In the Loop
-
Jack Kingston Endorses Doug Collins for Congress
Jack Kingston.
Former congressman Jack Kingston has endorsed Rep. Doug Collins (R-Gainesville) over former Athens congressman Paul Broun and two other challengers in Northeast Georgia’s 9th District Republican primary.
Kingston is an Athens native who represented Savannah in Congress for 20 years until, like Broun, he left his seat to run for Senate. (Broun finished fifth with 10 percent of the vote, while Kingston lost a runoff to David Perdue.) Kingston also served with Collins, who was first elected in 2012.
Here are the statements from Kingston and Collins released by the Collins campaign on Monday:
-
Wave Goodbye to the Prince Avenue Flags
Photo Credit: Uma Nagendra
The bright orange flags at two Prince Avenue crosswalks are gone—for good this time.
The Athens-Clarke County Transportation and Public Works Department placed the flags at crosswalks near The Grit and Daily Grocery for people to wave at drivers as they crossed the busy street more than a year ago, but they didn't work, according to ACC traffic engineer Steve Decker.
A study done by TPW and police found that waving the flags did not make more drivers slow down or stop, so TPW stopped replacing the flags.
-
UGA Poets Oppose Campus Carry Bill
A group of University of Georgia poets has joined the widespread opposition to HB 859, the "campus carry" bill that would lift a ban on guns in university classrooms and offices.
Magdalena Zurawski, a UGA creative writing professor who was featured in Flagpole last year, and Jenny Gropp, managing editor of the Georgia Review, have created a group called the Poetry Action Network to oppose the bill. They're asking people to send in photos of themselves holding signs stating their opposition to the bill (an example is above) so the photos can be forwarded to Gov. Nathan Deal's office. Deal has until May 3 to sign or veto the legislation.
Here's the full letter from Zurawski and Gropp that's circulating around town:
-
Nuçi’s Space Wins Grant for Solar Panels
Photo Credit: Blake Aued
Nuçi’s Space Executive Director Bob Sleppy with Gretchen Elsner of Solarize Athens, Mayor Nancy Denson and Colleen McLoughlin of Environment Georgia.
The local nonprofit Nuçi’s Space is getting rooftop solar panels thanks to Solarize Athens, a program that offers local residents and businesses bulk discounts on solar-panel installation.
Solarize Athens and the environmental nonprofit Environment Georgia announced an $11,000 grant to Nuçi’s Space this afternoon to help pay for the $20,000 panels. Nuçi’s Space won the grant from among four nonprofit applicants.
“Solar made the most sense for Nuçi’s Space and would have the biggest impact on their energy bills,” said Colleen McLoughlin, solar campaign organizer for Environment Georgia.
-
Weigh In on Closing Newton, Chase Street Bike Lanes
Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones/file
Since the Athens-Clarke County Transportation and Public Works Department, at the Bottleworks owners’ urging, reversed a one-way block of Newton Street from northbound to southbound in 2013, the number of crashes there has risen by 40 percent.
It’s a small number—only three per year, on average, according to TPW Director David Clark. Most of those crashes involve people waiting to turn left from Prince Avenue onto Newton and getting rear-ended, he said.
TPW is floating a plan to close the block of Newton between Taziki’s and The Grit to create an outdoor cafe (along with three on-street parking spaces and enough room for emergency vehicles). The idea came from UGA professor Jack Crowley’s downtown master plan.
-
Athens Power Rankings for the Week of Apr. 11
Welcome to Athens Power Rankings. In the spirit of sports rating systems, through painstaking analysis, we rank the top movers and shakers in the Classic City each week. Who's hot? Who's not? Find out below.
Eric Bachmann
-
Michael Stipe Joins Bernie Sanders at New York Rally
Photo Credit: Yamiche Alcindor via Twitter.
Former R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe is looking forward to the day when a Bernie Sanders presidency isn't merely a Coney Island of the mind.
Stipe (and his Marxist beard)—who endorsed Sanders in a February Rolling Stone interview—introduced him at a Coney Island rally on Sunday. (Sanders grew up in Brooklyn, while Stipe is a part-time New Yorker.) The Vermont senator is trying to cut into former New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s double-digit lead in the Empire State’s Apr. 19 primary.
-
Actor Tituss Burgess Shames 'Shady' Georgia and UGA
Photo Credit: "The Late Show" via Twitter
Athens native Tituss Burgess, star of Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” had some harsh words for his home state during an appearance on “The Late Show” Friday.
The Emmy-nominated actor, who graduated from Cedar Shoals High School and the University of Georgia, told host Stephen Colbert that he wants to give a commencement speech at UGA. The hypothetical speech, he said, would take aim at student apathy and the “religious liberty” bill passed by the state legislature but vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal last month. He gave Colbert's audience a preview:
Page 102 of 235, showing 8 posts out of 1877 total, starting on # 809, ending on 816