Northeast Georgia News
Reporting from Barrow, Clarke, Jackson, Madison, Oconee and surrounding counties.
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Watkinsville Mayor Resigns, Walks Out Of City Hall During Council Meeting
Watkinsville Mayor Bob Smith announced his resignation, effective immediately, during the March 17 council meeting. Soon after, Smith posted an official statement to his mayoral Facebook page outlining how he came to this decision. It was a shock to everyone in the meeting, including the council. I think if we…
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How Pandemic Learning Affected Athens Student Teacher, Her Third-Graders
After her long Thursday afternoon teaching meeting, Gaines Elementary School student teacher, Emily Turner, 21, sat down at her computer to talk to Autumn Sanford about the hardships her third-graders faced while adapting to Zoom learning. Autumn Sanford is a senior majoring in journalism and minoring in…
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Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Visits Athens To Recruit UGA Graduates
Between the 27-foot-long hot dog on wheels and free “Wiener Whistles” handed out, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile was the talk of Athens. Hotdoggers Molly “Mayochup Molly” Swindall and Maggie “Mustard Mags” Thomas spent an entire week between Feb. 25 and March 3 recruiting University of Georgia graduating seniors to join…
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Spread of Sustainable Restaurants in Athens: How Composting Is Making Local Restaurants Greener
The last Maepole customer stands from their table and makes their way to a compost bin on the verge of overflow from the day’s diners. After another bustling dinner service, staff began their nightly routine of scrubbing down the kitchen, breaking down seating, sanitizing equipment and taking out the compost;…
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Avid Bookshop’s New Book Club Promotes Literature About Race and Labor
After the George Floyd protests, members of the University of Georgia’s United Campus Workers of Georgia, UCWUGA, realized there are not enough opportunities for open dialogue on racial issues in the Athens community. “We wanted to educate others and ourselves about racial justice,” said Jessica Roberts, a member of UCWUGA’s…
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Black Journalists Express Strain That Reporting On Black Trauma Takes On Mental Health
For Black journalists, covering race and reporting on tragedy can be especially triggering when they are exposed to Black trauma. According to the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, journalists are often at the forefront of traumatic news events, and exposure to these incidents can result in mental health concerns…
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Navigating the Pros and Cons of the Leather Industry
“The consumption of leather products by the humans is very common and used almost every day,” according to N.M. Sivaram and Debabrata Barik in Energy from Toxic Organic Waste for Heat and Power Generation. The debate on whether to invest in real leather or its artificial, faux counterparts is a…
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Madison County’s Public Safety Dilemma Finds Safety Net With Increased Pay Approval
Tonya Tiller has been a paramedic for Madison County for 12 years, and she is one employee who recently received $2.06 more an hour when the Madison County Board of Commissioners passed salary increases on Jan. 28 for its public safety employees. “So, as far as being impacted, I think…
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Rook and Pawn Bartender Divulges Impact of COVID-19
Abigail Burrow, a bartender at The Rook & Pawn, describes her personal experience navigating her job at Athens’ unique board game bar. She provides Iris Hersey with the unique perspective of being the person behind the bar during a time when some find it hard to justify even being…
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UGA’s COVID-19 Learning Formats Yield Benefits, Obstacles
The University of Georgia has instituted a variety of classroom instructional formats, which have posed both benefits and obstacles to the success of its students’ learning experiences since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The fall 2020 semester was spent mostly online because of the uncertainty that the pandemic brought for…