friends, family and attorneys, slowly filed into Judge Lawton Stephens’ courtroom in the Athens-Clarke County Courthouse for an arraignment on the morning of April 5, 2019. Low chatter filled the room as the crowd waited for Stephens to arrive, attorneys streaming in and out of the courtroom.…
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Breaking Down Georgia’s Winding Path to Medical Marijuana Legalization
When Nora Bushfield’s daughter was born, she gave her the name Jolie. Jolie means pretty in French, and her mother said she is. She’s beautiful. When Jolie was nine months old, she started having uncontrollable seizures. Intractable, they’re called, because they can’t be stopped by typical treatment methods. Jolie could…
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Fantastic Fruits and Where to Find Them: Exploring Local Produce in Athens, Georgia
“Where do you get your groceries?” wasn’t always a loaded question. Before the mid-2000s, you weren’t expected to wonder where your supermarket apples were grown, or how they got to the supermarket. Since then, however, the local food movement has taken off. Over the last two decades, demand for locally…
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Drivers May Want to Start Pumping the Brakes: Analysis Finds High Speeds, Ticket Volume on College Station Road
Hundreds of Athens drivers were caught going over the speed limit in 2018 on College Station Road. If you were one of the ones caught speeding, chances are, you were going 20 miles per hour over the speed limit, it was in the afternoon, and you were pulled over by…
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UGA Students with Disabilities Advocate for Awareness on Campus
Beginning in high school, the sounds of coughing, sniffing, heavy breathing and dishes clattering triggered a pain-like reaction for Angelise Sleeman. Sleeman, a fifth-year jewlery and metals major, learned she had misophonia. Misophonia, or selective sound sensitivity syndrome, is a disability related to hearing where certain sounds cause a strong…
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College Campuses, Special Chances: Art Flourishes in Athens
College towns are their own archetype of place, a special genre of city. They breed certain circumstances that can make for a great home for art to flourish. Athens is no exception. Thought most often known for its lively music scene, there is more going on in the Athens art world…