In the Loop
-
Flagpole Teams With DT Productions to Live-Stream Mayoral Forum Thursday
Flagpole is teaming up with Normaltown video producers DT Productions to live-stream a mayoral forum starting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Mar. 29.
The forum will feature all three candidates—Kelly Girtz, Richie Knight and Harry Sims. It will be moderated by me, former Flagpole intern Nate Harris (now a senior reporter at the Red & Black) and DT Productions co-founder Andrew Levy.
Each candidate will be asked three questions in each of three categories: economy and housing, public safety and education, and community. We welcome ideas for questions from readers, so feel free to leave yours in the comments. There will also be an opportunity to suggest questions on Facebook during the forum.
The forum will be streamed on DT Productions' Facebook page, facebook.com/productionsdt.
-
RIP HOPE Scholarship Founder Zell Miller
Zell Miller, the cantankerous former Georgia governor and senator who had a more profound effect on the University of Georgia than any governor since perhaps Eugene Talmadge, died today at the age of 86.
-
Pedestrian Killed on Commerce Road
A driver killed a woman around 10 p.m. Tuesday while she was crossing Commerce Road near the Bulldog Inn, according to Athens-Clarke County police.
Kimberly Pierce, 52, was killed by a '90s-model green Honda with tinted windows. The driver and car left the scene after hitting Pierce. The car likely sustained front-end damage.
Investigators are working to obtain surveillance footage from nearby businesses and believe there were witnesses to the hit-and-run. Anyone with information is asked to call Sgt. Butt 706-208-1718, extension 226.
-
Piedmont Athens Regional Is Planning a $171 Million Expansion
Photo Credit: Blake Aued
Piedmont Athens Regional is planning a $171 million expansion that will add a seven-story tower and nearly a quarter of a million square feet to the Prince Avenue hospital, according to documents filed with the state Department of Community Health.
Piedmont notified DCH last week that it intends to apply for a certificate of need to build an addition to the hospital and renovate other space.
The project would mostly affect the front of the medical complex facing Prince Avenue, where the emergency room entrance is located. It would involve tearing down part of the Prince 1 tower (the oldest part of the hospital) and building a new seven-story tower in its place. A fourth story would be added to the Prince 2 tower, and it would be renovated as well.
-
Harry Sims Has Beef With Athens for Everyone
The progressive group Athens for Everyone gave mayoral candidate Harry Sims a D- on its commission report card last month, and Sims is not happy about it.
The former commissioner has started a change.org petition taking issue with his grade. “[W]e believe Commissioner Sims’ words and actions were deliberately omitted or incorrectly characterized in a way manner [sic] to create a false impression of the commissioner’s positions,” the petition says. “We believe that the A4E report card fails to disclose relevant information, lacks important disclosures of what criteria were used and does not disclose any conflicts of interests that might exist between the group and the candidates/officials that were evaluated.”
-
GDOT Proposes Truck Bypass Around Bishop
The Georgia Department of Transportation has developed an alternate plan for improvements to U.S. 441 that involves a close-in truck bypass on the east side of the City of Bishop.
Photo Credit: Lee Becker
Officials from GDOT presented the broad outlines of the plan to the city council of Bishop on Monday night, where it got at least some support.
The officials said they would present the plan in fuller detail to its citizen advisory committee in a meeting from 5–6:30 p.m. on Mar. 19 at the community center in Oconee Veterans Park.
The truck bypass would take some land from the University of Georgia Equestrian Complex and pass very close to two houses on Old Bishop Road, possibly necessitating the purchase of those two properties, the officials said.
The truck bypass—which could be one or two lanes wide in each direction—would connect to a four-laned U.S. 441 at Astondale Road and High Shoals Road with roundabouts.
-
AADM Hosts Mayoral Forum Tonight; Two More Scheduled
The Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement will host a forum featuring mayoral candidates Kelly Girtz, Richie Knight and Harry Sims from 6–7:30 p.m. today at the Athens-Clarke County Library.
The forum will "center around their action plans to address poverty in Athens, quality of life, diversity and community inclusion," according to the AADM.
Originally the forum was set to be held at Ciné, but it has been moved to the library.
-
Who's Running for Which Office in Athens?
Photo Credit: Nicole Adamson
The five-day qualifying period when candidates officially sign up to run for local, state and federal offices in Georgia ended at noon today. Here's who will be on the ballot:
Page 48 of 235, showing 8 posts out of 1877 total, starting on # 377, ending on 384