Blog posts by Blake Aued, Editor
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Creature Comforts Is Building a Second Brewery in Boulevard
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: courtesy of Creature Comforts
Creature Comforts will renovate part of an old mill off Chase Street just north of Boulevard into an $8 million new brewery slated to open this fall, the Athens company announced today.
The Athens-Clarke County Commission unanimously approved a $475,000 taxpayer contribution to the project at a specially called meeting tonight. The county Industrial Development Authority will use the money to buy brewing equipment that it will lease to Creature Comforts for a nominal fee for five years, after which Creature Comforts will own the equipment.
"This is an Athens company, and we want to keep those expansions here," ACC Manager Blaine Williams said.
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Beer Roundup: Releases From Creature Comforts, Terrapin, New Brewpub Akademia
Blog: Grub Notes
Photo Credit: courtesy of Creature Comforts
Athens brewery Creature Comforts is releasing two limited-edition releases this month, Southerly Love and Get Comfortable.
Back for the first time since 2014 is Southerly Love (6.4% ABV), an American Wild Ale brewed with Belgian brettanomyces yeast and Idaho 7, Cascade and Crystal hops, giving it papaya and tangerine flavors to go with brett beers’ trademark funk. The collaboration with Florida’s 7venth Sun Brewery will be available on draft and in 750-milliliter souvenir bombers at the brewery starting Jan. 17.
University of Georgia scientific illustration major Katie Schmidt designed the label, pictured above.
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UGA Schedules Memorial Service for Late Professor Judith Ortiz Cofer
Blog: Culture Briefs
Photo Credit: The University of Georgia
The University of Georgia will hold a memorial service Friday, Jan. 27 for Judith Ortiz Cofer, an award-winning author, poet and professor who died of cancer at her Jackson County home Dec. 30.
Ortiz Cofer was born in Puerto Rico in 1952. Her family moved to New Jersey in 1956, then to Augusta, GA when she was 15. She taught English and creative writing at UGA for nearly 30 years before retiring in 2013.
Ortiz Cofer was known for her prose and poetry about growing up Puerto Rican and being torn culturally between the mainland U.S. and her traditional family. Her 1989 novel The Line of the Sun was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and she was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2010.
The memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. at The Chapel, with a reception following at the Demosthenian Hall.
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ESPN: Georgia Might Win the SEC East Next Year
Blog: Culture Briefs
After a disappointing season capped off by watching Clemson win the national title with a quarterback from Georgia whom the Bulldogs didn't even bother to recruit, UGA fans probably needed a stiff drink last night.
But this morning, ESPN posted its first top-25 rankings for the 2017 season, and guess what? They think Georgia will be pretty good this year!
The Worldwide Leader ranks the Dawgs No. 13:
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Get Ready for Snowpocalypse 2017
Blog: In the Loop
Good thing they finally built the Brain Train, amirite?
The latest forecast from the National Weather Service predicts a mix of rain and sleet tonight and 1–3 inches of snow Saturday morning in Athens.
The UGA campus will close at 3:30 p.m., meaning all classes and other activities are canceled, and faculty and staff can go home early. Campus Transit shuts down at 4:30 p.m. The men's basketball game Saturday and the women's basketball game Sunday are still going on as planned, for the moment. Check here for updates.
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UPDATE: The Chess and Community Conference Has Been Postponed
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Chess and Community
Local nonprofit Chess and Community will hold its annual conference Saturday from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. at UGA's Tate Student Center featuring a keynote speech from the mayor of Tallahassee, FL, and chess matches between Athens youth and police, UGA football players and county commissioners.
The conference will kick off with a welcome from Athens-Clarke County Manager Blaine Williams, followed by a speech by Andrew Gillum, who was elected to the Tallahassee City Commission at age 23 while a student at Florida A&M University and elected mayor in 2014. Attendees will also hear from Beau Shell, a young entrepreneur known as the Lil' Ice Cream Dude.
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RIP Georgia Superfan Mike 'Big Dawg' Woods
Blog: Culture Briefs
Photo Credit: UGA Football Live via Twitter
You know who I'm talking about—the bald guy with the bulldog painted on top of his head who's ubiquitous on Athens gameday Saturdays.
Georgia superfan Mike "Big Dawg" Woods died earlier today, according to several sources. UGA Football Live appears to have broken the news:
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The Georgia Square Mall Macy's Is Closing
Blog: In the Loop
The Georgia Square Mall Macy’s is one of 68 that will close this year as the company—like most brick-and-mortar department stores—continues to face declining revenue.
The Athens location, one of 880 nationwide, will close Mar. 1, potentially putting 69 employees out of work. Overall, the department-store chain is shedding more than 6,000 jobs.
According to a press release:
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Watch a Llama Run Free in Oconee County
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: Oconee County Sheriff's Office via Facebook
The offending llama with Capt. David Hale, the Oconee County Sheriff's Office's "llama whisperer."
Llama, llama ... Oconee Count-ah?
The Peruvian pack animal caused a stir this afternoon when it was spotted running free through the rugged peaks of Epps Bridge Parkway.
According to the Oconee County Sheriff's Office, they received a call around 4 p.m. that a "baby camel" was running loose around the busy commercial strip.
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Where and When to Recycle Your Christmas Tree
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: Kelvinsong/Wikimedia Commons
The presents have been opened, you're finally over your hangover from all that eggnog plus New Year's Eve champagne, and life is getting back to normal now that the holidays are over. So, what to do with that slowly dying pine tree in your living room?
Athens-Clarke County has four drop-off locations to recycle Christmas trees for free (and get a free seedling) during its "Bring One for the Chipper" event Saturday, Jan. 7 from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. They are:
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Judge: Georgia Immigrants Protected by DACA Can Pay In-State Tuition
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones/file
Undocumented students and supporters protest Georgia immigration policy outside UGA President Jere Morehead's office in 2014.
Georgia residents who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and are protected from deportation by an Obama Administration policy should be allowed to pay in-state tuition at Georgia colleges, a Fulton County court ruled today.
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11 Days of Christmas: 2 Many Chainz
Blog: In the Loop
This is a locally owned business.
As the Flagpole staff takes a much-needed break over the holidays, we're reposting 11 of our most popular, most important, funniest and/or otherwise noteworthy stories of this most dismal of years. Look for a new post each day through Jan. 2.
In August, a UGA student wrote a dumb column for The Red & Black about how students prefer chains to local businesses. It outraged a lot of people, and I was bored, so I wrote a takedown that wound up being the most-read article on our website of the whole year. Read it again here.
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11 Days of Christmas: Ludacris' Liquor and Condoms
Blog: Homedrone
As the Flagpole staff takes a much-needed break over the holidays, we're reposting 11 of our most popular, most important, funniest and/or otherwise noteworthy stories of this most dismal of years. Look for a new post each day through Jan. 2.
New Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart wanted to bring 90,000 fans to Athens for the Bulldogs' annual spring practice game, and what better way to do it than to hire gazillion-selling rapper Ludacris to perform on G-Day?
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11 Days of Christmas: RIP Jack Davis, a Damn Good Dawg
Blog: Culture Briefs
Photo Credit: Jack Davis
As the Flagpole staff takes a much-needed break over the holidays, we're reposting 11 of our most popular, most important, funniest and/or otherwise noteworthy stories of this most dismal of years. Look for a new post each day through Jan. 2.
Illustrator Jack Davis—a UGA graduate renowned for his satirical cartoons in Mad magazine as well as his popular Georgia Bulldog-themed drawings—died July 27 at the age of 91. From Arts Editor Jessica Smith's obituary:
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11 Days of Christmas: Indie South Fair Blows Up
Blog: Culture Briefs
Photo Credit: Missy Kulik
As the Flagpole staff takes a much-needed break over the holidays, we're reposting 11 of our most popular, most important, funniest and/or otherwise noteworthy stories of this most dismal of years. Look for a new post each day through Jan. 2.
Indie South Fair has long drawn artists and craftsmen not only from Athens, but all over the Southeast. So it made sense for founder Serra Ferguson to take her show on the road.
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11 Days of Christmas: Celebrity Beefs
Blog: Culture Briefs
Tituss Burgess on "The Late Show."
As the Flagpole staff takes a much-needed break over the holidays, we're reposting 11 of our most popular, most important, funniest and/or otherwise noteworthy stories of this most dismal of years. Look for a new post each day through Jan. 2.
It didn't rise to the level of R.E.M.'s feud with Donald Trump in 2015, but two celebrities with Athens ties—Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood and actor Tituss Burgess—both mixed it up with the powers that be in 2016, and judging by the online traffic, Flagpole readers loved it.
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Sign Up for Obamacare While You Still Can
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: National Cancer Institute
It's no secret that the incoming Trump Administration and congressional Republicans are plannning to dismantle Obamacare. But you can still sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act—at least for the next year.
While the deadline to buy coverage effective on Jan. 1 was Dec. 19, HHS has extended the open enrollment period until Jan. 31, 2017.
In addition, health care navigators from the Macon-based group Insure Georgia will be at the Athens-Clarke County Library (2025 Baxter St.) from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Thursday to help people sign up.
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11 Days of Christmas: Athens Hip Hop Gets Political
Blog: In the Loop
Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones/file
Mokah Jasmine Johnson talks with ACCPD Capt. Mark Magnuson during a Black Lives Matter rally in July.
As the Flagpole staff takes a much-needed break over the holidays, we're reposting 11 of our most popular, most important, funniest and/or otherwise noteworthy stories of this most dismal of years. Look for a new post each day through Jan. 2.
A new voice emerged in local politics in 2016—a year when blue-on-black violence continued to roil the nation. Hip-hop promoters Mokah Jasmine Johnson and her husband, Knowa, spoke up with a message of peace and harmony in a city that too often ignores its racial fault lines.
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11 Days of Christmas: Wuxtry Turns 40
Blog: Homedrone
Photo Credit: Matt Hardy/file
As the Flagpole staff takes a much-needed break over the holidays, we're reposting 11 of our most popular, most important, funniest and/or otherwise noteworthy stories of this most dismal of years. Look for a new post each day through Jan. 2.
One could say—fine, I'm saying it—that the Athens music scene has east and west poles, not north and south: The 40 Watt Club at Washington and Pulaski, and Wuxtry Records at Clayton and College. At one of these places (or in the few blocks in between) is where most of the great music in this town has been made and heard for decades.
The venerable record store, which has nurtured former clerks and future stars like Kate Pierson, Peter Buck, Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton and John Fernandes, turned 40 this year:
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11 Days of Christmas: Athens Defeats Campus Carry
Blog: In the Loop
As the Flagpole staff takes a much-needed break over the holidays, we're reposting 11 of our most popular, most important, funniest and/or otherwise noteworthy stories of this most dismal of years. Look for a new post each day through Jan. 2.
It almost seems like a minor issue now, given what's about to be unleashed by the Trump Administration, but last spring UGA was up in arms (bad pun intended) about a bill to legalize guns on college campuses.
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latest stories
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In the Loop | January 17, 2017 7:39pm
Creature Comforts Is Building a Second Brewery in Boulevard
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Grub Notes | January 12, 2017 1:46pm
Beer Roundup: Releases From Creature Comforts, Terrapin, New Brewpub Akademia
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Culture Briefs | January 10, 2017 3:27pm
UGA Schedules Memorial Service for Late Professor Judith Ortiz Cofer
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Culture Briefs | January 10, 2017 12:08pm
ESPN: Georgia Might Win the SEC East Next Year
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In the Loop | January 6, 2017 1:17pm
Get Ready for Snowpocalypse 2017
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In the Loop | January 5, 2017 5:24pm
UPDATE: The Chess and Community Conference Has Been Postponed
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Culture Briefs | January 4, 2017 11:09pm
RIP Georgia Superfan Mike 'Big Dawg' Woods
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In the Loop | January 4, 2017 8:40pm
The Georgia Square Mall Macy's Is Closing
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In the Loop | January 4, 2017 8:09pm
Watch a Llama Run Free in Oconee County
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In the Loop | January 4, 2017 2:22pm
Where and When to Recycle Your Christmas Tree
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In the Loop | January 3, 2017 2:42pm
Judge: Georgia Immigrants Protected by DACA Can Pay In-State Tuition
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In the Loop | January 2, 2017 9:00am
11 Days of Christmas: 2 Many Chainz
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Homedrone | January 1, 2017 10:23am
11 Days of Christmas: Ludacris' Liquor and Condoms
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Culture Briefs | December 31, 2016 10:53am
11 Days of Christmas: RIP Jack Davis, a Damn Good Dawg
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Culture Briefs | December 30, 2016 10:14am
11 Days of Christmas: Indie South Fair Blows Up
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Culture Briefs | December 29, 2016 9:00am
11 Days of Christmas: Celebrity Beefs
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In the Loop | December 28, 2016 12:25pm
Sign Up for Obamacare While You Still Can
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In the Loop | December 28, 2016 9:00am
11 Days of Christmas: Athens Hip Hop Gets Political
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Homedrone | December 27, 2016 9:00am
11 Days of Christmas: Wuxtry Turns 40
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In the Loop | December 26, 2016 5:00pm
11 Days of Christmas: Athens Defeats Campus Carry