Blog Topic: Video

In the Loop: Video: Athenians Deliver Petition Asking Kemp to Appoint New DA

By Chris Dowd | February 25, 2020 11:39am

Congressional candidate Andrew Ferguson (center) and Athens state Rep. Marcus Wiedower (right).

The resignation of District Attorney Ken Mauldin has cast uncertainty on the race to succeed him. Will there even be an election for DA this year?

Erin Stacer of Athens for Everyone and Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Tim Denson organized a delivery of over 1,500 petition signatures to Gov. Brian Kemp, asking him to allow the voters to decide who will next serve them as DA. While at the Capitol, the group also asked their state representatives to weigh in publicly on this situation.

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Homedrone: Flagpole Premieres: Wieuca, 'Hale Bop' Video

By Gabe Vodicka | February 14, 2020 11:48am

Athens indie-rock band Wieuca has never been content to settle into just one groove, its sizable discography featuring instinctive forays into alt-country, psych and electropop, to name a few.

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In the Loop: Gonzalez: Kemp Should Call Special Election for District Attorney

By Blake Aued | February 7, 2020 4:49pm

Deborah Gonzalez.

Western Circuit District Attorney Ken Mauldin announced earlier this week that he's resigning. No big deal, right? He wasn't going to run for re-election anyway. So Gov. Brian Kemp appoints someone who gets beaten by the favorite in the Democratic primary, Deborah Gonzalez, in November.

Well, not so fast. An obscure law passed in 2018 means that there will be a special election in November for district attorney, not a regular one. That means no Democratic primary in May and a nonpartisan "jungle primary" where every candidate is on the November ballot together. Which means a likely runoff in January if a Republican gets in the race—and Democrats don't turn out for runoffs.

Still, to Gonzalez, it's better than the alternative: If Kemp waits until after May 3 to appoint someone, the election gets pushed to 2022.

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In the Loop: Video: Panelists Discuss Voter Suppression

By Chris Dowd | January 30, 2020 4:43pm

Photo Credit: Chris Dowd

From left, Deborah Gonzalez, Christopher Bruce, Jeanne Dufort and Linda Lloyd.

Suppressed: The Fight to Vote, a documentary by Robert Greenwald about voter suppression in the 2018 election in Georgia screened Tuesday at Ciné.

Afterward, a panel discussion was moderated by Deborah Gonzalez, former District 117 state representative and current candidate for district attorney in Athens. The Panel was made up of Christopher Bruce, political director of the Georgia ACLU; Jeanne Dufort, a volunteer with the Coalition for Good Governance; Jesse Evans, chairman of Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections; and Linda Lloyd, executive director of the Athens Economic Justice Coalition.

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In the Loop: Video: Athens Area Residents Protest Creosote-Burning Biomass Plant

By Chris Dowd | January 27, 2020 3:17pm

Photo Credit: Chris Dowd

The Madison Clean Power Coalition held a protest outside the biomass plant in Colbert on Saturday. Over 60 people were present to demand that the plant stop burning creosote-treated railroad ties.

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In the Loop: Video: Mokah Johnson Kicks Off State House Campaign

By Chris Dowd | January 20, 2020 10:58am

Photo Credit: screencap via YouTube

Educator and civil rights activist Mokah Jasmine Johnson formally kicked off her campaign for state House District 117 Saturday at the downtown bar Max Canada.

Other speakers at the event included Athens-Clarke County commissioners Mariah Parker (15:00) and Tim Denson (20:22), Athens PRIDE board member Cameron Harrelson (34:47), poet Marcel Mincey (42:43) and former state Rep. Deborah Gonzalez, who is running for district attorney this year (50:58).

Unless she has primary opposition, Johnson will face Rep. Houston Gaines (R-Athens) in November. District 117 includes mainly western Clarke County and northern Oconee County.

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Homedrone: Flagpole Premieres: Curt Castle, 'Aminoketone' Video

By Gabe Vodicka | January 7, 2020 8:20am

Photo Credit: Jayleigh Harkai

Last January, former Reptar and Semicircle member Curt Castle released a stellar debut, If I'm Here at All, which found the Georgia musician putting a sure-footed electropop spin on his previous bands' exploratory indie rock.

A year later, he's finished a super cool stop-motion video for one of the record's standout tracks, the steady, sparkling "Aminoketone."

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In the Loop: The Best and Worst Athens Politics Stories of 2019

By Chris Dowd | December 31, 2019 11:33am

Here are top five best and worst things that happened in Athens government in 2019, courtesy of the Athens Politics Nerd.

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In the Loop: Video: Downtown Historic District Delayed, Baby Bonds and a Botched Ambulance Response

By Chris Dowd | December 12, 2019 3:21pm

This week, the Athens Politics Nerd looks into why the Athens-Clarke County Commission delayed a vote on a historic district for the west end of downtown; the "prosperity package" and Broderick Flanigan's idea to give savings bonds to African American babies that they could use to go to college, buy a house or start a business when they grow up; and National EMS' failure to respond to a 911 call from a local elementary school.

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Homedrone: Flagpole Premieres: CannonandtheBoxes, 'November 22nd' Video

By Gabe Vodicka | December 10, 2019 11:05am

Photo Credit: Avery Brooks

Fronted by Rome transplant Cannon Rogers, Athens band CannonandtheBoxes makes melody-centered acoustic music designed to ignite and uplift. Centered on Rogers' velvety singing voice, the group follows in the folky footsteps of local faves Family and Friends on tracks like "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," released earlier this year.

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