Blog Topic: Bummertown

In the Loop: UGA Faculty and Staff Facing Furloughs

By Blake Aued | May 7, 2020 2:55pm

University of Georgia faculty, staff and administrators will be furloughed over the coming year under a plan to deal with a looming state budget shortfall.

The Board of Regents approved the plan proposed by University System Chancellor Steve Wrigley in a called meeting conducted via conference call this morning.

The system's lowest-paid employees are exempt, but most employees will have to take four or eight furlough days, depending on their salary. Higher-paid employees will take 16 unpaid days off. The highest—Wrigley and college and university presidents—will take 26 days, the equivalent of a 10% salary cut.

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Culture Briefs: 2020 Athens PRIDE Festival Canceled

By Blake Aued | April 28, 2020 4:48pm

Photo Credit: Savannah Cole/file

Athens PRIDE in 2018.

The LGBTQ organization Athens PRIDE has canceled its 2020 festival, usually scheduled for September, and is donating the funds earmarked for the festival to local nonprofits instead.

Athens PRIDE is donating $1,000 each to Live Forward, Casa de Amistad, the Athens Area Council on Aging, Athens Mutual Aid Network and Nuci's Space. Those nonprofits serve HIV-positive individuals, immigrants, seniors, people who need assistance with rent and those with mental health issues, respectively.

“We are deeply saddened by the decision to cancel our festival,” Athens PRIDE board president Amber Strachan said in a news release. “However, we are fortunate to be able to contribute to others in these unprecedented times. We will be donating funds to the organizations on the ground that are addressing the hardships Athens residents are facing as a result of COVID-19.”

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Grub Notes: Earth Fare Is Closing All Its Stores

By Gabe Vodicka | February 3, 2020 11:37am

Earth Fare, the Asheville, NC-based natural and organic supermarket chain with dozens of locations across the southeastern and midwestern U.S.—including one in Athens' Five Points neighborhood—has begun the process of closing all its stores, the company announced Monday.

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Grub Notes: The Downtown Taco Stand Is Closing Sunday

By Hillary Brown | December 13, 2019 9:16pm

Photo Credit: Taco Stand/Facebook

Late Friday afternoon, Team Clermont, the music promotion firm, sent out a press release announcing that the downtown location of Athens' Taco Stand would have its last day in business Sunday, Dec. 15.

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Homedrone: Ten 2019 Shows That (I'm Sure) Were Fire (but I Missed Due to Work Obligations)

By Emileigh Ireland | December 11, 2019 11:44am

Photo Credit: Jessica Silverman

Linqua Franqa

Editor's note: Athens singer-songwriter Emileigh Ireland contributed this list to this week's year-end music feature, and elaborates on it here.

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Grub Notes: Eden's Cafe Is Closing, and More Food News

By Hillary Brown | December 9, 2019 3:41pm

The curse of 1660 W. Broad St., which has claimed a large number of restaurants over the past 20 years, continues, as Eden's Cafe announced that it will close Dec. 22, meaning another small, local business is shuttering right before the holidays.

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Grub Notes: Ike & Jane to Close at End of November

By Gabe Vodicka | November 2, 2019 10:01pm

Photo Credit: Ike & Jane

Ike & Jane, the popular Normaltown restaurant known for its housemade donuts, breakfast sandwiches and lunch offerings, will close at the end of the month, according to a post made Saturday on Instagram.

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Culture Briefs: Bobcat Goldthwait, Dana Gould Show Canceled After Atlanta Car Wreck

By Gabe Vodicka | August 16, 2019 10:52am

Bobcat Goldthwait and Dana Gould have canceled tonight's 40 Watt show after the two comedians were injured in a car wreck in Atlanta Thursday evening.

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Homedrone: Pinky Doodle Poodle Members Return to Japan After Work Visa Expires

By Gabe Vodicka | August 5, 2019 12:27pm

Photo Credit: Whitley Carpenter

Pinky Doodle Poodle, we barely knew ye: After taking Athens by storm over the past year, touring the Southeastern U.S. and playing a particularly memorable set at the 2019 Flagpole Athens Music Awards, the Japanese punk band's work visa has expired, and core members George and Yuria Hattori will return to their home country this week.

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In the Loop: Climate Change Is Going to Make Athens Hot as Hell

By Blake Aued | July 18, 2019 9:23am

It was 97 degrees in Athens yesterday. You think that's bad? Just wait.

Greenhouse gas emissions are projected to cause an 8-degree jump in global temperatures over pre-industrial levels, and a group called the Union of Concerned scientists calculated what that would mean for individual counties..

Clarke County averages 61 days a year with a heat index above 90. (Sort of like wind chill, the heat index combines the temperature and humidity level into a number that expresses how hot it feels.) Nine days a year on average, it rises above 100 degrees, and twice, it hits 105.

If nothing is done about climate change, the heat index will hit 90 110 times a year by mid-century, and it'll hit 100 six times as often as it does now. For nearly a month out of the year—29 days—the heat index will be 105 or above.

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