Northeast Georgia News
Reporting from Barrow, Clarke, Jackson, Madison, Oconee and surrounding counties.
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Athens Yelp ‘Elite Squad’ Is Shaping Our Food Choices
Everyone has an opinion—especially about food. Since the popular crowd-sourced review forum website Yelp launched in 2004, it has amassed over 192 million reviews from ordinary citizens around the globe looking to impart some of their own wisdom regarding restaurants, hotels, home services, auto services and more. In an age…
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Disease Creates Challenges For Peach Farmers, Need For Change In Farming Patterns
If you’ve lived in the state of Georgia, more than likely you are familiar with the concept of “the Georgia peach.” It’s on the welcome sign at the border, on licence plates and part of the state’s official logo. According to USDA statistics, however, the overall utilized production of peaches…
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Owners of Local Mexican Grocery ‘La Jalisco’ Discuss Struggles, Rewards of Small Business
Transcript and Audio: Carolina Medrano and Fatima Mendoza on Family Business ‘La Jalisco’ MARA NELMS: It’s a grocery store like any other — you can find apples and potatoes, cuts of beef and pork, fresh bread and pastries. You can also find horchata, popular Mexican candies, and authentic tacos. It’s…
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New SPLOST Has Implications for Future of Work in Athens
A 1% sales tax is being implemented once again in Athens-Clarke County after a Special Local Option Sales Tax was approved by referendum on Nov. 5, 2019. This most recent SPLOST—to fund a set of construction and improvement projects—was approved by 78 percent of the nearly 9,000 ballots cast, which…
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Solar Panels, Sustainable Workplaces Bring New Energy to Athens
A growing trend in the world of work is the rise of sustainability – which means that businesses and governments are taking responsibility for their actions and resource use by incorporating renewable energy, waste management, and resourceful practices into their business models. The implementation of sustainability can look like Starbucks…
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Magic Mushrooms Decriminalization Making Progress, Still Far Behind Cannabis
While marijuana is being decriminalized or legalized in states and municipalities across America, there is a new push to decriminalize psilocybin. Psilocybin is a naturally occurring hallucinogenic substance famously found in more than 200 kinds of mushrooms that are collectively referred to as “magic mushrooms” or “psychedelic mushrooms.” Zane Bader…
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Concussions Lead to A National Decline in High School Football, But Not in Georgia
Whistle. Break. Whistle. Break. The sound of helmets clashing against full pads fills the air until the whistle is blown and it’s time for the next two players’ strength and game-like skills to be put to the test. This is the sound of the Oklahoma drill in football practice. As…
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Locavores Unite: How Athens Restaurants Utilize Local Food In Menus
Visit any Athens restaurant and you’re likely to be hit with a board of specials, often containing a multitude of locally sourced ingredients. Differentiating itself from mass produced ingredients, local food is produced within a short distance of where it is consumed. Just as carnivores and herbivores eat strictly meat…
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How Local Trash Disposal Affects Climate Change
Approximately 300 tons of material is disposed of in the Athens-Clarke County Landfill daily. The average dump truck holds 12 to 14 tons of waste, so approximately 23 dump truck loads of garbage are dumped into the 289-acre landfill per day. Yet, not all of it should be garbage. “About…
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KEBA Sandwiches Closure: Local Businesses Can Struggle With Brand Awareness
The final two KEBA Sandwiches locations closed on Oct. 20, 2019. Partial-owner Paul Whitman said he thinks they closed because they lacked brand awareness. “I think we really needed to bring in more of the current Athens community. We were living in the past,” Whitman said. Owner Todd DeJasserand…