Blog Topic: Last Night

In the Loop: Athenians Gather to Remember Orlando Shooting Victims

By Kat Khoury | June 14, 2016 10:43am

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones

On Monday night around 7 p.m., roughly 150 people gathered at the Arch on UGA's North Campus to hold a vigil for the 49 people killed in Saturday night's shooting at Pulse, a gay dance club in Orlando, FL.

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Culture Briefs: Photo Gallery: Athens Human Rights Festival

By Joshua L. Jones | May 2, 2016 3:18pm

The Athens Human Rights Festival filled College Square last weekend, and Flagpole was there. All photos by Joshua L. Jones except where noted.

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In the Loop: Meg Norris Discusses Opting Out of Georgia Milestones Testing

By Bertis Downs | April 7, 2016 12:00am

Photo Credit: Alberto G./Flickr

Meg Norris, founder and resident expert in standardized testing for Opt Out Georgia, came to Athens Wednesday evening to meet with parents interested in the possibility of having their children forego the upcoming Georgia Milestones assessments.

An hour of discussion ensued, with Norris explaining the policy backdrop for the current tests and some of the politics involved in helping pass Senate Bill 355, the state law giving parents the right to control the education of their children, including opting them out of assessments without penalty. And on the pressing question of “Should I opt my kid(s) out of these tests, and what will happen if I do?” Norris’ answer, not unexpectedly, was “It’s complicated.”

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In the Loop: School Board Candidates Tackle Questions at Forum

By Blake Aued | April 5, 2016 3:04pm

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones

Kamau Hull (left) and John Knox at a Federation of Neighborhoods meeting Monday night.

In spite of increased interest in the inner workings of the Clarke County School District since thealleged sexual assault at Cedar Shoals High School came to light, only one Clarke County Board of Education seat is being contested this year.

In District 8, out on the Eastside, University of Georgia geography professor and father of a recent Cedar Schoals graduate John Knox is facing Kamau Hull, a lawyer and CSHS grad with a son in the district.

Hull and Knox—along with unopposed incumbent Charles Worthy and Jared Bybee, the lone candidate for an open seat on the board—appeared at a Federation of Neighborhoods forum Monday night. Here are a few of the questions they tackled, and their responses.

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Homedrone: Watch Michael Stipe Cover David Bowie

By Blake Aued | March 30, 2016 1:49pm

Former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe—who appears to be modeling his look after Luke in The Force Awakens these days—performed a spare, piano-driven rendition of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” on “The Tonight Show” last night.

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In the Loop: Hundreds March Against Downtown Discrimination

By Blake Aued | January 19, 2016 11:23am

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones

Hip hop promoter Mokah Johnson, rapper Versatyle tha Wildchylde and activist Tim Denson.

Chanting slogans like “shut them down!” several hundred marchers braved freezing weather on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday to protest discriminatory practices at student bars downtown, as well as what they see as a more generally unwelcoming attitude toward African Americans downtown.

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Homedrone: Video: Athens Cowboy Choir Played Flagpole's Parade of Lights Float

By Gabe Vodicka | December 4, 2015 10:30am

Last night, the annual Parade of Lights took over downtown Athens for a celebration of all things festive. As has become tradition, Flagpole, the 40 Watt Club and AthFest Educates teamed up to sponsor the official Athens Music Scene float. This year, we invited the Athens Cowboy Choir to regale onlookers with holiday songs "from just outside the city."

Check out two videos of the action below, shot by Flagpole production director Larry Tenner:

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In the Loop: Last Night's Commission Meeting in GIFs

By Blake Aued | December 2, 2015 1:24pm

Black is white, up is down, and I don’t know who’s allied with whom on the Athens-Clarke County Commission anymore.

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In the Loop: Shooting Death Reported Near Hawthorne Avenue

By Blake Aued | November 29, 2015 2:55pm

A Hartwell woman was killed during a gunfight Friday night in Athens’ Brooklyn neighborhood near Hawthorne Extension and Brooklyn Road.

The victim was Breana Jeree Blackwell, 23. She was in a parked vehicle dead of a gunshot wound when police arrived on the scene at 10:58 p.m.

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In the Loop: Commission Passes Sewer Plan in Epic Fashion

By Blake Aued | November 4, 2015 4:33pm

As Athens-Clarke County commissioners took a preliminary vote on a 20-year, $240 million plan for water and sewer service Tuesday night, the main issue on their minds was how the plan will tackle the environmental hazard of aging and failing septic tanks in sensitive areas.

As complex an issue as this is, it wasn't nearly as complicated as the parliamentary equivalent of a Benny Hill chase scene that followed. Everyone in Athens now has asthma from the dumpster-fire pollution.

Here’s how it went down (illustrated with GIFs):

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