Northeast Georgia News
Reporting from Barrow, Clarke, Jackson, Madison, Oconee and surrounding counties.
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Pregnant Women in Georgia Face the Opioid Crisis
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, according to a statewide Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome summary conducted by the Georgia Department of Public Health. Karen Kuehn Howell, assistant professor at…
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Spring Forward: Research Provides Tips to Beat Daylight Savings Slump
Both fall back and spring forward can have more of an impact than we realize. Studies show that it takes about a week to adjust to Daylight Savings Time. However, even after that point, there are still adverse affects on productivity. There are a few ways to combat the Daylight…
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Jury Trials Fade as Plea Bargains Remain The Norm Both Locally and Nationally
The public defender’s office for Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties handles thousands of cases in a given year, but the overwhelming majority of those cases will never see the inside of a courtroom. Most cases are resolved through plea bargaining, a process in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in…
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Athens Police Adopt New Software To Help Locate 911 Calls
A new computer software has the potential to allow the Athens-Clarke County Police Department to locate 9-1-1 callers more quickly and effectively. It’s called RapidSOS, and it was free for the department. Jonathan Jones, who works for Athens Police, said 90 percent of 9-1-1 calls come from cell phones, and…
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New Jackson County High School Gymnastics Team Has Sights Set High
Nine girls from Jackson County are now able to represent their school outside of the classroom. The gymnastics team at Jackson County Comprehensive High School is underway with the program’s first season ever; their first competition was last weekend. Coach Abby Kurbes said she has a long-term vision for this new…
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UGA Pacemaker Program Gives Dogs a Second Chance
Agent Cooper, an 11-year-old husky, is thriving today thanks to his new pacemaker. He belongs to Matthew and Amanda Goldstein, an Athens couple who faced a critical decision. Agent Cooper was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had weeks to live unless he had a costly and risky procedure. I was…
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End of an Era: North Oconee Boys Basketball Coach Retires
David Gascho recorded 55 wins and 131 losses over the course of his 12-year boys basketball coaching career at North Oconee High School, but he created a program that went beyond teaching skills on the basketball court. “Hopefully we taught kids how to work hard, become better men, to realize that…
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EXCLUSIVE: Peek Inside Jackson County Woman’s Home After She Fires Shots to Scare Burglar
A 79-year-old woman fired gunshots and scared a burglar into a crawlspace located in a closet until police arrived to her house in Jackson County. Gwendolyn Agard was in her home on Feb. 12 when a man, who police have identified as 20-year-old Hans Rogers, shattered the glass of a…
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Illegal Drone Flights Spotted By Planes In Barrow, Jackson Counties
A plane flying at 20,000 feet spotted a drone in illegal air space over the Cabin Creek Drive area in Jackson County at the end of January. The drone sighting was reported to the Federal Aviation Administration who then contacted the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office to investigate. Upon arrival to the…
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Athens-Clarke County Library Becomes First Trauma-Informed Library In Georgia
The Athens-Clarke County Library and the University of Georgia School of Social Work have been working together since October to transform the ACC Library into the first trauma-informed library in the state. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, staff in a trauma-informed library understand that trauma…