In the Loop
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Moody's Downgrades Piedmont's Credit After ARMC Merger
Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones/file
Athens Regional Medical Center, before it was renamed Piedmont Athens Regional earlier this month.
The investment rating firm Moody's isn't optimistic about Piedmont Healthcare's future after it acquired the hospital formerly known as Athens Regional Medical Center.
Moody's gave three upcoming bond issues totaling $406 million an Aa3 rating (i.e. really safe) but downgraded Piedmont's credit outlook to "negative" in part because of the debt the company is taking on to acquire ARMC and its subsidiaries, according to Saporta Report, a news site run by longtime Atlanta journalist Maria Saporta.
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Graduate Hotels Honor Athens First Responders After UGA-Ole Miss Bet
Photo Credit: ZoomWorks Photography
When Devin Heath and Mike Hoover made a friendly wager on the UGA-Ole Miss football game, first responders in both cities reaped the benefits.
Heath, general manager of the Graduate Athens hotel, and Hoover, GM of the Graduate hotel in Oxford, MS, struck a deal: The loser would travel from their respective hotel to the other, along with a culinary team prepared to serve the first responders of the winners city a meal that reflected the local flavor.
After Georgia lost to Ole Miss, Heath and his team packed up and made the seven-hour trip to Oxford, serving dishes like peach ribs and Southern baked beans. In friendly fun and rivalry, Hoover donned Heath in an Ole Miss jersey, hat and a bib that proclaimed “I’m a lil’ Rebel.”
In a show of good sportsmanship however, Hoover decided the first responders of Athens deserved a good Mississippi meal as well.
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Oconee Chairman Melvin Davis Will Make the Call on Calls Creek Sewer Before He Steps Down
Photo Credit: Lee Becker/file
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis said Tuesday that he is open to bringing the decision on whether to build a sewer line down Calls Creek up for action before he leaves the board in January.
In an email message to Jim McGarvey, president of Friends of Calls Creek, Davis said “I do not have any issues with the current Board of Commissioners acting” on sewer issues, even though Commissioner Jim Luke is retiring in January and will be replaced and one slot on the board is vacant.
Davis’ willingness to go forward with a vote on the sewer pipeline and other sewer issues before January puts pressure on opponents and proponents of the sewer pipeline to influence the outcome of the special election now underway to fill the vacant position on the board.
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Oconee County Joins the Chorus Against the 'Opportunity School District'
Oconee County School Superintendent Jason Branch.
Both Oconee County School Superintendent Jason Branch and Board of Education Chairman Tom Odom have spoken out publicly against Amendment 1 to Georgia Constitution that is on the November ballot.
The so-called Opportunity School District amendment asks voters to decide if they want “to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?"
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Reminder: Early Voting Is Underway
Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones
In case you haven't noticed, there's an election coming up, and not a moment too soon. Early voting started Monday at the ACC Board of Elections office and runs through Friday, Nov. 4.
As you can see from the photo above, there have been long lines already, even though early voting doesn't tend to pick up until closer to Election Day. People must be hyped about choosing between Giant Douche and Turd Sandwich. (Actually, the Athens Banner-Heraldreports that people just want to get it over with so they can preserve what's left of their sanity by ignoring the news for the next three weeks.)
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Athens Power Rankings for the Week of Oct. 17
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.
Mike Mills
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Tate Preacher Charged With Assaulting UGA Student
An itinerant preacher was arrested outside the Tate Student Center Tuesday and charged with elbowing a student in the face during a confrontation in front of about 200 onlookers.
The preacher, Ross M. Jackson, 33, "hit the student during a tense confrontation in which he and the student stood eye-to-eye, separated by a space of about one inch," the Athens Banner-Herald reported.
The student, Keaton Law, told the Red & Black that he was upset that Jackson was calling students "sinners" and "whores."
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Congressman Hice Urges Athens Republicans to 'Stay Focused,' Vote for Trump
They wouldn't mention him by name, but at least two Republican elected officials representing Athens are urging GOP voters to continue supporting Donald Trump in spite of the video that surfaced Friday of Trump describing sexually assaulting women and attempting to commit adultery.
"None of us anywhere will defend the comments that were made," U.S. Rep. Jody Hice (R-Loganville) said in a brief speech at an Athens GOP meeting Monday night. "I will tell you this, if you are struggling with who to vote for, just remember the platforms the parties are running on."
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