Northeast Georgia News
Reporting from Barrow, Clarke, Jackson, Madison, Oconee and surrounding counties.
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ANNOTATED: Pregnant Women in Georgia Face the Opioid Crisis
ANNOTATION INSTRUCTIONS: When you see a light red highlight , click on the small comment box to the right to read the reporter’s annotation. Georgia’s number of confirmed cases of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, a withdrawal condition babies may experience due to prenatal exposure to opioids, almost doubled from 2016 to 2017,…
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Popularity of Substance-Free Activities at UGA Continues to Grow
Students at the University of Georgia are starting to push back against the alcohol-infused mentality many associate with typical college culture. Kelly Truesdell, who works closely with groups organizing these events through her job with the UGA Fontaine Center, says one of the major driving factors behind this trend has…
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Electric Buses Are Coming to UGA For Next School Year
UGA has recently signed a contract with South Carolina tech company Proterra and will be receiving up to 20 Proterra Catalyst E2 electric buses in time for the upcoming academic year. The new addition to UGA’s transit is being funded by a $10 million grant. The university was awarded the…
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Local School Credits Athletics With Lowering Crime Rates
A recent study shows that 68 percent of incarcerated males do not have a high school diploma. The Athens-Clarke County school system is striving to help reduce crime rates by strengthening the school system. “The single best thing we can do as educators to reduce crime is to start in…
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DUI Arrests Decreasing Each Year in Athens-Clarke County
Since 2007, the number of DUI arrests in Athens-Clarke County has decreased steadily from 827 cases in 2007 to just 350 cases in 2018. Two factors may contribute to this decline: a decline in the number of police officers and fewer people choosing to drive drunk. Since 2016, the…
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Athens Clarke-County Plans to Eliminate Cash Bail System
The Athens-Clarke County Commission and mayor plan to eliminate bail for local ordinance violations. “We’re talking about the elimination of bail and bond for crimes that are generally a misdemeanor, non-violent, non-problematic sorts of things where we’re not putting the public at risk,” said Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz. He…
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Athens-Clarke County Police Department Offers Online Incident Reports
Athens Clarke County residents can now file incident reports digitally. It’s important we have officers out there actually doing the policing,” said County Manager Blaine Williams. Benefits of Digital Reports Officers no longer have to come to the police department lobby to take a report, a process that takes them…
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UGA Researchers First in the World to Genetically Modify Lizards
For the first time ever, a lizard has been successfully genetically modified, and it happened right here at the University of Georgia. James Lauderdale, Douglas Menke and the rest of their team in UGA’s department of genetics have been working on this for the last two years. Now, they are…
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Emergency Medical Service Shortage Affects Northeast Georgia
A nationwide shortage of Emergency Medical Service personnel has swept the nation, including counties all across Georgia. Because of these shortages, EMS workers in affected areas have had to work a lot of overtime, and in extreme cases, ambulances have had to stop operations for lack of employees. In Madison…
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Georgia Justice Project Seeks to Provide Life-Changing Opportunities
It looked like April LaLand-Sentmanat had no way out. Terrified for her 10-year prison sentence, LaLand-Sentmanat decided to put her faith in the Georgia Justice Project. After 30 years, the Georgia Justice Project (GJP) continues to provide legal defense, social support, and employment opportunities to people convicted of crimes in…